Whispers in the Night: A Hotel of Unraveled Secrets

6 - Finding pieces of the puzzle

            "Veronica!"  Jared called, "Coming!"  Veronica said and left.
             What were you still doing up there ?"  Jared asked. "Well... Wait why are you here ? Didn't you say that only newbies sit at the back" Veronica asked raising an eyebrow. "I can seat anywhere I want"  Jared said in a sharp tone. "Before I forget, the reason why I didn't come down immediately was because Miss Georgina told me a crucial piece of information before she passed"   Veronica said. "Really ! What did she say ?"  Mj asked "why didn't you call us ? Are you dumb ?"  Jared asked in a snarky voice.
           Veronica's palm came in contact with his head, "Ow !"  Jared groaned placing his hand on his head. Veronica explained  how Georgina made mention of the painting Raymond found in her room being forged and how it was a trap. "A forged painting ? Trap ? This case has gone to the next level but it's not a new thing"    Mj said  "So you guys have solved more complex cases than this ?"   Veronica asked. "Of course we have, by the way, you surprised me Veronica, you are the first newbie I've seen not to shiver at the sight of blood; well apart from Mj, you had a calm expression on your face"  Jared said. "Well what can I say, anyone would get scared, anyone but me"  Veronica said. "I see, you are an interesting person"  Jared said . Veronica sensed that he was about to say more, so she quickly asked Mj about her ability in order to avoid more questions from him.
         "Come on Vero, you of all people should know my ability"  Mj said with a puzzled expression. "Well, can you just tell me, I mean you've been very quiet and we haven't had time to talk"  Veronica said in a high pitched voice, Mj just sighed. "My ability name is steal; I can steal someone else's ability and it will become twice as strong when I use it, it only last for 8 minutes though".
            They arrived at the hotel, they saw Daisuke standing outside, waiting for them. "Where is she ?"  He asked. They explain the situation to him which made him frown. "Well, this case has just taken a dark turn, nevertheless, only let her family know of her passing nothing else. Let's head inside"  He said. As they entered the building, they saw Amarachi and Layla sitting by the reception table; Amarachi hurriedly walked towards them along with Layla. She queried them about Georgina's whereabouts, Daisuke gave a signal to Mj, Mj tried to calm her down while Daisuke took Jared and Veronica to the side.
       "So you're saying she was killed not too long after you arrived at the run down building"  Daisuke asked in a low voice. "Yes and in her last moments, she told me about the forged painting and how it was a trap"  Veronica said. Daisuke was about to say something when he was interrupted by loud sobbing. The three of them looked in the direction of the cry and saw Georgina's mother wailing while Layla tried to comfort her. Something about Layla's facial expression caught Veronica's eye which made her  stare intensely at Layla. Jared shook Veronica which caused her to snap back to reality. "What do you suggest we do sir ?"  Jared asked. "Oh yes, Jared; please hand over the knife you told me about that was used to stab Georgina, I will  take it to Eniola to run some experiments on what kind of material was used to make the knife since an ordinary knife can't kill a dragon. I would like both of you to question the mother and sister, ask them if there's anyone else they know that maybe responsible for this, since they are the only ones we know that are connected to Georgina"   Daisuke said.
  
          With that, daisuke walked towards Mj, whispered something in her ear and she followed him as he left. "Jared, mind telling me the testimonies of Layla and her mother, when you and Mj questioned them"  Veronica said in a serious tone. "Yeah well, her mom stated that Georgina was going to meet her favorite artist for inspiration for her new book, which probably explains why she had that flower vase painting in her room. Her sister, Layla, said that Georgina told her about the hotel she was going to Lodge in for 3 days before meeting the artist"  Jared said.

        "Hmmm, I remember Raymond mentioned the name of the artist who owned the flower vase painting, I can't remember the name but I'm sure that  was the artist Georgina was going to meet, but of course we didn't bother to look further since we thought we will find her at that address, I mean we did find her but we found her dead, anyway let's go and meet them"  Veronica said, walking pass Jared, Jared tagged along. They told Georgina's relatives to follow them to the elevator which will take them to the third floor where the guest room is.
  
         They reached the third floor and went out of the elevator. Veronica couldn't help but stare at Layla intensely, due to past experience, Veronica has been able to tell someone's true feelings just by looking at their face even if they are hiding their true emotion. Veronica noticed that Layla had a slightly satisfied expression, which shouldn't be the expression one should have when hearing about the passing of a loved one; Veronica felt she was overthinking it and decided to focus on what was on ground. They entered the guest room and took their seats. Veronica whispered to Jared, suggesting they should interview the mother and daughter each, "are you sure about this ?"  Jared asked, "affirmative"  Veronica replied. Seeing her confident expression; Jared told Layla to go out for a bit, saying later he would call her in. She obeyed him and left the room living her mother, Jared and Veronica.
          "I am really sorry for your loss, please accept my condolences; I promise you will get to the bottom of this"  Jared said. "Please do, but what do you need me for ?"  Amarachi asked . "Well, we want to know if there are any other persons connected to the Georgina, the only people we know that are is you and your daughter Layla, so want to find out if there are more"  Veronica stated. "Who is Georgina ? Like what is her status ?"  Veronica asked. "My daughter is a famous author, she has even won an award for the best selling author of the year; she's really successful"  Amarachi said. "Ooo, maybe Georgina was killed out of jealousy ? Who knows ?"  Veronica thought.
        "Do you know anyone who is capable of this ? Like the murder of your daughter, seeing that she's a famous author, maybe someone unalived her out of jealousy, it's just a guess after all"  Jared said. "Yes, I am also thinking the same though I don't know much about my daughter, she was so lively when she was a teenager, but as soon as she became  famous she began to spend less time with me; I was always worried about her, though...."  She hesitated. "Though what ? Go on"  Veronica said. "Georgina, I began to notice she was feeling kind of off. She began to do strange things like one day I prepared her favorite meal so that she will have enough strength before she went for an interview but she rejected it, which is unlike her. Recently she's has been on her guard most of the time, sometimes she had a terrified expression on her face as if something was coming for her, something dangerous. I kept on asking her if everything was alright, but she kept telling me that everything was fine, I knew she was lying but no matter how hard I asked; she kept repeating the same thing. She told me she was going to meet her favorite artist to look for inspiration for her new book, I asked for more details but she didn't tell me anything. looking at her unsettling expression, it seemed she was trying to run away from something. I knew she was going to reside at a hotel but I didn't even know which hotel it was going to be, she didn't even tell me how many days she will spend"   Amarachi said.
  
            "Wait, you said you didn't know the hotel she's was going to reside in, then how did you know that she will be here"   Veronica asked. "My youngest daughter, Layla, told me. She even told me how many days she was going to spend in this Hotel, in fact; she was the one that recommended to me that I take the case to you since you guys deals in cases involving the paranormal and my daughter is a dragon so I can't just hand over the case to a Mere human detective agency"  Amarachi said. Veronica pondered at what she said before she finally spoke. "Okay, so you're saying you don't know anyone else who is close to Georgina apart from your youngest daughter ?"   She asked again. Amarachi nodded, Veronica told her that she could leave and she should please  tell Layla to come in. Will that, Amarachi left. "Layla seems to know more about Georgina than  their mother, I guess Georgina's relationship with her mom is a strained type, at least we've gotten some information out of the mother, let's see what the sister has to say" Veronica thought.