Deserving | ✔

Chapter 12

"Wow, are you sure?" Tri asks.

"No Tri, I'm just making this up coz I'm bored," I say, giving her the no - nonsense look.

"I'm just confirming, geez! Don't get all sarcastic on me!" She raises her arms defensively.

"Okay, so, do you want me to call Leril?" She asks.

I pause. I still don't know if I could deal with looking at her again. She's being the whole figure of the hard reality I have to face, and there's nothing to dilute the emotions I'm feeling.

Trisha presses my shoulder. "Hey, I'll be right here with you. Don't worry." I give a weak smile before giving her Leril's number.

In a few minutes, she's here. "Geez, don't you have a job?" Tri asks.

"My job is this case, thank you for asking," Leril says before looking at me as she enters the house.

"I really am sorry, Phillip. I just - "

Tri cuts her off by saying, "He most surely didn't call you for your apology. I thought you were smarter than that. They just take anyone into the Interpol nowadays, don't they?"

"You're testing my patience and dignity, Trisha."

"It's Ms. Arora for you, Leril."

"Girls!"

They both look at me.

"Can I start talking here?"

"I'm so sorry Phillip."

"Seems like that's all you got to say, Leril. Gotta be boring, huh?"

"Tri!" I give her a serious look and she says, "Geez, I don't know what only happened to light hearted jokes and sarcasm. I'll make us some coffee."

"I prefer tea." "She likes tea." We both say together. Tri shoots me a dirty look and I feel my face getting hot. "I guess we're having tea then. Oh wait, I have this amazing Indian Tea mix. I'll get you those!" She says and gets busy with her drinks.

"Leril, do you know anything about Stephanie's parents?" I ask her.

"You told me they worked in an inn together and then opened their own b&b. So I left them at that after some basic check ups of your statements. They did own one and worked in one before, so I figured that'll be enough. Why?"

"They are actually Special Agents of the DEA."

She looks up at me in surprise. "You don't mean the Drug Enforcement Administration which comes directly under the FBI?"

I nod.

"Holy shit! Seriously? I contacted the FBI and they had no database of this under Scott. Those secretive bitches. Wait, why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I didn't know it before, I just came to know it through this letter."

I show her the letter and she reads through it.

"Wow, this is information. Great information. We'll definitely work on this ASAP. I'll make a few calls right now to get it started."

She stands up and walks away with her phone in hand. I grab her wrist and stop her.

"Leril, there's more."

She raises her eyebrows. "Wow... Go ahead."

"Stephanie's parents died due to a car crash, right? But it is a very identical case to this. That is a planned murder as well. That case has been going on for 14 years.

"But that's not what makes the cases identical. What makes the case identical is the fact that the place Stephanie's accident happened is the EXACT same place where her parents' accident happened, 14 years ago."