Mother and Daughter

Chapter 4

Amelia sat in her car, listening to the song playing on the radio. She was trying to distract her mind from yesterday's events but it was not working. Parking in her office's parking lot, she walked inside her office to see the sorrowful faces of her co-workers.

News does travel fast, doesn't it?

Everyone was talking about the murder of Carlos Evans who according to them was 'a fine and respectable man'. Clearly none of these people had the slightest idea of his atrocious actions with several women in the past year. For the sake of keeping pretences, she walked up to the three women who were talking about the murder.

"Um hello. Is everything alright?", Amelia asked putting on her best confused and lost face.

"No, dear. Didn't you hear about the murder of Carlos?" One of the elderly looking lady among the three asked. She looked like she was above 45, almost 50.

"What!? You... you don't mean Carlos from the financial department, do you?" Amelia asked with a gasp and placed her hand on her heart. She had done a lot of practice in learning about 'how to act innocent'. It was like second nature to her now. She had definitely become a great actress over the years.

"Yes, dear. It was so gruesome. I honestly feel so bad about his family. I heard that the man that killed him took away all of his money." The lady said as she wiped her eyes with her napkin.

'News travels fast but rumors spread even faster. And why did this woman assume that a man killed him. Talk about double standards.'

"Who could even do something like that? It's so inhuman. Just what is this world coming to?", Another one of the three spoke with gritted teeth. Amelia remembered that her name was 'Rosie'. She worked in the same department as her. Amelia was unable to hold her smirk but fortunately, it went unnoticed by the women.

"I know, dear. It's so horrifying." The older woman said. Amelia was just thinking of going to her cabin when she saw a man walking towards them through her peripheral vision. Well, shit. How long was he watching them?

"Excuse me for interrupting, but I'd like to ask a few questions from you ladies about Mr. Carlos who was murdered yesterday. I am detective inspector Christopher.", The inspector said showing his badge. Amelia gritted her teeth slightly.

And this was why you shouldn't kill your co-workers.

The inspected looked at each one of them scrutinizing them with his eyes. Amelia didn't know him but she could already tell that he was the 'I speak business' type of guy.

"Did any of you see him yesterday in the office?",Well, there was no point in lying about this. She had seen him and she would have to tell the detective about this. If she didn't tell and they saw her talking to him due to the CCTV cameras, it will definitely make her a suspect.

Before she could speak, Rosie spoke, "I saw him during lunch break yesterday. We were good friends and we often had lunch together. I just... I had no idea that it was going to be the last time I'll see him." Amelia knew fully well what she meant when she said 'good friends'. A sudden thought came to Amelia and she wondered how it would feel to strangle Rosie with her hands. Maybe she should kill her as well for going out with a married man.

The elderly woman was patting Rosie's back to comfort her. "I also saw him", Amelia spoke and they all looked at her. "I was going to the sales department. It's on the 12th floor and Carlos also got in the lift. We greeted each other. Then he get off on his floor and I went to mine."

"I see", he said and wrote something down. "Did any of you see him leaving the office with someone?"

They all shook their heads.

"Thank you and I am sorry for wasting your time. Also please be very careful. At least until we have caught the murderer." And with that, the detective turned around and walked away.

'No more killing collegues for you'

After working, more working and shedding some fake tears with her co-workers over Mr. Carlos, Amelia drove back home. Today was a very tiring day for her. Acting can be very exhausting.

She walked inside her house and called out to her daughter. Lily had holiday from school because it was Saturday. While Amelia only got one day off her job (sunday), Lily had two holidays (saturday and sunday). Being little did have its perks.

"Lily, where are you? Look, I brought you a sketchbook!", Amelia shouted from downstairs. When she got no reply, she walked upstairs to Lily's room. It was opened slightly and she had a bad feeling.

"Lily?", she said pushing the door open. And what she saw inside chilled her to the marrow of her bones.

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Ami: Cliffhanger, yay! Soooo Amelia, did you actually steal money from Carlos's house after killing him. Was the old hag right?
Amelia: No way. Like I'd stoop so low to steal from his house. I am a woman with morals.
Mei: *mumbles* You did kill him though.
Amelia: Huh? What was that...?
Mei: Nothing. Now get out of here. Stop breaking the fourth wall.
Amelia: Alright, geez. *Disappers*
Ami: Well, that was all for today. Vote and comment if you enjoyed readi-
Mei: Tokyo ghoul's season 3 is here!!! Get up! We need to watch it!
Ami: But I am bus- *gets dragged away by an over-excited Mei.