BENEATH ALL THE LIES

First Step To The Truth

"You know very well that I'm currently the detective working on the Missing Thatchers case. The case has been an ongoing investigation for the past 23 years. So when I was assigned to this case, I paid extra attention to details. I run a background check on everyone who has even the slightest connection to Deena. And that's when I stumbled upon a name of Zasha Bennet, " Andrew started to explain.

"What does it have to do with my mother?" He took his phone and opened up a folder. When he found what he was looking for, he gave his phone to me. I looked at the screen. It was an image of parking ticket and it was under someone else's name, not my mother.

"The name in the parking ticket was Juliette Carrero. But the one who made the payment at the court was Zasha Bennet, who identified as the driver of the car at the time the ticket was issued. The twist here is Carrero died 2 days after your mother made that payment. And since then, she vanished off the surface of the planet. For 23 years, police has been looking for her to help us investigate on this case, "Andrew told me.

" Wait a minute. Just because my mother met Carrero before she died, doesn't mean my mother killed her. And what do you mean police has been looking for her? Why couldn't you find us? " I retaliated.

" I'm not saying your mother is a killer, there's no evidence to point so. But the death of Carrero has been determined as suicide while I for one don't buy it at all. She had a gun wound straight to her forehead. If someone commits suicide, it will be more difficult to pull the trigger while holding a gun pointing to his/her forehead. It'll be easier to place the barrel to the temple. But investigation ruled it suicide since there was only Carrero's finger print on the gun and everywhere in her apartment. No forced break and entering, no sign of struggle and nothing was missing from her house. That's why we couldn't suspect anyone was involved. But we need your mother to help us identify what had happened. Since your mother was the last identified person to meet Carrero before she died. That's when the search for Zasha Bennet failed. We couldn't find her. No driving licence, no bank account , no property under her name. It's as if she just disappeared out of thin air. "

I couldn't believe what he was saying. Why would my mother hide? And was she really hiding? We had been living in the suburbs all this while, how did they not find us? No driving licence under her name? Fine, that was true. I even had been pushing her to apply for it, but since I used to drive her around she didn't think it was necessary to have a license. She also put her cash in the bank under my name as soon as I was old enough. But mostly she keeps her cash at home, in her secret cabinet.

"What about the restaurant? My mother bought 'The Delicacy' from Gary's sons? It must be under her name, right?" I inquired.

"No, we've checked everything. We couldn't find any property listed under her name. I'm guessing she put it under your name."

Impossible. I still couldn't believe it. My mother couldn't be hiding. What could she probably be hiding from. And then one thing popped into my head.

"Now, that you know where she is, why haven't you taken her to help with the investigation? You just needed information from her, right?"

Andrew's face changed slightly, he looked guilty for some reason. It took him almost a minute before he finally answered.

"Previously, we would have called her in to provide us with any information regarding Carrero's death. But now, it raised suspicion since she ran and hid all this while. Also I recently gathered some other information that linked the Thatcher's case to Zasha Bennet. But it wasn't an evidence, so I couldn't just use normal police procedure to interrogate her. I'm waiting for a more solid reason."

"So you used me. To find out where she is hiding and to keep tab on her until you find a solid reason to arrest her. Is that it?" Finally it made sense to me. Why he always asked about where I grew up and why he was so interested in my life stories. He used me to find something he could use to get to my mother.