Chapter 4
Charles Sinclair
"Thank God I finally had the chance to talk to you," said
Victor, taking in a deep breath before continuing, "because I
really need your help with something very important."
Tanyah had properly dried her hair and changed into
more casual clothes, unlike the pajamas she was wearing.
Miss Laura took the scarf before giving it back, placed it in
the dryer, and once it was now resting peacefully where it
truly belonged, on its owner.
"I'm Victor Emile Sinclair, the one in charge of Golden
Tree Clinic in Kelsus. It was previously under Charles
Sinclair until about a year ago. He was an amazing man,
even managed to construct a school after an unfortunate
event took place a couple of years ago, he funded
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orphanages and homes for a long time. Until... one day he
was found dead in his garden."
'Classic story, it's always someone after the money,'
thought Tanyah to herself. Or maybe he encountered
someone who didn't like him, obviously not all people liked
Charles' good deeds.
"What was the cause of death?"
"Heart attack and immense shock. All the reports say he
had a heart attack. But I believe there's something more to it."
From the folder he was holding he took out a few papers
from it. There was one which looked quite familiar, she
couldn't wait to read it.
"These are Charles' medical reports from the past few
years," said Victor, pointing towards some papers Tanyah
was holding, "Charles would get a doctor every now in
order to get a check up and make sure his body was in good
health. I was the one responsible for receiving and
examining the medical reports, and if Charles had any issues
I would have known. However, one day they just stopped."
Victor stopped for a brief moment to let out a sigh.
Tanyah could tell that whatever happened to Charles really
hurt Victor in an indescribable way, and it made her want to
know more about what happened to Charles.
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"It was as if I got shut out of that part of Charles' life,"
he continued, "and before I could do anything, he passed
away. And even though I didn't know what was happening
to him back then, i refuse to believe that a heart attack took
Charles' life"
Victor sounded very confident in his words and it
reassured Tanyah that she might have a solid case to work
with. Since he was a doctor and very close to Charles, it
made sense he knew about his health and if he says that it
wasn't a natural death then there must be a reason. And if
what he is saying is right, and there was tampering of
Charles' reports and evidence surrounding his death, then
the case is immediately turned over its head.
They are no longer looking at death, but homicide.
"Do you still have Charles' doctor's contacts? Talking to
him would certainly help," said Tanyah
"Yes, I do," answered Victor, "In fact, he's still in
Kelsus."
"In that case I can start on this…," murmured Tanyah,
going through the reports.
"Oh, there's more..."
'Oh goodness, this man came prepared,' thought
Tanyah, raising her head nodding to what Victor had said.
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He had all the facts and evidence to support his theory,
further supporting Tanyah's thoughts that he was a sharp
and calculated person. Even without any help he could
possibly crack any problem open.
"I managed to get a few pictures of the crime scene and
even took a few of my own while the investigation was
taking place. I had to take a few risks, but it was worth it."
He gave Tanyah some pictures and she began carefully
going through each and every single one of them, closely
looking at every angle to make sure she wouldn't miss a
clue.
The first one showed ordinary shoe prints on the
ground. Seems like the person was walking, then stopped
after a few steps and started to look around as if looking for
something. The next few pictures showed that after looking
around he started walking again. After a few steps he
stopped and looked around as before. The only difference
here was that this time after stopping the prints didn't show
ordinary shoe prints anymore.
"He was running…," said Tanyah, furrowing her brows
and placing a hand on her cheek.
The prints were now distorted and there was more
distance between them. From what she could tell from the
shoeprints in the pictures, the victim started walking and
then stopped, probably to look around. He started walking
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again, but this time when he stopped before he started
running. But from what?
Tanyah checked the time both sets of pictures were taken
and it was 7pm, she needed to know what Charles usually
did around this time and how frequently he went to the
garden.
She kept looking at the pictures until she stopped at the
jackpot. It was a picture of Charles' body, lying down in a
manner of showing he didn't just lie down after falling.
Looking at the picture, Tanyah felt a bit unnerved and cold
ran down her spine. She wanted to look away, but this was a
clue to unlocking what could have really happened that
night.
His eyes were filled with fear, his mouth was open wide
and his head was slightly tilted up from the right. His brows
weren't knitted in pain, nor did his face show he was in pain.
The man displayed the definition of pain and terror at his
last breath. His face was so drained that it seemed he was
never alive to begin with. The more she looked at the eyes,
she felt more uneasy and
uncomfortable.
Tanyah wished she could console Victor because
bringing up these pictures wasn't comfortable for him and it
opened up old wounds. Anyone who saw those pictures
would also feel the sadness and discomfort as her and she
could only imagine how Victor was feeling.
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She looked at Victor and he was looking at the picture
she was holding.
Letting out a light chuckle, Victor said, "I'm sorry
to scare you like this, but I really need another perspective
and finally get some closure to put my thoughts to rest."
"A couple of days after I started looking into Charles'
death I received a letter. It had no address or anything. I
tried to take it to my lab and analyze it to see if I could find
anything about who sent it. Unfortunately, I found nothing,
no trace of where or who this person was. Here it is."
Victor passed Tanyah a transparent plastic which had a
white envelope inside. She had to wear gloves in order not to
intercept any evidence that could be on the envelope.
Tanyah opened the plastic and she took out the beautiful
white envelope. It had small webs which were all over the
envelope to add some detail to it. For a mysterious letter the
envelope was too bashful, clearly this person is trying to let
Victor know who they are and add fuel to his pain.
She opened the envelope and what she saw inside was
an anticlimax after seeing the beautiful envelope. She
carefully took out the letter and started reading it.
dO nOT enTeR ThE MaNsiOn
EVer aGAiN
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SeVErE CoNSEquEnCes
i wilL KILL YOU
StAy aWay
The letter was poorly written with some typed words
and letters that were cut out from different sources glued on
the paper. Whoever sent the letter didn't want their
handwriting being analyzed, and the paper used wasn't a
type that Tanyah had ever seen before. It was already
difficult to track down the handwriting and now the paper
just made it worse.
But something she noticed was the beauty of the
envelope and she could tell by touching it that it was high
quality. This somehow narrowed her suspects to someone
rich, possibly the same as Victor, who have family crests,
colors and powerful names. However, going after someone
like that was the same as chasing and trying to capture the
wind.
Looking at it once again, Tanyah wondered how such a
beautiful envelope could contain something so sinister.
"I'll have to take a closer look at it myself to see if there's
anything I can possibly find on it. I hope you don't mind,"
said Tanyah, placing the letter back into the envelope.
"No, not at all. You can always return it to me when you
are done."
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"Thank you. I'll have to look more into the case files and
maybe I might find some bits and pieces that the first
investigation missed in relation to what happened the days
following up to Charles' death."
"Unfortunately, that won't be possible," Victor flatly
spoke.
Tanyah looked up at him with raised brows, questioning
what he meant and wanting an explanation. Why was it
impossible?
"The case was closed a long time ago. I tried having the
case reopened several times but to no avail. I tried to reach
out to you for help, and I doubt you ever received any of my
requests."
"Since it's closed, I have no right to reopen it without the
lieutenant's permission..."
"But you can still start an investigation, right?"
"Yes. But there's one problem. I'm under strict
observation not to indulge in any work I'm not assigned to."
Victor was stunned; he got outsmarted again. They
closed the ray of light he found. It's probably why she was
given a short notice leave from work. Shockingly she didn't
question why they wanted to keep her out.
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"Detective, didn't you receive any requests to consult
with you from Kelsus?"
"No, if I did, I'm sure the lieutenant would have given it
to me."
To Tanyah's words Victor sighed and slightly threw his
head back. Running a hand through his hair, Victor silently
mumbled, "So it's that Lieutenant…"
Once he had gotten a grip of himself, Victor looked back
at Tanyah.
"What if he didn't want you to know about the request?
What if he doesn't want the case to be reopened? Otherwise
why was the case abruptly closed and when it wants to be
reopened he closes it and throws it under the rug as if it's
nothing. Just think about it for a bit. Why send away the
people who were supposed to be investigating the case and
prohibit anyone else from any further investigations?"
The room went completely silent. Tanyah felt her mind
get very foggy and bewildered that she had to stand up and
take a deep breath.
It all made sense, but why would the lieutenant want the
case closed at all costs. She looked at one of the letters she
opened from the mail. It was from the Head Office, and it
stated that she was not allowed to indulge in any work at all.
Anything so, she will be suspended.
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Now that she thought about it, Victor's words were
starting to sink in slowly. She didn't notice it sooner but for
the past few months she was being monopolized and kept
under watch. She thought it was because of the incident
whereby she ruined a secret investigation, therefore they
wanted to keep her in check.
'... that's not right.'
The investigation, the leave, suspended... Her mind
started to get foggy the more she thought about it. She closed
her eyes and took another deep breath to compose herself.
After a bit of thinking and weighing her options, Tanyah
made up her mind on what she would do next.
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