Chapter 8
Sina and Elora
After talking to Louis a bit more, Tanyah headed back
towards the estate and to begin her first day as an assistant.
This time she made sure to wear comfortable clothing to
prevent any inconveniences like that of her first day. When
she arrived at the mansion she expected to start getting to
work but she was introduced to Jane, the one who would be
helping her get to know her way around the mansion.
From what she heard, Nicholas wasn't home; he left
early that morning in so much rage that no one dared to
approach him.
Tanyah couldn't help but wonder where he could have
gone in such a hurry.
'Ah! To probably hunt down Victor.'
68
Now that she got the chance, she started to converse
with Jane to see how she knew about what happened before
Charles' death.
"Who?" Jane seemed surprised when I asked her about
Charles, who was the owner of the estate, "Sir Nicholas is the
only owner of this place. I heard that he had gone off work
for a few months and recently came back. Unfortunately, all
the workers who were here before went away during that
time and new staff had to be recruited. And that's when I
came in."
"So how long have you been working here?" asked
Tanyah.
Jane gave a small laugh, scratching the back of her neck
and said, "Only five days."
Now it was Tanyah's turn to be surprised. It was
reasonable for workers to leave after the master passed
away, but it still didn't make sense why Jane didn't know
about Charles. Even if she was new, she certainly would
have been told or heard something about the previous owner
of the estate. Tanyah wondered if the rest of the workers
here were also recently recruited and also did not know
anything about the late owner of this place. Who was trying
to erase everything and why? She needed these answers.
Tanyah didn't stop at only talking to Jane, she asked
several of the workers present at the mansion how long they
69
had been working there, and just like Jane, it was only a very
short period of time.
After more search, she discovered all the former workers
were indeed removed from the mansion. From the least
worker going up, except for one. The butler. He was the only
one left. Just thinking about talking to the man totally
changed her mind about him. To make matters worse, the
butler wasn't home.
That morning Tanyah was supposed to have breakfast
with Nicholas to discuss her work and contract, but since he
went out and hadn't returned yet, she sat in the dining room
alone. The butler was the one serving her which made her
very skeptical of his agenda because when they first met he
didn't seem to like her one bit. But she kept quiet and ate her
food in silence.
For a moment she thought of asking him some questions
and seeing how much information she would get from him.
She took a small glance at him as he was focused on what he
was doing. He seemed like the type of person who wanted
everything to be perfect, anything outside those standards
was to be tossed out the window.
Now she understood why he didn't like her appearance
when they first met, she didn't meet his standard of
perfection, and seemed like the disdain was going to grow
especially now that they would be seeing each other more
often. She glanced at the butler once again in an attempt to
70
take a good look at him and sum up some courage to say
something.
"Is there something you need," said the butler, placing
some cutlery on a tray. He stopped what he was doing and
looked up from the tray, but didn't turn to meet her gaze.
Tanyah opened her mouth to say something but the
words couldn't come out. She didn't expect him to make it
obvious that he knew she was looking at him or wanted to
ask him something. The opportunity had presented itself for
her to ask about Charles and what was happening here with
the employees but she couldn't take it.
The butler already thinks she's unprofessional and lacks
basic etiquette, it was safe to say he didn't quite like her.
Everything would only be made worse if she starts being
nosy and stepping out of her designated work and business.
He seemed like he would tell her to stay in her lane and
business if she tried to ask anything.
"No, I apologize," Tanyah said, looking away and then
she went back to focusing on her plate and food. After she
said that, the dining room reclaimed its silence with neither
her or the butler saying anything else to each other.
The only person Tanyah she knew was here during the
time of Charles's death and before that was the butler,
everyone else was gone. If this had been an official
71
investigation she would have placed him as her number one
person of interest.
After having breakfast, Tanyah made her way towards
the garden's main entrance to reach the crime scene. She
passed through her house to remove the heels she had worn
to impress her new-found boss. But that was just another
failure as he currently wasn't home, however that also gave
her the chance to get started with her investigation.
She needed to go through the garden, even for a few
minutes, maybe she could find something that was missed
during the initial investigation. Now that the two main
antagonists were not home, she had to take advantage of the
opportunity and use it well.
She used the garden entrance which was in front of her
house and before she knew it she was inside. The beauty of
the garden did not disappoint as it was exactly what she
expected from the Sinclair mansion.
According to Victor, when entering the garden there will
be a big statue, and at that point the garden divides into two
parts. The right wing was a garden maze of flowers and
shrubs, usually used when someone wants to play a game of
mazes and pathways. No one ever got out and a helicopter
had to be deployed to rescue anyone who decided to
challenge the maze.
72
The left wing was divided into two parts by a wall, Wall
Rose.
Tanyah took the road that led to the left wing, and as she
kept walking she saw the wall. It was covered in red roses all
over and the thorns were the only thing preventing her from
touching them. The wall divided the vast left wing into two
more parts, Sina, the lower part which was visible from the
mansion, and Ellora, the furthest from the mansion. Her
destination was Ellora.
When she opened the gate to enter Ellora she instantly
felt goose bumps on her arms and neck. This was it, the place
Charles died.
It was so quiet, the only sounds that could be heard were
that of water sprouting from the water fountain nearby in
the corner of the garden. She had carried a small bag with
which contained some equipment she might need while
searching for any clues.
She took out a pair of gloves and a small torch and
started her work. She was still at the entrance which was far
from the exact place where Charles was found. But she was
sure she would find something.
Unfortunately, Tanyah's scavenger hunt for the day was
unsuccessful. She found absolutely nothing out of the
ordinary or for a lead in the gardens. She sighed in
disappointment as she removed the white gloves and turned
73
off the torch she was using to search underneath shrubs and
bushes. The butler and Nicholas were probably scheduled to
be back any time soon, and chances were high that they are
probably already at the mansion.
Just as was about to leave she laid her eyes on some dry
shrubs which were hurdled in a corner. It was really the odd
one out of all the things in the garden, the only thing without
colour. Somehow that place where the shrubs were was
pretty dark and cold.
Due to a big tree that loomed over the area, the corner
where the shrubs received little to no sunlight. The corner
was the farthest from the entrance of the garden and was
also far from wall Rose.
She got closer to the shrubs, wore her gloves, and pulled
the dried shrubs from the ground. The shrubs didn't even
hold on to the ground, they just came off from the ground.
Once the shrubs were in her hands it was her time to be
shocked. She continued to pull all of the shrubs until she saw
something was never told about.
All divisions of the garden were sectioned and divided
by hedges, however these shrubs were different from the rest
that sectioned the garden. She didn't know much about
gardening or plants but she was sure these pieces weren't
supposed to be there, someone just probably placed them
there.
74
Part of the hedge was cut out and the shrubs were put in
place so as not to catch anyone's eye. She doubted anyone
ever came here to maintain this part of the garden after
Charles's death, which might be why the shrubs were still
there. Tanyah began to remove the shrubs from where they
were, which were a bit more than she expected. However,
her hard work finally paid off.
Behind the shrubs was a small fence gate, which seemed
like an entrance from somewhere on the other side. She tried
opening the gate by pushing and pulling on it but it
wouldn't budge.
After that failed, Tanyah went on her knees and tried to
look through the fence spaces to see if what was on was
visible. Even if it was something small she was ok with
seeing it, as long as it helped her know what was on the
other side. She really wanted to continue fighting with the
gate but her other line of duty was calling.
Tanyah rushed out of the garden as soon as her phone
rang and saw it was Nicholas. She quickly discarded her
gloves and went to her house to change her clothes which
had become dirty due to her pulling and digging shrubs in
the garden. She hoped she would get another chance to see
where that entrance led to. Asking Nicholas was out of the
question and Victor had already run for the hills, so it was
up to herself to deal with it.
75
After changing into a neat pencil skirt, a white blouse,
and a nice pair of heels then headed to the mansion. When
she arrived, she was told Nicholas was in the dining room
having someone to eat as he had eaten nothing the entire
day.
She first knocked and announced her presence before
she made her way into the dining room.
"Good morning," she said before she sat down on the left
side of the table and a chair away from him.
He only nodded and said, "heard you went for a little
walk today. It seems you are not well versed with the place.
I'll ask someone to help you around the place so it will be
easier for you to know your way much better."
Tanyah smiled and nodded at his suggestion.
"Now, the main issue at hand is starting my work here.
My uncle left a few projects unfinished and I'm still thinking
if I should shut them down or continue. But there is one I
have no choice but to go through with. It's a school that is
being constructed. Due to some reasons I won't be stepping
foot in that place. I need you to help me with this."