Calix quickly picked up sothing from Irene’s surprising remark.
"Did you learn sothing, anything about her?"
Irene sounded so dubious when she angrily spat out those words. Her eyes glowered ferociously under the suppressed wrath.
Had she been keeping more about the incident to herself? Probably due to having no one to support her conjectures. Perhaps because of her parents’ indifference about the matter as well.
Calix and Leslie’s gaze fell on Irene. The young teen bit her lower lip. Her face flushed red, seemingly holding back from crying. She roughly wiped her eyes pooling with tears.
"It’s just my guess but... her behavior after Big Sister’s accident started being suspicious. How can I not think of her as the culprit?"
Taking in a deep breath, Irene took a mont to stabilize her raging emotions. She didn’t expect to hear Sarah’s na flowing out of her brother-in-law’s mouth.
Did this an her capable brother-in-law managed to unearth sothing impossible for her to learn?
People kept saying how ticulous and skillful Calix Xu of the Xu family was. People praised him for only being second to the godly Xander Qin, his sworn brother.
Irene only heard how close to omnipotence her new brother-in-law was. Thus, her naive and young mind assud that he used his own ans to dig the truth.
Calix didn’t push Irene to continue talking. He let the high school girl regain her composure first. Leslie also paid full attention to the teenager.
"Well... I told her to look for the pendant with ... because Mom and Dad didn’t care. But, she refused ... she said it’s a useless thing to do."
Exhaling a loud sigh, Irene resud, exposing everything she had been keeping to herself all this ti.
"I know that Sarah... only treated my sister as a moneybag. Big Sister... was disappointed when Sarah... showed her true face. She didn’t tell much but... I saw Big Sister crying alone... in her room."
Even before, Irene had a hunch that Sarah didn’t genuinely care for Leslie. But, she was afraid of shattering her elder sister’s belief in that maid.
After all, Sarah seed to be the only maid who treated Leslie well compared to the others. Most of the rest were Gladys’ puppets while a small fraction played neutral.
"And... one day, I heard the maids talking... how Sarah might find a rich boyfriend. She suddenly had so much money... to splurge. She bought many branded items."
This was too abrupt, causing Irene to assu how weird Sarah’s behavior was. But, she didn’t have the resources to dig further.
An ordinary maid’s wage wouldn’t easily allow her to go on a shopping spree for high-end brands even though they were in the bottom tier.
While Calix intently listened to Irene, Leslie was drowned in her pool of thought. The envious and unpleasant look on Sarah’s face from before was still vivid in her mind.
Perhaps, this was the truth.
When Charlene told Leslie to find the pendant, the forr didn’t specify that the culprit was the one who took the gemstone. Everything was her guess.
There were two scenarios now.
First, Sarah pushed Charlene down the stairs, either by accident or not. Before she ran away, she stole the pendant.
Second, soone else caused Charlene’s injury. Sarah might be the accomplice or she simply ca across the unconscious young lady.
Instead of informing anyone about it, she took the pendant and ran away.
But...
’She should have seen the culprit with her own eyes before she lost consciousness. Then, her mind suppressed the traumatic mory.’
New conjectures were ford in Leslie’s mind. She strongly believed that Charlene didn’t turn into a wandering soul like her.
This would explain her request to find the pendant.
’The last thing she saw... might be when the culprit took the pendant from her neck.’
A jolt of realization shuddered Leslie, ghosting shivers down her spine. Out of a sudden, her heartbeat beca erratic, pounding harder against her chest.
Then, did...
"...argh!"
Leslie yelled out in pain. A splitting headache struck her brain. Her sudden cry startled Calix.
"L-Les...umph!"
Calix was close to shouting Leslie’s na when she abruptly lunged forward, smacking his mouth with her palm.
"Don’t... don’t ask anything... just act like normal... I’m okay..."
Painstakingly enduring the excruciating headache, Leslie shook her head, signaling Calix not to engage with her when Irene was around. They were still in a public place.
"Brother-in-law?" Irene blinked, thinking Calix was acting weirdly, "Are you okay?"
Leslie let go of Calix’s mouth. He nodded a few tis before quickly giving excuses, "I’m okay, I’m alright. It’s just... I’m worried about your sister."
"Oh... yeah."
Irene forced herself not to think too much about Calix’s uncanny behavior just now.
"Brother-in-law, can we trap Sarah? I really think it’s her who did it," Irene was back to the topic they were discussing, "Didn’t you want bringing up the lost pendant when she’s around? I’ll do it."
Irene was willing to do anything. Calix was the first person who showed the sa concern as her about the pendant’s mysterious disappearance.
Didn’t this an he cared so much about her elder sister?
"Yeah, let’s do that," Calix nodded, agreeing with Irene, "You can do it when I sit together with your family later."
"Okay!"
Calix didn’t have the heart to tell the fiery-spirited Irene that he had another plan in mind. It was obvious that she wanted to take part in uncovering this matter.
After hearing Irene’s story just now, Calix was more inclined to unearth the source of Sarah’s sudden wealth. It should be easy to discover the money trail left by the re maid.
At the sa ti, this might lead to the place where Sarah sold the pendant off – if she was really the culprit.
"We should go now," Calix looked at his wristwatch. It was already five-forty, "Your mother and the others might be waiting for us."
"Okay. Ah, I wanna wash my hands first."
Calix watched Irene heading to the sink area. He shifted his gaze to Leslie whose complexion turned pale.
"Calix..." Leslie lowered her tone, dread flickering in her eyes, "It’s her. She... Sarah was really the one who pushed ."
This was no longer an assumption. Sarah was the culprit who caused Charlene’s almost fatal accident and stole the pendant when she slowly lost consciousness.
"...what?"
Calix was caught off guard. He sensed the change in Leslie’s intonation. She was speaking as if it was the undeniable truth instead of expressing her guess.
"Yes. She is the culprit."
Leslie nodded a few tis, reaffirming what she had just said. Clasping her hands together, she recalled what ca after the montary splitting headache.
"I just... got the mory back. It’s faint but... I saw Sarah’s blurry face."
Calix froze, never expecting Leslie to regain a part of her suppressed mories just like this.
Lowering his face, Calix clenched his right fist hard. He grabbed his knee with the other hand, silently battling his rage inside.
"We better... teach her a lesson soon."
Leslie said nothing. Turning her head, she glanced at Irene who was wiping her hands dry with a tissue.
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