42 Ruling out suspects

"What?" Queen half yelled the words out, shocked by the unexpected turn of events.

"Are you certain?" Quince asked.

One nodded, confirming his answer.

"Don't you think it's possible that they just swapped shoes for some reason?" Queen asked with a smile on her face.

"Too coincidental." Quince said.

"They don't know that someone would be under the bed, preparing to throw blue glow at their shoes." Queen gave her reason.

"No. But shoes can be used as evidence. The footprints to be precise. If it matches the one in the room, then it serves as evidence." Quince said.

"Are you saying that one of them is trying to use the other as a scapegoat?" Queen asked.

"Possible." Quince replied.

"Then we can only assume that Mr.Noah is trying to use Mr.Stuart as a scapegoat by swapping shoes. But if that's true...then why did he accuse Mr.Albert of murdering Mr.Bernard?" Queen asked feeling puzzled.

"Maybe to slow down the investigation?" One interjected.

"True that! But what other possible reason could there possibly be?" Queen asked Quince.

"Guess we will have to find that out. One get the medical background for all of the engineers. As well as their social circle and school records." Quince ordered.

"Yes Master Quince." One accepted the order readily before going out.

After One strode out from the room, Quince tossed one stack of documents to Queen before saying, "The information consists of Mr.Stuart mother medical records and various other information. Confirm and validate the story." He said and continued looking at his pile of documents.

"Excuse me!" Queen scoffed,"I am not your employee, you are not allowed to give me a command. If you need my help, say please."

'What's with this guy? Ordering me whenever he possibly can. This is simply too much!' Queen couldn't resist voicing her complaints and demanding the right treatment from him.

Quince gave her a mighty cold glare before saying,"Miss Vancroft, what would you pick between me saying please or you going to jail?"

Queen choked on her own saliva before coughing nonstop. She was regretting making that stupid bet with him. If she didn't, she wouldn't be stuck here in his office. Instead she would be enjoying the cool breeze up on the deck.

Quince eyes couldn't help smiling at that action of hers. She was so open and honest with her expressions, it was always fun to watch.

'Smelly, smelly cat!' Queen angrily cursed him in her mind while flipping the documents in her hand nonstop. 'Just you wait, you will....' Her thoughts trailed off as she saw something on her document. She hurriedly read it. After she was done, she immediately turned to Quince.

"Guess what I found?" She asked with an evil smile on her face.

"Time is of utmost importance Miss Vancroft. If I were you, I would not waste it playing guessing games." Quince berated her in an indirect manner.

Queen wasn't affected. She merely blew out a breath from her mouth before saying,"You're so boring! No wonder no one dared approach you before. I'm trying to make you interesting here. So won't you give it a guess?"

"No." He said succinctly.

"Pretty please?" Queen batted her eyelashes and smiled sweetly as she gazed at him. Her eyes could melt the coldest heart.

Quince wanted to ignore her but from the look on her face, he knew she wouldn't yield. She definitely found the key information. So he decided to play along with her. At least that's what he told himself.

"Information about Stuart's mother?" Quince stated.

"Booooo you knew I was looking at that! Ugh I won't play with you anymore." Queen couldn't help complaining.

"Alright alright, so I have verified that Stuart's mother was in the hospital and she really died due to her illness. Also, Mr.Bernard is truly a gambler and he is in debt." Queen confirmed the information before pausing.

"However, there is one thing that is different. Mr.Albert claimed that Mr.Bernard did not pay his debt, but that is simply not true." Queen said and showed Mr.Stuart bank account to Quince.

There was a withdrawal of 1 million USD and the deposit of 1 million USD from Mr.Bernard bank account. The amount he got back was before Mr.Stuart mother's operation.

"That means, she didn't die because there was no money for her operation. But her death was rather sudden that there was no time for operation." Queen pointed out to another page.

Quince nodded at the information she showed him.

"Then that means, Mr.Stuart has no motivation to kill Mr.Bernard. Even his subconscious mind would know that."

"Yes, that means he lied to protect Mr.Noah." Queen said.

"The question is why?" Quince asked with a contemplative look in his eyes.