Chapter 7

When the men woke up, they were all surprised to see themselves tied up and kept and kept in a dark room.

"Whree are we?" The stern man asked, rubbing his head.

   Prince emerged from a lit part of the room and said, "I'm Prince Antonio. I'm a lawyer by occupation. Your family has been held hostage by the police officers and can only be released if you accept your crime."

"You murder fucker, you tricked us. I didn't want to believe that you were not that asshole in the hospital but my boss made me believe and now my innocent family are in hell lot of problem than supposed, "Sobbed the stern man.

" Just one call and your family are gone," Prince said.

" Who the hell do you think you're to hold us   captive?" They small guy asked.

" Your superior. No one is above the law, " Prince said." I give you my word that if you guys cooperate with me and tell me why you killed Mr. Pat Phillips and Mr. Dave Abram. Or even who ordered you to do so, the I promise to not only release your families that were held hostage but also would not give a word to the police."

"A personal statement, you mean? Asked the stern man. Who the hell do you think you are to compel us?" 

"You're superior." He replied. 

"Oh, to hell with your superiority. Everybody found themselves in this state because of hardship. It was a robbery attack and he managed to escape, that was going to wreck our plan so we decided to find him. When we found where he was we called the police but instead of Mr. Pat to corporate with us and let his daughter rot in jail, he stupidly tried to fight his daughter's case by finding a very good and sharp lawyer. So we paid him off."

"That was my father." Anne said coming out from the dark corner of the room. 

"You!" They all retorted. "Thank your stars, you always got lucky." The fierce man said. 

"You murdered him you idiots." Anne cried. 

"We did not. We only paid the lawyer off. What could we possibly gain from a wrenched man? He had to die, the shame was too much to bear." 

"Fool," Anne said, pulling out her gun and putting her fingers on the trigger. But Prince stopped her. 

"That's my father," She sobbed in Prince's embracing arm. 

"I know," he said. "But you shouldn't let this morons get the better of you. They will never be able to escape." 

Anne nodded. 

Prince led her out of the room and the locked the door of the room. He led her up the stairs and to her room. 

"I didn't see Whitney. Anne said, her mood gradually changing. 

We had a fight," Prince said moving to the door. "I guess I have to go make things right between us." 

"That's nice. I wouldn't like to see you guys fight. You guys are a couple." Anne said. "Please give Mr. John William a call. Tell him we have caught the culprit." 

"I will do that later but now we have got a lot of things to discuss." Prince said as they walked into room. 

Anne nodded.

"They said they did not kill my father." She said.

"And you believe them?" Prince said sitting down.

Anne sat down.

"Then why did they clean the CCTV?" Prince asked.

"One part of me tells me there's truth in what they said but the CCTV's footage is cleaned, the prove is gone." Anne said.

  Prince moved forward to her, "Do you think it's a coincidence, listen Anne I have handled much cases than you can imagine. Some guys commit murder. He takes a lot of trouble and though to cover up; takes himself an alibi or maybe makes it look like it has been done by someone else. Then he imagines he is safe. But he isn't Ms. Anne. A guy who thinks he's safe is wide open for a sucker punch. Just when he least expects it-wham! and he is damn on his back, only he has something a damn sight worse coming to him than a busted jaw." 

"This is different." Anne stood. 

Now they were almost nose to nose with each other.

"I believe maybe someone else wanted to kill my dad." She said.

"It's not easy for me to believe. Those murderers are liars."

"Then why would they say the truth? Why did they admit to the fact that they murdered Dave? " Anne asked.

Prince starred at Anne, he felt a deep sensation between them.

"Maybe I didn't tell you this but let me tell you now, my dad used to work as an agent for the police station before he retired and joined politics but when he found out that he had only one month to live, he stopped the contest. He was tested positive. Two days after Dave's death was supposed to be the day he would be isolated and go through quarantine."

"Then why did you still live with him?" Prince asked.

"He was my father and I didn't believe he was positive.  May be some kind of plot. He must have had some enemies."Anne leered. "Even at that I wasn't close to him either, we just communicated and he made me not come close to him."

"How possible?"

"Everything is possible. Plotting his sickness was possible, killing him was possible despite the tight security. Do you really think I would believe my dad had Covid-19? Hell no? Someone who had a political misconception must have plotted out his death and made it seem like it was Dave's murderers."

"But why?"

"They wouldn't want to be exposed. Having someone take the blame was something thrilling. Just like they made me go to prison for what I did not do. It gave them a relive."

"Sleep, it will help you take off the stress," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Don't forget to call Director John. " Anne reminded him.

"What do I do to those men?"  Prince asked.

"Send them to the police station. I need to be acquitted. I need to save my reputation. It is very important to me. Anne said.

"I have to go and see my fiancee."

"Yeah," Anne muttered. "I will just sleep."

"It will be best for you." Prince said, letting go of her shoulders.

Anne nodded and Prince left the room.