Blind and Stupid

After returning from John Harris's home, Kathrina spent her time with a pile of Marcella's case files. She had been reviewing all the statements from Marcella's manager as well as the first autopsy report.

According to the autopsy report, the primary reason for Marcella's death was blood loss from her wrist. In addition, there was no sign of resistance in her body, which gave the impression that Marcella was willing to be in that position.

Kathrina's circled the hair test result, which stated that there was a trace of heroin in Marcella's body. So either Marcella did it herself, or someone injected it into her body to make her lose her mind.

It was easier to kill someone when they were not in their right mind since the killer could make it like a suicide case.

Kathrina's concentration was ruined when someone put a cup of milk on her table. She raised her eyes, and instantly Theo entered her vision. "You don't have to do that, but thanks anyway."

Theo smiled so brightly like a fool because Kathrina did not reject him right away. He would have felt extremely sad if Kathrina had brushed him off like she usually did.

"And please refrain from doing that in the future," Kathrina said without batting an eye. She wanted to make a clear line with Theo. It was tiring to see him making an effort toward her. "I appreciate your good intention, but I need you to treat me like how you treat Clarissa and Joe."

Theo felt like a stone had fallen upon him, crushing his whole body into nothing. He smiled at her, yet it looked stiff. "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable, Kath." He scratched the back of his neck to hide his nervousness, "And you don't have to worry. I will do as you wish."

After that, Theo returned to his desk without looking back, while Kathrina could only sigh as she watched him walk away with a slumped shoulder.

"You are so cruel to Theo."

Suddenly, Clarissa was already beside her. Kathrina had seen how Clarissa was winking her eyes when Theo talked to her. Kathrina believed that Clarissa must feel ecstatic after seeing her accept the milk. The woman must be disappointed that she did not give Theo a chance.

"It's for the better. I don't want him to walk around on eggshells whenever he is with me." Kathrina went back to read the case. However, Clarissa did not seem to want to stop their conversation.

"You should at least try. Who knows, maybe you will find his new side." Clarissa said as she snatched the case file and placed it on the table. "It's not like you have someone you like, so why not give it a shot?"

Kathrina was stunned when she heard Clarissa's words. Her thoughts strayed to the man with eyes the same brown shade as hers.

"You do have someone you like!" Clarissa exclaimed, making several people turn their attention to Kathrina's table. "Oh My God!" Clarissa placed both of her palms over her gaping mouth

"Lower your voice. We are not in the jungle," Kathrina stated with a voice tinged with irritation. "And no, I don't have someone I like."

"Who? Tell me. I will help you with him." Clarissa whispered, "I have many tricks." She winked coquettishly at her.

Kathrina ignored Clarissa's words. Instead, she reminded Clarissa about the case. "You don't have to worry about me. Now, go and reread the statements." Kathrina pushed Clarissa's chair so the woman could leave her alone.

"We are paid to catch a murderer, not to discuss love live."

Clarissa humped in response to Kathrina's sentence. What Kathrina said was true. However, taking a break from time to time was not wrong. After looking at the dead body in real-time and in pictures, her mind needs a rest.

While Clarissa was sulking, Kathrina started thinking about the case again. This time she was determined to find something useful.

Not too long after she got her concentration back, her handphone vibrated in her jacket pocket. Kathrina took it and saw that it was her brother.

"What?" she asked impatiently.

"Hello to you too, sister." Kathrina could guess Kale was rolling his eyes while he said that to her.

"I'm busy. Tell me what you want?"

"Accompany me to Marcella's Williams funeral."

After hearing Marcella's name, a scowl formed on her brow. She never knew her brother had a connection with a well-known celebrity like Marcella.

"I didn't know you were close with her." Kathrina rested her body on the chair while her eyelids closed.

"I am not, but she is Auburn's brand ambassador."

"Okay then, you should pick me up at the station. The day after tomorrow, right?"

"Hmm. I'll hang up since you are busy. Bye and love you, munchkin." Kale hung up as soon as he finished his words. It was embarrassing, but he needed to say that since he wanted Kathrina to always feel loved.

On the other hand, Kathrina grinned at her brother's words. She always thought when siblings grew older, they would stop expressing their love towards each other, yet Kale never stopped. Although he was over thirty, he never missed an opportunity to show his affection for her, for which Kathrina would always be thankful.

"Clarissa, you are supposed to go to Marcela's funeral, right?" Kathrina asked while reading the note on the old computer in front of her.

"Yeah, why?"

"Let's exchange."

"What? No!"

Kathrina never saw Clarissa refuse something as fast as this, making her suspicious. She narrowed her eyes at Clarissa. "Why not? I am going there with Kale, so you can go to Marcella's apartment again."

"Absolutely not." Clarissa crossed her hands in front of her face. She did not want to squander the opportunity to speak with Arthur Ford. She had offered to go to the funeral for that.

"Give me a reason."

"We can go together. After all, there are many people we must talk to too. You can talk with her family and friends, and I will meet Arthur Ford to save time. And about Marcella's apartment, I can ask Joe or Theo to do that." Clarissa explained her brilliant plan. 'You are smart.' She muttered in her head.

"Okay," was the response that Kathrina gave. Since it was more effective, she did not have any objections to it at all.

***

Kathrina walked into her unit while holding her stomach. She had felt uncomfortable for more than three hours already, and now it got even worse that she could feel several needles prick her stomach continuously.

"This damn period." She muttered an expletive under her breath.

During menstruation, the stomach cramp could be extremely painful sometimes, and she hated it to the core. In her case, it was worse; she even fainted when she was young.

Kathrina wiped a bead of sweat that had rolled down from her temple to her cheeks with the back of her palm roughly. She hoped she could teleport her body to her room and get comfortable on the bed with a heat pack on top of her stomach. That must taste like heaven.

With that in her mind, Kathrina pushed through the discomfort and made an effort to quicken her pace. However, someone stopped her effort by grabbing one of her hands.

Almost instantly, Kathrina jerked her head around and shot a dagger with her eyes toward the person who stopped her. Kathrina's mood turned even sour after finding out it was Arthur again. She wanted to vomit the lava inside her body and use it to scald Arthur.

She lifted their hand and said with a rumbling voice like a tigress, "Let go." Kathrina was hanging on a thin thread to calm her raging emotion. She was in so much pain to entertain him.

Arthur, who was utterly clueless, did not pick up on the note her menacing glance was conveying. Instead, he thought it was just her usual behavior.

"What did you do today with Theo?" It was not what he was supposed to ask, but he subconsciously let those words slip from his mouth so easily.

After he finished his work, he was left with nothing to distract him from thinking about Kathrina and Theo's potential romantic involvement. As a result, he went through a great deal of mental anguish. He was on the verge of going insane, so he decided to ask her directly to prevent it from happening.

Arthur's question did not do anything except rile her up. "Let go." She repeated, yet the man did not take her words seriously as he continued to exert more pressure on her.

"Please answer me," Arthur said. He realized this was another episode of him begging her.

"I met with a witness, and after that, I spent the rest of my time with Theo alone. There, I gave you an answer. Now let me go." She uttered a single lie in anger. But she did not care. The excruciating pain in her stomach had taken all her attention.

After she finished speaking, Arthur let go of her hand, and the woman swiftly twisted her body so that she was heading in the opposite direction, towards her apartment. Leaving him rooting at his place, feeling a little hurt. He was too engrossed in his own feeling that he failed to notice that Kathrina's way of walking was odd, and he could not even decipher that she was lying to get away from him.

Turned out it was true; his feeling for her made him blind and stupid.