Fake heiress Real heroine

Chapter 242

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It felt like they’d turned a mall game into a crime scene puzzle. Cher was still playing her wild cards, ignoring the rules, and leaving Quinlyn to fend for herself.

Quinlyn stood up and approached Bennett, asking to join the investigation.

Bennett refused her. “Not now. Mr. Ramirez ordered that you should sit tight until the higher–ups give the all–clear and ease up on security.”

“But if Zane’s the killer, you’re in trouble. Why else keep him here?” Quinlyn pointed out their dilemma.

Bennett hesitated. He liked Quinlyn’s skills and trusted her fairness, so he let her tag along with Jolie as an assistant.

Jolie was examining the cut angles to guess the killer’s height. “From this angle, he’s gotta be six–foot–three. But the skin texture here is weird. Look, the upward slope’s all jagged.”

She gestured to a bloody chunk of flesh, nearly touching it with her hand. A rookie nearby couldn’t take it and had already puked three times. He felt queasy again.

Quinlyn leaned in. “It isn’t clean. It is off–kilter, like it is stabbed after a fall.”

“Exactly, Quinlyn. You’re sharp,” Jolie said, instinctively reaching to pat Quinlyn’s face, almost smearing blood on her.

Quinlyn dodged and noticed the police checking the front door. An idea hit her. She walked over to the gate, pointing at the doorknob. “If the victim broke in, shouldn’t there be his fingerprints?”

The policaman paused. “You’e right. There aren’t any. Odd. Did Zane let him in?”

Quinlyn doubted it. Zane didn’t seem to have friends or be close to neighbors. He wouldn’t invite anyone over.

But if Bobby didn’t open the door, someone else did. Quinlyn crouched to check the keyhole. The house used memory keys, a new Zane invention. The lock’s intricate edges were unique.

person had another way in.

window.

a gentle push. Cold, damp air rushed in, startling Cher, who was on

locks all windows. Zane and I wouldn’t open them. We rarely

agreed. Zane had opened a window one stuffy night but locked it before bed.

found them all unlocked. “If I

out was a mix of easy and hard. The police didn’t believe Zane and Cher, but now there was

investigating. Outside the window with traces was a sea of lilies. The climate control kept them looking delicate, but after

on some stems and abandoned rain boots by a

size too. Let’s check this clear footprint,” Donny said, leading them to the flowerbed’s center, pointing to a water–filled

soil’s too soft. After the rain,

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Chapter 242

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and drained the water from the print. Donny said, “The soils depth suggests 150 to 170

“It’s not Zane’s print.”

feet are huge, size 12, like these boots. But the person in

pointed to the heel. “They got stuck in the mud, couldn’t pull out the oversized boots. They stepped

dig in for balance. “That’s why it’s so deep,” Quinlyn explained.

her analysis made sense. “Quinlyn, can you tell how big the feet

Based on pressure and boot bend, any physics teacher

near the flower bed–it erased the evidence but also left some clues.

the Perry residence when it rained, right around the time the crime

reporters outside buzzed as soon as they heard the news. Bobby’s family went ballistic.”No way! Cher must’ve forged

her out here. We can’t let

she’d be all over the headlines. But Cher stood up anyway. “I won’t get in your way.