After Divorce I Married a Tycoon-Chapter 71: Judith Caldwell Suspected of Intentional Murder
Adrian Sutton’s cold, powerful aura startled Judith Caldwell.
When their eyes met again, she trembled, a chill running through her.
’This pretty boy is actually quite intimidating when he’s angry.’
Left with no choice, she retrieved the key and unlocked the door.
The moment the door swung open, a faint, musty odor filled the air.
It crept into their nostrils, a deeply unpleasant scent.
The room inside was pitch-black, without a single sliver of light.
If not for the light spilling in from the hallway, the room would have been a suffocating black box.
Suddenly, Claire Mercer burst out of the room.
Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were in disarray.
Her eyes were red and swollen, and a look of terror crossed her face when she saw Judith Caldwell.
The moment she saw the police, tears of grievance streamed down her face.
"Officer, please, you have to help me! I don’t want to be locked up by them."
"I just refused to marry the old man they picked for me, and now they’re locking me up."
Claire Mercer sobbed, gasping for breath as she spoke.
Though her behavior was a bit theatrical...
...the sight still sent a sharp pang through Adrian Sutton’s heart.
"This room has no windows and no lights. It’s a sealed space."
"I suspect they weren’t just trying to imprison my friend."
"I believe they intended to use this to quietly murder her..."
Before Adrian Sutton could finish, Judith Caldwell jumped in to cut him off.
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
"I only told them to lock her up! When did I ever say anything about murder?"
’Attempted murder was a far more serious crime than false imprisonment.’
Adrian Sutton’s cold eyes, however, were fixed on Judith Caldwell.
’If this weren’t the wrong time and place, he would have strangled her on the spot.’
He steadied himself and said,
"Locking someone in a sealed space can have severe consequences."
"Such as carbon dioxide poisoning."
"As the oxygen in a sealed space is depleted, the carbon dioxide concentration steadily increases."
"When the CO2 concentration reaches one percent, the person locked inside will experience headaches and shortness of breath."
"At five percent, they might fall into a coma from oxygen deprivation, which could even be life-threatening."
"Officer, am I correct?"
The lead officer nodded.
"So, they did this knowing full well that locking someone in a sealed space could be life-threatening."
"Doesn’t that make their actions suspected attempted murder?"
Adrian Sutton asked again.
The lead officer nodded again.
"My friend—the victim—is emotionally unstable and trembling all over."
"She must have suffered immense psychological trauma."
"I’m concerned about the damage to her mental health..."
Before he could finish, Claire Mercer went limp and collapsed against him.
Adrian Sutton was so frightened his heart nearly stopped.
"Claire, Claire..."
Claire Mercer gave his arm a discreet squeeze.
He finally let out a breath of relief.
’So she was faking it...’
’She’d really scared him to death.’
’But his Claire was so clever. They were working together seamlessly.’
"My friend has lost consciousness, and the ambulance is here."
"I’m taking her to the hospital immediately for a thorough physical and psychological evaluation."
"Any objections?"
The officers all shook their heads.
’This was a man even Director Cheney had to show deference to.’
’How could they possibly object?’
And so, Adrian Sutton swept Claire Mercer into his arms and carried her downstairs.
Back on the second floor, the police continued their questioning.
"Who locked this door?"
Judith Caldwell pointed to the maid. "It was her."
The maid immediately shot back in protest.
"Ma’am, we only locked the door on your orders."
’Dammit, this is just a job.’
’She wasn’t about to take the fall for false imprisonment and attempted murder.’
The other maid quickly chimed in.
"That’s right, Ma’am. For years, everything we’ve done has been on your orders."
"Don’t you dare try to pin this all on us now."
"We just work here. We follow the orders of the family."
Judith Caldwell was left speechless.
She never expected her usually timid and cautious maids to be so sharp-tongued.
She shot them a vicious glare.
Having gotten the gist of the situation, the police officer addressed Judith Caldwell.
"Ms. Caldwell, you deliberately restricted Claire Mercer’s personal freedom by locking her in a sealed space."
"Your actions constitute suspected false imprisonment and attempted murder. Please come with us."
"You two will also need to come with us to the station to give a statement."
Meanwhile, a crowd of reporters who had already gotten wind of the story was waiting outside the Mercer residence.
When they saw Adrian Sutton emerge carrying Claire Mercer, the reporters instantly swarmed them, flashes erupting as they snapped a frenzy of photos.
"Excuse me, sir, what’s Miss Mercer’s condition?"
Adrian Sutton replied, "She was illegally confined in a sealed room by her adoptive parents."
"She was extremely agitated when we rescued her and has suffered immense psychological trauma from the ordeal."
"On top of that, after being in a sealed space for so long, she may have carbon dioxide poisoning. She has now lost consciousness."
"I’m on my way to take her to the hospital for a thorough examination."
’This was a huge story.’
The reporters scrambled to keep up with him.
"Could you tell us what exactly happened?"
"Why did the Mercer Family lock her up?"
Adrian Sutton continued toward the ambulance without breaking stride, answering their questions as he walked.
"The Mercer family was trying to force her, a twenty-four-year-old woman, to marry a greasy, fifty-six-year-old lecher."
"You in the press should be quite familiar with this man—it’s Hugo Bower, the one whose three wives all died."
At the mention of his name, the reporters’ faces filled with shock.
Hugo Bower was infamous in media circles.
Three of his wives were already dead. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
Rumor had it that each of his wives had bruises and injuries on their bodies at the time of their deaths.
They were suspected to have died from domestic abuse.
But in every case, Hugo Bower reached a private settlement with the deceased’s parents.
The implications were an open secret.
’And the Mercer Family was going to marry off their beautiful, flower-like daughter to Mr. Bower?’
’Were they insane?’
Adrian Sutton continued:
"My friend refused to marry him."
"So the Mercers locked her in a little black room with no windows and no lights."
A reporter raised a question.
"But from what I know, wasn’t Miss Mercer supposed to marry the eldest son of the Sinclair family?"
Another reporter added,
"Exactly. Why would the Mercers still be forcing her to marry Mr. Bower?"
"Are the Mercers trying to marry one daughter off twice?"
Adrian Sutton said, "Miss Mercer no longer has any connection to the Sinclair family."
"I can’t elaborate on the details, as it concerns Miss Mercer’s privacy."
"You can ask her directly at the hospital when she wakes up."
"As for the matter of the Mercer Family’s illegal confinement of my friend, you can ask the police about that shortly."
With that, Adrian Sutton climbed into the waiting ambulance, still holding Claire Mercer.
The moment they were in the ambulance, Claire Mercer—the girl who was supposedly overcome with emotion and suffering from immense psychological trauma—woke up.
"Thank you, Adrian Sutton."
She hadn’t expected Adrian Sutton to work so quickly.
Not only had the police and ambulance arrived, but he had even summoned a whole crowd of reporters.
Now, those reporters had documented everything that happened at the Mercer residence tonight.
’By tomorrow, the entire city of Rhonia would be in an uproar.’
