Betrayed By Husband, Stolen By Brother In Law-Chapter 197: Did You Know

"What do you have to say about this?" The officer asked in a voice laced with suspicion as he pointed towards the room where the intruder they had caught was still being held.

Melanie let out a long, weary sigh pushing a hand through her hair even as she felt like pulling at it. It hadbeen almost twenty four hours since she had first been taken in for ’questioning’ and they were at it again.

"I don’t even know what to say anymore. Honestly." Her voice cracked slightly with frustration. "That person claims I made the call-but the call he’s referring to came through at a time when I was right here, sitting in this very room, being interrogated by your team. So tell me-how exactly could I have made that call and ordered something like this if I was already in custody?"

She leaned forward, and once again tried to speak urgently, "Look, officer, I understand that from where you’re standing, everything might seem to point at me. I know you think I’m the prime suspect, and I get it—the circumstantial evidence probably looks compelling at first glance. But I’m begging you, please, just take a step back and look beyond what’s easy and obvious."

"My assistant is missing, and none of us can reach him his phone goes straight to voicemail. And it seems he left the office right after me, claiming that he was supposed to follow me! I thik he might be in danger too!"

"And I have tried to contact the supplier for clarification,, repeatedly, but somehow, every trace of his contact details has vanished from our system. His name is gone from every bill, every invoice, every document. It’s like he never existed- and my staff has no idea who I am talking about because the supplier only ever coordinated with me or Ben!"

She clenched her hands and continued to talk, "And now, on top of everything, a complete stranger is claiming that I hired him to kill Adam. Seriously? If I wanted him dead, why would I risk everything by saving him when I did? Why would I alert security the moment I saw the intruder? Why would I be the one to call for help if this was supposedly all part of some plan I orchestrated?"

The officer narrowed his eyes. "Of course you did it to save yourself," he said coldly.

Melanie stared at him incredulously as she came to a horrendous realisation. This man was not interested in catching the real criminal. He just needed to pin this on someone, anyone to close the case... "To save myself? From what? You think I staged a rescue in the middle of an attempted murder to throw you off my trail?"

She laughed bitterly, then shook her head. "That’s not survival instinct, officer—that’s desperation. I’ve been set up. And unless someone looks past the surface, you’re going to let the real criminal walk free while you pin this whole thing on me."

"Oh, I’m sure you were desperate!" the officer snapped in a raised voice, "Because how else do you explain the fact that you-out of everyone present-were the only one who noticed something was off? That the person who walked into the ICU wasn’t who he claimed to be?"

He leaned forward, jabbing a finger towards her, "Not even our own security detail picked up on it. Our trained officer flagged anything unusual. But you somehow managed to spot that he was an imposter, that he wasn’t one of us."

He paused, then gave a cold, skeptical smile. "Isn’t that just a little too convenient? Doesn’t that raise questions? Because the only way someone could have known that the man was a fake..." He stared at her, unblinking. "...is if they already knew ahead of time that a fake policeman was going to walk into that ICU."

"Of course I didn’t know that! I just noticed his shoes!" Melanie explained slowly.

"His shoes?" he repeated, dripping with disbelief.

She nodded quickly. "Yes. I know how ridiculous it sounds, but I noticed that his shoes didn’t match the ones I’d seen on the officers from your department. Everyone I’ve seen so far wears standard-issue tactical boots—black, polished, very specific. Even the ones who were wearing plain clothes were wearing those same shoes. But the one who went in....was wearing brown leather shoes. They were worn at the edges, creased in the wrong places. It didn’t fit. That’s why I felt suspicious..."

There was a pause.

Then the detective laughed and mocked, I thought you were some businesswoman for art and furniture? So now you’re a footwear expert? Maybe you moonlight in fashion when you’re not plotting murders."

Melanie’s face flushed. "You asked how I knew. I told you. I noticed something that didn’t belong, and I spoke up. That’s not guilt—it’s observation."

He waved a dismissive hand. "Or it’s exactly what someone trying to cover their tracks would say after their plan started falling apart."

Before she could respond, the door creaked open and another uniformed officer stepped in.

"Detective," the officer said, slightly out of breath. "We’ve got someone in the lobby. A witness. Says they’re ready to give a formal statement... and it’s about her." The officer said pointing at Melanie.

Melanie felt herself go pale as she asked," What did you say?"

The officer sent her a gloating glance at this moment," What did you say? Ahh.. you’d said that you were willing to talk to the police without your attorney because you are honest... Now I think you might want to call your lawyer. Am I correct, Mrs Cooper. Because my officer just said that a witness has come forward to testify against you. Isn’t that really interesting?"

"I guess you can wait here and think of some other way of slithering out of this mess that might involve something else, hmm?" The detective shook his head, muttering something about ’thinks she is in a movie or something’ as he walked out of the investigation room.

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