Lydia- The Pet Communicator

Chapter 25

Antonio called his police department immediately, and asked his junior officers to keep the proof ready. Drake and my father were standing at the same place we left them a few minutes ago, and their facial expression showed they were extremely anxious as we were approaching towards them.

“Mr. Peter, allow me to take your daughter at the police department with us for some inquiries. We would also call you to the department when we are done with asking her.” Antonio asked politely.

“Why don’t you take Drake with you? She would need some support and don’t give my daughter any stress.”

“Sir, I promise to bring her soon. If I don’t, write a complaint against me.” Antonio assured.

“Let them do their work, please. We need to support them, so they could help us catch our culprit soon.” Drake spoke after him. My father exhaled noisily, and nodded in approval.

In a while, I took off with Antonio. I didn’t feel nervous, but I made myself stronger with time. I was ready to face the truth and whoever did it. I looked at Antonio, he was driving the car leisurely while following all the traffic rules and regulations properly. I never wore a seat belt, but I have worn it this time, before Antonio pinpointed me.  Anyhow, I wanted to ask him more about their investigation.

“Umm, Antonio, the veterinarian told me Lucky died because of some spider poison. How did you find a bottle with snake poison?” Antonio grasped the car gear and changed the cog to two, at the same time as whispering something under his breath. I tried to keep my mouth shut. Maybe, he didn’t like to talk while driving as the rules.

After some time of silence, he stopped his car in front of a bakery. He got out of the car quickly,  and came back in a while with a box of doughnuts. “Here, have some doughnuts, please. And tell me whatever you know now.” He spoke seriously.

I grabbed a doughnut that had chocolate frosting and colorful tiny sprinkles on it. I started munching on it like a monster who has been hungry for days and it tasted so good. How come I have never had these? I thought. I took one more from the box when Antonio offered me some more. I just couldn’t stop myself. While chewing the doughnut, I spoke, “The veterinarian informed us that Lucky died because of a spider poison, such spiders are not easily available here  and someone did it intentionally.”

Antonio rolled his eyes in disapproval, “Did they find any spider bite on your dog? It’s weird. How is it possible to have spider poison in the water and did you actually believe them?”

“Of course not! That’s why I contacted you in the first place.” I replied back immediately.

“Hmm, what else do you know Lydia?” He asked with concern.

I took out my phone from my purse and showed all text messages to Antonio which I got from Clara. He nibbled on his doughnut, while reading all the messages cautiously. Antonio kept my phone in his pocket and started driving off without a sound. He looked lost in his deep thoughts.

Once we reached the department, we got out the car and in front of me was a huge police station. A lot of police cars were parked outside. “Follow me, please.” Antonio demanded.

I followed Antonio all the way to his extent. Since he was a senior police officer, all the juniors stood up to salute him and greeted him with respect when we entered. Antonio’s room was large and well-appointed. It was filled with plenty of wooden chairs and an outsized wooden table which only belonged to him, comprised with a chair. Above the table were plenty of books and anonymous files. Antonio took his seat, and asked me to sit opposite to him, while pulling a chair for me to the opposite of his table.

Shortly, a junior officer came in with a blue water bottle wrapped in a translucent bag. I could see some left over water in the bottle. I quickly recognized the bottle and I told the fact to Antonio.

Antonio gave me a half nod and spoke,“Okay, so here are the results of the tests which were held in our private laboratory. It shows that it contained snake poison in it. The snake was deadly dangerous, Hydrophis Belcheri from Australia.”

I stood up in shock, “What, but who did this?”

“You would want to ask these questions to Clara’s father. Our police team is bringing him here in a moment.”

“You caught him? But, we don’t even have vivid proof against him, Antonio.”

“Just see what I might do, Lydia. Your messages would be a great help to me.”

Clara’s father came in handcuffed, with a police holding onto him firmly from the behind. I could see a glint of shame on his face, since he couldn’t face us. His gaze was stuck on the ground because of the guiltiness.

“So, tell me sir. Did you do this and if yes, then why?” Antonio asked. Clara’s father was totally speechless. I saw the anger rising over Antonio’s face, “Give me a God damn answer, why?!” Still there was no answer from him.

“Stupid father, just like his daughter or let me say, daughter like father?” Antonio mocked. Clara’s father clenched his teeth in anger and Antonio shoved off my phone on his face , while saying, “Read, but don’t touch Mr. Brown!” I saw the eye movements of Clara’s father while reading the messages. After reading it, his face color drained. He still didn’t speak a word.

“If you won’t tell us the truth, we will drag your daughter here and put her in jail for harassing Lydia with such text messages. Let the whole town see your stupid daughter with hatred. Bring her here guys!” Antonio spoke angrily.

Almost immediately, Clara’s father spoke up, “Don’t do anything to her. I need to talk to my lawyer.”

Antonio banged his fist on the table and requested a junior officer, “Take his finger prints with the device, please David. Let’s see if they match the ones we found on the water bottle.” A police officer who was standing at the door made a move to a large wardrobe in the room, he took pulled out a massive machine which seemed heavy and brand new.

“It’s not your duty to do this, its job of a forensic detective.” Clara’s father spoke with irritation.

“I am a head officer and a senior here. I have every right to do this. I can show you the papers of permission, if you want.” Antonio replied immediately. Clara’s father clenched his teeth and tried to pull out his arm from an officer’s grip, but their grasp was too strong.

“Clean his hands with some alcohol first, then take the plain impressions. Make sure you do it properly David.”

David nodded quickly. Just then, he took a hand of Clara’s father and pressed four fingers of the right hand, whereas keeping the fingers together on the surface of the fingerprint card or the fingerprinting device at a forty-five degree angle, in order to capture all four fingers in the allotted place, and repeated this process for the left hand. Then, he printed the two thumbs in the plain impressions thumb blocks.

“Done sir!” David shouted.

“Let’s see.” Antonio got up from his chair and walked towards the machine.

We all were looking at the screen eagerly. In ten minutes, the result showed up. There were twelve points in common that declared a match between two sets of fingerprints.

“You are under arrest, lock him in.” Antonio ordered. Two officers came in and took Clara’s father away.

I thanked Antonio for solving my problem in one day. I was a bit relaxed, but what bothered me was, why would Clara’s father do this? Why did he kill Lucky? Just I was about to ask Antonio, my father burst in the room with Drake behind him. “Lydia, are you okay?” My father pulled me into a tight hug and kissed me on my forehead.

“Sir, Sorry for taking much of her time. I would explain everything.” Antonio insisted.

“Drake told me everything, its fine. I know the conversation between you two. I mean you and Drake. I didn’t know Lydia was hiding so much from me for my own safety. I’m really proud of my daughter today.” My father kissed me again on my forehead with a smile. Then abruptly, his facial expression changed, his smile faded and he gritted his teeth.

“So, who is that bast*rd trying to poison me?” My father inquired angrily.

“Clara’s father, Mr. Brown. I suspect he isn’t alone in this game, so I will continue to investigate by asking him questions behind the bars. I need to find out why they killed Lucky? Or was it a twist of fate? Maybe they thought it’s your bottle. But, when did they put the poison in the bottle?” Antonio spoke out his thoughts loudly, while replying my father.

We all looked at him blankly, not knowing what to reply. However, Antonio shrugged his shoulder and told us to move on. He would start solving the questions with his team and inform us.

I glanced at Drake who was standing behind me, and gave out my one arm for Drake to hug me, as my other arm was tucked under my dad’s. Surely, I wouldn’t be here without his support. My father also placed one of his arms around Drake. 

After pulling apart from each other, my father walked off to thank Antonio. He also didn’t charge us any fee, saying that he did all this for Drake and he was like his little brother.

“Lydia, shall we leave? You have to study. Only two more days left, and as it is, we lost a whole day here.” Drake teased.

“Please let me free today or I will go crazy.” I pleaded and Drake laughed out loud.

“Want to have lunch together outside? We can go to one of the best restaurants.” My father asked with a grin.

“Sure! Let’s go!” I gave a high five to my father and held Drake’s hand, as we walked out of the room happily.

“Guys! Before you leave, I need to remind you again, this case will continue. I will be in constant touch with Drake or Lydia.” Antonio yelled from his room. Drake gave him a thumb up and my father nodded in agreement.

We kept on waving Antonio a good-bye, until he was out of our sight. He was doing back the same, with a smile that reached his eyes. It looked like he was pleased too. I thanked David and the other officers, before we finally left. They all replied back nicely. We surely had a demanding day.

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I updated fast, didn't I? Its only because you motivated me! Yay! Thank you all so much for pushing me to write more. I am nothing without you guys. Love ya more! I am writing the next chapter he-he! Hugs!