Chapter 8
Alicia walked into the kitchen and went straight to the sink. Veronica followed her and observed her. Alicia opened the tap and placed her hands under the running water. She moved her fingers and played with the water.
"You still play with water when you're angry," Veronica pointed out.
"I'm just tired," Alicia sighed. She then vented out, "Chloe and Miguel are handcuffed right now. That man doesn't care at all. All he cares about is evidence." Her voice was cracking.
She kept on playing with the cold water.
"I know, he seems a bit loco (crazy)," Veronica replied. There was a dining table in the middle of the kitchen. She pulled out a chair and sat at the table.
They were both silent. Veronica watched Alicia calming down herself as she let the water splash on her hands. Veronica was thinking of something. She crossed her legs and leaned against the chair.
"Why didn't you inform me about the death of your granddaughter?" She asked.
Alicia stopped moving her fingers.
"It just happened all of a sudden. I was not expecting this. After her death I was worried about Chloe, so, I didn't get the time to call," Alicia explained. Her hands were still under the running water. She didn't turn around to look at Veronica.
"Can I ask.... how did she die?" reluctantly, Veronica asked.
Alicia closed the tap and wiped her hands with a blue towel that was hanging on the wall right next to the tap. After wiping her hands, she walked towards the table, pulled another chair next to Veronica and sat down.
She started, "After what Miguel explained, it seems like an accident to me."
Veronica raised both of her eyebrows and stared at her.
"Well," Alicia continued, "You know that Miguel is athletic and he always liked to push Sabrina to work out so that she becomes strong."
Veronica nodded.
"That day, Miguel challenged her to try out weight lifting. Apparently, the weights were kept on the balcony. When Sabrina went to fetch them, she picked up the heaviest one. It was too heavy for her. When she lifted it, she lost her balance. Undeliberately, she took a few steps backwards and she hit the glass rail with the weight. The rail broke. She lost control and fell down with the heavy weight," Alicia narrated as tears formed in her eyes.
Veronica's eyes were wide opened as she listened to her friend's grief. She didn't know how to react or what to say to comfort Alicia.
"When I went to see my granddaughter, the right side of her head was broken and there was blood all over her face," Alicia said with a broken voice as she placed her fingers on the right part of her head to show Veronica where Sabrina was injured.
"It was such a devastating view," Alicia continued, "She was suffering. She lost so much blood that in the next two hours, she died."
Tears fell down Alicia's cheeks and her lips trembled as she was talking. Her face became red. Veronica patted her on her back. She tried her best to clam her down. She wiped her teary eyes and grabbed a bottle of water and a glass that were kept on the table. She poured water in the glass and offered it to Alicia, but, the latter refused.
Veronica placed the glass on the table and apologised, "I'm so sorry Alicia." She then offered her a tissue paper.
Alicia looked at her and gave her a faint smile. She took the tissue paper and wiped her cheeks.
"No, don't be sorry. You're in fact helping me. I was trying to be strong since the beginning so that Chloe gets encouraged. I needed this breakdown," Alicia explained.
She continued to wipe her face and blew her nose.
"She suffered a lot before leaving this world, Veronica. Even after dying, she couldn't rest with peace. God knows where her body is," Alicia said with a trembling voice.
Veronica held her hands and encouraged her, "We will find her. Have faith."
Alicia nodded at her.
"If only the police believed that we are telling the truth," Veronica murmured.
"I believe you," Gordon suddenly appeared in the kitchen. He was eavesdropping them the whole time.
Alicia and Veronica stared at him with confusion. Alicia took a deep breath.
"Veronica-" she called out.
"-please tell him that I'm not in a mood to listen to his jokes," she completed as she looked away from Gordon.
Alicia thought that Gordon was saying so only to annoy her. However, it was not the case.
"I'm not joking," Gordon said as he scratched his head.
"I got a call from the hospital where Mr Davis took his daughter before she died and the doctor that was in charge of her case confirmed the truth," he continued.
"Is your heart content now? Or do you need more evidences?" Alicia asked as she stared at Gordon with big eyes.
Gordon started to move his eyes here and there as he talked, "Well, my heart was not really content, so I called Drew and asked him to search for the file in which the case of your baby's missing body was recorded and..." he paused.
"And?" Veronica asked.
"And he confirmed that it was the truth. He said that he knows about that incident since he was a part of the investigation. This means there is someone out there stealing dead bodies," he explained.
Hearing this, Alicia stood up and angrily vented out, "Why didn't he say so before?"
"It must have slipped out of his mind," Gordon calmly replied.
"We wouldn't have wasted so much of time if you had listened to me before," Alicia said, trying to make Gordon feel guilty, but, it didn't work. Gordon never felt anything.
He walked towards the dining table across which Alicia was standing.
"Alicia, can you please drop the anger and keep calm?" he requested.
Alicia looked down and led out a sigh of relief.
"Okay, but, only because you said my name correctly," she said.
Gordon's lips curved into a smile and he tried hard to stop that smile from forming on his face.
"Well, what's next?" Veronica asked.
Gordon turned around and looked at her.
"Next, we need a plan to find her. The police force has already started its job, but, in such a big country, it is difficult to find the body and the culprit," Gordon explained.
"Why would anyone still a dead body?" Veronica curiously asked.
"There are many reasons," Gordon replied as he sat on the chair on which Veronica was sitting previously.
He had caught both women's attention.
"I've been thinking about this since the beginning," he said and then looked at Alicia.
"We clearly saw in the video that the girl was Sabrina, right?" he questioned her.
Alicia simply nodded.
"But you and your family affirmed that she is dead," Gordon said.
Again, Alicia nodded.
"Then it must be a doppelganger," he said.
"A look alike!" Veronica exclaimed.
"Wait wait wait-" Alicia stopped them.
"If the murderer is not my granddaughter, but, a look alike, then where is her body?" She asked.
"You must have heard of plastic surgery," Gordon said.
Alicia furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to understand what he was trying to point out.
Gordon continued, "Apparently, the culprit has stolen the body, used the face of your granddaughter and modified his or her face to have an exact look like her."
"What? Is this possible?" Veronica asked.
Alicia was completely shocked. Her eyes were wide opened. Still shaken up, she muttered, "And with a new face, the culprit is killing people so that his real identity remains safe."
"Correct. He did that so that the blame will go directly on the dead person and his family. And that's what happened. It was a well planned attack. The police has wasted a lot of time in the investigation. He must've escaped by now," Gordon explained as he shook his head.
"Now what?" Veronica asked.
"I don't know. What I told you is only one possibility that I could figure out till now. We don't have any evidences yet. It might as well be something else," he said.
"So, are you gonna close the case? Just like the last time?" Veronica asked.
"No, I'm not letting that criminal go," firmly, Gordon replied.
He then stood up and said to Alicia, "We should head back to Waco."
Alicia nodded.
"I'll come with you, can I?" Veronica asked.
Alicia walked towards her and held her hands, saying, "I don't want to trouble you hermana (sister)."
"And I don't want to leave my hermana alone during her hardships," Veronica said with a small smile as she looked directly into her dearest friend's eyes.
Alicia gave her a warm smile. She automatically hugged Veronica as her eyes watered. Her friend hugged her back.
"I think, we should end this here," Gordon interrupted. Clearly, he didn't know how to handle emotional moments.
Veronica pulled herself out of the hug and led out a laugh.
"I'm sorry. Do you want to eat something before leaving?" she asked generously.
"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry," Alicia immediately answered.
"Can you pack your food and eat in the car? We have a long route," Gordon asked.
"Yes, but, aren't you hungry?" Alicia asked.
"I won't be able to eat well until this thing gets solved now," Gordon replied with a serious look on his face.
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