I really wanna apologize for the delayed chapter, I've been meaning to publish it earlier this week, but I've been suffering from writers block and being such a perfectionist, I couldn't just publish a chapter which I didn't think was good enough, but anyways it's finally done now. Hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think :) Also thanks a lot for everyone who's been reading, voting and commenting. 

Special shoutouts for my friends naddaa_ Athina4Ever PandaLover_02_ Featherfur2 JaneyJordan MidnightBloomer stormkitty529 NMAboElhoda NerdyAlvio valeriecat1895 Barely_Strong_ 

Chapter 9

Maria sat for a while trying to figure out what that key might open, but she ran out of ideas and decided to wait until detective James was home after "his secret mission" in that "secret place" with that "secret person" that he didn't wanna tell her about. She then decided to take a look at the notebook again. "Maybe I'll notice something this time..." She said to herself when her phone rang, it was an unknown number

"Hello... who is this?" Maria answered

"Hey, this is Andrew, we met at the cafe last night."

Maria was alarmed, but she decided to play it cool "Oh, that was yesterday, it feels so long ago."

"So much has happened," he paused "I heard about the accident at the hotel, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Oh cut the crap, I can't do this any longer." she burst impulsively "I saw you outside the hotel in the crowd so you know exactly what happened and how the hell did you get my number?"

"I got it from the hotel lobby... and yes I was there cause every night I run the same route, running helps me relax before I sleep. Anyways, yesterday I saw a crowd gathered in front of the hotel so I ran over there to see what happened." 

There was a moment of awkward silence then he continued saying "I couldn't get enough details about the incident, so I wanted to check on you."

"You must understand," She sighed "I've been here for only two days and someone already tried to kill me... I can't trust anyone."

"I do understand, I'm sorry for scaring you again" he paused "I'm glad you're ok though."

They ended the call and Maria went back to searching the notebook for evidence "Where was that number to call if the notebook was found?" she scratched her head thinking "Oh yeah at the back, I think I'm gonna call it." she thought "Just to check whose number it is."

She dialed and then someone answered "Hello", she was silent and not sure what to say "OMG what should I say?"

"HELLO..."

"Hi is this SSScarlett... Johansson?" she dropped her forehead into her hand "What the hell Maria? Why did you say that you moron? So damn creative of you"  she said to herself.

"No, it's Anne Hathaway, don't call again" he said and ended the call.

"Oh shit, I messed up," Maria said then she tried to dial the number again, but the phone was switched off. "The guy probably switched off the phone so it can't be traced, he must be guilty, maybe that phone belonged to Jessica and he stole it cause it had evidence on it." she thought

________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, detective James went to the bridge to meet up with the nurse, he went there a little earlier than their meeting time to check the place before the nurse arrives. The whole area was dark, the only light source was the half moon light which wasn't enough. The bridge led to a forest, filled with very old trees that had long branches attached to each other causing complete blackness in the night. The bridge was made of ancient rocks thus naming it the Rocky bridge, rumor has it that there used to be a river underneath, but it's all dried up now. James heard a voice from behind the bushes at the entrance of the forest.

"I know you're here." detective James said "come out."

The nurse came out of the bushes saying "I was hiding cause I couldn't see if it was really you." she walked closer "I was afraid sir that someone else might have followed me here. You see detective I do wanna help you, but I have kids." she looked down "You need to give me assurance that my kids and I will be safe."

"Don't worry, I promise to keep you and your kids safe... just tell me what you came here to say."

"Someone from the Buckley's household is the murderer, I haven't figure out which one of them yet, but Dr Wes has been acting all mysterious ever since that woman got killed." she blew out her cheeks "Yesterday when his wife was admitted to the hospital , he ordered all the staff not to get any close to her without his consent or talk to her or to anyone about her, then he changed her visitation to basically only him even though her sickness is not even that serious." She racked her hand through her hair 

"Go on" James said

"Today I went to Mrs Buckley's room to deliver her breakfast, I asked her how she was doing and she gave me a relatively scary look. I waked to the table to put down the tray then towards the window opening it to let some sunlight enter the room and as I turned around, I found her standing right behind me." The nurse was shaking as she remembered.

"She whispered to me 'I saw them kissing'. When I ask her who and if that was related to the Sierra case, Dr Wes entered the room shouting at me. I was reprimanded heavily, he told me that my job was only to carry the food tray in." she sighed "I almost got fired, but that made me realize that something suspicious is definitely happening..."

"Thank you for sharing that information." James nodded "You did the right thing by telling me." He paused "Did you happen to know Sierra?"

"Not personally, but I heard of her though from the Bukleys cause I've been working with doctor Wes for years."

"Did she ever come visit Dr. Wes at work?"

"I don't think so, but maybe she did and I didn't know about the visit."

"Ok, Thank you again for your cooperation"

"You're welcome" she smiled at him

 "You need to leave now and I'll follow you to make sure you get home safely" Detective James said sternly "Don't tell anyone about what you told me and here's my number in case you need it or know any new information."

"Okay, thank you sir."
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Detective James went home only to find Maria anxiously waiting for him at the door like a puppy "I have news, 2 things to tell you about, but I'm not gonna tell you until you tell me first about your secret rendez-vous"

"I went to meet up with a nurse from the hospital, she had some information regarding the case." He then continued to tell her every thing the nurse told him "So what about you then? What's your news?"

"Well, as I said before there are two things, one is a really smart in my opinion..." she paused "The other one however is totally dumb," she said really fast "so which one do you want first."

"The dumb one, I need to know what trouble you got yourself into this time." James sounded angry.

"I've never been the troublemaker kind of person I swear, no one before tried to kill me and...."

"Ok, whatever, you're no troublemaker, just tell me what you did!" James interrupted

"I looked into the notebook again and there was this number at the back left  to call if the notebook was found, so I....."

"Oh Lord!" he lowered his face into his palms "Don't tell me you called it Maria, this is how you expose yourself even further to the murderer." He let out a long breath "Are you on a death mission here or something?" He said scolding her.

"I didn't say anything... I did mess up a little though" she sighed "I said I was looking for Scarlett... Johansson."

"Wow, you just can't waste a moment without joking."

"I was not joking, I just panicked ok?" tears started forming in her eyes "Why doesn't anyone believe that I'm taking this seriously?"

"I didn't mean to upset you" He said twisting his marriage ring on his finger "I don't want to put you in danger."

They were both silent for a moment then he proceeded saying "So what's the really smart thing you did?"

"I found the key to solving the murder" she smirked

"A real key or you're just speaking metaphorically?"

"Ummm, both I guess." She said proudly then walked over to the coffee table and grabbed the key "you see" she raised an eyebrow "Jessica was hiding it in the notebook which means that it's the key to something really important, otherwise she wouldn't bother hiding it."

"But we still have no idea what she could be hiding."

"I have an idea." She said excitedly "You said she sold her house so that key must open something at her friends' house where she's been staying." she straightened her back "Let's go check it out."

"No Maria, we are not going anywhere!" he said in a serious tone "We are going to wait till detective Ethan and I get a search warrant for the house and then we, meaning me and him not you, are going to check out what that key opens."

Maria was furious "Are you freaking kidding me? I'm the one who found that key. I'm trying to help you and you're just pushing me away."

"Did you expect me to go to work with you and tell my boss 'hey, it's bring your friends to work day' or just pretend you're my intern and keep lying? I'm already lying to protect you."

She looked down "You're right, What was I thinking? We should definitely wait for the search warrant. I'm going to sleep now... good night."

"Good night"

"Of course, I'm not waiting for anything, I'm gonna get there alone and since both David and James don't believe in me, I'm gonna prove them wrong cause I'm gonna solve the whole thing." Maria thought.
__________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning the police department was holding a press conference talking about the case "the autopsy showed a high percentage of immune suppressive drugs in the deceased blood,...."

"Oh my God, Ricky they know!" she was rubbing her hands together "How can you be making breakfast and ignoring this, we're going to jail." Nina said

"Don't worry and turn off that tv, there is no longer proof." he walked closer and held her hands in his tryin to calm her down "Didn't you say you buried it?"

"Yes, at my back garden"

"Then everything is gonna be okay." he kissed her hands
____________________________________________________________________________________

"So when will you get that search warrant for the house, we need to know what exactly that key is for." Maria told detective James as they walked to the police station

"I promise you Maria I'll look into it, but I need to get to work now" he paused and pointed towards the police station "You probably haven't noticed, from all of your chatting, but we actually reached the station, so you need to leave now." he headed inside then turned towards her "Thanks for walking me."

"Bye James." She said then noticed a young man in his police uniform looking at her, so she waited till detective James was gone then walked over to the guy. "I guess you're officer Liam."

"How do you know me?" he looked at her suspiciously

"Aren't you detective Ethan's son?"

"Indeed I am."

"I need your help" she said intensely "detective James is not listening to me, but I know something that can definitely lead us to Sierra's murderer."

"Tell me what you need."

Maria told him all of her story excluding the part where James told her not to tell the police about the notebook. She didn't want to get him in trouble for hiding evidence from the police.

"So you want to get into the house?" He scratched his head "I have a plan, when a patient is admitted to the hospital, their personal belongings are taken into the safety boxes at a room in the basement. We can go there and get Kiera's keys then go to the house; it's not breaking and entering when we've got the keys."

"Finally some support." she said excitedly

The two of them went to the hospital to start their plan then Liam said "distract the nurses at the desk and I'll go get the keys."

"Why do I have to be the distraction?" Maria said angrily

"You're really talkative, so you're a good distraction."

"I'm not, actually when I was in High school...."

"Save that story to the nurses." Liam interrupted laughing

Maria walked the nurses "Hi"

"Hello, do you need help? The older one said.

"I have a few questions about nursing and the hospital in general."

"Maybe we can talk after my shift." Another nurse said

"No wait, I need your help cause I have a deadline in exactly 37 minutes, I need to make a very important decision about my future, but it's a huge decision!"

"Okay, maybe we could talk for a few minutes." Said the third nurse and the others nodded in agreement.

"I've been into nursing ever since I was 15 when my mum was sick at the hospital, I noticed how important that job is and how kind and helpful nurses are. There was even that nurse who gave a chocolate bar when I was once crying and I really tried to keep it as a souvenir, but I couldn't cause I'm just a chocaholic. You know when I was young my dream was to live in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, I'd eat chocolate for every meal and hangout with Johnny Depp, I mean Willy Wonka. The funniest thing ever happened to me on my first..."

"I'm sorry miss we don't have the time to chat, we have patients here who need that time. So do you have any questions?" The old nurse said again

'Think Maria think!'
"Yeah totally, do you get paid well?" She finally asked

"Well, that depends on the hospital you're working at, but yeah in here we earn well."

"Thank you so mush that really helped." Maria said as she noticed Liam waving at her from a distance with a keychain in his hand then she walked over to him "and the oscar for best actress goes to, drum roll please, ME! The nurses totally bought the story."

"I'm sure of it." He laughed "let's go to the house before the doctor's shift ends, I went to check on him and they said his shift doesn't end in hours, so we have some time to go to the house safely without getting caught."

They arrived at the buckleys and Liam sat in his car parked two blocks away watching till Maria went in.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, back at the station, detectives Ethan and James were discussing the case.
"Here" detective Ethan said

"What's that? A new autopsy?"

"It's the one for the dagger, yesterday's report was about the body. This one says there were no fingerprints on the dagger even though a lot of the guests claimed to hold it during the party, meaning that the murderer was wearing gloves that erased all the prints. Also, the tests showed that there was a trace of someone else's blood on the dagger beside Sierra, so we need blood samples from everyone who attended."

"Remember during the interrogations, I think Miranda was wearing gloves." James said

"Honestly, I don't remember, but we need a way to squeeze the information out of these people cause they all know things, but no one is talking."

"We can talk to them again tomorrow after taking their blood samples."

"Ok, but now let's get to the lab to see the results, do you think the baby is Jackson's?" Said Ethan

"I strongly don't think he's the father and that's a huge motive for killing, it's also a motive for the real father too."

"let's just get the results before starting a theory about Jackson being the murderer."

They went to the lab and found Jackson still waiting there "hey detectives, they say the results are out, but I couldn't get them before the police."

"We'll see and let you know." Detective James said then the two detectives left to meet the doctor.

"The baby is not his, I waited till you got here first before telling him cause that makes him a huge suspect for the case." The doctor said

"That was the right decision doctor, we'll tell him."

On their way out, Jackson approached "so what did the doctor say?" He said

"Please take a seat" detective Ethan said

"It's not mine, isn't it detective?"

"I'm sorry, but it's what the DNA test said, didn't you know before about the pregnancy? Didn't you say before that you and Sierra had a pregnancy scare?" Ethan asked

Jackson broke into tears "yes, we did have a pregnancy scare, but that was almost 3 months ago and the doctors said the baby was only 6 weeks old."

"We'll get all the other guys tested too, but we also need a blood sample from you, we have new evidence from the autopsy." James said

"Sure detective, I have nothing to hide."

"Okay, so we'll get going now."

On their way out James told Ethan about what the nurse told him "what if Wesley was the father?"

"Maybe, we need to find a way to talk to Kiera."
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Maria walked out of the car going into the house when she noticed someone was already there, sneaking outof the house, it was a woman; she was tall, a little curvy and had a distinctive ginger straight hair.

"Oh my God, who is she?" Maria thought and she waited behind a tree until the woman was gone then she walked over to the door, she looked around the house, it was a simple two-room country house. She found Jessica's room since the other room had a double bed, so Maria figured it belonged to the couple.

Jessica's room was all messed up since she's been all busy the past couple of months. Maria kept looking around for locks that can be opened with that key. She kept looking for a whole hour until she almost lost hope "I should have waited for James, he's the real detective not me" she thought "I'm leaving, that was just a waste of time." Her phone rang, it was Liam "Maria hide, Wes is on his way in, I tried to talk to him to distract him, but he said he needed to get some stuff and he's opening the door, now he's in hide!"

Maria couldn't think, she was terrified, so she got in the wardrobe "I know I've always hated being so short, but thank God I am, that wardrobe is so small" she sat in the wardrobe when she heard someone getting in the room as she heard footsteps and the lights were turned on "Oh God, I wish that wardrobe lead to Narnia" she started searching quietly, without making any noise, for anything in the wardrobe for self defense in case he tried to kill her, but instead, she found a small wooden box hidden in a secret drawer inside the wardrobe which was almost invisible, so she tried to use the key on the lock and finally it worked "I really wanna dance right now or at least scream in happiness, but I don't wanna get killed." Suddenly Maria heard the sound of some glass breaking and a man's voice saying "shit", her heart beats were racing and she couldn't move, but eventually Liam texted her that the doctor was gone and it was safe to come out so she got out of the wardrobe and looked around the room in fear of Wesley still being there, but she noticed something different, all the hair, skin, teeth,... products that used to be on Jessica's dresser were no longer there "why did he take her products? They were all for women use not men, maybe he took them for his wife as presents to save money, that's just cheap. No wait didn't James say that Sierra had immune suppressive drugs in her blood? What if Dr Wesley used to put these drugs in her products and now that the police knows, he wanted to hide them."

Maria ran out of the house taking the wooden box with her and went to Liam's car, she told him about her Wesley is the murderer theory then they opened the box to see what's inside "wow, an mp3 players, I've haven't seen these in years, I remember they used to be really cool when I was like a 2nd grader or something." She told him

"Look at these papers, someone was blackmailing her."

"There's more from where that cream came from, back off my boyfriend!" One of the notes said and Maria read it out loud "who is that from?"

"I bet Eve." Liam answered

"OMG, Eve the model? That woman is creepy she was even following me"

"Ok, so you need to keep that box safe with you for now and tell detective James about Eve, but don't tell him about me, I'm not supposed to be working on this case, now I'll get you home and I'll go to the hospital to return the house key."

"Don't you need your distraction pal for the mission?"

"No thank you I'll just throw the key anywhere and they'd take it to the lost and found."

"Ok, oh I almost forgot, who was that woman walking out of the house when I was entering?"

"I haven't seen anyone, what does she look like?"

"Tall, ginger and a little curvy?"

"That's Miranda"

"What was she doing in the house?"

"Don't know, didn't even see her."

Liam drove Maria to James's house she went up the building then she realized she forgot her jacket in the car so she ran down the stair "of course he's still around, he couldn't have gone far in those 2 minutes" she thought

She walked down the street when she noticed Liam's car parked in a side street she found Liam in the car with a man "I know I saw that guy before, oh I remember his names was Jeremiah, Jason , oh Jackson now I remember, he's Sierra's boyfriend; but what the hell is he doing with Liam? I shouldn't have trusted him!"