-15-

"What?! You think I've got something to do with Cross's kidnapping because...Because of this?" Eleanor asked, her face frozen in disbelief. Her complexion  turned pale pink as she dumped Cross's cellphone on the interrogation table.

"It's a voice message in which you're threatening to kill him Eleanor," Detective Whyte stated rather calmly.

Eleanor said nothing and instead, just gaped at him with her mouth open.

"I know nothing about this Officer—" her voice started as loud and ended a soft whisper "—I swear to God."

"Give me an honest answer Eleanor," he paused. "You send someone a three minutes voice message, ranting on and on about how much you hate him and how you wouldn't hesitate to shoot him in the head if you get the chance and just the very next day, the person goes missing. What do you make of this?"

"I sent that message because—" she dropped her voice to a lower octave. "—because..."

"Because?" Detective Whyte urged.

"Because I had heard that he had just gotten someone pregnant okay? There!" She threw up her hands. "I said it!"

"Why would you care about that? As far as I know, the relationship between the both of you ended a month back."

Eleanor said nothing.

"You don't understand do you Officer?" She asked, wiping a tear off her face with the back of her hand.

"I don't understand what?"

"I sent that note Officer, because...because I still loved him...and was very hurt when I heard the news. I didn't know what to do..."

"And when you found out that he had slept with Katherine your best friend, you decided to kidnap him to possibly, kill him? Because of your love for him?"

Eleanor looked horrified. "What?! That was over a month ago!"

"The jig is up Eleanor most beautiful." He dropped his pen onto the table with an unnecessary flair of finality. "I'm sorry but I'd have to take—"

"Wh...what did you just say?" Eleanor's lower lip trembled as she spoke, her red puffy eyes wide as if in severe shock.

"I'll have to take—"

"No...No...Not that."

Detective Whyte gave her a long blank look.

"What did you just call me?"

"Eleanor Most Beautiful?" Detective Whyte gaped at her like some lunatic.

"Wh...Where did you hear that from?" Her voice sounded urgent, shaky.

"Isn't that what everyone calls you? Katherine called you that when I was interrogating her yesterday."

"Ka...Katherine?"

"Yeah. Look—"

Eleanor tore her eyes away from Detective white and focused them on the table. "But that doesn't make any sense." She said to herself.

"What doesn't make sense?"

"No...this doesn't make any sense." Eleanor mumbled to herself. "What did Katherine look like?"

"Huh?"

"How did Katherine look like?"

"Erm. Black hair, blue eyes—"

"Oh My God!" Eleanor gasped.

"What in God's name are you talking about?"

"The person you spoke to Officer," she shook her head, "was not Katherine."