Very sorry if I haven't been responding to questions or comments on this story or myy announcement board. I made the mistake of commenting on a REALLY popular Marvel story (this singular chain has about 1.3k comments) and every time I open the app I have 200+ notifications and it's hard to sort through them. I hope you all are doing well and staying safe! This chapter reveals a lot and has what I think is a big plot shocker. Please enjoy and don't forget to comment and vote! :)

My mind was racing as I carried bottles of booze back to the car. I had no idea why Mark Dazy's ring was on Joshua's doormat. However, this probably wasn't the best time to alert everyone of it, as Zoe was still visibly upset. Mike was at the wheel and pulled out of Joshua's driveway onto the freeway. All of us, except Mike, were taking swigs of the alcohol. We needed it.

Immediately when we got on the freeway, we hit traffic. Traffic is definitely not uncommon for DC, but this amount of traffic was unusual. I've lived in DC for the last three years and I hadn't seen this many people for a long time. Even Chip, who should be used to Los Angeles traffic, seemed surprised.

"Is something going on in DC?" Chip wondered aloud.

I looked out the window and saw cars for miles, "Not that I know of. The last time there was all this traffic and secret service was the presidential inauguration."

So we sat. For almost an hour without moving. Luckily, the alcohol got us through it. Me, Hailey and surprisingly Chip were comforting Zoe as she calmed down. She wasn't hyperventilating anymore which was nice but she was still shaken. Mike finally pulled off the freeway and to our motel.

I felt the metaphorical weight of the ring weighing me down. I was going to mention something to the rest of them about it, but I could never find the proper time. They were all understandably focused on Zoe at the moment, so bringing up this bombshell wasn't going to help anyone.

We all entered one room. Today was exhausting mentaly and we were all so tired. I just wanted to collapse on a bed and sleep. It seemed like everyone else wanted to too, except of course Erica had other plans.

She slapped a small stack of papers on the tiny desk in the room. Curiously, we all peered over her shoulder at them.

"I stole these off Joshua's desk when he brought us into the office. I wasn't going to let that opportunity get away from us and waste the trip. I bumped into the desk and grabbed whatever I could, and hid it in my shirt. Let's see if there is something useful in this stack of papers. Something that could be used as evidence." Erica said as she shifted through the papers.

We started to look through them, but they mostly seemed like budget stuff for the campaign fundraiser event. Costs, projections, sponsor pledges and other random stuff. Nothing important. I started to feel defeated until something piqued Jawa's interest.

It was a pink sticky note stuck between two papers. In Joshua's awful handwriting it seemed to say: 'Joshua Duncan' and under that, '200 K St NE Washington DC.' Immeditalily, I recognized the words under the name to be an address. It had the same format of my previous apartment so I am assuming this is an apartment as well.

"What does this mean?" Mike asked, referring to the Joshua Duncan part of the sticky note. We know that Joshua Hallal stole the identity of Joshua Duncan, which means...

"That must be where the real Joshua Duncan is!" I exclaimed. All of their heads turned to me.

"Think about it!" I continued, "Joshua Hallal stole the identity of Joshua Duncan a long time ago, probably like five or six years ago. If Joshua Hallal killed the real Joshua Duncan, that would raise suspicion and scrutiny about Joshua Hallal if he had his identity. But if Joshua Duncan was alive and agreed to Joshua's identity swap, then Joshua Hallal wouldn't have to worry. But the real Joshua Duncan is out in the world somewhere and I suspect he's at that address."

They thought about that for a moment. "It makes sense," Jawa said slowly, "I'm sure if we go to that address and the real Joshua Duncan is there, we can get some answers."

I nodded. Right as Mike replied to say something, my phone rang. I put a finger up to let them know I was going to take it and answered the call. I walked in the bathroom to have some privacy.

I didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway, "Hello?"

"Ben!" Audrey's voice came cheerfully through the phone, "How are you doing?"

"Uh..." I stuttered, "Good. Pretty good. Why are you calling me?"

"Well I have the results of the lab test you asked me for," Audrey said.

"The one that got us arrested by the CIA?" I asked playfully.

"Yep," Audrey said with a laugh, "That one. I'm sorry about that by the way. I didn't know what was going on until I was on the plane going to Nebraska, so I had to hastily put together a plan for you all to escape. Jumping out of the plane was all I could come up with."

"Wait so you rigged the engine to explode?" I asked. I suspected as much but it would be good to hear it confirmed.

"Yes. I've gotta admit; that wasn't my smartest plan I've ever had. While I was doing some 'pre-flight checks' I rigged some oil to spill in the engines when I set them off. When we were over that field I set the engines on fire so that we could do an emergency drop. That's why I was trying to shut you up. It's true that planes could glide all the way to a safe landing without any engines but the bozos agents we were with had no idea about that, including the pilot. And it seems that you all got out safely and met up with Jawa and Chip, so that's good."

I thought Audrey had planned all of that. I was right.

"Okay, so we never got to finish that conversation about the residue I found on the rim of Mark's cup. Like I said before, it was Xenya, a long-term drug to help with allergies. The substance isn't anything suspicious, it's not like a military poison or anything. In fact, they advertise it on TV. It's very easy to get and many people take it. You're not supposed to take it if you're over sixty, but it's most definitely not lethal if someone older, like Mark, takes it. The only reason that older people aren't supposed to take it is because it makes them super drowsy for a few weeks. But it can't kill you, even with an overdose of it, even though it is a strong medication. And with the amount on the cup, it's not even a full dose. So it wasn't an overdose. But like we talked about before, he could have died from drowsiness but that would take weeks. He was dead the next morning."

"How and more importantly, who?" I asked curiously, "And do you suspect foul play?"

Audrey paused a second before her answer, "I'm not saying anything right now about that. But I analyzed the DNA. Mark's, obviously, was on the cup. And Diana Dazy had tiny traces of DNA on it, but not suspicious as she made the food. Here's the surprise to me: Hailey's DNA was on it."

"Huh?" I asked, confused why that was surprising, "Hailey took and hid the glasses for us to investigate on. Of course her DNA was on it."

"Yeah, but it was predominantly only on the rim of Mark Dazy's cup. Sure, there was DNA on the slides and whatever from her holding it, but that was only a little. There was a LOT on the rim of his cup."

It took me a second to process all of this, "Wait..." I said slowly, "That was where the allergy drug was right? Are you saying-?"

"Yes," Audrey said, cutting me off, "I think Hailey Dazy put the allergy drug on the rim of his cup. He has never taken the drug before until the night before he died. Why she put it on the rim of her father's cup, I have no idea. But it's not normal."

I couldn't even think. I hung up the phone wordlessly, anxious to hear what Hailey had to say. I didn't want it to, but it kept crossing my mind: Did Hailey Dazy kill her father?

I banged the bathroom doors open when I exited. The rest of them stopped mid-conversation and stared at me, wondering why I had made such a ruckus coming out of the bathroom.

I paid the rest of them no attention and locked my eyes on Hailey, "Hailey. Explain. Now."

Realization dawned on her and I saw fear in her eyes. The rest of them saw it too. I could tell she was contemplating hard on what she was going to say next. She looked like a deer in headlights.

"I don't...what? I don't know what you are talking about." Hailey said that so uncertainly that anyone could tell she was lying.

"Don't lie to me again," I sneered, getting uptight, "There's proof. Explain right now."

The rest of my friends looked super confused, even Erica.

"What's going on?" Zoe asked carefully.

Hailey suddenly burst into tears, "Fine! Okay? Fine! I murdered my father."

I didn't want to hear it, I wanted it to be false. But here was her confession.

"WHAT?!" Mike yelled. Everyone looked shocked and even Erica seemed to be thrown for a loop.

"Here, let me explain," Hailey sobbed, "But I swear, I didn't mean to kill him. It was an accident."

"How do you accidentally kill someone? And if it was an accident, why didn't you say anything? Did Joshua put you up to this?" Erica demanded.

"Let me explain," Hailey cried, tears streaming down her face, "Let me start about two months before Dad passed away. I came home from New York and dad seemed so stressed out. There were dozens of budget meetings, controversies and issues in the government. It was not only taking a mental toll on Dad, but a physical one too. He wasn't smiling and happy anymore and worked himself ragged on about no sleep. He's not young anymore. He was already seventy eight. Joshua noticed this too. He tried to lift the burden off of my dad but Dad never let him. Everyone in the family was concerned. We begged him to retire and let Joshua take over, as he was capable and knew what he was doing. Dad refused but we didn't want him to go through another 2 year term. So about a month before the house election, Joshua approached me with an idea. Give my father, without his knowledge, this strong allergy medication. My cousin William is allergic to hay and since he lives on a farm, needs strong allergy medication to combat it. He takes Xenya, which is super strong but super effective. The only thing about Xenya is it makes him super drowsy. He only needs to take it once a month, but whenever he does, he sleeps about three days straight. You're only supposed to use it if you're under sixty years old. But Joshua did some research and apparently the reason for that is because if you're over sixty and take it, you just become super drowsy for three weeks. It doesn't negatively affect their health, or so we thought, if a senior takes it, it just makes them tired for a long time. So Joshua said that if we secretly give it to Dad, he won't be able to run for office again. Doctors will tell him no and tell him to take it easy. That way he'll not be able to run and he can take it easy. And after the election is over, he'll make a full recovery. And Joshua would be the new house of representatives member and uphold the same values Dad had. Part of the reason Dad didn't want to retire is the fear that Susan, his competitor and a crazy lady, would win. At least Joshua knew what he was doing and studied under my father. I thought Xenya would just make Dad a little bit sick for a few weeks, but definitely not lethally sick. Joshua told me Dad would be in a peaceful state and I believed him. The research added up. So that night at dinner, I stole William's meds and carefully put them on the rim of Dad's cup. Whenever he drank, the medicine would go right in him. I thought it was fool-proof."

"Then why is he dead?" I asked.

"We didn't factor in one part. The other medications Dad was on. He was on a heart medication that was very strong. When Xenya mixed with his heart meds, that's what caused his death. The chemicals didn't mix well with each other and caused a lethal heart attack. His heart medicine did the opposite they were supposed to. They caused a heart attack instead of preventing one. Of course, Joshua and I figured all of this out the next day. We were both heartbroken. I didn't know it would turn out like this. I literally killed my own dad."

"As messed up as it is, it was technically an accident," Jawa told her, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"When the cops came the next day, it looked like a heart attack. That's what they labeled it as and that's what my whole family thought. Although it was uncommon for the Dazy family, it wasn't unheard of. I wanted to speak up. But Joshua convinced me not to. Dad was dead either way. It wouldn't help anyone if I was in jail. It would just cause family drama and heartbreak. So I kept my mouth shut, with the guilt eating away at me."

"At the farm, you said that Diana asked you to get rid of the stuff at dinner, including the cup with the evidence. You could have gotten away with it if you didn't save the stuff. Why did you hide it and go against what your sister said?" Erica asked her.

"My sister blamed me for Dad's death. She said the stress of me working in New York caused the heart attack. I was worried that if push came to shove and they investigated a homicide, Diana would blame me, using proof that I got rid of the evidence. I was fairly confident she would try to maybe even frame me, without knowing I actually did it, and give the cops proof that I got rid of the evidence.So I hid all of the stuff from that night that Diana asked me to get rid of. It would look super suspicious if I got rid of it and at this point, I was doing anything I could to make sure no one figured out about me. That's also why I made it a point when I showed you guys the evidence, to run my hands over everything. When you guys came and asked about his death, I knew you would want evidence. I wanted to make it look like I had nothing to hide and show you the stuff, further proving my innocence. Why would the guilty party show investigators the evidence? I also knew you guys were going to test it, so that's why I made sure to touch and run my hands over everything while you were looking. That way if you found my DNA on it, you saw that I touched it. And this entire time, I was so stressed you were going to find out. I wanted to admit it, but as things got further and further along, I never found the right time. I feel so bad and you have every right to arrest me. I'm sorry. I really am."

It took a second to process the whole confession. I've gotta admit, that was pretty genius. She thought all of it through for the most part. I just... I couldn't believe it. Wow. I don't think all of it even sunk in yet.

"Wait... so does that mean... case closed? Joshua isn't up to anything suspicious and we figured out what happened to Mark Dazy?" I asked slowly. As much as I was glad we solved it, I didn't want this to be over. Not yet anyway. I had a feeling there was more to it.

"It is... isn't it?" MIke asked uncertainty.

Erica shook her head, "We may have solved what happened to Mark. But it seems like Joshua convinced Hailey to do that to her father. Maybe he knew about the effect Xenya would have on his heart medication. After all of this, I think that Joshua is hiding something else. Something bigger. There are still so many unanswered questions."

"But what do we do? We don't have a clear idea of what we're investigating anymore." Zoe pointed out.

"Yes we do," Erica responded. She held up the sticky note with the address of the real Joshua Duncan, "This."

Dammit hailey haha. This chapter was shorter than usual but I needed to cut it off here so it would flow better. Next chapter we'll reveal who the real Joshua Duncan is and Ben will have to deal with the weight of Hailey's confession. Predictions? Don't forget to vote! :) Thank you! See ya soon!