The bodyguard standing behind Linda said, “Ms. Yancey, we’ve called the police. They’re on their way here.”“What use will they be?” Linda shrieked, clearly displeased. The police would come, open the case, interrogate suspects and investigate the matter. Even if they manage to find the stolen diamonds, so what?Could her show wait till then?“Melanie, what do you mean?”Linda was pinning all her hopes on Melanie. Melanie sniffed out the entire safe thoroughly, and turned around to say, “I smell a lingering scent on the safe, which smells like a mix of perfume and tobacco. If you can gather everyone here and line them up with a gap in between each person, I’ll be able to quickly pinpoint who touched that safe. That’ll make the matter easier to investigate.”Linda’s eyes lit up. “How could I forget the talent that you are?”She chuckled, and instructed the bodyguard behind her, “Make everyone line up and await checks!”“Yes!”The bodyguards split up to maintain an orderly qu
“What makes you so sure?”Linda’s right-hand man was puzzled.Melanie saw the curious look on Linda’s face, and explained, “When Adam lost his temper last night and you scolded Mr. Wright in front of everyone, he smelled only of tobacco. Not this brand of cologne that he was wearing just now.“I suppose it’s because he must have been very busy preparing for the show over the past few days, and didn’t bother with his usual luxuries.“When you called him and Kelly over to explain themselves, I paid close attention and noticed that he hadn’t applied any cologne at that time. However, I also noticed a faint smell of cologne after he queued up. He’s smarter than Kelly, and used only a little to create the impression that he had applied the cologne much earlier on.“But no matter how faint the scent is, a professional will be able to pick up the top note mixed with a bit of the middle note instead of the base note, which should be present had he applied the cologne much earlier on.”“I
Melanie and Annie followed Linda’s right-hand man backstage.Adam had his makeup on, and had changed into his outfit for the runway. A yellow diamond larger than the size of a pigeon’s eggs hung before his bare chest. The yellow diamond looked exquisitely cut and was surrounded by pave diamonds which looked like stars accentuating the beauty of the moon, yet not stealing the limelight of the yellow diamond featured in the middle.The Sun and Moon collection was indeed dazzling and mesmerizing.“I see that you’ve found it!” Melanie exclaimed.Linda smiled. “I did, all thanks to you!”“I had my men secretly follow Mr. Wright who, as we suspected, wanted to flee with the diamonds. He even had plane tickets booked. We restrained his wife and child and lay in wait for him at his house. It was a breeze finding the Sun and Moon collection after that!” Linda’s right-hand man looked admiringly at Melanie. “Our men all praised Miss Melanie for her brilliant idea, which saved us from m
No one knew if Linda truly agreed with Jeffrey or was being strong-armed into agreeing with him. That famous photographer was quickly located and dragged over, and they all began discussing Jeffrey’s proposal.With Linda and Jeffrey physically present, the photographer had no choice but to agree with it.While Melanie and Adam were still partnering up during the next photographing session, the two of them had almost zero physical interaction.During the interval, Melanie would occasionally peek at that visitor who had come uninvited from her place on the stage. She would intentionally narrow her eyes, hoping that he would see her death stare.A few hours later, the photographing session ended.Jeffrey’s car was waiting outside.Melanie immediately got in and asked, “Where’s Annie?”“I had someone send her back to the hotel first,” Jeffrey said. He had already arranged everything properly so that they could have some private time to talk.“Isn’t it a bit too risky for you to come over t
“It’s a long story.”Jeffrey had a mixed expression on his face as he paused and said, “When you’re free later, I’ll tell you the story between my parents.”“I’m free now,” Melanie said. She wanted to listen to it.All she knew was that the Morgan Group had been under the control of Jeffrey’s grandfather. Only after his passing did Jeffrey inherit his authority. Jeffrey’s grandfather’s only son had two sons, and the oldest son was Stephen’s father. It was said that he was sickly and had been staying overseas for a long time for the sake of his health. As a result, his presence in the company was very lacking.However, the only son of Jeffrey’s grandfather, who was also Jeffrey’s father, was almost invisible. It was said that Jeffrey’s grandfather disliked him a lot, which was why he passed the power over the family straight to his grandson, Jeffrey.Jeffrey had never mentioned his parents to her, so Melanie was naturally very curious about it. She couldn’t wait to hear more about
The international judges all gave Aiden high scores, and the judges from the country didn’t give him any lower scores either.On one hand, Aiden’s perfume blending skills were top-notch. On the other hand, everything he did was within the parameters of the rules. He was very well prepared, so his score couldn’t be that low.“Contestant number eleven. Do you have any questions about your score?”“No!” Aiden intentionally said out loud and looked at the surrounding contestants with a smile, “I just didn’t expect that there would be such difference between my score and Ms. Melanie’s!”“I thought that Ms. Melanie is the best among all the young perfumers here...”“My apologies for making such a difference the first time in this exhibition match... I think this is what you call... Thanks for showing kindness?”Aiden then gave a sneer at the remaining contestants. While their scores weren’t revealed yet, they were not that famous compared to Melanie. He hadn’t even heard the names of t
“Pamela, you’ve written on your card that you only used seven ingredients, and you only used essences that you’ve extracted from flowers and herbs that you planted. Is this correct?” a foreign judge asked without pulling his punches. “Ah...” When Pamela opened her mouth, it was still that familiar strange voice. Melanie’s eyes moved. Her voice confirmed her suspicions! She was that warden from Mount Coloss! Could it be that she had recovered her memories? That she remembered her name? Just when Melanie was thinking about that, the entire scene was in an uproar. “She’s a mute!” “Is she deaf too?” The host immediately called for order. “Please remain quiet, everyone! On her registration form, she wrote down that she can’t speak, but she can still hear.” “Are there any friends and family of hers here that can translate what she’s trying to say?” the host asked again. Melanie turned around and looked backstage. At the edge of the stage, the siblings Shane and Pam we
“If you’re in doubt about the ingredients she used, she can leave all the fragrances she personally made here. You can do whatever analysis you want. All seven ingredients wouldn’t cost more than 200 dollars in total anyway—it wouldn’t even be enough to buy feed for our cattle!”Shane was feeling much more confident now. Not only did he translate what Pamela wanted to say, he even added his own wrath into his tone.Pamela once again explained that the cost of her fragrance was very low, and that was enough to shut up all the foreign doubters!“The perfume made by contestant number sixteen is quite fresh and fragrant. Smelling it is enough to make me feel relaxed. Its smell and the method used to make it are both simple, and on top of that, the cost is very low. All of this fits the criteria of this competition. It’s only natural for her to win the first place!”The judges from within the country summarized in time.Aiden bit his lip. The staff member that had given him the hand si