Nine

CHAPTER 9

Golden High Hall room, 2:30 pm.

It was like Alicia had no other choice but to follow Nicholas' request. After all, Nicholas was right about her curiosity about James' death. He wanted to know if all of this was a coincidence or if it all had something to do with Alicia's past.

"How did it go? You've made your choice, haven't you?"

Alicia woke up from her reverie. She looked around, her hands rubbing her wrists awkwardly, before she finally said, "I don't have any other choice, do I?"

Nicholas laughed softly. He nodded his head, agreeing with Alicia's words. Then, the man with the tall body pointed at Alicia. "But you won't be carelessly involved in the case. I'll be leading the case and you only have to make a move if I ask you to. Outside of that, you're not allowed to investigate separately. If it's an emergency, or it looks like you really need to investigate alone, you should call me."

Nicholas' hand stretched forward.

"What?"

"Your cell phone. You need to keep my number, and so do I," Nicholas said.

But Alicia turned her face the other way. "I don't want to."

"If you don't, I'll assume you're involved in James' death."

Alicia immediately turned around. The ash-haired woman chuckled in annoyance, before finally taking out a cell phone from her pocket and handing it to Nicholas. Nicholas was busy typing numbers on the screen, saving the number, and then calling her. Now, they both had their phone numbers saved.

"Remember, you can't do the investigation alone, it's beyond your responsibility and it's dangerous."

The woman standing in front of Nicholas gave a short snort as she snatched her phone back. "Now you're warning me and looking concerned."

"I'm a detective, it's normal that I care."

"Whatever."

Alicia Perth, the new student who had just transferred to Golden High School was now caught up in a case of violence and accidental murder. Alicia is forced to follow the orders of a handsome, ambitious detective like Nicholas Gray. and this is where it all begins.

***

Detective Nic sat with his legs crossed and clutched his personal journal as he returned to the hall. While Alicia sat next to him like a pet forced to submit or be punished if it resisted--and ran away.

Jake had managed to get Elena from her room and now they sat in front of Detective Nic and Alicia. Elena, had dim emerald eyes with shoulder-length blonde hair. Her expression was tense as the handsome detective Nic looked at her questioningly.

"Why is she here?" Elena looked at Alicia with a displeased expression.

But Nicholas just shrugged his shoulders and replied, "It's my procedure, he's also one of the witnesses here." Elena rolled her eyes lazily. Then, Nicholas continued. "You must have heard that someone accused you of having an affair with Ace Blake the CEO's son, right?"

"So, someone accused me of having an affair?" asked Elena punctuated by a scornful snicker. "This is ridiculous! I'm a loyal friend and partner, cheating is not in my dictionary."

Nicholas squinted suspiciously and glanced at Jake. "Ace says you're flirting with him. Is that true?"

Elena laughed suddenly, her narrow eyes seeming to disappear from their place. She then shook her head and stopped laughing. The expression on her face turned serious. "All the girls at Golden High will always try to flirt with him, detective. Who would want to turn down an Ace at this school?" Elena said ambiguously. "But what I did yesterday was just because of a silly dare given by a friend. I wasn't really flirting with him, it would have bothered Jake anyway."

The emerald-eyed girl now looked more relaxed. She seemed to occasionally play with the ends of her curly hair. And Alicia, who had been quietly observing, noticed the rapid change in Elena's expression. The tension she had displayed at the beginning had softened. Elena seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere of the investigation in front of her.

"Look, the elites in this school said that you left the hall during the gathering." Nicholas rubbed his chin, then raised one eyebrow. "Can you tell me what exactly you were doing and where you went at that time?"

"I went to my room." Elena rubbed the bottom of her nose, then glanced to the right. "I picked up my journal that was left there."

Unfocused eyes, awkward movements and a voice that slowed to a hesitant tone made Alicia draw an opinion. That's Alicia's division working as quickly as possible over there.

Alicia then approached Nicholas and whispered, "He's lying." Alicia glared at Elena who was now engrossed in looking at her nails. "Try to lure her with another question!"

Nicholas nodded quickly and turned to Elena. "Elena, what kind of person do you think James is?"

Elena looked up. There was a moment of silence before the green-eyed girl finally mumbled under her breath and said, "James is an annoying person, arrogant, he even used to take over my line in the cafeteria," she said curtly. "Yeah, right, Jake?" Elena asked in agreement.

Jake, who was now being looked at seriously by Elena, just nodded quickly. Supporting his girlfriend's testimony. Making Alicia and Nicholas throw suspicious glances at each other.

Elena described James in a bad light. Not a single good thing about James came out of Elena's mouth. Could Elena's dislike (or hatred) be the key to why James was found dead in the main hallway?

Could Elena be the culprit?

"Does James bother you often?" asked Nicholas.

Elena shook her head. "You know, his girlfriend is very over-protective. Who would dare to get close to him?"

Alicia now understood. Elena did judge people from a narrow perspective. Drawing conclusions from only one side. Alicia moved closer to Nic and whispered, "When was the last time she saw James?"

"You don't seem to like James and Brittany, do you," Nicholas concluded. Meanwhile, Elena just shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Have you ever gotten into trouble with them?"

Elena shook her head. "No, I didn't. I just felt like Brittany always wanted to beat me at everything and James took Jake out of the first team. They're a bad pair, I guess," she said hesitantly.