One Hundred and sixty

CHAPTER 160

"I'll end our conversation here."

Ace got up from the chair, he was about to leave when finally Amanda tried to hold him back in a really tense atmosphere.

"Give me my money today," Amanda said to the point, she wanted the deal to go through as it should. Ace turned around, she looked at Amanda coldly. "You can use my house, it's close to the forest. I haven't gone there in a long time, I left it. And, the police won't come there anymore."

"How do you know?"

Amanda shrugged, then took out the photos she had and placed them on the table. "Alicia and the policeman already came there to check. They didn't find anything. And I heard they were going to leave me alone so they could focus on finding you."

Ace frowned curiously. He didn't know when Amanda's crimes had grown to this extent. His strong hands grabbed the photos Amanda had placed on the table, and he looked at them. They were photos from the CCTV camera video footage. The picture quality was not very good, but Ace could clearly see the faces of Alicia and Nicholas who were walking around there. Ace examined the photos in her hand one by one, then turned her gaze to Amanda.

"You can keep those pictures. You must really miss 'The Old Alicia' who doesn't hate you yet, right?"

A snort sounded from Ace. He squeezed the corner of the photos in his hand, then put them away in the pocket of his black jacket. "There's a man I'd really like to get rid of. Should I pay you for that too?"

"Ahahaha, it must be Nicholas, the handsome detective who took the whole school by storm, right?" Amanda bit her lip, her mind going wild. She imagined Nicholas' sexy body when they were in school, and how cool he was back then! "I remember how thrilling it was, when he was trying to find our friends' killer! It was a hard experience to forget. I was only after Alicia, but got caught up in a strange murder case. And it turned out... it was you, Ace. How annoying."

"Tsk, you really want to relive the past?"

"That murderer... was you," Amanda said with emphasis. One eyebrow raised, "But let's forget the past. I need your money, you need my help. Deal?"

"Deal."

---

Nicholas grasped Alicia's hand tightly as they entered the public cemetery for citizens in New York City. It was an ordinary cemetery, in another corner of the city. They walked together as Alicia's hand held a bouquet of beautiful, fresh lily flowers. They walked inside, towards a grave that had been tidied up by the funeral team.

Lowering his glasses, Nicholas also looked at Alicia who was beside him. He slowly released Alicia's hand and said, "This is Lily's grave, and that's Jill's grave. They are buried next to each other. I'm sure Lily would be happy to sleep with her father, the man she loved the most until the end."

Alicia listened to Nicholas' words until they were finished, then proceeded to walk closer to the grave. She crouched down, the surface of her hand grazing the headstone that bore Lily's name, as well as the date of her death. Alicia's eyes glazed over as she imagined the last seconds of Lily's life as she gulped down the cyanide in her body.

Her memory returned to Elena, one of her friends at Golden High School. She also died from potassium cyanide in her coffee at breakfast time. Alicia still remembered how painful Elena was when her body convulsed and how the end of her struggle against the poison throughout her body was.

"Lily... may you be at peace in heaven," Alicia whispered empathetically.

Finding Lily, the sick but enthusiastic and spirited little girl.

Meanwhile, Nicholas and Alicia stood by the grave, surrounded by the silence of the cemetery. The moon cast a soft light on the tombstones as Nicholas continued, "I know this is hard for you, Alicia. But finding peace is so important. Lily and Jill deserve our memories."

Alicia, still crouched by Lily's grave, could not shake the haunting memories of her two friends' tragic deaths. Her mind was swirling with the mystery surrounding the murders at Golden High School, and now, with Ace's return, that past seemed more complicated than ever.

As Nicholas spoke, a sudden gust of wind whipped up the lily in Alicia's hand. Its scent enveloped her senses, triggering a flood of memories. She remembered the joy Lily brought to everyone around her and the heartbreaking loss when Lily's life was taken. Determination filled Alicia's eyes as she whispered, "I will not rest until I find the truth behind their deaths. Lily was sick, but she didn't have to die this way."

Nicholas placed a comforting hand on Alicia's shoulder, sharing her determination. "We will uncover the secrets of Golden High together. Justice will win, Alicia."

Little did they know, as they left the cemetery, a shadow lurked in the darkness, watching their every move. It was the masked man who was now pulling out a cell phone from his pocket to talk to someone.

"Hello, it's me. Can we meet at my place? I have the latest information."

Nicholas and Alicia, unaware of the looming danger, left the cemetery with the weight of the mystery on their shoulders. The masked man, hidden in the shadows, walks towards the mysterious meeting place, setting the stage for the next twist in their intertwined fates.

Back at The Fixer's hideout, Angela waits anxiously. She paces around the dimly lit room, glancing at the clock every second. As the door creaks open, Angela enters with a stoic expression. Angela's eyes widened as she anticipated the information she had gathered.

"All right, just say it," she demanded, unable to hide her impatience.

The man called The Fixer leaned against the wall, his eyes calculating. "Nicholas and Alicia visited the cemetery. It seems they're looking for answers. Are you connected to the deaths of someone named Jill and Lily?"

"No, but I know who committed the murders. It had to be Ace."

The man grinned. "Doesn't that mean you only need to find information about Jill to find Ace?"