Seventy

CHAPTER 70

Greek's House, New York.

"Why are you two only here by the way?"

Nicholas and Alicia were immediately invited to sit with the owner of the house in her living room with a cup of hot tea and gingerbread cookies as a treat. They didn't do much for a few minutes, other than watching Veronica sip her tea which was still occasionally puffing hot steam from its surface repeatedly.

Both of their eyes were also presented with an incredibly luxurious view once they entered and sat there.

The polished white walls seemed to match the expensive furniture around them. There's no denying that the spacious living room is one of the most luxurious with expensive electronics and other displays of high artistic value. One of them, an original painting of Les Femmes D'Alger by Pablo Picasso, was sold at Christie's New York auction house for five hundred million dollars last year. Veronica can even own it easily.

Not to mention, the gilded urns that are neatly lined up with several award certificates on the table. There were also pictures of their children who seemed to have made a lot of achievements.

"Should we bring in a special squad to check up on council members like you?" Alicia retorted sarcastically. "I think the two of us are more than enough."

To Nicholas' surprise, she hurriedly replied, "Are you alone, ma'am?" Nicholas' eyes then confirmed the surroundings. "You said you have two children. But I haven't seen them at all." then his gaze shifted back to the woman sitting in front of him.

Veronica then looked at Nicholas and Alicia in turn, before finally lifting the corners of her thin lips. "They just went on vacation to Miami and will be back next week," she said. "I'm worried about their psychological state if they grieve about their father's death for too long."

Alicia's eyes, which had been darting around, finally caught sight of a family photo among the many others hanging on the wall. It showed Veronica with a large man and her two sons, aged around twelve and seventeen.

"But I don't have to worry, because I have plenty of guards here," Veronica continued casually. She then picked up her teacup again and sipped it in a graceful manner. As if soaking up every sip that flowed down her throat.

"By the way, are you very close to Miss Rose?" asked Nicholas.

The blue eyes seemed to gasp for a moment, but after a moment her face relaxed as usual. "I know her because she is my husband's secretary," she said as she put the teacup back on the table. Then she looked at Nicholas and Alicia with a mysterious gaze. "It's only natural that I worry when my husband gets too close to another woman, isn't it?"

"That...," Alicia caught the woman's attention now. And at the same time, Alicia pointed at Veronica's family photo from earlier with just a lift of her chin. "Do you only have one family photo in this house?"

Veronica then turned her head slowly in the direction Alicia was referring to. It was a picture of Veronica and her small family dressed in all black and sitting side by side on a long chair. "We didn't have much time to do a photo session," she explains.

"They're all smiling there, but why aren't you?" Alicia asked, quietly but urgently.

Which made Veronica feel suddenly uncomfortable. She pushed her brown hair back and hugged herself. "I don't really like being photographed."

"Is your relationship all right?" Alicia asked.

Feeling cornered, Veronica finally chose to get up from the sofa. She wanted to leave her two guests. "I think I need to go to the toilet for a while. Can you wait for me here?"

But before either of them could reply, another well-dressed woman approached Veronica. "Excuse me, Mrs. Smith." which certainly made everyone's attention turn to her now.

It was Miss Rose, Rich Greek's personal secretary.

It seemed that the slender woman had not yet noticed the presence of Nicholas or Alicia there, to the point that Veronica had to blink her eyes several times as a code for the emergency in front of her.

"Miss Rose," Nicholas called cautiously.

And sure enough, like seeing a creepy ghost in broad daylight, the woman screamed and staggered backward when she realized it was Nicholas who had called her just now. She immediately felt her heart skip a beat after finding Nicholas standing and looking at her intently. His body could not resist the trembling that attacked him suddenly, so it seemed that even to stand up, he could not afford it.

Their eyes met now. "S-sorry, detective," she said nervously. "I don't know anything, really."

Nicholas mumbled briefly, before finally letting the woman sit beside Alicia. "Why aren't you answering my calls? Are you deliberately avoiding police questioning?"

The woman then looked up in panic and shook her head quickly. "No, it's not like that. I lost my cell phone on the way to work," she argued. Although Alicia knew it, Rose's voice clearly showed the lie in her.

Then a short snort sounded from Veronica. "No wonder you came here today." She leaned back and gave the blonde woman an unhappy look. "Forget about the cell phone, I'll buy you a new one tomorrow."

Instead of being concerned, Alicia felt suspicious about Veronica's words. "You're not planning on preventing Miss Rose from coming here because of us, are you?" she asked simply.

Which made Veronica even more annoyed with the young girl. She hissed sarcastically and said, "Watch your language, young lady."

"Miss Rose, while you're here. I'm going to ask you a few questions," Nicholas said. Which instantly cut off the argument between Alicia and Veronica. "So, be cooperative."

"O-okay, detective."

Nicholas then turned to Veronica. "Madam, could you please sit back down if you're not going to the toilet?" he said with command. And she sat down, feeling bad for the detective.

Nicholas then cleared his throat. "Miss Rose, is it true that on the day Rich Greek died, you were the one who ordered the food and drinks for the meeting?"

Rose, the woman in the white blouse and knee-length red skirt immediately looked down in fear as she answered, "Yes, detective."

"Is it true, that you were also the one who helped the waitress place the order on the day of the meeting?" Nicholas continued.

"It's t-true, detective." She looked uneasily at the floor beneath her feet. Occasionally the thin woman also bit her lip.

"That means... you should have known that the coffee you served to your boss was poisonous, right?" This time Nicholas' tone was insistent.

And slowly, Rose's head snapped up so that her eyes now met the detective's bright brown irises. She seemed to gulp down her saliva with difficulty before she suddenly dropped to the floor and burst into tears. "Please forgive me, detective!" She suddenly clung to Nicholas' legs and was sobbing now. "I did all this because of Madame Veronica's orders," she continued in a sobbing voice.

Suddenly Nicholas and Alicia's eyes immediately turned to Veronica. The woman was glaring unhappily at Rose's words. She then got up and pointed at Rose's face who was still kneeling on the floor. "How dare you accuse me! I never told you to do such a dirty thing!" she scolded.

But Rose just shook her head weakly in front of them all. "I'm not lying, detective," she denied softly. "Just check the contents of her bag. She must still have the poison in there." and Alicia found Rose's eyes glaring at Veronica.

"Is that true, Mrs. Veronica?" asked Nicholas.

"About that...," []