"What do you mean?" he asks annoyed.
"Well, everything's wrong here! Although, Mr. Johnson, I highly doubt you wanted us to help you with Bradley."
"Excuse me?!" He looks at Ms. Ipruk, "You're just going to let her say this shit!"
"Sophie, can speak her mind and you won't interrupt her until she's done." Ms. Ipruk says sternly, almost like she's scolding a child.
"Thank you, teacher. You're also going to stop underestimating me. I don't appreciate being ignored and looked down upon. As I was saying, When I revealed that I made contact with the Shadow Beast, you seemed really taken back."
"Of course, I would! I was afraid you would have killed-"
"Stop interrupting me. Mr. Johnson, how much control do you have over him? Does he have any free will?"
"You think I'm some sort of monster?"
//Yes I do! You're wearing your son's body for heaven's sake!//
"No, I don't have him under control or anything like that."
"Hm but then how did he end up here?"
"I told him to come here and he listened to me. Clearly he trusts me since I'm his father after all." he sneers.
"Did you tell him to not speak to strangers too?" she mocks.
"Yeah. I didn't want to risk the chance of you finding and hurting him."
"If you told us from the beginning then there would be no risk of that! And yet he appeared to me, what does that mean?"
"Hmph. Who knows."
"I think he trusts you, dear."
//You make him sound too obedient but I doubt he was. You must have him under some control because otherwise you wouldn't have been so shocked to find out he spoke with me. He must have broken it temporarily. He trusts me… He must have wanted to tell me something without you knowing about it but what? The song, "Dear Mom and Dad", of course!//
"He told me something. Knowing this, I know that he doesn't trust you. Not completely. Or at the very least your relationship isn't as good as you said it is."
"He can't say anything! He's…"
"True he didn't say it, he whistled it."
"...?"
"Remember when I asked you what your favorite song was?"
"You asked that?"
"Yes and there was a reason. You were trying to impersonate your son. And even though it was pretty bad you did say that he liked Joy Coy, meaning that you care enough to know what he listened to-"
"And? Get to the point already!"
"But you're just a parent who only knows the surface of their child's true feelings. The song you said, 'Dear Mom and Dad', he whistled it to me. With this, I know you're relationship isn't good."
"Oh please, now you're calling me a bad father."
"If you actually paid attention to your son's interests and the lyrics. You would know that he has some issues with you. There's no doubt that song was a clue. Regardless, if you're able to perform Spiritual Magic so easily, wouldn't you be able to switch back by now. I mean you're all healed up. I feel like you want us here for something else."
"You don't understand anything."
"But I will."
Ms. Ipruk who remained silent this whole time, had a question of her own, "Even though I would want nothing more than to help your son, Sophie makes an excellent point. You should be able to 'set things right' by now. What do you actually want from us, Mr. Johnson?"
"What I want? What am I'm paying you for? Did you forget already?"
"The ghosts…"
"Yes! Get rid of them. That's what I want. Haha."
Sophia knows she has to move forward. The most important part of this case, she'll solve it. She has to. She made a promise to them.
"The ghosts. Are they really so scary?"
"Hahaha! Yes! They keep getting in my mind they won't leave me alone. How can I possibly help my son when they torment me so."
"How do they torment you?"
"... Memories. And feelings of pain. I want them to go away."
Sophia nods, "I see. Then tell me, Mr. Johnson, tell me everything you know about Darmae Farona."
"Ha? You're bringing up that maid again? Is she the one who's haunting me? Of course she would be. She fucking hated me."
"Why?"
"Jealousy, probably. I had everything she wanted. So pathetic, truly. And then one day she simply disappeared from this world. A sad existence. What a sad woman." Even though his face remained neutral as he said it, she couldn't help but notice the fire in his eyes. Fire of absolute hatred.
"She clearly didn't just 'disappear'. She died. And her haunting this place must mean that you know something about her death. She must have died here."
He doesn't laugh or dismiss her theory. He does something much more unsettling, he slowly gets up from the ground and starts walking towards them.
Sophia has to fight the urge to step back, fight the urge to run, this pathetic man is beneath her, she's not scared of him. She won't be scared.
As he gets closer, Ms. Ipruk stands in front of Sophia, trying to protect her.
"You're getting too close for comfort, Mr. Johnson."
"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you could hear me clearly." He pauses for a moment.
Sophia stands again by Ms. Ipruk's side, she appreciates her concern but she needs to face this man.
Seeing her come out from her mentor's shadow, he continues, looking directly at Sophia, "I don't know how that maid died. I really didn't care enough about her to know. You're trying to make into something I'm not, Sophia. I didn't kill her. I'm not her murderer."
"I never said that you were her killer-"
"Ah. But you were implying it. You don't trust me which is fine. I don't care anymore. I don't care what you think of me. The truth is that I didn't kill her." He sounds so confident in that.
It makes Sophia want to hit him.
Instead, she decides to hit him where it hurts.
"You're lying about one thing. You said that you didn't care about her. Which isn't wrong per say but you cared enough to hate her. I know that she didn't like you. Her existence made your life even more of a 'burden'. You didn't like how she was close with your beloved wife. Darmae Farona may not have had your wealth but she had your family. And you hated that. You hate that. I can see it."
He doesn't say anything.
"Is this true? Did you hate her so much that you would kill her?" Ms. Ipruk asks.
He starts laughing hysterically, "I already said I didn't. It doesn't matter how I felt about her. She's gone and it's not my fault. If anything… it's her own fault, it's all her fault."
"Wait what do you-"
"Besides you think I'll believe that? She may have been 'in love' with her but my wife stood by me. For all these years, she's never left me. And if it wasn't for that accident… She would still be here."
Sophia is stuck! She has no idea why Mrs. Johnson stood by his side. By all accounts she should have left him, with or without Ms. Farona. Was she so broken by her 'disappearance' that she didn't care anymore? Would she have given up so easily?
No.
The woman she saw in the flashback, there were tears and pain in her eyes but there was also determination. Sophia feels it. She wouldn't have given up. Mrs. Johnson wanted to leave. She wanted to leave behind this life. She probably knew about the dangerous things he was doing behind her back add to that, his neglect, no one with any kind of self-value would want to live like that.
So why didn't she leave him?
Wait a second. He said that she was ill? But is that true? Is that all there is to it? She was too ill to leave him? She feels like there's more to that.
"Hmph. You said that she was ill, so maybe she didn't have much of a choice."
His eye starts twitching again.
"That's just speculation. You have no idea what her true feelings were."
Damn you! Damn you to hell!
Sophia won't give up though and she quickly starts looking through her bag.
He turns to Ms. Ipruk, "Please look past my mistakes and let me explain again perhaps you can still-"
"Aha! I found it." She holds up Darmae Farona's journal!
"A moldy, old journal? What's that going to prove."
"Everything! This is your 'dearest' maid's journal where she wrote about her feelings and-"
"That's it? Haha. Pathetic really. That doesn't belong to my wife. So it means nothing to me. Darmae Farona could have been delusional. And written her delusions there. That won't prove my wife's true feelings."
Sophia really wants to scream. There's no breaking this man! Even Ms. Ipruk looks worried. They're at a standstill but they can't just leave things like this. Everyone's counting on them! They can't just listen to Mr. Johnson. He keeps playing himself as a victim, a person who made a simple mistake. If Sophia doesn't call out his… fakeness then they'll look like the bad guys! He is hiding something, she knows it.
"Sophie, is that really all you found? Isn't there something else?"
She thinks for a moment but then it hits her. Of course, the locket!
She digs it out from her purse and triumphantly holds it up.
Mr. Johnson's eyes widen in surprise, "Wh-where did you get that!?"
"I just stumbled upon it. I have a feeling it's super important so why don't I open it up?"
He tries to take it from Sophia but she's faster and flies above him, mockingly. "Finders keepers! Now let's see what's inside!"
"No! You won't be able to open it. I've tried before and I couldn't. I never thought I'd see it again. Why now? Why? Why? Why?"
"Sophie dear, open it quickly!"
She does.
What's inside is an enchanted moment!
It shows Darmae Farona with a toddler, doing her best to feed him but failing. They both keep giggling. The scene is very heartwarming. At the very end, Mrs. Johnson shows up and takes the toddler from her hands. She doesn't know what they say but they smile tenderly at each other.
On the other side of the locket it says, 'I keep going for them. My son and my beloved Mae'
This is without a doubt Mrs. Johnson's! She floats back down and shows it to Ms. Ipruk. Mr. Johnson is still standing frozen in shock over the fact that Sophia found and was able to open the locket.
Ms. Ipruk looks confused. "Huh? That's what Darmae Farona looks like? I've seen her before? No, I've seen those eyes before? I've seen them in-"
"Haha! I don't even need to ask what's inside her locket. I know. It's that fucking maid right? It's always been her. She ruined everything! If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be cursed. Haha. Even then. I didn't kill her. But now, I wish I did."