"What?" I asked, looking at her in utter disbelief. Ava stepped beside me and interlocked her fingers with mine.
"Why do you need to invite my husband to the station?"
Kate sighed and dipped her hands into her pocket. "There's a new lead and I need to question Aiden at the station."
Ava scoffed. "He's not going anywhere with you, ask him whatever questions you need to ask him right here!" She flared up.
"Of course it's just an invitation and he can choose to decline it but I must warn you it's going to make you guys seem a little more guilty."
I saw that Ava wanted to say something and from her body language I could tell that it wasn't something nice so I had to pull her back. "It's okay, I'll go with her. Don't wait all night for me."
Her face twisted. "Absolutely not, if you're going then I'm coming with you."
Kate sighed. "Great cause I might need to question you too," she said with a southern accent.
We got into our various cars and headed to the station. As we were walking in, I saw Liam and Olivia standing by the corner, he instantly placed his arm around her waist in a protective manner as I neared them.
I reciprocated the same gesture with Ava, placing my hands on her lower back to guide her towards the seats.
The tension in the air was palpable as the two sisters shared a quick glance. "Mr Tan, my office please," Kate requested.
Ava was about to follow me but I told her to wait. I entered the office behind Kate and she hung her coat on the coat hanger before plopping down on her seat.
She pointed to the seat opposite her and gestured for me to have my seat. "Look I'm just going to cut straight to the chase, there's a new lead on the case and it's sort of incriminating for you."
Confusion spread on my features as I looked at her. "What do you mean incriminating?"
She took a deep breath as though she was about to explain some complex topic to a toddler. "In the morning of the day Grace was supposed to meet with Bianca, she received a call from a number. I was able to get some details from the service providers and they pinpointed the location from which the call was made. And it was from your neighborhood, in fact really close to your house if not in your house."
I juggled my memory trying to think. "Well that can be possible because nobody in my house knows grace personally. Like I said, the only interaction Grace and I ever had was the one time we saw each other in the station many years ago when she gave her statement."
"Look it wasn't really a long call, it was just 2 minutes. Which is enough time for anyone to call and tell Grace to back out from what she was planning to do. I'm not necessarily saying it to you, but have you considered your wife Ava?"
I frowned. "Ava? What does she have to do with this? Or I get it, Bianca is the one feeding you all these narratives right?"
Kate's face dropped for a split second and I snorted. "You've got to be kidding me detective, you can't just blindly believe Bianca, she hates me and my wife."
"And why is that?" Kate asked.
Her question threw me off. "I'm sorry?"
"Why is that? Why does Bianca hate you, who happens to be her ex-husband, technically still husband and your wife, who happens to be her sister?"
I instantly felt uneasy about the fact that Kate knew about Olivia's true identity. She seemed to pick up on that because she pressed on.
"Look, I'm not here to complicate things for you and Ava, neither am I here to complicate things for Liam and Bianca. However the four of you choose to go about the technicality of this whole matter isn't my problem. I'm here to find out who killed Grace. Unfortunately, Grace's murder is linked to what happened 6 years ago so I had to get the full back story to understand what's going on here."
I let out the breath I didn't even know I was holding. "I have no idea why she hates us, she hasn't said anything since she returned."
Kate leaned against her seat. "If she was alive all this while, why did she never come back?"
"Beats me."
"Not really, she was scared that her life was in danger. And rightfully so."
I inched forward on my seat. "You're saying that somebody is trying to kill her? Because if you are, I agree."
Somehow it felt like it and I were having a brainstorming session. "And if somebody was trying to kill her 6 years ago which was the reason why she felt scared to come back, that person is definitely linked to Grace's murder."
I was quiet. "Aidan, I'm sorry but I'll have to come to your house tomorrow to investigate. I'm not saying you did it, but you could have been any of your house staff, or your wife."
"My wife is innocent!" I snapped.
She stared at me unfazed. "If you really believe that I need you to do me one favor."
"What's that?"
"Don't tell her I'm coming tomorrow."
The office door clicked open and I came out first. By the time I reached the waiting area, Ava and Olivia both raised their heads to face me.
"Baby how was it?" Ava asked while Olivia gave me a death glare.
"It was fine, it's not substantial evidence," I said loud enough for Olivia to hear.
She scoffed from where she was standing and advanced towards me despite Liam's efforts to hold her back. "So that's how it is huh? You want to play this game of cat and mouse?"
"Bianca I get that you're hurt-"
"Stop pretending like you didn't do it, you didn't 6 years ago and you still did it that night." She sounded so bitter and angry, nothing like the Olivia I knew.
"Olivia what happened to you? When did you become this angry person?"
Her eyes grew wide in disbelief. "That's rich coming from you. You're asking me when I became like this? You're the one who made me like this!" she slowly began to raise her voice.
"I don't even know what you're talking about."
I was already pissed off so I walked out of the station to get some fresh air. The cool evening breeze hit my face as I stood there, staring into the skies.
The sound of footsteps made my ears and I could tell somebody followed me out here. "Ava I just want to think-" I swallowed my world when I saw that it was Liam.
"Oh, it's you."
Liam exhaled and folded his arms. We stood there in silence for a little while even though it was obvious that we both had something to say.
With a sigh I decided to break the silence. "Congratulations, she's your wife now."
A small smile formed on his face. "Should I also be congratulating you for bagging her sister?"
His words stung, probably because that was his aim when he said them. "Is that what this is about? Is she angry at me because I married her sister?"
"You really are naive," he said without making eye contact with me. "What woman wouldn't despise you for cheating on her with her sister?"
"No, that's not what happened at all."
Liam shrugged, "well that's what she thinks. You couldn't even wait a whole year after her death before you went around making it publicized that you're screwing her sister."
I tightened my fists by my side, holding back the urge through a punch at him. "There was nothing going on between Ava and I when she was still around," I said through gritted teeth.
He chuckled.
"Besides, she did the same thing. Did she even wait? Did she even try to reach out to me? I thought she was dead, and the whole time she was just screwing some other man. How about how I feel? Did she think about that?"
"In case you didn't know, Bianca did love you, she really did. But what you did broke her and I was the one there for her. I was the one who helped her pick up pieces of herself bit by bit after you shattered her. So don't you dare make it look like she was just frolicking, that was you, not her."
If I could facepalm myself right now I would. The faint sound of people engaged in an argument met my ears and Liam and I shared a look.
Olivia and Ava.
We both rushed inside only to find the station in a chaotic state.
"Get off me!" Olivia yelled.
I saw Olivia push Ava against the wall causing her to hit her head. She fell to the ground unconscious.