Jared gave her a confused look
"What ?" He asked
"Mr Amare, so sorry for this but i won't be able to follow you" Veronica said. "Why ?" Amare asked
"I just found something related to the murder of Georgina and I need to report it asap" Veronica said. They both understood and left while Veronica went inside.
"You are not going ?" Mj asked "yeah I found something relating to Georgina case" Veronica replied. "wow really, you are amazing as always" Mj send with a smile.
"Thanks, you know what ? Why don't we look at what I found together just like old times" Veronica said. She brought out the diary and letters claire gave to them."I saw a suspicious figure by the building, I approached the person but they took to their heels; fortunately they remembered to give us a parting gift" Veronica said and she brought out a piece of paper from her pocket; she handed it to Mj.
"This looks like a key to some cipher" Mj said "exactly cuz it is, when Abayomi read the letter to me and Amari; the culprit apparently encoded his or her name. It's quite sus that someone would run off just like that I mean I didn't even say anything to cause such an act. Seeing that this is a key to a cipher, to me, is ok to conclude that what is written this scrap of paper is the key to the cipher" Veronica said
"Make sense but what makes you think this is the real key ? I mean yeah the culprit's name was encoded but what is written on this crap of paper could be a key to any other cipher, prove to me beyond any reasonable doubt that this could be the key to decode the cipher" Mj said. Veronica just smiled, she knew it was typical of Mj to question her deductions and she liked that part of Mj.
"You see I studied what was written on the paper before I came inside, why don't you turn over the paper to understand what I'm saying" Veronica said. Mj did as she was told and saw something written on the back
"GT9EG I H8C F C 88 A" Mj read aloud. "Good now if you look at the cipher and replace each letter and number with what's the actually represent you'll get the name..." Veronica paused for a bit to give Mj time to think, it didn't take long before Mj finally figured out what Veronica was trying to say.
"GEORGINA SANNI !" Mj said "but we don't know her surname how can we be so sure that it's her" Mj asked. Veronica had a smug smile on her face and she showed the diary to Mj. "The diary of Georgina Sanni, wow brilliant, you've always had a knack for things like this" saying that Mj patted Veronica on the head which made her chuckle. At that very moment, Daisuke walked in.
"Ah you are back, where are the others ?" He asked. "Mr Daisuke, good timing there's a lot we have to say but first, Abayomi and Amari need to be present" Veronica said. Mj called them via voicemail, 3 minutes later the twins were on the ground floor. "Mr daisuke you are here" Amari said. Amari narrated all that happened at Georgina's house, Veronica shared what she found as well along with MJ.
"Good job you guys, we are now One step closer to resolving this case, Amari mind reading one of the letters" Daisuke said. Amari carried out his instruction with immediate effect
"No matter what you do, you cannot change the past. It doesn't matter the good image you portray one day everything will come to light and I will make sure it will. Don't even think about escaping, no matter where you run to, where you go, I will always find you"
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"So she was threatened, more like black mailed but why ?" Daisuke asked. "We can find out more from her diary" Veronica said holding The Notebook in one hand. "Okay Abayomi, why don't you read the content of the diary" Daisuke said. Abayomi collected the diary from Veronica and began to read
"October 10 2024"
" I received a letter today, I thought it was from one of my fans so I opened it with a glad some heart. But as I read the content, my heart dropped, this person knows my secret; the things I've done in the past. But how ? I mean sure no one knew about it apart from my family not even claire knows about it. The sender didn't write their name only a jumble of letters and numbers. I have no idea what it's supposed to mean ? The ones who are aware about my past is my family and no one else but we've decided to sweep it under the carpet there's no way my family will betray me right ?"
"Should I continue ?" Abayomi asked
"Yes" Daisuke replied
"October 15 2024"
"The letters keep coming and I don't know what to do anymore even claire is worried and I really don't want to endanger her or anyone close to me because of who I was in the past. The perpetrator keeps threatening and blackmailing me and is now saying he or she will hurt my family. I did my own investigation and found out that none of my family members was behind this, I thought about it for a long time and I have decided to visit the human realm. Are used the excuse of visiting my favorite artist to escape and think of how I will handle my blackmailer."
"October 20 2024"
"I received a package, it was a painting of a flower vase created by Carol Grace; my favorite artist, I got it from Barbara. Despite the fact we are not on good terms we maintain a business relationship because we are part of Dragonia writers' association. The painting is just an excuse to serve as my escape plan. I can't put any ones live in danger because of me and you set up tomorrow, I will simply tell my family that I'll be going out on a trip. The only person I told where I'll be going and how long I'll be gone is Claire; I ordered her not to tell anyone about my whereabouts and if anyone and she should just tell them that I went on a business trip."
"That's all of it" Abayomi said as she closed the book. " So someone must black meaning her using her past, so she try to escape by coming to the human realm " Mj said. "Bus if you think about it why didn't she report it to the police ? it would have been so much easier if she had done that" Veronica said. "Maybe she had a reason not to, maybe to her, is may have made things more complicated than it already seems" Daisuke said.
Suddenly they heard a loud knock on the door which took them by surprise. The all turned to face the door.
"Claire!" Abayomi said. She hurriedly walked towards the door and opened it. Claire stumbled but Abayomi managed to catch her. She was panting heavily it was as if she was trying to escape from something or someone.
"Claire did something happen ?" Amari asked. "yes... That's why I came here... But first... I need to catch my breath" Claire said. Veronica left to get her a glass of water which Claire gladly took and drank, after she had managed to settle down she narrated what happened to her after they left and while she was at their Hotel.
"Wait so you mean you're being accused for the conspiracy and murder of Georgina ?" Veronica asked feeling astounded. " Yes the police showed up at my door this morning, apparently Georgina's sister, Layla, brought them. She blames me for the death of her sister claiming she had proof; she accuse me of how I'm the one that sent those threatening letters to Georgina and how I wanted her dead so that I could take all her wealth. She brought out a piece of paper which according to her contained the key to cracking the code behind the culprit's name, when they deciphered the code is turned out to be my name. So right now I'm on the run" Claire said.
Shortly after she said that, the elevator does opened and Raymond stepped out. He was holding the painting they found in Georgina's room, as soon as he spotted Daisuke he hurriedly walked towards him. "Sir, sir" he said.
"What is it Ray ?" Daisuke asked
"I just found out that this painting is actually a phony" Raymond said
"Oh yeah you're right, I remember telling you guys about Georgina claiming the painting is forged and how it was a trap, she told me during her last moments" Veronica said.
Raymond plays the painting on the table and pointed to the top right hand corner. "Usually, the artist Carol Grace, puts her signature at this corner on every of her painting but this one doesn't have it" Raymond said. "but how is this possible ? Georgina ordered its herself, she even paid a large sum of money for it" Claire said.
"Who did she get it from ?" Raymond asked.
"Barbara, she and Georgina are not on speaking terms, the only thing keeping them together is that they are both part of dragonia writers' association and this isn't the first time Georgina ordered something from Barbara" Claire stated.
"Well according to my research, turns out that the painting, popularly known as flowers of beauty; hasn't been purchased yet" Raymond said. "That's weird, does that mean Barbara deliberately send Georgina a fake one or maybe she didn't realize it was a fake one" Claire said. "Honestly, that's not the only thing I discovered take a look at this" Raymond said handing a letter to Daisuke. He took it, open it and read the content aloud.
"Do you really think you can escape ? Do you really think going to the human room is enough to save you ?. I don't know if you realize but this painting is fake, it's pretending to be the original meanwhile it's hiding it's true nature just like you. The best advice I can give you is to stop running from your past because it will always come to hunt you. I'm pretty sure you are wishing for all this to stop that's why you disappeared without a Trace, took me long enough to find you. Anyway you're going to receive a visit soon so advice you comply and don't you dare call the police or else you'll face the consequences; I'm going to give you an address soon and I expect you to be there as soon as possible"
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"It's from the same person, the perpetrator manage to track down her location" Daisuke said. "But I never told anyone about how whereabouts I swear, Georgina has been so good to me I owe her my life, I can't just betray her out of the blue. Please you got to believe me" Claire pleaded. "It's okay we believe you, though if you want to clear your name, we need to find the one behind all this if not just get ready to spend your life behind bars for something you didn't do" Veronica said.
"Oh yeah by the way, since we have the actual key to the cipher why don't we use it to decipher the code that we will be able to know the actual culprit" Mj said. Claire was astonished by what she said and they explain to her which made her happy.
"Thank you for everything, I owe you my life" Claire said with a bow.
Veronica opened one of the letters and looked at the key and started placing all the corresponding characters one by one. After she cracked the code, they gasped when they saw who's name it was.
"But I don't understand, why ? What could possibly be the reason behind all this ?" Claire asked
"I know it's a lot to take in but right now we need to find a way to expose the perpetrator" Abayomi said as she patted Claire on the back.
"You're right, though I feel guilty I don't think Georgina would like this" Claire said. "Listen I'm not trying to sound insensitive but we need to expose this person, if we don't, then you are going to be imprisoned for a crime you didn't commit. The perpetrator should pay for their crime" Veronica said.
"But how are we going to do this, I mean we can't just walk up to the police with this; I don't think you to serve as enough proof I mean they may just think that we made up this key in order to defend Claire. We need solid proof that will clear any reasonable doubt" Amari said.
"Well if that's the case we just need to meet one person only and that's Barbara, who knows maybe she will have the answers to our questions" Daisuke said.