On the second day, Ava took Samantha and Lindsey to the small burnt penthouse. She had lived in this small apartment for more than ten years. She was three years old when her mother died, and was brought up by Angela.
Her aunt never liked her mother, Sophia. So naturally, it was impossible for her to like the daughter she left behind.
When Mrs Smiths, the old lady, was around, Angela and the others was still able to restraint themselves. So Ava's life was pretty decent then.
But since Mrs. Smiths was disheartened due to the loss of the old man, and secluded herself in the monastery, Angela had become the mistress of the Smiths family. Immediately afterwards, she threw Ava to the penthouse. Over the years, the penthouse was left on its own.
And now, the small penthouse burned by the fire had become more and more dilapidated, with traces of smoke everywhere. Since the small penthouse was originally an unmaintained place, Lindsey deliberately refused to let anybody in or out, under Ava's instructions. So the fire scene was not damaged much.
Before entering the burned apartment, Ava signaled Samantha and Lindsey to put on a face mask and gloves. Although several days have passed, there would still be some harmful gases and coal dust at the fire site.
If they didn't put on masks, their nostrils and mouths could be filled with toxic smoke quickly, which could in turn hurt their bodies after a time.
Well prepared, they entered the room. Ava quietly observed the surroundings of the apartment. To find the cause of the fire, she must first determine where the fire started, or to be more precise, determine the source of the fire.
She started from the slightly damaged living room. She was looking carefully with the ultra light, not dismissing anything or any corner of the room. There was no other way for her anyway.
Samantha and Lindsey watched quietly from the side, glancing strangely at the burnt apartment, and at Ava. At this time, there was something disturbing about her eyes. They were violet. The same eye color as those of the ruling house of the wolf-blood.
Suddenly, they had a strange feeling that the young lady wasn't exactly what she appeared to be. She seemed otherworldly. The calm and wise light radiating from her purple eyes made her look unreal.
"Samantha, you said you slept here that day, didn't you?" Ava asked, placing her hand on one of the small beds in the living room.
"Yes, Miss." Samantha replied. "That day, I was sitting down on the sofa when I fell asleep. For some reason I don't know, I was already in deep sleep as soon I sat down. When I woke up, I found myself outside. At that time, the fire in the apartment had grown big that I couldn't find you no matter how hard I tried, so I callee 911. When I could no longer wait, I was about to risk the fire when I saw you coming out of the bedroom before collapsing at the door."
In that case, someone must have done something to her, otherwise Samantha wouldn't have fallen asleep so easily and deeply while sitting down on the sofa, Ava reasoned.
She looked closely along the window sill with the bright light, and suddenly found some white powder on the side of the window sill, which was not very conspicuous because it had a mixture of mistletoe and dust.
So, she told Samantha to put it in a plastic bag and seal it tightly, then she went inside.
The bedroom was the place where Ava slept. It was neither big nor did it have much furniture. It was a simple, but compact room in the sense of it. She could imagine how bleak the original owner of her body's days were in the Smiths villa.
The girl had lived here for more than ten years without her mother and most of the time, without her father too. Yet she still grew up.
Although Ava realized that Lindsey and Samantha had contributed the most to keeping her alive. If it wasn't for the meticulous care and protection of the two, the girl would not have survived as she did. It was a pity that, after all, it was impossible to guard against fate.
At the age of eighteen, she was supposed to marry into the Royal wolf-blood family. Even if she was not loved by the young royal, at least she would have a decent identity and status, higher than that of an ordinary wolf-blood.
But just like that, she died in a muddled manner. It was really an exemplary, miserable fate.
Ava felt distressed for the misery of the dead girl. This strengthened her conviction. Now, she must try her best to live a good life for them both. From now on, she would no longer be tossed around.
Gathering her thought, she looked closely along the wall. Her family and the local authorities had classified the fire as an accident. In these medieval times, accidents such as fires were common for houses with wooden structures and who frequently made use of candle oil lamps.
But Ava didn't think so. If it was the burning caused by cooking gas or other sources, there would be smoldering at first, and then there would be an open flame, and considering the degree of burned leftovers, it was not like this.
She noticed that there was a watercolor painting that dropped from the crack in the wall behind the dressing cabinet. This painting was done by Sophia during her lifetime and was the dead girl's favorite painting. This painting had been hanging on the wall above.
Ava picked up the painting and examined it. She noticed that only one corner of the painting was burned, and most of the area was not overly burned. What more, there was no trace of smoke.
The wooden frame of the painting was intensely carbonized. The carbonized and uncarbonized parts were clearly differentiated, and the inclination angle was very straight. This meant that when the fire reached this painting, it was already an open flame.
There was an open flame that ignited the painting which was originally hung on the wall. After the painting was ignited, it fell from the wall into the gap between the dressing cabinet and the wall due to the force, causing the fire to be extinguished without completely burning the painting.
So where did this silver fire come from? The dressing table was near the window. She checked it, and found that there were signs of the window being pried open.
So, it meant that someone purposely opened the window that night and set the apartment on fire, which partially engulfed the painting.
After the painting was ignited, it fell off the wall and happened to be caught in this gap. The combustion was completely extinguished. As fate would have it, this painting, left by Sophia before her death became the key to finding the truth about the fire.
But how would she spot this arsonist? She frowned slightly in thought. The person who set fire to her apartment late at night must be someone in the castle. She left her apartment, came outside, and stood by the window. Outside the window was some mud that the previous girl used to plant some flowers in her leisure time.
Looking carefully, she quickly really found a pair of footprints. Because they were previously covered by a few hibiscus flowers next to them, she couldn't easily spot them.
Ava, who had been engaging in forensic forensic work for many years, could see at a glance that the pair of footprints were heavy and light. It was obvious that the owner of the pair of footprints was a limping person. So she asked maids. "Is there anyone in the house who partially limps?"
Samantha and Lindsey looked at each other for a while, and thought of one person, Lester.
Lester was a coyote-blood chef in the villa. He was hired a few months ago. He was usually nice to Samantha and Lindsey. He was not like some of the house-helps who gave them annoying looks because of Ava's predicaments. So, the two had a good impression of him.
For Samantha in particular, she found it difficult to believe that Lester could be the one who set silver fire to the apartment of the young Miss. What could be his reason for doing so? There was no death grudges or grievances between the two.
So why wuld he want to kill the first daughter of the Smiths's family? It wasn't possible. So, she had serious doubts about this.
"Well, you can't really know the heart of people." Lindsey sighed.
"Do you really think he could do this?"
Ava and Lindsey looked at each other, noting that Samantha appeared to be really naive. If it weren't for someone behind it, what would be the benefit to Lester, who was a descendant of the Coyotes, who had just come to the Smiths's villa, to set fire to Ava's solitary penthouse for no reason?
The question should be: who was the mastermind behind Lester's actions? Was it Angela or Audrey, or did the two of them conspired against her? Was it someone else entirely?
All these questions Ava could not answered at this time, so she could only use Lester to find the answers. She needed the evidences in order to convince the police
However, there was an obstacle to that. Lester might be a chef in the villa, he was not directly under her services. Wolf-bloods lived on hierarchy. And with Ava's level of power in the family, which was almost nothing, there was no way she could get him to cooperate with her investigation.
After all, this was another world entirely. She would need a big support. And at this time, the only person she could think of, was her own grandmother.
So, with the help of her grandmother, Ava found the necessary evidence and gave them to the police who arrested Lester in return. The chef was charged with attempted murder and arson.