A MAZE OF GREED

"Darius, where are you going now?" Lisa asked as she saw him packing the bag again in the short span of about a month.

"How many times I have told you to not ask me such questions, Lisa? If I want to tell then I will tell." Darius said, slightly annoyed at her.

"That is the problem Darius. You do not feel like telling me anything. And that is why I need to ask you these questions." Lisa was equally annoyed at his silence.

"You are not my wife to tell you all the things Lisa. So stop it!"

Lisa was stunned for a moment. His wife? Why does her heart bounce inside her chest at that thought?

'No! Stop it, Lisa! You can not have a soft corner for this blood-sucking monster. His death is your life's ultimate goal. Do not forget that!'

Lisa had to chant these words every day to keep her mind sane and her heart restrained with discipline.

"I am not interested in being your wife too Darius. But I want to know about your business because Marcus-"

"He will not ask you anything." He cut her midsentence.

"And what about your parents? What I am going to tell them?" Lisa wanted to know what was Darius up to.

Darius paused in silence for a minute before he said, "Pack your things. We are leaving in next half an hour."

Without more explanation, Darius walked out of his room and marched straight to find Aurora, who was enjoying her tea on the terrace on the same floor.

"Mother", Darius called her to gain her attention.

Aurora raised her perfectly articulated brow at her son. "What a pleasant surprise Darius that you finally remembered that you have a mother too?!"

Darius ignored her sarcasm and came straight to the point.

"I am going out of Kinsville with Lisa. I am bored here so I want to have some fun with her."

Aurora narrowed her eyes at him. Since when does he need a change of place to have that kind of fun?

"Where are you two going?" She asked.

Darius shrugged. "I do not know yet. We will explore the neighbourhood and I might enjoy some good kills. We do not have a fixed plan. We just want to have some good time."

Aurora could smell lie in his words, yet she did not point it out.

"Your father is not at home. You can ask him and-"

"I am not a ten-year-old who needs permission from his parents for every fucking thing!" Darius spat in anger.

He expected a similar reply from his mother.

"Darius! Mind your tone!"Aurora glared at him as she put down the cup in her hand.

"We are leaving in half an hour." Darius declared while turning back to leave.

"Darius!"

Aurora's changed voice made him pause in his track.

"Are you trying to fill up Grace's void with Lisa?"

Darius's shoulders tensed upon hearing that. Was he really trying to do that?

He left without answering.

No one could replace Grace in his dead heart, not even Lisa. She was only his favourite pass time.

But then why does an image of a hazel-eyed woman with toffee brown hair flash in his mind?

That night Darius mounted Lisa on his horse, and after climbing up by himself, he pulled the reigns, and the animal sped out of Kinsville. Aurora watched them leave from the balcony. Her hands were clenched into tight fists.

Now her persisting concern was how to handle her husband?!

*

*

*

The man was on the floor face first. White foam covered his mouth and the floor. A bottle of poison was in his right hand.

Ruth was too horrified at the sight that her head spun, and the black blotches covered her vision.

"Ruth!" Ida was quick to hold her before she lost her balance.

Every person from the family and the night staff encircled the physician's dead body.

Augustus had a deep frown settled on his face as he stared at the dead body silently. Nobody understood how and why it happened.

But Edwin and Lester's brains raced in a different direction. Their brains were juggling with many possibilities, and everyone out of them seemed dangerous.

Augustus called for the assistant physicians who worked for the family and told them to collect all the pieces of evidence.

Edwin watched the scene carefully.

Anyone could tell that it was a suicide case.

"I never thought that he would do something like this," Theodora said in a sorrowful tone.

Edwin's eyes swept over the crowd, calculating and scrutinising.

"Call the guards outside." He ordered.

Augustus and Theodora were taken aback by his order. Edwin had never concerned himself with such matters before. Then why now?

The guards came then bowed in respect.

"Did you see anyone coming here?" Edwin asked.

"No, Young Master. Nobody came here and he did not leave the place since afternoon." One of the guards answered.

Edwin narrowed his eyes but nodded his head nonetheless.

There were many people- humans and werewolves. He had many speculations, but he could not discuss them in front of the crowd. The way Lester kept passing meaningful glances at him, he knew that Lester's mind was also tackling the same possibility that was prominent and most logical in that situation.

"Who was the last person came to meet him?" Edwin then asked in his dominating voice.

For a minute, nobody made any sound as they kept looking at each other, waiting for someone to answer that.

"I-it was m-me!"

Edwin stilled at that voice. His head snapped in Ruth's direction, and so did everyone's.

Edwin was confused and alarmed.

"You again?!" Augustus gritted his teeth.

"What were you doing here?" Theodora asked, narrowing her eyes. But her tone was accusing as if she had already declared Ruth guilty.

Ruth's gaze matched Edwin's. She did not like the way Theodora spoke with her. She expected Edwin to say something, but when he did not, she inhaled the air in her lungs before telling them.

"I... I came in the afternoon."

Ruth felt Ida's hold on her wrist tightened a little as if she was trying to convey her something.

"Was he alive then?" Augustus asked.

Ruth gulped down her spit. She was in a dilemma. She did not want to hide the truth of why she came to meet the physician. But the way Ida pressed her hand, she understood that Ida did not want her to say any more.

In that situation, Ruth's eyes instinctively moved to Rees and Thea, who stood not far from her.

Ruth's brows furrowed when she saw Rees shaking his head so subtly that she wondered if he was indeed trying to stop her or was it all her eyes playing tricks with her.

Edwin stood like a rock, unbothered and still. But from insides, he was worried. Worried for Ruth now that she had already caught his uncle and aunt's attention. He only prayed that she got the signals correct and not say anything more. At least not now!

~"Do you know anything about it Elsie?"~ Lester reached her through the mind link.

~"No. We did not talk about it."~ Elsie replied.

Now Lester was interested in knowing why Ruth came to meet the physician.

Ruth nodded her head. "Yes, he was alive then."

"Did he say anything to you? Did you find anything suspicious about him or around him?" Lester then asked.

"No. He did not say anything to me." Ruth deliberately avoided answering the second part of the question. She was hesitant about lying.

And the worst part was... every werewolf present could hear her nervously beating heart and the changes in its rhythm indicating that she was lying.

"You still haven't answer what were you doing here?" Theodora pulled everyone's attention back on the main point.

"I... I came to get a medicine on headache. I have terrible headache and can not sleep at the night peacefully. So I came to ask him if he could give me any pill or syrup for that." Ruth tried sounding as confident as she could in that situation.

But Theodora was not satisfied with her answer.

"Then did he gave you the medicine?" She asked.

Now it was a tricky question. What if they asked her to show the medicine?

"No. He said that it must be because of overexertion. So he advised me to take a good rest and see if there is any improvement. And if the problem still persisted then he was going to give me some pills."

"Then you left immeditely I assume?" Augustus asked.

"Yes."

"Is that all or there is something more to your story?" Augustus asked suspiciously.

Ruth opened her mouth to answer, but Theodora jumped in the middle.

"Did you came only for the medicine or..."

"Mother! What are you indicating here?" Elsie immediately jumped in Ruth's defence.

Augustus glared at Elsie. "No need to get defensive Elsie. A man has lost his life here. She is the last person who met him. Is it wrong to interrogate her?"

"She has already answered all your questions. And interrogation is for the suspects not for the innocents!" Elsie reminded him with a confident voice.

"Enough!" Edwin said in a firm voice.

"Do the regular procedures and run the necessary postmortem of the body before preparing the funeral. This man has served for the O'Dells for decades and deserves the appropriate respect!"

With that said, Edwin walked out of there.

~"Get Ruth to the old building early at the dawn.."~ He ordered Rees and Ida.