bChapter /bb202 /b

    After eating, Sebastian arranged for a chauffeur to take Maxine back to the hotel.

    Cleo smirked as she looked Maxine up and down, then said with a knowing smile, “So you finally decided toe back? Had a nice sleepove Sebastian’s ce?”

    Maxine shot her a look and asked curiously, “What’s with that face?”

    Cleo shrugged. “Nothing much, just curious about those messages you sent me yesterday.”

    Maxine sighed helplessly. “Brian was sick and wouldn’t let me leave. I gave in and agreed to stay. I didn’t sleep a wink all night, that’s why I’m only just getting back now.”

    “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Cleo replied absentmindedly, “Anyway, don’t overthink it right now. I had someone look into a few things for me. Turns outb, /bbafter /byour dad went to prison, someone went to see your mom.”

    Maxine froze, staring at her. “What did you say?”

    Cleo pulled out a stack of printed documents and handed them over. “I was worried my phone might get hacked,” she exined, “so I had someone write everything down by hand and then print out copies. Just to be safe.”

    The document showed a man with a somber expression, identified as awyer from a certainw firm.

    Maxine thought, ‘Awyer? Wait… Sebastian did mention awyer who came to see my father before. Could this be the same person?”

    Maxine pointed at the man’s photo. “This guy represented the Jenson family in court. He met with your mom before the trial,” she said.

    Maxine stared nkly at the photo. “This must be the same guy who visited my dad,” she murmured.

    Maxine said, “But this alone doesn’t mean anything. It’s standard practice for a defense attorney to contact the intiff before the trial if needed.”

    Cleo fixed her with a serious look. “But here’s the thing, this guy died not long after the trial ended.” She flipped to the next page in the fileb, /brevealing ba /bnewspaper clipping. In the bottom right corner was a brief report about a car ident.

    The newspaper didn’t list the victim’s identity.

    Cleo lowered her voice and said, “Thatwyer died in the ident. The hospital has his death certificate on file, but you can’t take it out. I’m certain it’s

    him.”

    Maxine stared at the photo in the newspaper. A sedan had collided with a semi–truckb, /bits front endpletely crushed beneath the truck’s massive wheels.

    Cleo tapped the photo and asked pointedly, “Does this look familiar?”

    Maxine felt a chill run down her spine. She thought, ‘This scene is all too familiar. I nearly lost my life in an ident just like this. only survived because was in the back seat, but the driver with me didn’t make it out alive.‘

    Cleo said, “The investigation showed the driver was under the influence and had no connection to thewyer. Since he admitted his mistake andpensated promptly, he only got a two–year sentence and has already been released.”

    Maxine’s hands trembled as she clutched the documents. “So… so is there any way to prove a connection between this driver and the Jenson familyi?/i”

    Cleo shook her head. “The driver is nowhere to be found, but thewyer’s case files are still avable.”

    Because thewyer died while on a business tripi, /ihis family sued thew firm. The owner lost everything in thewsuit, and btheir /bformer boffice /bbwas /bconverted into a storage room, where a trove of documents still remains.

    b21:46 /bbWed/b, 25 bJun /b

    But bit’d /btake a while to find what they needed. There was so much in there, and they had to go through everything ord by one

    Even so, Maxine felt she was getting very close to the truth.

    Cleo reached out and patted Maxine’s shoulder. “Only the fenson family could puff something like this off. But be prepared, so for, they va lua ?n tran

    In a country as populous as Hathnd, tracking down a few ordinary people who targeted another ordinary person was the searching fit & time the inte haystack.

    bAD /b