Rebecca’s eyes darted around agitatedly. “Aunt Sally was there, she witnessed it too. She can testify for me.”
Nervous, her fingers quickly dialed Sally’s number. Then, a phone rang immediately from the corridor outside.
It turned out that Sally had already been in the hospital since earlier, but was sat in the lobby waiting. She paced towards them after receiving Rebecca’s call.
A frown creased on Sally’s face as she looked at everyone inside the ward.
Seeing this, Rebecca burned a bright red and called out emotionally, “Aunt Sally! Tell these policemen that Scarlett stabbed me. She was going to kill me, you saw it too! Tell the policemen what you saw, okay?”
Sally’s attention turned towards Ashton. His features dulled. Although his gaze was intense, there were no emotions on his face.
Sally struck a sideways glance at me. Her eyebrows knitted together as she uttered a simple response, “I was in the bedroom at the time. I don’t know what exactly transpired, but when I came out, Ashton had already carried you up to the ambulance.”
Shock stuck like lightning onto Rebecca’s face. “Aunt Sally! You definitely saw the whole thing, why aren’t you telling them?”
The police shuffled uncomfortably. Their ears turned slightly red from being in an awkward situation. They were clueless as to what was going on, nor did they know what to do next.
Rebecca tugged at Ashton’s arm, her teary eyes pierced like nails onto him. “Ash, you saw it! You witnessed it with your own eyes. Tell them that Scarlett was trying to murder me, you have to tell them!”
But Ashton said nothing. His lips remained shut whilst his ominous eyes stared at me, they darkened to a chilling pitch-black.
When Ashton didn’t respond, a thick smog of awkwardness spread throughout the ward. It especially bothered the two policemen who said nothing out of respect for the famous figures in the room.
After a long pause, one of the policemen turned to me and said, “Miss. Come with us so we can record your statement. We’ll need to investigate more into the matter before determining the best course of action.”
I nodded. Standing in front of me, Mrs. Eriksen darted frantically to stop the policemen. “You can’t take Madam away without a shred of evidence. How can you solve the case by just relying on her testimony? Is this how you handle things?”
A touched sigh escaped my lips. Mrs. Eriksen was only worried that I would end up with a criminal record, that this tainted record would affect my life negatively.
I assured her that everything was fine, saying that I would just be giving a simple statement.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be okay.” I reminded her one last time before exiting the ward. There’s no escaping this. I knew this from the very moment I plunged that knife into Rebecca.
As my foot stepped across the ward’s threshold, Ashton finally spoke up. “It wasn’t her!”
His words took me by surprise. I felt a stiffness as my head turned to face him.
Even Rebecca was shocked at his unexpected interjection. Her eyes widened to the sides of her face, staring unbelievably at him. She protested with an ear-piercing screech, “Ashton! How could you say that? Are you even aware of what you’re doing right now!”
Ashton had not only surprised Rebecca, but also Sally, who froze with narrowed eyes and a pursed lip.
Ashton’s calm voice deduced, “The whole thing is illogical. The incident happened at my house, but what was Ms. Larson doing there in the middle of the night? If my wife really intended to hurt her, why would she use such an obvious method? Moreover, when I arrived at the scene, the knife was in Ms. Larson’s hands.”
Smack! Rebecca’s palm landed on his cheek. Her eyes were no longer moistened with tears. She shook her head incredulously at him and roared, “Ashton. How could you do this to me? How could you do this?”
“With all due respect, sirs, let us resolve this matter privately.” Zachary finally broke his silence. He declared to the policemen, “I’m the victim’s father. Rest assured, I’ll get to the bottom of this, so we’ll take this matter off of your hands now.”
Conflicted emotions crashed like furious waves in Cameron’s eyes. She looked at me and nodded before explaining to the police, “Thank you for making the trip down here. I apologize for any inconvenience caused, but we’ll handle it privately from here.”
Rebecca stiffened like a corpse, she gawked at the two in disbelief. Even Sally, Jared, and Joe froze at the scene before them. They watched the Moores with bewilderment.
“Mom, Dad. What are you saying? I’m your daughter! How can you do this to me?” Anger and sorrow crackled in Rebecca. She yanked at the hem of Cameron’s sleeve and wailed, “You told me that I’m untouchable. And if anyone dared to hurt me, you said you’d make their lives a living hell. Mom, don’t you remember?”
A confused sorrow flashed in Cameron’s eyes. She held a firm grip on Rebecca’s hand whilst looking to her husband for advice on what to do.
Zachary’s head spun to face the policemen. His voice deepened with simmering anger, “You may leave now, sirs. We’ll settle this on our own.”
The two policemen nodded their heads immediately in relief, unkeen on handling this messy case. “Alright, then we’ll leave you to it.”
Once they left, Rebecca threw a fiery fit. She stared down every single one of us in the room. Her eyes blurred with a terrifying rage as she shoved everything on the bedside table onto the ground.
A sharp, piercing scream came from her lips. “Get out! All of you, get out! Liars. Murderers. You’re all a bunch of liars!”
Ashton eyed her gloomily. “Name what you want, and I’ll do my best to meet your conditions.”
At this, a toothy smile crept on Rebecca’s face. She looked unhinged as her face darkened into a hideous shade of brownish red. She raised a finger at me and howled, “What do I want? I want her dead, I want her gone from this world. Can you do that for me?”
Ashton frowned, his expression grew furiously colder. “There are limits to everything, Rebecca.”
Rebecca’s head lowered. Although her expression was hidden, her shoulders started to rattle murderously. A peal of vile laughter laced in her voice. “Great. Just peachy! You’re all siding with her huh? Every single one of you is taking her side and defending her. How peachy!”
