Free Web NovelChapter 38: Chapter 38: Plotting a Murder
Sylvia Brooks stayed in her room, looking at the messages from her best friend, her heart a mix of desolation and turmoil.
[My silly girl, you finally see Noel Lee’s true intentions! I knew he had ulterior motives for getting close to you from the very beginning!]
[I really think he’s capable of something like this! His eyes are full of cunning and calculation. I’ve wanted to say something for a long time, but I was afraid you wouldn’t want to hear it!]
[Summer, I’m telling you, call the police and break up with him!]
Noel Lee pushed open the bedroom door. Hearing the SPLASHING sound of running water from the bathroom, his gaze fell on the phone by the bed.
"Bitch!" The man’s face twisted into a ferocious snarl as he snooped and read the conversation between Sylvia Brooks and her best friend. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
’I absolutely cannot let Sylvia Brooks call the police!’
Noel Lee gritted his teeth, the veins on his clenched fists bulging. It was as if he were staring at his girlfriend through the bathroom door, his eyes turning sinister and venomous.
’I can’t give her a chance to say anything.’
Inside the bathroom.
Sylvia Brooks thought about her friend’s words, her brows furrowed in a deep, internal conflict.
She couldn’t bring herself to believe that the man she’d been with for three years was this kind of person.
Besides, even if he did do it, she didn’t want to push things to the absolute extreme.
After thinking for a long time, Sylvia Brooks decided to give Noel Lee a chance to come clean.
The two of them were in the same villa; one wanted to give her boyfriend a chance, while the other wanted to make his girlfriend shut up forever.
When Sylvia Brooks came out of her room, she realized Noel Lee wasn’t home.
The tension in her expression suddenly eased.
’I’ll just deal with it tomorrow, then.’
**
At 9 p.m., Captain Archer was still at the station working overtime. A whiteboard was covered in his analysis of the theft case.
He pondered for a moment, then went back to review the statements of the two burglars, rewatching the surveillance footage from Sylvia Brooks’s home over and over.
A colleague who came back to grab something saw him working late. "Captain Archer, isn’t the case already solved?"
Captain Archer’s brows furrowed deeply. "Miss Jennings told me there are more than two suspects."
The colleague said in surprise, "You believe what that young lady said? She says one thing off the cuff, and you’re going to think about it until you go bald."
Captain Archer chuckled. "Yesterday, I wouldn’t have believed a word she said. But today, I do."
The colleague shook his head. "You’ve fallen for her charms. Careful, or your wife will get jealous."
Captain Archer laughed and retorted, "Don’t be ridiculous! I’m old enough to be Miss Jennings’s father!"
"Just kidding!" The colleague waved his hand. "Take your time with the research. I’m heading out."
「An hour later.」
Captain Archer sensed something was off. The two burglars seemed very familiar with Sylvia Brooks’s home.
One went to the bedroom to get a suitcase, while the other went to the study to open the safe.
The entire process took less than ten minutes.
Even an expert from the technical department couldn’t possibly crack a safe’s password that quickly.
The only explanation was...
Captain Archer’s heart sank.
He took out his phone and dialed Henry Stark’s number. "Captain Stark, do you have Miss Jennings’s contact information? I have a question I’d like to ask her."
"I’ll send it to you." Henry Stark paused, then reminded him, "Remember to pay Miss Jennings a consultation fee."
Captain Archer: "I will."
Upon receiving the number from Henry Stark, Captain Archer immediately dialed it.
The phone rang for a few seconds before a cool, clear voice answered, "Hello."
Captain Archer said excitedly, "Miss Jennings, sorry to bother you. This is Dominic Archer. You said today that there were more than two burglars. Is the other suspect Miss Brooks’s boyfriend?"
Renee Jennings was sitting on the living room rug building blocks with the twins. Hearing his question, she replied calmly, "Yes."
She hadn’t said it directly earlier because she was afraid Dominic Archer wouldn’t believe her.
"I see. Thank you, Miss Jennings!" Dominic Archer hung up and immediately contacted his team.
Renee Jennings hung up. Half an hour later, she went out to give the little animals their late-night snack when she suddenly heard the birds talking about some "stinking man."
"What are you guys talking about?" She sidled over to join the group chat.
Before she could understand animals, she never knew what they were chattering about.
Now that she could understand them, Renee Jennings discovered she could learn many unknown secrets from them.
The Little Sparrow saw her curiosity and immediately began CHIRPING, "Renee, a friend of my cousin’s daughter found out! She said a human at Norvane Villa bought anesthetic and plans to kill his girlfriend."
’Norvane Villa?’
Renee Jennings remembered the place. It was the residential community where Sylvia Brooks lived, a neighborhood of mansions worth hundreds of millions.
Her brow furrowed slightly, and her expression grew solemn. "Can you help me ask what the human looks like and which villa number he lives in?"
"Sure thing." The Little Sparrow readily agreed, flapped its wings, and took flight. "I’ll go ask right now."
Renee Jennings watched the Little Sparrow fly away, a growing sense of unease creeping into her heart.
She took out her phone and dialed the most recent number in her call history.
When the other end picked up, Renee Jennings asked immediately, "Captain Archer, could you please send me Sylvia Brooks’s number?"
Dominic Archer didn’t hesitate. "Okay. We’re actually on our way to her house now."
Renee Jennings added, "I’ve received a bit of a tip. Sylvia Brooks’s boyfriend might make a move on her tonight."
Dominic Archer’s expression turned grim. He hung up and immediately ordered his team to mobilize.
Sylvia Brooks was wearing headphones, listening to music as she tried to sleep, when the song suddenly paused.
She picked up her phone and saw an unknown number on the screen, hesitating on whether to answer.
The villa was silent in the dead of night, making the sound of the digital lock disengaging exceptionally clear.
Door unlocked—
A figure stepped inside.
The man crossed the hall and stepped onto the stairs.
He was carrying a paper bag containing the anesthetic he’d had someone else buy for him.
The man’s eyes, behind his glasses, were filled with viciousness. A grim, cruel smile hung on his face as he climbed the stairs step by step, like a vengeful spirit coming to claim a life in the dead of night.
’Sylvia Brooks, you forced me to do this.’
"Miss Jennings, oh, it’s you." Sylvia Brooks hadn’t expected a call from Renee Jennings. "Is something wrong, for you to be calling so late?"
After hearing the Little Sparrow’s description, Renee Jennings was certain that the person planning to kill his girlfriend was Noel Lee.
Her grip on the phone tightened slightly. "Miss Brooks, turn off your speakerphone and listen to me."
Sylvia Brooks was taken aback for a moment. "I’m using headphones, not speakerphone."
Renee Jennings said calmly, "Your boyfriend is planning to kill you. While he’s not back yet, you need to leave the villa immediately. If he has returned, you must do everything you can to ensure your own safety. Captain Archer is on his way to Norvane Villa now."
Hearing these words, Sylvia Brooks’s heart stopped, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
At that moment, she didn’t even doubt Renee Jennings’s words.
’Kill me...’
’She had wanted to give Noel Lee a chance to come clean, and he was plotting to kill her?’
Sylvia Brooks’s eyes turned red as she choked out, "I understand."
She pulled up the villa’s security feed and saw that Noel Lee was already on the second floor.
"Miss Jennings, he’s back! What do I do?" Sylvia Brooks was in a complete panic.
Renee Jennings was also anxious. She had never experienced anything like this but forced herself to stay calm. "Lock your door from the inside." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"Okay..." Sylvia Brooks’s voice trembled. "It’s locked!"
She saw on the monitor that Noel Lee was walking toward her room.
Renee Jennings’s slender brows knitted together, and fine beads of sweat broke out on her smooth, fair forehead.
She thought for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Is there a source of fire in the room?"
Sylvia Brooks frantically scanned the room and saw a lighter on the nightstand, one that Noel Lee used for smoking.
"There’s a lighter."
"Get near the smoke detector and burn something. Be careful not to hurt yourself."
"Okay." Sylvia Brooks lit a few cigarettes, stood on a stool, and held them up to burn beneath the smoke detector.
She glanced at her phone, and her breath hitched.
Noel Lee’s hand was already on the doorknob of her room.
