Puppy Love
Chapter 34

Liam~

Breakfast ended, and it was time for us to head to Sam Street. While we walked out I stylishly waited for everyone to move past us holding Josephine’s. hand. She had a mischievous grin on her face when they left.

“Good morning,” I said, pulling her close, tucking her hair behind her ear, and she giggled.

“You should have let me in; I would have helped you in the shower,” I teased, and she laughed.

“be careful what you say, your highness; I might just let you,” She teased, and I laughed.

“I am thinking we go hunting when we return today,” I said, and she shook her head, breaking my heart a bit.

“I think we should watch a movie in your room or mine and maybe order spring rolls and sandwiches from Mrs Mirabel. I have her number now,” she said, and I laughed.

Of course, watching television in either of our rooms was more appealing than hunting. I made a mental note to let her pick the activities and venue henceforth. My choices might be a bit too boring for her.

“Of course, we can go hunting some other time,” she added, and I could see her effort to meet me halfway. A strong sign that our relationship will succeed. Josephine wasn’t selfish, and that was one of her best qualities.

“Now come on, let’s go see what we can replace out there. Sophia is counting on you,” She said and went ahead of me, pulling my hand.

Josephine was amazing, and how she effortlessly cared about Sophia and wanted to help me replace her was incredible. She was indeed a true queen.

I watched her move swiftly so we could catch up with our teammates while I followed behind like a love-struck puppy. Waste that was my reality now.

I was indeed love-struck and a fool for her.

Justin was waiting outside the van. After realising they were waiting for us, I wanted to explain, but Justin just motioned us to get in. At the same time, he circled to the driver’s side so we could head out.

Josephine sat with me in the van, and I honestly did not care if anyone was watching. By now, my cousins should be tired of trying to figure out the mysteries between me and Jo.

“You surprise me, Li. Form Sophia to Jo. I do not blame you, though; she is hot,” Marvin linked me, and Ilooked at him. He had a smirk on his face. It was clear that he did not know we were fated, so I figured he got his news from Charlotte and not Oliver, as I had suspected.

We arrived at Sam’s Street. It was quiet as usual, but there was something eerie about it. We had lived there on and off with our grandparents while school was in session for five years, but it suddenly did not have that welcome home feel anymore. It felt like something was wrong.

“Okay,” Justin said, turning off the engine parked in front of our grandparent’s home.

“Sebastien, you are with Marvin. Oliver, you are with Noah, Charlotte, you are with Liam and Josephine, you are with me. You are to visit the houses and ask them to give an account of what they saw the night of the fire.

Remember, you are not to drill them or make them seem suspicious. Study them and fish out the people you sense are lying and suspicious.

Once that is done, we will head back, and you will give an account of why you suspect them; then, we will decide and arrest the ones that seem the most suspicious.

I also want you to prepare yourselves that this investigation might not have anything to do with Mike or Sophia and might not give us the much-needed break we seek.

It might be no big deal, and the housekeeper might have just pissed off the wrong people, and they caught up with her.

As for the fire, it might have indeed been an accident. This explanation is also plausible.

I am saying this so you won’t get your hopes up and just deal with the situations as they come. I repeat again, do not overthink things and do not make them uncomfortable or suspicious,” Justin instructed.

His instruction was explicit for everyone. Though a bit pained that he did not team me up with Josephine, I could understand his reasons. The main tendencies to get carried away and not do a thorough job were there. It was indeed going to be hard with my wolf aiming to claim her at every given opportunity. This was for the best.

We left the van in our teams, and Charlotte and I headed to the house close to Grandma’s house on the right.

It was a brick duplex with a small driveway and clear glass windows. Without the white curtain blinds, we would see the insides of the house.

Seeing the amount of care put into the house, it was clear that the folks living there were very meticulous, and people with large windows like that hardly minded their business.

We knew them already. They moved in a year ago;

Jewels had once complained that there was a peeping Tom in the house.

Not that they could peep and successfully see what was happening in our house because

Granmas’s house was a small mansion with a vast space between the gate and the entrance of the house; Jewels said she had often seen them looking at our gate and gardens. This detail was now necessary. Hopefully, the person peeping was watching the entrance and the garden when the crime was perpetrated.

Charlotte knocked on the door, and someone opened it after a few seconds. It was a skinny-looking man that seemed to be in his forties. He was a bit bald, and I wondered why he didn’t bother to shave his head. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a familiar face.

“Where are the residents?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“They moved out some weeks ago. We moved in two weeks ago,” he answered.

“When you mean we, how many of you are here and what is your relationship with them,” Charlotte asked, and the man smiled. He looked really creepy. I hate to be the type of person to stereotype people, but I wouldn’t leave a loved one with this man unsupervised

“Let me start by greeting you,” he said, and I was ashamed about our manner.

“Good morning, your highness, lady Lawrence,” He said, greeting Charlotte and me, evidence of shame of our lack of manners visible on our faces.

“My name is Augustine Richland. I just moved in here with my brother Nelson and his mate Leean.

They are yet to be married. We are waiting for the blue moon,” He added, and I nodded. Too much information indicates nervousness.

“Sorry about our manners, Mr Richland. We hope you do not mind us asking you questions,” I said, and he and I smiled and shook his head.

“Of course not, your highness. Who am I to refuse?”

The Wall he asked, and I shook my head.

“You have every right to refuse; we will just walk away. Know that if the question gets uncomfortable at any point, please inform us so we can stop,” I told him, and he nodded.

“Please come in,” he said, and even though I felt we were safer standing by outside, I knew it was inevitable and that we would have to enter to get the whole picture. Besides, he would be stupid to try anything, knowing that the entire squad was in the vicinity. Hopefully, all the neighbours weren’t in on it, then in that case, we would be truly f****d.

We entered the house, and I was shocked to see the place was empty.

“Our furniture is yet to arrive; something about the tight security at the port,” he said, leading us to a living room where there were plastic chairs for us to sit on.

“Please manage this,” he said, pointing at the chairs, and I thanked him. I wanted to stand, but again refusing to sit might be seen as impolite.

Since he had no furniture, it might be regarded as being snobbish. We sat on the chairs, and he copied us.

“Would you like a drink?” he asked, and I shook my head immediately.

1

“Not at all, Mr Richland. We just have a couple of questions, and we will be on our way,” I said, and he nodded attentively.

Just then, a man walked in. He was hefty and did not look like he and Mr Richlad were related, but when Mr Richland introduced him as his brother, I realised that there was something off, but I kept it to myself.

“Do you want my brother’s present?” He asked, and

Charlotte nodded.

“Sure, his mate, too,” She added, and he nodded.

Soon a raven-haired short woman joined us.

Seeing that all the residents were with us, I decided to start the questioning process.

“Please, I want an account of what happened on this street the night of the accident,” I said, and Agustine seemed relaxed. He was too calm for comfort. Overconfidence was also a bad sign, but let it slide.

“The burnt van was initially parked outside the Brighton’s residence. Leena saw it there. Soon we heard something like a blast or hits. I can’t describe it, but it was a weird sound, like something hitting another thing. The sound camehead immediately.

1

“Not at all, Mr Richland. We just have a couple of questions, and we will be on our way,” I said, and he nodded attentively.

Just then, a man walked in. He was hefty and did not look like he and Mr Richlad were related, but when Mr Richland introduced him as his brother, I realised that there was something off, but I kept it to myself.

“Do you want my brother’s present?” He asked, and

Charlotte nodded.

“Sure, his mate, too,” She added, and he nodded.

Soon a raven-haired short woman joined us.

Seeing that all the residents were with us, I decided to start the questioning process.

“Please, I want an account of what happened on this street the night of the accident,” I said, and Agustine seemed relaxed. He was too calm for comfort. Overconfidence was also a bad sign, but let it slide.

“The burnt van was initially parked outside the Brighton’s residence. Leena saw it there. Soon we heard something like a blast or hits. I can’t describe it, but it was a weird sound, like something hitting another thing. The sound camehead immediately.

1

“Not at all, Mr Richland. We just have a couple of questions, and we will be on our way,” I said, and he nodded attentively.

Just then, a man walked in. He was hefty and did not look like he and Mr Richlad were related, but when Mr Richland introduced him as his brother, I realised that there was something off, but I kept it to myself.

“Do you want my brother’s present?” He asked, and

Charlotte nodded.

“Sure, his mate, too,” She added, and he nodded.

Soon a raven-haired short woman joined us.

Seeing that all the residents were with us, I decided to start the questioning process.

“Please, I want an account of what happened on this street the night of the accident,” I said, and Agustine seemed relaxed. He was too calm for comfort. Overconfidence was also a bad sign, but let it slide.

“The burnt van was initially parked outside the Brighton’s residence. Leena saw it there. Soon we heard something like a blast or hits. I can’t describe it, but it was a weird sound, like something hitting another thing. The sound came twice with a few seconds interval before we heard people screaming fire,” the man said, and I frowned at him.

“Hits?” I asked, and he nodded.

“The explosion came after the second hit. I guess the van collided with the fence twice or something?” he said, seeming a bit confused himself because it didn’t add up.

“Something must have gone wrong, and it exploded by the house that burnt down. When I think of it. It baffles me how the house started burning, judging that there was an eight feet distance between the house and the vehicle. Some people say parts of the vehicle that was on fire got into the house, through the windows, and burnt the curtains,” he said and leaned forward.

“I don’t think so, but I am not the expert. That is what the fire service concluded and told us before sending us back into our homes,” he said,

“It doesn’t add up, but that was what happened.”

He added, and I nodded.

“I also saw the men that were in the van rushing out of the house Lady Brighton’s house to get into the van before they drove off and caught fire at the corner,” Leeana said, and that was quite informative.

“Is that all?” I asked, and no one had anything else to say.

“Very well then, thank you for your time,” I said and stood, and Charlotte did the same.

We had questions to ask, but Justin had explicitly instructed us not to drill them, so we had to let it go.

“Is that all? Won’t you ask more questions?” Creepy Augustin asked, and I felt the need to get out of there because he seemed he wanted to keep us there, and I wasn’t going to become anyone’s souvenir.

“How about a photograph, your Highness, my lady,

“He said, smiling and taking out his phone. We had no choice but to agree.

They each took turns taking photos with Charlotte and me, and eventually, using a selfie stick, we took a group picture, and we were out of the house.

I did not know how uncomfortable I was until I exhaled.

“So what do you think?” Charlotte said. 1

“Honest people, but creepy,” I said, and she nodded.

“Come on, let us inspect the fire spot,” I said, and she frowned at me.

“Aren’t we supposed to continue questioning people?” she asked, and I shook my head.

“We will hear the same thing. One thing established is that the people that harmed the housekeeper were the ones in the van. I want us to investigate the corner. If indeed the vehicle blew up, then there should be signs of parts or the accident on the lawns or walls of the other houses close to the burnt house,” I said. A glint in her eyes indicated she understood my angle.

“Unless the fire was deliberate and Isolated and the fire service gave us a false report.” She said, and I nodded.

“Just like the housekeeper, the people living in that house were either the main target or there was no one there, and they burnt it down to divert our attention from the main crime. The attack on the Grandma’s house,” Charlotte suggested, and I told her not to overthink it.

“We have to replace out if the drivers were in the car when it burnt down. They might have set it ablaze to erase the evidence. The two hit sounds are really suspicious and don’t add up.” She wondered allowed it, and I agreed with her. The two hit sounds were indeed suspicious.

“The only way we can prove it is to ask for the bones of the driver and passenger of the van. If there were people in the van when it burnt down, they should have bones in the evidence. Bones never burn. They only get dry and then crushed and discarded.” I said, somehow, I suspected they would not have any bone to give us; never would they have thought they had the need to preserve the evidence

We went to the house that burnt down. I looked at it and realised that I never knew the people living in it for the four years we were there. I doubted if my cousins knew too, and my grandparents always kept to themselves.

Charlotte and I scanned the area for clues, and just as we had suspected, there weren’t parts of the vehicle on the lawn leading to the house, but we found a massive hole in the wall pretty close to the window that people would have overlooked. The spot was there, and it indicated something was shot into the house. Maybe that was the double hit sounds creepy Augustin heard.

I looked at the area where the hole was, and Charlotte and I immediately placed together what must have happened. It wasn’t what we were thinking at all.

The house was accidentally burnt down. Someone watching from a faraway angle shot at the van twice. The hit on the house must have been the first shot that missed the vehicle prompting the shooter to send another shot.

Someone indeed wanted to clean their tracks, and the sorry asses they sent to do the job were the only loose ends, and they had tied it up by blowing them and burning them to cinders.