Chapter Twenty-Three
"Carmella you have to rest dear," said a worried Margaret at the young girl who lay like a statue for the last three hours, staring at a distant tree outside the window of her room. "Try to get some sleep."
"Why did my baby go back to God, Margaret? I could have taken care of it," said Carmella, without a blink of her eyes, as if in a trance.
"It will come back again to you, dear, try to close your eyes and get some sleep," said Margaret, sitting on the side of the bed and stroking her hair.
"I can't sleep, Margaret. I wanted to hold my baby to my chest. It's all I had of Jaxon. He doesn't love me anymore, Margaret. He thinks I'm a thief but I swear upon my dead baby, I didn't do anything, " she mumbled as if talking to herself.
"Hush, dear, I know you're innocent, and believe me the truth will soon be out," she comforted, stroking Carmella's hair. Carmella closed her eyes slowly as sleep overcame her as Margaret stroked her hair slowly. She didn't know much about what Carmella went through but from her conversation with Carmella just now, she had a rough idea.
Phil and Brian searched the entire floor again minutely. "The prime suspect's fingerprints didn't match with any of those that we had collected last time, you know. It seems she only accessed her own drawers and went away after that. Apart from your and Jaxon's fingerprints, I have two new sets of fingerprints. We will send the hair strands for a DNA test and then match those with the DNA of the fingerprints. If they match, then you have a brand new prime suspect, " said Brian.
Phil thought for a moment, "The prime suspect now is Dana Rockwell, who is an acquaintance of Mr. Craddock. Her hair looks exactly like the ones we collected, Brian. Let's go and check the CCTV footage from the hidden camera," said Phil.
"Yes, Jaxon told me about it," he said, as they walked over to the elevators. They went to the reception and spoke to Jacqueline about the footage of the hidden camera. She took them to the audiovisual room where a few people were monitoring the cameras. Jacqueline spoke to one of them.
"This is Ed, he'll show you any footage that you might require, " she said, leaving the room.
Ed showed them the footage of the hidden camera. It was unusual that the footage from the hidden camera was also tampered with and was deleted.
"How is this possible Ed? The footage from the day after JC left is missing. A total of three days' footage is missing," said Phil in confusion.
"How many people know about this hidden camera, Ed?" Asked Brian scratching his goatee.
"Us, Jacqueline, and the security guards," informed Ed puzzled by the footage.
"Show us the footage of the day before JC left for London, it was the 12th, I think, " said Phil.
Ed searched for a few minutes and then showed the footage that they wanted. "Go back, Ed, yes yes, now pause and zoom," said Brian. Ed did as directed and they looked at the footage of Dana Rockwell chatting with one of the security guards, a tall, hefty guy with light blonde hair. Then they kissed and she went away.
"This is our guy Phil. So she's hooked up with one of our security guards and planned this whole thing out," said Brian. "Call Jacqueline, we need all information about this guy," he added.
"Wait let's first check the footage of the hidden camera outside to see who all came into our building those three days after JC left, " suggested Ed and they excitedly agreed. Ed showed them the footage from the hidden camera in the parking lot on the right side.
"Only JC and I know about this camera. We installed it before he left for Las Vegas, " informed Ed.
They excitedly checked the footage and sure enough, they saw a shadowy figure entering the building on the 14th, which was a day after Jaxon left for London. The figure entered at 12 o'clock midnight.
"Can we zoom and see the figure clearly?" Asked Phil.
Ed tried to zoom to the fullest. The picture quality wasn't so good but it was clear that the figure was of a woman with red hair. The tall security guard at the door too followed her inside the building.
"These two are our culprits, Phil, " said Brian. "Keep these footages safe, Ed. We will now have to involve the police."
Phil went over to Jacqueline. "Can you come for a minute, Jacqueline?" Asked Phil.
Jacqueline came forward, "Yes, what is it?"
"Come with me. We have something to show you," he said leading her to the audiovisual room again. Ed showed her the footage of the security guard.
"Who's this guard? I want all his details, Jacqueline, " said Brian.
"Oh, that's Jamie Smithies, he replaced Tony Robbins for a month. Tony joined back last week so Jamie doesn't need to come any longer. I can get his details from the security agency that we collaborate with," she said.
"Yes, please do. We need the information as soon as possible. And Jacqueline, keep this hushed up, please. We don't want to alert the culprits," said Brian. Jacqueline nodded and went back to her desk. They thanked Ed and left the room.
"Now what?" Asked Phil. Gilbert joined them and they updated him on the latest information that they had collected.
"Call Jaxon and inform him. We will inform the police now and nab the culprits," said Gilbert. Brian called Jaxon and informed him.
Jaxon agreed to involve the police. It was only because of Carmella that he had refrained from going to the police. With Carmella out of the scene, they could go ahead and complain to the cops.
Carmella couldn't take it any longer. She was restless and heartbroken. She longed to be with her family. So she called her dad. She couldn't stay here in New York any longer. She needed her family and the sanctity of her own home. She had no wish to stay at Jaxon's apartment.
"Dad, can you please come and get me from here? I fell down the staircase and have sprained my lumbar region. I'm also unwell and bedridden. I don't want to stay here any longer," she sobbed.
"Hush, princess, I'll come as soon as possible, okay? Be ready and message me your address," he consoled her.
"Yes, dad," Carmella said. She sent her address to him when he disconnected the call. Margaret helped her pack her stuff. She waited for her dad to come and get her. She was glad that she would go home.
Gilbert complained to the police and they came over and the investigation started with full force. They checked the evidence and arrested Dana Rockwell from her sister's house where she was hiding. The police found all forty missing designs from her room in her sister's house. The security guard who helped her was absconding and they were on the lookout for him. Police officers were searching for him everywhere. Jaxon boarded the first available flight back to New York.
He should have been ecstatic that his designs had been found but he wasn't. Only images of a broken Carmella appeared before his eyes making him restless. Her tear-stricken face, her broken words all made him want to punish himself for hurting her so badly. He tried to call Gilbert many times but he didn't pick up his call.
Jaxon knew that he had hurt Gilbert too and decided to beg and apologize to the two most important people in his life till they forgave him.
It was after dinner when the doorbell rang. Margaret answered the door and saw three men standing outside.
"Carmella's living here?" asked the oldest of the three. Margaret nodded. "I'm Ethan Parker, her dad and these are her brothers, Tyler and Lucas. Can we come in?"
Margaret allowed them inside. They rushed over to Carmella's room. "Princess, how did this happen?" Asked her dad, sitting on her bed and hugging her.
"I fell down, dad," she mumbled as tears came pouring down her cheeks.
"You're coming home, sweetie. Hush, don't cry. I'm here now, with you," said her dad. They thanked Margaret for looking after Carmella. Her dad and Lucas picked up her luggage while Tyler carried her to the elevator. They took her to the car and sped away to the airport.
Margaret cleaned the house well. She was about to leave when the doorbell rang. It should be Gilbert, she thought and opened the door.
There stood Jaxon and not Gilbert. She knew Jaxon as he had come over to Gilbert's house innumerable times. They were childhood friends after all. "Jaxon? What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Where's Carmella? I need to see her please, Margaret, " said Jaxon impatiently as if his life depended upon it.
"Carmella has left with her dad and brothers. She's gone back home, Jaxon, " she informed him calmly.
