The Bride Beneath the Roses Chapter 5

Sharon said she remembered her sister mentioning that when Lily brought Derek home to meet her parents, Kevin threw Derek out. Not long after, Kevin died in a car accident, and her sister jumped from a building. Later, somehow she couldn't contact Lily, and eventually, calling Lily's number, it had become disconnected.

Back at the station, I reported my investigation results to Captain Shaw. Shaw immediately had me summon Derek for interrogation.

In the interrogation room, to create psychological pressure on Derek, we handcuffed him.

But this guy didn't seem to care, still playing the role of someone who'd lost his beloved woman.

Seeing this, I got straight to the point: "Derek, you killed her. Why keep up this pitiful act? Not just Lily—Lily's father Kevin and her mother Susan's deaths were also your doing, weren't they?"

Derek looked at me with indifferent eyes after hearing my words, a hint of coldness on his lips: "Detective Woods, everything requires evidence. I hope you won't make false accusations."

"Hmph! What's done in the dark will come to light. Derek, you can't escape legal punishment."

Seeing Derek maintain his nonchalant attitude, I took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible: "Two years ago, you and Lily met online and quickly established a relationship. What you didn't expect was that when Lily brought you home to meet her parents, they strongly opposed you, and Kevin even threw you out."

As I said this, I carefully observed Derek's micro-expressions. Seeing no abnormal reaction, I continued: "You're a very petty person, even vindictive. I interviewed your coworkers—you held a grudge because a colleague accidentally dropped your freshly printed documents. To retaliate, you scalded her desk succulents to death with boiling water. This shows your character."

As I spoke, I observed Derek's facial expressions. I noticed his left cheek twitch almost imperceptibly. I smiled slightly and continued my reasoning.

"So when Kevin threw you out and said many harsh things—basically, he looked down on you and forbade you from seeing his daughter—you must have been very angry. Because under her parents' persuasion, Lily wavered and even proposed breaking up with you. You felt this was all fundamentally Kevin's fault. To retaliate, you found out where Kevin worked. You also knew Kevin rode an electric scooter to and from work every day, and that Fuan Road was on his route. There's a surveillance blind spot there. You used this to stage a car accident and murder Kevin."

My string of words made Derek laugh coldly. He looked at me calmly and mocked: "Detective Woods, you really can fabricate stories. Too bad you have no evidence."

Seeing Derek so arrogant, I said: "Derek, after hitting Kevin, you sold your car. Is that a coincidence?"

Derek responded disdainfully: "It was just a used car anyway. Out with the old, in with the new. Simple logic."

I had no response to Derek's words. Although I'd discovered Derek transferred that old Volkswagen to someone named Walter King not long after Kevin's accident.

But I hadn't seen that car because six months ago, Walter sold it to a scrap yard.