The Bride Beneath the Roses Chapter 6

After thinking, I said: "Fine, you can deny it, but I'll continue. After Kevin's death, you thought that by being attentive and doing your best to handle Kevin's funeral, Susan would agree to you being with her daughter. But unexpectedly, Susan talked to you and still didn't agree to you and Lily being together. So in a rage, you pushed Susan out of the living room window, causing her to fall to her death."

"As a police officer making baseless accusations without any evidence—how ridiculous." Derek mocked me.

I sighed, feeling sad about having no evidence to arrest Derek. But I believed that as long as my reasoning was logical, I could shock Derek. If his psychological defenses collapsed, he might voluntarily confess his murders.

"Whether it's baseless or not, I think you know better than anyone. After Susan fell, Lily had no relatives left. Using the pretext of caring for her, you took the grief-stricken Lily to your place. You and Lily met online, and you were afraid she'd flirt with other online friends. You changed her phone number, canceled her WeChat, applied for a new WeChat for her, and the only contact in it was you."

"Derek, your possessiveness is too strong. Later, when Lily became very repulsed by you, you began domestically abusing her. You pushed her from upstairs, causing the upstairs railing to break and Lily's kneecaps to shatter. Lily was in great pain then, very weak, and forced to be hospitalized. To cover up your crime, you blamed the renovation company, saying they used substandard materials. To protect their reputation, the company could only swallow this injustice and compensate you with money."

I took a deep breath and continued angrily: "Poor Lily. You killed her parents, and she had to endure your abuse every day. You often argued, didn't you? Because Lily hated you. You treated her like a prisoner. You even installed surveillance cameras in every corner of the room so that even when you went to work, you could monitor everything Lily did at home. But before Lily died, you removed the surveillance because there are removal marks on several walls. I think you were preparing to kill Lily."

"Nonsense. This is all your imagination. I removed them because Lily disliked surveillance. I loved her so much, how could I bear to abuse her? Detective Woods, Lily committed suicide. She even left me a suicide note. I hope you, as a police officer, take responsibility for every word you say."

Seeing Derek somewhat agitated, I pressed my advantage: "Fine, let's say you removed the surveillance at her request. What about the gas? I investigated—your complex has always had natural gas. Natural gas is cheaper and much less dangerous than liquid gas. Why did you suddenly stop natural gas service a month ago and switch to liquid gas?"

I stared at Derek unblinkingly. Although his facial expression didn't change much, his hands unconsciously tightened.

He said: "A while ago, there was news about an old lady who caused a major explosion from carelessly using natural gas. The old lady died on the spot. I was really worried about Lily being home alone, especially with her inconvenient legs. So for her sake, I switched natural gas to liquid gas."

Hearing this, I almost laughed in anger. This guy's thinking was too meticulous, his counter-investigation abilities too strong. All the questions were answered impeccably.