Chapter 022

Matt Murdock looked at Clive Jones as he thought about every information that he had given him and his associate, Foggy Nelson.

Dirty blonde hair, a handsome face; a man who had defeated poverty to earn a successful living for himself – Clive Jones.

He had been found next to a young woman named Alisa Williams who had been killed by the knife that he was holding in his hands. 

Just by this much information, this case seemed dead.

Matt had taken it due to many reasons but the main reason was that Clive's brother Markus wasn't lying when he said that his brother was innocent.

It was his confidence that had made Matt pick up the case but nothing was helping till now.

Clive, his client, was hell bent on not knowing what had happened that night. At the same time, he kept saying that he was not the murderer.

But this much wasn't enough for them to save him.

'He's hiding a lot of things.'

Matt thought as he felt his best friend, Foggy whisper to him.

"I don't think we're gonna get anything out of him like this."

"I know. But I have a way."

"Try it. Otherwise, our record will have a stain on it."

Matt nodded his head, focusing on Clive instead. By his breathing and heartbeat, he could tell that Clive was distressed.

No, he was scared.

The blind lawyer was sure of it.

After all, there wasn't just one loophole in the case that he had found and all of them were just signalling towards something sinister happening in the background.

"Mr. Jones, I don't know if you know it but they are gonna try to kill you soon." Matt said, putting his hands on the table.

"What? What do you mean?"

It was not only Clive that was surprised by hearing that sentence. Foggy raised one of his eyebrows, wondering what his blind friend was hinting at.

"It had been almost 48 hours since the murder has happened. They haven't put you on trial yet. Why do you think it is that? They have enough evidence to put you in trial and if that happens, even we won't be able to save you. The evidence is that conclusive."

Matt explained, a gasp of understanding leaked out of Foggy's mouth.

"What... So you mean to say that..."

"They are not putting you on trial because they don't want you in there. They will probably try to kill you in your sleep or something. It's your good luck they didn't finish you off last night."

Clive took a deep breath hearing all that. He remembered that he had sensed the presence of a person last night but it had disappeared quickly.

He had thought that it was all just a dream but it seemed like that wasn't the case here.

Fear filled his heart as he realised that he had been in danger all along.

Finally understanding the direction his friend was taking this case to, Foggy followed, each of his words quickening Clive's heartbeat.

"The best guess here is that the police already has enough evidence to prove you are not the murderer. They must have found evidence that someone else broke into the house and was responsible for the killing."

Matt nodded his head and followed his friend's words.

"That's why they are not putting you on trial. They want to probably finish you off in the cell. They must have even prepared a headline titled "Murderer hanged himself in prison."

"That headline is as lazy as the investigators on this case."

Foggy joked, trying to lighten up the atmosphere but it had no effect.

Clive was already breathing roughly and he seemed to be close to a breakdown. Ignoring his condition, Matt continued as he asked.

"Now, the question is why are they trying to kill you? And why haven't they killed you off yet?"

"I... I don't know."

Clive stammered, trying to gather words. 

Foggy frowned hearing that but Matt decided to push more. They needed something more to help Clive out and save his life.

"Mr. Jones, this might be your last way out. If you know anything, please tell us. No one can help you other than us."

A deep sigh came out of Clive's mouth.

His hands shook a little as he tried to calm himself down. He knew Matt wasn't lying to him.

Every single word his lawyers had said were the truth and maybe, they were really his last chance to get out of this unscathed.

With despair filling his heart, he finally decided to reveal the truth.

"Alisa, she... she used to work as the secretary of finance manager. One day, she accidentally was sent a file that was meant for her boss." He said with ragged breaths. "She read it and there was a lot in it that a secretary shouldn't see."

"What was in that file?" Matt asked.

"Numbers. A lot of numbers that don't make sense. Not just that... there was definite proof that the company has its hands in a lot of illegal activities." He continued. "Enough proof to completely shut it down."

"What happened next? She told you about it?"

"Yeah, I worked at the legal department. She wanted to take my help. We met a lot of times to discuss it. I wanted to report it to the authorities but Alisa, she was scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Eyes. She felt like someone was watching her. She was getting more anxious every day. That night... we had decided to report it and be done with it but..."

His voice trailed off as tears filled his face. Foggy and Matt looked at each other, finally getting the full gist of what was going on.

Matt waited for Clive to calm down a little before asking another question.

"Those people... Why did they leave you off, Mr. Jones?"

"If we go by your story, they killed your colleague cause she knew of corruption going on in the company and was spreading it around. But the question is, they could have killed you too, why didn't they do it?" Foggy asked, glancing at Matt.

"Your brother told me your family wasn't able to get any lawyer for you cause no one was ready to take the case. That can only mean one thing. They wanted to make a deal with you."

"Deal?" Clive asked, fully knowing what Matt was hinting at.

"Yes, the only reason they didn't kill you is because they wanted something from you. But their plan didn't work out as two lawyers suddenly showed up. Now, we want to know what they wanted from you?"

Another silence took place as Matt asked that. He kept trying to focus on Clive's heartbeat as it kept increasing.

Thump! Thump!

The noise of Clive's heartbeat resounded in Matt's ears.

Finally, Clive said the final truth.

"I, I have that file. Alisa, she gave it to me."

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