“Spying on me, Sebastian?” Yui’s mouth twisted uncomfortably.
She eyed Alice with a glare. “Why don’t you ask him why he keeps suspecting my brother and me? He always seems suspicious and watches us all the time.”
Sebastian sneered. “Good acting, Miss Yui. Perhaps Mr Daniel might have deserved the injury and jail for his behaviour, but we all know that it was you and Young Mr Jackson!”
“Such strong accusations you got there, my dear butler,” the woman said through her teeth. “I can simply get you fired right here.”
“You don’t have the authority to do that. Neither does your brother.”
Daisy realised that this has gotten a bit too far and decided to intervene, “Sebastian, we weren’t accusing Yui of anything. We were just clarifying some things.”
“Which she hasn’t answered yet…” Betty muttered.
Yui, having felt enough of the matter, headed back to her room. “I’m going back to rest. I promised to find some inspiration for my new painting, but you just made me lose all that!”
The door slammed behind her and there was silence for a while.
“So Sebastian, care to explain what that’s all about?”
“Hmm? I am just assisting you with my investigations. After all, you are here just to check up on her, am I correct?”
“Maybe,” Alice replied casually.
“Well, since I’ve done my job, I’ll be off now.”
The old man nodded curtly and headed down the stairs to his room. The girls watched on quietly as they heard the sound of the door closing in on the first floor.
“Wow. It must be quite stressful to grow up in such a toxic family,” Betty remarked loudly. “I’m glad mine isn’t this bad.”
“Haha, that’s a good one,” Daisy laughed while Elaine wore a frown in disapproval.
“Enough girls,” Alice lightly scolded. “That’s their problem that we shouldn’t get involved in. In any case, we need to go find and see Shiro.”
Elaine got curious, “Why?”
“I bet Yui was on her phone right now and informing him what had just happened. And he’ll want to see us soon.”
Alice was right.
When they arrived in the building, the man asked the girls to immediately come up to his office.
The moment they stepped into the office, Betty could see the slightly frustrated expression he was repressing. Shiro immediately instructed them to sit in a circle on the other side of his table.
“Yui told me about your visit to the mansion again,” the man growled. “Apparently, you accused her of lying.”
“We didn’t,” Daisy replied calmly. “Your butler did.”
“My butler?” Shiro’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, that old fart.”
The man growled, “He really went too far this time. I have a lot to settle with all the bad publicity we’ve been having. If such a rumour were to get out, it would be disastrous for my company and me.”
Elaine had an understanding nod. She can relate how much reputation matters when it comes to something like this.
Alice continued, “Sebastian really doesn't have a job anymore, does he?”
“If it is that easy,” Shiro grunted. “He was Father’s assistant, but it doesn't end there. He knows a lot about our family affairs and we need him to stay with us until the will is fully processed.”
The man leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table. “I know you went there to ask them about us again. So, any questions for me?”
“A simple one,” Alice said, also leaning forward. “On the night of the event, when you came down the stairs along with your sister, could you see if Daniel had a gun with him?”
“Hmm… no actually. I couldn’t see it. Perhaps Yui might see since she is attentive to details and might have a better view than me. And I also was too tired for that day too.”
“But not too tired to recognise Daniel?”
“Of course. I told you and the police everything I saw. Nothing more than that I can say I’m afraid.”
“Tell us, Shiro… about the gun on the floor, have you seen it before?”
Shiro was confused and surprised,” What gun? What floor? I don’t say anything of that sort. He took it with him, right? That’s why it was found in a bag recently.”
The man grinned, “If he had left the gun after shooting Father, that would make him the dumbest killer in history.”
“Then another thing,” Alice smiled. “You definitely didn’t inform your father of Daniel’s issues, did you?”
“Oh… I was tempted,” the man smirked. “But I didn’t. I do care about my father and he doesn't need that kind of unnecessary stress at such an old age.”
“Ok. Thank you for answering our questions, Shiro. Just one last thing, is there a picture of your father that we could borrow?” Alice started to stand up.
Shiro looked puzzled for a moment before pulling out the drawers under his desk and passing the photo over to Alice. “I have one here.”
“That’s perfect,” Alice remarked after seeing the picture.
She showed to her club a picture of a harsh-faced old man in a dressing gown in the study room with a book in hand. “Can I borrow this one? We will return it to you once all of this is over.”
“Go ahead. I have multiple copies of it anyway,” Shiro shrugged, still puzzled about the request.
Betty glanced at Alice, wondering what she was playing at, but the petite girl kept quiet.
The girls stood up, but something was in the petite girl’s mind that she immediately blurted out to Shiro.
“Mr Shiro, do you know that Daniel’s gun was stolen on the day before the murder?”
“Really?” Shiro genuinely grew confused. “Who stole it?”
“We are still finding that out now, “Alice answered quickly. “It had disappeared until the gun was found in the ziplock bag.”
Shiro shook his head, feeling a bit lost. “This really messed up, isn't it? A gun was stolen and Father was killed. It makes people think that our family is all running around threatening and wanting to kill each other at any time.”
“It probably will be over soon,” Alice reassured him. “We might find out who killed him. Thank you for lending a bit of your time to us, Shiro.”
Once outside the building, Betty immediately stood in front of her leader, a grumpy look on her face.
“Do you really think we can solve this soon, Alice? You better not be making this up.”
Alice grinned, “Why yes, of course. Let’s just say I know a way to find out who’s the murderer.”
Daisy laughed, “Always the Alice we know off. I suppose we just have to prepare and see how it will go. We can finish this case in no time.”
Betty reluctantly let go of the matter, and together, they returned to the clubroom to plan out the details.
