A Moment in Destiny

Chapter 858 Didn’t Kill Anyone

Raphael’s bright and spacious office showed off the magnificence and elegance of the Gill Group. With an identity like his, how could he possibly be the murderer?

Even though he didn’t have a motive, he was still a suspect. Rae’s sixth sense was telling her that Raphael wasn’t a suspect. But Marcel made her bring his men here, and she couldn’t disobey him.

"Higher-up's order!” Rae declared, “Raphael I believe that you are not the murderer. Yesterday I suspected that you slept with Joanna because you were suave and always had women around you. But you are not the murderer. At most, you just slept with her last night!”

Rae said straightforwardly, but Raphael scoffed upon hearing her.

Rae raised her head and looked at him. He tilted his head slightly and looked at Rae. He said slowly in a low voice, “So you don’t trust me!”

“It’s my fault that I suspected you yesterday. But you also said that something was going on between you and Joanna!”

"So what of it?” Raphael arched his brow.

“Sorry!” Rae apologized.

“Whatever!” Raphael looked at Rae coldly. It seemed that it didn’t matter to him anymore, whether she believed him or not. He was indifferent since she didn’t trust him from the start.

"But it matters to me!” Rae walked up to him and looked him into the eyes, “Raphael, can you come with us to the police station and talk about what happened yesterday?”

"No!” said Raphael coldly.

Rae felt distressed. If he didn’t come with her, he could be charged with failure to comply, and she didn’t want to arrest him. She tried to convince him again.

“Raphael...”

She was interrupted the moment she said his name, “What if I say that I am the killer??”

“Impossible!” Rae shook her head immediately. She even grabbed his hand out of agitation, “Raphael, this is not funny!”

“Are you not curious about why I was together with Joanna last night?” It seemed like Raphael already knew how Rae would react. His voice was deep with no sway in emotions. He glanced at Rae’s worried face and the look in his dark eyes were complicated. He seemed like he was pondering about something deeply.

Rae looked at him seriously and locked her gaze onto his cold yet stern face. He wasn’t as handsome and unruly as Marcel, but he was elegant and indifferent in his own special way. He had a dignified and arrogant air around him. He was indeed the president of the Gill Group.

"I’m curious, I’m curious about everything. But I’m also worried. Raphael, I’m worried about you!” Rae’s head hurt and she didn’t want to lose her friend.

The look in Raphael’s eyes changed slightly. They looked like a bottomless pit, at the bottom of the pit it seemed like his emotions were raving, but they were quickly suppressed.

Rae looked blankly at Raphael. She noticed a brief look of helplessness and sorrow in his eyes. He then lowered his head and stared at her hand which was grabbing his. He didn’t utter a word.

Rae grabbed his hand tightly and didn’t let go. She didn’t let go even when Raphael tried to fling her hand away.

He looked at her and their eyes met. It was quiet.

“Raphael, I will look into it. We are handling a tricky case, I’m sorry that I cannot tell you more details. It’s my job and I have to keep it confidential. Just come with me to the station and tell the police what did Joanna tell you last night and what you guys did. I’ll take care of the rest, okay?” she said sincerely. She hoped that he could understand her good intentions.

After a long while, Rae thought that he wasn’t going to comply. Suddenly, Raphael pulled Rae towards him and hugged her tightly.

He rested his chin on her head and said in a low voice, “Rae, thank you for trusting me. I’m not afraid since I’m innocent. I won’t make this hard for you, I’ll go with you!”

“Raphael?” Rae was taken aback.

“I didn’t kill anyone!” Raphael finally negated, “I will be very sad to lose Joanna!”

He looked immensely sombre. Soon after, he let go of Rae. Rae met his eyes again and saw the sadness in his eyes. She nodded and said, “I understand! Every life is precious!”

Not to mention that Raphael had a thing with Joanna. It was normal for Raphael to feel sad!

In the end, humans were not emotionless robots.

Rae wanted to say something to Raphael but someone knocked on the door. The door was then pushed open and it was Rae’s colleague who opened up the door. He was holding a phone in his hand. He looked at Rae and Raphael and waved his hand which was holding the phone, he said to Rae, “Rae, Captain Hopkins said that you have no right to meet the suspect in private. I’m sorry, but we have to leave!”

Rae was dumbfounded. She looked at Raphael and then looked at Raphael’s secretaries who were standing outside the door behind her colleague. They were peeking inside out of curiosity and were surprised at what they saw.

Rae took a deep breath, Marcel was really unsympathetic!

But she couldn't blame him because his order was justified. Due to the nature of her job, she wasn’t allowed to talk to Raphael so much in private.

Raphael patted her hand and Rae looked at him.

His eyes were telling her that he was fine.

After that, he told his secretaries, “I have to go out for a certain business. Please cancel all the upcoming meetings today. Tell them that we will rearrange new dates for the meetings and will notify them later! Also, let Lawyer King from the service department know that he is to come with me!”

Rae let out a sigh of relief. She felt reassured knowing that he was bringing a lawyer with him.

Maybe she got too emotional. She thought that there was no way Raphael was the murderer and already had a bias towards him. With such a personality, she wasn’t suitable to be a police at all! She was way too emotional!

Very quickly, Rae brought him to the station and put him in an interrogation room.

Marcel was back and he went into the interrogation room with no expression on his face. He didn’t even look at Rae.

This time, Marcel made Rae do the record.

He needed to question Raphael personally this time.

Two men sat opposite of each other, and Rae sat opposite of Raphael’s lawyer.

Marcel looked calm. He was worked to the bones during the past few days, his eyes were bloodshot and his bags were heavy, but he didn’t appear to look tired.

Raphael sat on the chair in the interrogation room. He looked calm as well. He had an indifferent look on his face as he stared at Marcel.

Marcel glanced at him frigidly, he said sternly, “Mr. Gill, we bring you here because we want to know more about a certain situation!”

Before Raphael could say anything, his lawyer said something. He looked at Marcel’s warrant and said, “Mr. Hopkins, if you just wanted to know more about a certain situation, you could’ve made an appointment with Mr. Gill. It was unnecessary to bring him forcefully into the station for such trivial matters.”

Marcel glanced at Lawyer King sharply but he wasn’t in a rush to retort.

Raphael stayed quiet. The atmosphere in the room became tense.

Rae looked at them and started to worry.

Suddenly, Marcel said nonchalantly, “Mr. Gill, we won’t bring you into the interrogation room for questioning if we don’t have evidence!”

“Please show us your evidence then, and proceed with the public prosecution. But before that, my client has the right to remain silent!” Lawyer King said sternly.

Rae got even more worried, she looked at Raphael.

Raphael also looked at her. After a long while, he said, “Lawyer King, it’s okay. I’m innocent, and I believe that’s enough evidence! Captain Hopkins, what do you need to know?”

Marcel squinted his eyes as Raphael was suddenly complying. He stared at Raphael and noticed that Raphael was staring at Rae. His eyes dimmed.

Rae let out a sigh of relief, she looked at Raphael with gratefulness in her eyes.

This made Marcel even more bitter. Suddenly, Raphael arched the corner of his mouth and smiled. Marcel immediately knew that Raphael wouldn’t be easy to deal with. Raphael was famous in City B, he was rich and powerful.

They met each other’s eyes and quickly put their foot down. It wasn’t about the public affairs, it was just that they wouldn’t get along, like a dissymmetrical magnetic field.

Marcel’s eyes were frigid and Raphael’s eyes were blazing. They were the total opposite.

Marcel stared at him like a hawk staring at its prey. Suddenly, he chuckled, “Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Gill!”

“You’re welcome, Captain Hopkins. It is our duty as citizens to cooperate with the police. I’m more than willing to! Go ahead and ask your questions!”

Marcel knew that he was willing to cooperate because of Rae. Raphael was complying obediently just so that he could make Rae fawn over him.

Marcel smiled mysteriously, "Mr. Gill, we’ll first go on with the regular procedure! Rae, take notes!”

After that, they did the regular procedure of asking about his full name, age, education level, experience in society, personality and so on. Only then they moved on to the main topic.

“Where were you last night between 10:15 pm to 11:30 pm?”

Raphael thought about it and said, “I don’t remember exactly, but around 10 pm I got out of YS Club. My phone rang and that’s when I looked at the time, I believe that it was 10 pm sharp. After that, I was in the parking lot for about 5 minutes. There should be CCTVs in the parking lots to prove that I was there!”

“Do you know Ms. Joanna Salinas?” asked Marcel.

“I do!” Raphael answered honestly.

“And you guys met last night?”

“Yes!”

“What for?”

Raphael paused briefly, but he then said, “For a hookup!”

Marcel was taken aback hearing him said that. He glanced at Rae, but Rae had no change in expression.

“Was it successful?” asked Marcel again.

Raphael squinted his eyes and grinned, he retorted, “It’s personal!”

“No! This matters to the situation we want to understand!” © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“I think you have ulterior motives, Captain Hopkins!” Raphael then glanced at Rae and looked at Marcel.

Marcel grinned, “You are thinking too much, Mr. Gill!”

“I refuse to elaborate!” said Raphael.

“When did you guys get to know each other?”

“4 years ago!” answered Raphael.

“Can you tell us how did you guys meet?”

“In a pub!” said Raphael, “The pub in YS Club. One time, we drank too much and stayed the night at the YS Club. We clicked and were together for 3 months!”

He didn’t look at Rae when he said this.

But Rae knew that Raphael was telling the truth. He was a playboy back then, but now he was tired of it.

“We found out that you got a room with Ms. Joanna Salinas at the YS Club last night, Mr. Gill. You guys were in there for more than an hour and then you went drinking with Ms. Baxter. You left soon after that and sent Ms. Salinas home. You stayed at her place for 15 minutes, and after that, Ms. Salinas was found dead in NY Villa! Our witness stated that you were the last person who left Ms. Salinas’ house! What do you have to say about this, Mr. Gill?”