Rachel’s heart tightened, and she instantly pressed her back against the wall.
Victor emerged from the shadows. Just then, an aged voice suddenly came from inside the alley. “Victor, is that you?”
Before Rachel could come to her senses, Victor had walked up to the person. “Why are you coming out by yourself, Grandma? How many times have I told you that it’s hard to see things clearly at night? What if you trip and fall again when you come out?”
Rachel followed the voices with her gaze and saw the innermost small house. The house was dimly lit, and an old woman was standing tremblingly at its door, supporting herself with a walking stick. Meanwhile, Victor addressed her as his grandmother.
The small house was in a dilapidated condition. It was in disrepair for years, and its walls were mottled; there wasn’t even a decent chair in the house. Victor pushed the clothes away from a corner on the sofa before taking off his jacket and spreading it over the surface. “I hope you won’t frown upon this, Miss Hudson. Please have a seat.”
Rachel looked at the old woman who was bustling around in the house.
Victor explained, “My Grandma is old, so she can neither see nor hear well. But for some reason, she can hear my voice.”
‘Are you and your Grandma the only ones in your family?’
“Yeah, I have lived with Grandma since I was a child.”
Rachel couldn’t bear to listen to such words. After all, she and Nancy had also depended on each other for
survival as she grew up.
Just then, Victor’s grandmother’s voice came from the room inside. “Victor, come and look for the tea caddy. We should pour a cup of tea for our visitor!”
Victor hurriedly went into the room. “Don’t trouble yourself with that, Grandma. We don’t have tea in the house…”
“I recall having some tea around the house, though. How could we let the visitor leave without having something to drink?”
With some difficulty, Victor finally managed to coax his grandmother out of bustling around. He lifted the curtains, came out, and was about to talk to Rachel, only to discover that she had already left with the envelope placed on a corner of the old and shabby table. He was startled by this, and he quickly grabbed the envelope before going out after her, but all Victor heard was the sound of a car engine at the entrance to the alley.
When Rachel got home, Justin hadn’t come back yet. She checked the time, and it was a little past 11.00PM. A dinner wouldn’t have taken such a long time, so it seemed that he must be sending Amber home. Since Rachel didn’t give it much thought, she entered the kitchen and helped herself to some water.
Just then, Julian came out of his bedroom. He asked, “How is Madam Tiller?”
She’s all right. She’ll be fine after getting some rest at home.
“What about the young man then?”
There’s nothing wrong about him either. I have helped him before, so he probably wants to return the favor, which is why he has been helping Grandma around these days.
Julian was still worried, though. “I’ll help you look into his identity. This person suddenly popped up from
nowhere, after all.”
Rachel shook her head. Victor and his grandmother depended on each other for survival, and he was filial to the elderly. Even if he seemed slovenly on the outside, he hadn’t done anything bad, so he probably wasn’t a bad guy.
When he saw that Rachel was reluctant to do so, Julian decided not to insist. “By the way, the results of the
drug analysis you asked me to do earlier have come out.”
Rachel took the documents from Julian, but she was somewhat confused as she read them. She had never studied medicine and had only a smattering of herbal medicine, so she couldn’t quite understand the ingredients listed in the report.
Justin explained, “These kinds of herbal medicine and healthcare products, including the pills and the oral liquids, have little effect on the human body. One might as well say that they deserve neither credit nor blame. Technically, the Food and Drug Administration should have been able to discover this.”
Everything stays quiet most of the time as long as no human lives are involved.
Julian was somewhat stunned, whereas Rachel looked very calm. Hudson Pharmaceuticals had set foot in Riverdale for so many years, so it more or less had some connections in the government. Otherwise, it would have gone out of business long ago with the prescriptions Jefferey had. After all, these prescriptions were handed down from their ancestors without the dosage specified. With Julian’s lab test results and the previous results from Janice’s investigation, Rachel was now certain that Jefferey had been crying up wine and selling vinegar these years by selling fake medicine. The Hudson Family’s century-old clinic had six prescriptions handed down from the ancestors, but none of them ended up falling into Jefferey’s hands.
As they were talking, the sound of a car engine was heard from outside. As soon as Justin came in, he saw Julian and Rachel standing together; they looked like a well-matched couple under the kitchen’s bright light. He frowned for a moment, but he quickly assumed his usual expression soon afterward.
“Hi there, Justin,” Julian greeted first.
“Mm-hmm,” Justin responded. “Aren’t you going to sleep yet?”
“Rachel asked me to test some stuff earlier, and the results happened to come out today, so I’m giving it to her.”
Justin looked thoughtful as his eyes fell on Rachel’s hands. Meanwhile, the woman collected the documents and gestured to him. Let’s talk about it upstairs.
Justin nodded slightly.
Rachel truthfully recounted Julian’s words and her own conjecture in the study.
Justin looked at the lab test reports in his hand. “I also had someone test the sleeping pills before the research and development laboratory was closed, but the results aren’t out yet. This is quite thoughtful of you. However.” He suddenly raised his head with darkened eyes. “Didn’t you say that Jefferey doesn’t have the prescriptions in his hands? What about the prescriptions you gave me?”
Rachel’s heart skipped a beat, and her hand trembled, causing the lab test report in her hand to float down on her feet. I have forgotten about this, she thought to herself.
Justin stared at her coldly. “Aren’t you going to explain this?”
Rachel’s throat tightened. I didn’t mean to lie to you. I did so at the time to stay alive.
“Then why didn’t you tell the truth?”
You wouldn’t have believed me. Rachel’s expression was strained as she gestured carefully with her hands. ‘Under the circumstances at the time, you wouldn’t have believed me at all if I told you that the prescription I’d
seen had no dosage listed in them.’
Justin’s originally deep and cold eyes looked stunned for a moment. He had the impression that Rachel seemed to have said many times that he wouldn’t believe her, and he had indeed never done so. Whenever she came into contact with Jefferey or other men, his first response was always to think that she wanted to betray him and run away from him. “Just forget it. I hope that you won’t hide anything from me anymore.”
Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. I need to clock out earlier for the next few days. May I do that?
“What’s the matter?”
Grandma has hurt herself a little, so I need to go to her place every day to look after her.
Justin nodded. “Okay.”
Also, I saved a kid several days ago when he had an epileptic fit. He has been taking care of Grandma lately, so if you’re worried, you can have someone check him out.
“Why are you telling me this?”
He’s only in his twenties, and he lives with his grandmother in poor conditions as they depend on each other for survival. Earlier today, I followed him to his place to take a look. His grandmother can only sink or swim by herself without him. Rachel gestured expressionlessly like a machine devoid of feeling.
Justin felt irritated for no reason. He chided, “Am I a person who kills people indiscriminately as I please in your eyes?”
Rachel kept a straight face. That isn’t what I mean. I’m just telling you these things in advance to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings. Now that Hans had died, she couldn’t let any innocent people get hurt because of her anymore.
“Is that so?” Justin stared at her coldly. “Why do I feel that you’re making a stand against me, though? You’re provoking me in such a way!”
