Rachel was confused because she had never met those people whose names Janice had just mentioned. While Rachel never thought that she had anything to do with them, she couldn’t explain why everything seemed to revolve around the prescription.
“Despite the lack of evidence to prove the connection between your return to the Hudson Family and those people’s deaths, I can’t help but think these two matters are somehow related, if we consider the timeline.” Janice then asked in a hushed tone, “Did Grandma talk to you about the prescription?”
Upon hearing Janice’s question, Rachel was stunned. When her grandma was still in the hospital, she had mentioned the prescription to Rachel, but her explanation was interrupted by other matters at that time,
No. Rachel gestured as a sign of denial.
Janice appeared to be disappointed. “It’s alright. Let’s not talk about it then. Anyway, I’ll definitely help you to leave Riverdale. At the same time, you can be rest assured to know that I’ll take care of the rest of the matters.”
Thank you.
“You‘re welcome. Anyway, I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll make a move first.”
Rachel nodded as she watched Janice entering a jeep through the café window. Deep down in her heart, she felt sorry for lying to Janice although she didn’t have a choice. After all, Rachel’s grandma used to educate her about how words were capable of misleading people. Thus, she decided not to discuss something she wasn’t sure about until she understood what was going on.
As soon as Rachel returned to the library, her colleague had informed her, “Rachel, Miss Patterson came earlier. She wants you to deliver these files to the person in charge of the engineering department in Burton Group.”
Rachel was taken aback as she was reminded of her casual encounter with Tina at the meeting the day before. Alright, thank you.
It was later in the afternoon when Rachel arrived at Burton Group’s lobby where she typed a few words on her phone to show it to a lady at the front desk. ‘Hi, I’d like to meet Director Roland of the engineering department!
The receptionist gave her a strange look. “Do you have an appointment?”
‘I’m from the City Council Library. I’m here to discuss the library’s architectural history with Director Roland!
“Please give me a moment. I’ll make a call right now to confirm your appointment.”
Rachel nodded and stood aside to wait.
“Hello, Sandy. Someone from the City Council Library is here and it looks like she has an appointment with Director Roland… Oh, sure, I’ll let her in then.” Upon hanging up the call, the receptionist turned to Rachel and said, “Alright, I’ve just confirmed your appointment. Please give me a moment.”
‘Thank you!
A few moments later, the elevator gave a short ring before someone in a pair of high heels walked out. “Nice to meet you. I’m Director Roland’s secretary, Sandy Patterson. You must be Miss Hudson, right?”
Rachel responded with an affirmative gesture. Yes.
“Director Roland is still at the construction site and I’m just about to head there. Perhaps I could take you there with me?”
Rachel was stunned. If you‘re too busy, I can come another day.
“We’re always busy in our line of work. Are you scared of going to the construction site?” Sandy knitted her eyebrows and elaborated, “Because I just received a phone call and was told that Director Roland has something rather urgent to talk to you about.”
Okay then, is it far from here?
“Nope. It’s not that far from here, actually. I’ll drive.” Sandy seemed like a nice person as she asked Rachel about the City Council Library while riding the elevator with her to the underground car park.
Soon, they hit the road as every single object outside the car window looked like they were traveling in the opposite direction at high speed. As the tall buildings in Riverdale City slowly disappeared from sight, the city view was then replaced by greenery and nature.
Meanwhile, Rachel was sitting on the front passenger seat when she took a look at her watch. Then,
she realized it was already 4 PM. We still haven’t arrived there yet?
“We’re almost there. This project site is the closest one to our company, in fact. The last project took us half a day for a round trip.”
Upon hearing that, Rachel set her sights outside the window and wondered, We’re about to arrive at the border between Riverdale and Southville. If we keep going, we’ll soon find ourselves on the East Coast. After another thirty minutes of driving, she leaned against her seat and yawned just when the car finally pulled over.
“Here we are.”
She exited the vehicle and followed Sandy when she heard the sound of tidal waves a close distance away. Oh my god! I can’t believe we’re now on the East Coast.
“This way, Miss Hudson.”
Thank you. Rachel gestured to express her gratitude and wrapped herself in her sweater before she made her way to the beach. Soon, upon the sight of a lady standing by the seaside, she froze in her tracks, as if her legs were rooted into the ground.
“We meet again, Rachel” Tina wore a dress in the color of light beige while the bodyguard who held the umbrella above their heads acknowledged Rachel with a smile. At the sight of them, Rachel suddenly had a bad feeling and subconsciously backed away.
“Here is the person whom you’ve been looking for, Miss Burton. Perhaps I’ll excuse myself then.”
“Please do.”
Rachel was left alone with Tina and her two bodyguards at that moment. Therefore, she gestured in a panicky manner and asked, What do you want?
“Relax. I just want to have a little chat with you. Look at how beautiful the sea view is.” Tina’s voice was accompanied by the sound of the rough waves, which sent chills down Rachel’s spine. “Did you know that Henry loved enjoying the sea view? In fact, he once told me that he wanted to buy a house by the
seaside and live with me there so that he could watch the sunrise every morning. It was because of this that proposed the project of building a seaside resort. This piece of land that we‘re currently standing on will soon become that resort… Do you think there is a chance Henry can still see it?”
Rachel paused and expressed her thoughts with her hand gestures. He is in a better place now. May he rest in peace.
“He is dead!” Tina suddenly flipped and glared at Rachel like an angry beast. “You’re the reason why he is dead. Do you know how it feels to be dead?”
At that moment, Tina seemed like a lunatic who had just lost her mind as she had a sinister and scary look. An intimidated and frightened Rachel took a step backward as she scanned her surroundings, only to realize there was no one else by the beach.
“Restrain her!”
As soon as the two bodyguards heard those cold words, they quickly grabbed Rachel and manhandled her.
In the meantime, she violently shook her head while staring at Tina like she wanted to say something desperately. However, the voices she made were drowned by the howling sea breeze as she was taken to the seaside, leaving traces of her struggle behind her on the beach.
On the other hand, Tina followed behind them while the wind caused her hair to billow wildly in the air. “Rachel, we all have to be responsible for the mistakes we make. Did you know you took a life just because you snitched on us?”
Rachel shook her head, wishing she could just shout with her voice that it wasn’t her who snitched on Henry.
“I want to know how Henry felt before he died. I want to feel the way he did, so why don’t you tell me about it?!” Tina didn’t even bother to look at Rachel as she instructed the two bodyguards by simply moving her finger.
A second later, Rachel felt a violent force coming from behind her head, whereupon she was completely buried beneath the surface of the water. While the rough tidal waves kept hitting her in the face, her nostrils were also filled with the stench of the seawater. At the same time, she struggled with all her energy, feeling as if her limbs were about to snap, but even so, she couldn’t free herself from the two men’s strong grip.
After what felt like forever, the two bodyguards lifted her to the surface of the water. When the air she inhaled went down her throat, she couldn’t stop shaking and coughing violently, as if she was about to cough her lungs out. I didn’t do it! I didn’t snitch on you guys!
Just when Rachel thought Tina had retaliated enough, Tina raised her hands in the air and glared at Rachel to give her signal. Then, the sea water flooded into Rachel’s nostrils once again. Although she could hear the sound of waves around her, she was being suffocated to the point where she no longer had the strength to fight back.
