Chapter 503 You Are Hugging the Wrong Leg
After communicating with Alexander, Josh packed his things in a hurry to return, but it was at this time when something went wrong with a deal that was already settled. So, Josh could only stay back and address the matter while faxing the information to Eric.
Once Eric had compiled all the information, he then drove to Purple Peak Mountain estate on the west side of the city using GPS. When he boarded the bus at the estate’s entrance, it took him ten minutes to reach the courtyard.
Angie and Hannah were playing tennis not far away. Both of them were exhausted and radiated the energy only a teenager had, making Eric feel hot-blooded.
Coughing lightly, he then waved to Alexander, who was sitting at the spectator spot.
Alexander was wearing a pair of sports attire today that showed off a different temperament and elegance. After seeing Eric, he pointed at the bus and walked over.
“Mommy, you can’t be biased.”
Josephine and Jimmy were each hugging Courtney’s legs while climbing up on her as if she was a slide at the playground.
Turning around, Alexander said sternly, “Do not bully my wife.”
As Jimmy slid down from Courtney, Alexander watched as the boy cautiously hid behind Josephine before leaving in satisfaction.
The bus then drove toward a tea plantation deep inside the mountain as the autumn wind blew, bringing along the refreshing feeling of nature with it. On the way here, Eric’s expression had turned from astonishment to disgust after what he saw.
“President Duncan, when did you buy Purple Peak Mountain?”
There was silence on Alexander’s part. Just as he felt speechless, the bus stopped. Shooting an inexplicable glance at Eric, Alexander then got off.
Now that they sat in a gazebo built in the middle of the plantation, both men regained their usual stern demeanor, making the atmosphere somewhat heavy.
“This was what Josh sent me. Five years ago, he found out about an important lead. Lucian apparently died of liver failure five years ago, but autopsy reports indicated that they couldn’t find out whether it was due to poisoning or it occurred naturally. From this, we can deduce that someone probably did this to him since only long term ingestion of microdosed poison can cause this.”
Alexander did not say anything as he leaned on the chair with his arms crossed. Staring at the table, he hinted at Eric to continue.
Eric cleared his throat and added, “Josh then managed to find a type of drug that caused the same death as Lucian once the person used it for three to five years. Also, an autopsy could never find out the cause, but this drug is banned in our country, as one can only purchase this through the underground network abroad. The kicker is that Susan had been purchasing this drug continuously for the last three years before Lucian passed away.”
After stating that, Eric then passed a document to Alexander.
“This was Susan’s personal transaction. She bought this every six months, totaling up to her buying this five times in the span of three years.”
As he leaned forward, Alexander took the piece of paper. Yet, for some reason, he felt it was extremely heavy as he knew a simple deal was not enough to charge Susan for murder. So, he leaned back once again.
“What else?”
Eric then hesitated before observing his expression and stated, “About the other leads… Because you did not let Josh continue to investigate, so he…”
When Alexander looked up with a cold gaze, his heart then skipped a beat before the anger in his eyes subsided. Thinking back, he had stopped the investigation, even though he did not know why he did that in the first place.
Seeing this, Eric quickly added, “But, we’ve obtained something after following Susan these few days. She had been meeting with this person, Anon Jenkins, quite frequently. He’s a lawyer.”
“A lawyer?”
Alexander was puzzled at this.
“Yes. I’ve investigated this person. He came from the same village as Susan and they were even an item when they were younger. They still kept in contact these few years after Lucian’s death and seemed very intimate recently.”
Alexander’s face darkened when he heard this as Eric paused before continuing, “They met with Lucian’s insurance agent at a cafe yesterday. After that, we did not obtain anything useful from the agent either. Since I thought that this definitely has something to do with his insurance money, I slipped a listening device inside his bag when Anon went to the toilet. We should have a basic view of the situation within these two days.”
He then placed a couple of photos in front of Alexander.
Glancing at them briefly, Alexander stood up and tore those to pieces before tossing the shredded pisces onto the table.
“Continue investigating.”
“Understood.”
Peering, Eric then exited the gazebo with Alexander.
When they came back from the plantation, Alexander’s solemn expression was already gone. Gale and Cameron, who had arrived earlier, were substituting Josephine and Hannah as they had a heated battle.
As he approached them, Alexander felt his leg becoming heavier. When he looked down, he saw a tanned face gazing at him.
“What are you doing?”
With an icy expression, he then marched forward only to find the child following his actions. As a result, he conceded and carried the child to the open lunch table while warning, “You’ve hugged the wrong leg. Only Courtney likes abandoned children.”
After stating that, he then left Jimmy beside the table. Jimmy looked like he did not understand Alexander’s words and spaced out after sitting down for a while. Then, he took out the digital drawing board that Courtney gave him and started to seriously draw on it.
Courtney had arranged for an open barbeque, so they all crowded over when the servants hung the meat on the grilling rack after being attracted by the delicious smell.
Josephine and Ethan, who had just returned from the artificial beach, were sent to wash their hands by Cameron while Jimmy had kept his drawing board away. Huddled in a corner, he was enjoying his food and closely watched Josephine before accidentally glancing at Gale, converting his gaze of envy to one of alert.
Sitting by Jimmy’s side, Alexander subconsciously added more meat to his plate.
At the table, Gale looked at Jimmy before lowering his voice to ask, “So, this is the child you brought back?”
Courtney nodded.
“Didn’t he have mania with a slight tendency of self-harm? He doesn’t look like he suffers from that.”
The current Jimmy was completely different than when he was first picked up from the hospital. Now, he did not need to rely on tattoos to differentiate people as he could also get close to most of them.
“Mr. Elijah has hired a professional child psychologist from abroad to treat him. Actually, Jimmy’s case wasn’t as serious as we thought,” added Angie. Ever since Jimmy was discharged from the hospital, she was the one taking care of him. After she went to school, she would still find any chance she could to come back, which was why the person Jimmy relied on the most was her.
At the mention of this, Courtney then looked at Gale with an unhappy expression.
“Was this why you made Josephine and Ethan play at the beach to leave Jimmy all alone?”
Cough, cough, cough. “Let’s just eat.”
Courtney exposing Gale nearly made him cough his lung out in surprise.
