Back to the storage room, the detectives continued trying to find any clues that linked to the murdered victim of Estella Ibbs.
"Some pages were missing." Kat said as she flipped pages through the diary. "Mr. O'Brien surely brought those terrible evidences."
"Maybe he ripped it out and hid it." Nick shrugged.
"If he ripped it out, then why would he want to hide it if he never born in 1800s." Kat almost sounded irritated at his ridiculous statement.
"Okay, forget it. This case is definitely out of this question." Scotty sighed.
"Scotty—"
"No, Lilly. This case has been over hundred years, how is that even possible can we find a killer? No leads. No profiles. No documents. No weapons. No suspects. No witnesses. All we got is old papers, photos with no names on the back, a warning note, and a diary that was written by the young poor girl named Hannah Trindler."
"What if she wrote about the murder?" Kat buzzed in.
"Yeah, what if she witnessed the murder? She may know who." Lilly agreed with Kat's words.
"This case would be toughest ever." Nick said. "And more interesting…"
Kat rolled her eyes.
"So… we shall try to read a diary?" Lilly said.
"Yeah…" Kat agreed, looking up to Scotty for his answer.
"That's all we got." Scotty sighed deeply.
"Alright, who would read first?" Lilly asked.
"Me." Kat volunteered immediately. She turned around the diary and flipped back to the first page.
"Read me out." Nick said.
Kat gave him a serious look. Nick returned back with a same look. Kat rolled her eyes.
"The snow is so white…" Kat began to read. "There was a terrible storm…"
There was a massive heavy storm getting worse and worse every day. It stormed around the house that they couldn't escape. Hannah stood over the sink, glancing out the window. She can't find any sign of a good view.
The kitchen door opened.
Hannah settled her heels down to the floor, continued washing the filthy dishes like as if nothing happened. Her boss won't pay her if he catches Hannah relaxing or watching snow outside. He disliked it when Hannah sat down and did do nothing. She needed to do something to make her work more. Hannah prayed that it wasn't Sam Ibbs or his wife walked in on her. Luckily, her prayer answered. It was only their daughter.
Estella was so kind person they had ever met, she always gave Hannah an easy time. She won't rat her out to her father when she caught her sitting down or snooping around. She knew her for a long time since they were little kids. They were best friends. Estella was more like an older sister to her.
"Hey," Estella greeted.
Hannah glanced over her shoulder, "Hey."
"Need any help?"
"I'm good. Thanks."
"Okay," Estella touched Hannah's shoulder as she put the last glass in the sink. For a few minutes later, Hannah finished the dishes. She took a dirty rag off the counter and wiped her hands.
Estella pulled a chair for Hannah. As Hannah sat down, Estella gave her a glass of water. Hannah took a sip.
"So what do you think about the wedding?" Estella asked all of a sudden.
Hannah hesitated but answered quickly, "I'm happy for you."
Estella nodded, "Thanks, but…"
"But what?"
"I don't think I'm ready to marry Douglas."
"Oh."
"I mean. I like Douglas. I do. He is a sweet guy, but I barely know him well. It has been four months already. Now we are getting married."
"If you don't want to marry him, then why won't you stop them?"
"I can't. I don't want to disappoint my father. I'm his only child."
Hannah licked her dry lips. It tasted like salt. She didn't remember anything with salt she ate recently. "Does your father like to see you happy?"
"Of course."
"But you are not happy now?"
Estella's eyes looked down at the floor. "No."
"All you need is to tell him. He will understand as long as he wants you to be happy."
Estella smiled a little. "Yeah, perhaps you are right."
Hannah's response was a small nod.
The door opened.
"Hannah, what are you doing here?" Sam Ibbs spotted Hannah who sat on the chair. Her face went pale as if she saw a real ghost.
Estella stepped in. "No, father. It's my fault. I'm the one who told her to sit. She needs a little break before she goes back to work more. Don't worry, I can handle her."
Sam clenched his jaws.
"She needs at least five minute break before she can go to work." Estella flashed her innocent look at him.
Sam sighed. "Five more minutes and then get back to work."
Hannah nodded quickly. She watched Mr. Ibbs left.
"Thanks." She told Estella.
"Anytime." Estella gave her a friendly smile.
"Wow. That is so interesting story." Kat said, putting the diary down.
"Yeah, I like that Estella kid. Tell me more." Nick agreed.
"Can you skip that parts to where someone who had a problem with her?" Scotty told Kat.
"No, I want to read the whole thing." Kat resisted.
"Yeah, same here." Nick defended her.
Scotty rolled his eyes at them. He got up and left the storage room.
"Keep reading." Nick told her.
"I would never forget a smile on her face…" Kat continued to read.
Estella gave her a friendly smile.
"Friends?" Hannah smiled, held a pinky finger.
"Friends then." Estella smiled and squeezed her pinkie. She then let it go and wrapped her arms around her.
Then they broke apart.
"Guess, you have to get back to work. See you around." Estella said.
Hannah watched her best friend leaving the kitchen. She knew how much lucky she was to have her as her friend. She was glad to meet her. They were good friends since she was twelve years old when she first worked with the Ibbs family. She was forced to send away for work to earn money to support her poor family. She was the eldest of five children. She cannot risk her own life by screwing up her job or she will be fired. She needed this job to feed her family.
She returned to work.
Next morning, the Ibbs family threw another guest party for Estella to celebrate the wedding. Hannah and rest of the maids had to clean up after their messes and also had to serve them foods.
Mr. Ibbs came to Hannah and pulled her away from the guests, "Have you see Douglas yet?"
Hannah shook her head. "No, sir."
"I want you to go find him because I need him right now. Dismiss." Mr. Ibbs ordered before he returned to the crowd.
Hannah went upstairs to search for Douglas. She stopped by his room. She knocked on the door and waited for him to open the door.
However, the door was still stable and unmoved. Hannah didn't hear any footsteps behind the door. She knocked on the door again. No answers.
Hannah slowly opened the door, took a peek inside, and there was no signs of Douglas Rivers. The room was neat and organized. She suddenly felt like a criminal when she walked into his room without his permission.
"Mr. Rivers?" Hannah called.
The room was silent.
"Hello?" She called again. No answers again. Then she spotted a brown book lying on the king-size bed. It must be his journal or diary or something. She had urges to take a look inside the journal. She knew she was supposed not to snoop through his stuffs but she couldn't help it. She just wondered.
She went over to pick it up. She glanced over her shoulder as if she thought someone sneaks up on her but no one was there. Then her eyes returned to the journal.
She once opened it, her eyes went wide when she read the first whole paragraph that Douglas wrote. She slammed the journal close. She couldn't believe these things what he wrote.
Douglas's handwriting was little sloppy and brisk. She might misunderstand his handwriting. So she reread it again. She closed the journal again. She didn't misunderstand his handwriting. He wrote exactly what she thought. It was all about Estella.
She heaved on her breath. She can't believe what she just read. She wished that she should had not to read his journal. But it was too late. There was no chance to restart it. She knew she should not be in his room unless she had to clean up his room.
She placed his journal back on the bed, trying to adjust it to the exact position where he left it. She hoped Douglas won't notice that journal moving around.
"What are you doing here?"
Hannah jumped at the harsh voice and whirled around to him. Douglas's arms crossed over his chest, with a hardened stare.
"Um…" Hannah tried to find something to make up lies off the top of her mind. "I was just—"
His eyes flicked to the brown journal.
"Are you snooping through my personal stuffs?" He said with a cold look.
Hannah felt the cold running down her spine when she heard a deathly tone. "No. I was just making your bed." She lied, pointing at the bed.
"They already made the bed in the morning." Douglas didn't change his expression.
"Yeah. I k-know. This bed was little messy so I fixed it again. It all looks new."
"Well, you better get out of my room." Douglas jerked his head toward the door.
"Yes, sir." Hannah respectably obeyed him. She tried to keep her distance away from the man as she edged past him.
"Hannah."
Hannah stopped but didn't turn around.
"You know I'm not a fool. I know you did look through my personal journal. It would be best for everyone if you don't tell. If you do, then you will see what happen to you after." Douglas said.
Was he threatening me? Hannah thought.
"Yes, sir." Her voice croaked.
"Tell Mr. Ibbs, I will meet him downstairs in a few minutes." He said.
"Yes, sir."
Hannah headed out of his room. The door shut behind her. She let out a long shaking sigh. That was a close call. She promised herself that she would never do it again. She began to scoot away.
While she walked down the hallway, she still can't stop pondering about Douglas's threat, his journal, and the paragraph he wrote about Estella. Hannah felt she was being drowned by too much thoughts. She was so overwhelmed. She feared what will happen to her next if she told anyone. Will she be fired or get hurt or something else? The thoughts shook her so badly.
Erased her thoughts away when she nearly bumped into a snobby spoiled rich girl who was supposed to be guest, she was about nineteen or twenty years old, just came out from the corner.
"Watch where you are going, mutt!"' She scowled at Hannah.
Hannah ignored her as she went downstairs where the guest party held.
Kat paused.
"Why did you stop?" Nick asked.
"Two pages are missing. Someone ripped it out." Kat reported.
"Oh great, I really want to know."
"Do you want to go ahead or just guess what she found out from his journal?"
"Just go ahead." Nick sighed.
Kat returned to the book and read.