Her co-workers have gone out, on business or cases, leaving her alone there, in a hollow office. Too much ignored, just because she's the new girl. She had no alternative, in hatred, she staring at the piling papers before her, heaving a deep sigh. This is too much. Order me to read so many documents! Next time, it'll be your turn to have a taste of these! Oww... My eyes' strained!
She tried to relax herself by massaging her eyes. In vague, she seemed to hear something noisy from outside.
"Please! Calm down my lady! Calm down! You have to queue up and fill in the reservation table in good standing before you enter the office and report the case..."
"But... I'm in a hurry! Could you please let me in now?"
"Sorry lady, but you can't do that!"
An abrupt, loud and fitful noise from outside caught her attention, so she decided to went out and had a watch.
"Sophia! What's happening?"
Unexpectedly, they ceased disputing. A laddish, small and short-haired blond girl emerged in the front of her. The girl looked quite young, maybe no older than 20.
"Miss detective, please, please help me!" The girl was intended to be quarrelsome, while she suddenly kneeling on the ground, shouting, with tears running down her ablush cheek, "My sister... she's dead!"
"Stand up, child." Irene lifted the weeping girl up and persuaded her in a soft voice, "Don't be absurd, taking a reservation table and lining up, okay? You're suffering from losing your sister, I do understand, while as you're in public, and you ought to keep yourself in order, like others, right?"
The short-haired girl wiped her tears out, slightly nodding her head and sitting out quietly.
After an endless-long time waiting, she eventually took her turn.
"Tell me your name, how the crime happened and who the victim was." Irene grinded a cup of steaming hot coffee and put it before her, yet she seemed not going to have it.
"My name is Clare. When I was seven, both of my parents died in a car accident." The girl backed her emotions down, but the huge pain and sorrow in her heart vaguely showed on her overclouded face, "After that, I was sent into an orphanage. My elder sister, Teresa had already celebrated her thirteenth birthday at that time. She was reluctant to live in there, so she determined to find a job outside, standing on her own feet at a very young age."
"Child labour... Has she ever mentioned her job before?" Irene asked, making notes and seriously studying up on everything she said.
"Never, nor has she told me." Clare shook her head and replied, "Afterwards, I've asked her for several times, about details of her job, but she was unwilling to clue me even a word... I was really curious, for the time she got that job, she came to got plenty of money, always presenting me with lots of valuables and saw me in the orphanage."
"When I was ten, even more, she expected me to moved out, and claimed that she had entire economic capablility of supporting me alone."
Irene was confused. Her sister, used to be such a little girl. Through which on earth kind of method did she gain so high a salary? What's more, why did she suppress her job? Was she trying to hide something nameless? What's behind her job...
"What's after?" Irene questioned, " How's your sister afterwards?"
"Just three years ago, I completely moved out of the orphanage, and then, found a job in a restaurant nearby as a waitress. However, Teresa hoped me to got on with my education, admitted to a prestigious university... I'd searched that university on the Internet, that fancy tuition could be rated sky-high. I once asked her about this, while she didn't give a hoot."
"You mean... She could afford that tuition well?"
Clare slightly nodded her head, making her more puzzled.
"Then, were you admitted to that university?"
The little girl shook her head and said:" I didn't take the entrance examination, because I wished to get into the society, earlier, and no more rely on my sis... She dedicated her everything to me, and I owed her too much, in these decades. I wanted to return her something, but...it's too late, too late!" She sobbed again, yet Irene was unable to comfort her. For her, the current case was only the most troublesome.
"When and where did you find her body?"
"I returned home very late at night yesterday, from a vacation at the beach, but the house was unusually empty. It's strange, for several days ago, on the phone, Teresa had just promised me she would certainly go back home that day."
After a pause, she continued:" At the very start, I didn't really mind that empty house, cause I was getting used to her regular being late. But the next morning, that's to say. this morning, I called up her, while on the other side, the phone wasn't picked up for quite long."
"Upon that, I decided to go out and look for her, then it fell out..."
"Fell out what?"
"I found her body drenched with blood, lying in the murky corner of an alley, with her neck cut off."