Chapter 6
Gerard kept shouting my name like a madman, trying to charge into the cold storage to find me.
Yet, the police stopped him firmly.
The officer, not even bothering to hide his disgust, said coldly, “We’ve confirmed that the cold storage was locked multiple times from the outside. After further investigation, we found out the unit was scheduled for routine inspection and maintenance today. By protocol, the high- power refrigeration mode should’ve been shut down. But your employee, Gustavo Aguirre, canceled the maintenance yesterday without explanation.
“The system’s been running on overdrive. And now, Aguirre’s nowhere to be found. We have good reason to believe he’s gone into hiding to avoid
arrest.”
Gerard stood there frozen.
Only now did it dawn on him that I had not lied.
And worse-“Multiple locks?”
He completely broke down. His legs buckled beneath him, and he dropped to his knees, eyes clouded with guilt and panic.
“I only locked it casually… The window… If Adrienne had just pushed it hard enough, she could’ve opened it for air…”
Then, as if jolted by a terrifying thought, he scrambled to ask the people around him, “Where is she? Where’s Adrienne now?”
However, even the officers, hearing his pathetic defense, gave him nothing but contempt. No one answered.
Suddenly, he fumbled for his phone with shaking hands and dialed Remy’s number.
“Where is Adrienne? Is she with you?”
288 Vouchers
Remy’s voice came through furiously, “Seriously, Gerard? You’re still trying to twist the story? Still trying to play the victim? Is there a single decent thought left in that twisted mind of yours?”
“No, no, I just want to see her. I know what happened to her…”
There was silence. Then, Remy let out a bitter laugh.
“What, you? The guy who locked her in, cut off the power, and had someone reinforce it–now you want to see her? You think you deserve
that?”
“I didn’t tell anyone to add another lock. Remy, please, I’m begging you. Just tell me, is Adrienne still alive?”
Gerard’s voice cracked into a whispering cry.
However, all he got in return was the click of the call being disconnected.
“Captain, we’ve got something!
“The emergency call button inside the cold storage was deliberately damaged, but the independent signal transmitter is still functional! Also, we found some burnt paper in Aguirre’s locker–preliminary analysis suggests it’s Ms. Renaud’s handwritten dessert recipes! There’s also a deleted phone recording. We’re working on recovering it now.
“And according to staff, the cold storage had its cooling intensity lowered the day before. But for some reason, today it was suddenly cranked down
to the minimum temperature with strong refrigeration mode on.”
“Impossible!”
Gerard sprang up from the floor, raising his voice. “The temperature controls and circuit keys for the cold storage are only kept by Elise. There’s no way anything like that could’ve happened without her knowing! Gustavo must be saying this to save his own skin!”
Gerard tried to defend himself without hesitation.
He did not notice that behind him, Elise had gone pale. She never imagined Gerard would throw her under the bus just to get out of trouble.
The officers quickly picked up on her reaction and requested that Elise hand over the keys and the operation logs.
To everyone’s surprise, Elise froze. She stammered, “I–I think I lost the key two days ago. As for the logs… I–I’m not sure where they are…”
Gerard immediately panicked.
“What are you talking about? Are you doubting Elise now?” he snapped, turning to the officers. “She’s like a sister to me, so I know exactly what kind of person she is! She’s always been kind, even as a kid. She wouldn’t even step on an ant! How could you possibly suspect her?”
