Chapter 294: How Could I Have Forgotten?
Jen’s phone vibrated, she quickly got up from the single bed and rushed to the sole table in the middle of the room. She grabbed the phone off the table, to see a text from Axel.
"I’m here."
Excitedly, she kicked into a pair of black slippers by the door, slid her keys into the lock and dashed out of the room. On her way, she ran into Axel at the end of the hallway, a grocery bag in each hand.
"You’re finally back!" Jen smiled, "I’ve been waiting the whole day." She walked over to him and took a bag of his hand.
Axel frowned, "I’ve told you not to come out if it isn’t important. What if Ethan had one of his people tailing me?" He scolded.
Jen sighed, "I am being careful, I didn’t step out of the building-"
"Like you did last time." He inserted, then walked into the room, he stared at the open door, his disappointed eyes relaying his message.
"Fine, I’m sorry, I was just excited because you went to see that kid, the one who would be a big help to our case." She stepped inside, Axel took one last look across the hallway then closed the door.
Setting the grocery bag down, she asked, "So? Did he say he’d co-operate?"
Axel knelt next to her, staking cans together he replied, "Still the same response, he’s scared of Ethan."
Jen froze, "He won’t help us?" Her countenance fell. "Even after everything you told him?"
"I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know. I’ve tried for months to get that kid on board, I say we give up and move to another case file." He suggested.
"But there aren’t any left!" Jen snapped, "You said it yourself, the station had all cases related to Ethan buried. It’s a miracle you were able to find Dylan’s complaint after months of searching through records." She reminded him.
The sole reason Dylan’s casefile hadn’t been deleted was because it was misfiled. Hence when he searched Ethan’s name in the station’s system, that was the only case that popped up.
She ran her fingers through her hair. "Please make him understand! While his sister is fighting for her life, Ethan is living without a care in the world. Is he just going to sit back and take that?!"
Axel rolled his eyes, "That’s rich coming from you of all people, Jen. You worked with him all this while, Knowing what sort of a bastard he was."
She scoffed, "It wasn’t like that! I just didn’t....I didn’t have anyone to help me. Avery’s out of the hospital, and I don’t want to involve Oliver in this any longer. If anything happened to him while she’s recuperating..." she left her sentence hanging.
Axel sighed, he reached for her shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze, "Sorry about that, I’m just on edge."
"It’s my fault. I know that kid has things rough on him, if he doesn’t want to make a move, that may be for the best. There’s no need for any more lives to be lost unnecessarily." She said, seeing reason in his actions.
"Don’t worry about that kid, he’ll come around. And even if he doesn’t, I still think we should focus our energy on finding some more dirt on Ethan. A man like that is bound to have tons of loose ends." Axel assured her.
She knitted her brows, "But where do we even begin looking? For the past three months, we haven’t found any other lead aside Dylan."
"I think we’re not looking close enough." he pinched his chin.
"Wait, what are you suggesting?" She blinked twice.
"There could still be evidence at the station we could use against Ethan." He informed her.
"What evidence?" She picked up a bottle of water, "You said it yourself that you suspect the captain is shielding Ethan."
"And that’s precisely why he’s the most likely person to have dirt on Ethan. If my suspicions are right and he has some deep tie to Ethan, he would want some sort of assurance to keep his position." Axel pointed out.
Jen nodded, she had worked for Ethan and seen how greedy businessmen gathered dirt on each other to stay on top of the situation. She had done something similar for Ethan in the past, to help him secure a deal with a famous contractor.
"That does make sense, but this is still under the assumption he’s directly tied to Ethan." She reminded him, they had to precise and work under a hundred percent certainty.
Axel sat with his legs crossed, "I heard him and Ethan speak in his office, I was certain Ethan was lashing out at him. The new captain is infamous for bootlicking, I’m guessing Ethan isn’t the only rich man he’s bending over for."
"If that’s the case, we have our work cut out for us. Didn’t you say the captain is wary of you ever since that arrest?" She interrogated.
"Ever since Brooke was freed through presidential pardon, he’s had a close watch on me. He didn’t expect the pardon to stretch across to me, it seems that Brooke put in a good word for me to her benefactor. Had she not, I would’ve kissed my badge goodbye."
Jen was aware of all this, speaking of Brooke, her countenance fell. "I still can’t believe we can’t contact her. That woman doesn’t leave any traces. During her filming, the area was tightly guarded, no one aside the staff was allowed anywhere close to the location."
Axel groaned.
"Brooke is one of biggest keys to this puzzle, and most importantly what her relationship to Ethan Halton could’ve been. He wouldn’t have expressed interest in being a sponsor if they didn’t share some past." He highlighted.
Laying on her back, Jen looked up to the ceiling, she stretched her hand out, most of her bruises were healed and barely left any major scars. She found it hard to believe that she could’ve escaped Ethan.
A part of her sometimes wanted to skip town and start a new life.
But Avery’s charred face would flash in her head.
She couldn’t do something so selfish.
"I’m sure Ethan and Brooke are related somehow, he wouldn’t willingly involve himself in a scandal-" she stopped herself from speaking.
"What’s wrong?" Axel turned to her, only to see a stunned look on her face.
"Did he hit my head so hard? How could I have forgotten all this?" She gasped and covered her mouth.
"What? What is it?" Axel demanded.
Jen’s eyes turned watery. "I had seen her once, but it wasn’t even for a minute. How did I forget everything?!" She started to panic.
Why didn’t she remember something so important all this while?!
Axel grabbed her and gave her a violent shake, "Don’t drive me crazy here! What did you just remember."
Crying, she said, "Ethan’s wife. He had a wife. He hired people to find her, he went crazy looking for her. How did I not remember all this? What’s wrong with me?"
Axel was stunned. "Ethan had a wife? How is that possible? How could you have forgotten something so important?" He queried.
Jen was equally stunned. Just remembering it now, she felt a huge migraine, as though the deeper she tried to recall, the harder it was.
Why did she forget?
"Who was it? What was his wife’s name?" He demanded, prying into her thoughts.
"It’s all coming back to me now. H-How did I..." she wiped her tears, then looked him straight in the eye.
"It was Brooke. That’s their relationship! Ethan was married to Brooke!"