She opened the door as to make their way to the backseat. Anyone could see them making out in the driving seat if someone happened to walk past. Lauren was about to open the door at the back when he pinned her against the side of the car, unbuttoning her pants and bringing it down her legs. She was left exposed with her pussy wet and throbbing, ready to take him inside of her.
Joshua let out a loud groan when he touched her, finding her wet and sweet against him. Wasting no time, he yanked at his pants before positioning his cock at her entrance. She whimpered trying not to make noises as he began to thrust. He was forceful, and his thrusts were so hard, their flesh smacked against each other.
It was sinful, but it felt great and made her come quickly. She held on while he pumped himself away into her until he groaned in her neck.
"Shit," Joshua said as he combusted inside of her.
She smiled.
Chapter 9
"Ben Lincoln has criminal records already," Joshua said as he laid out everything to Edward.
They were at his office going through the theories that they both had. And as much as Lauren was sure that it was Ben who killed Elijah's family, they still couldn't be so sure by just looking at a record of his past. The police would surely need a strong proof, and they still hadn't grabbed hold of a weapon that was used. As far as Elijah's storytelling, his wife, and kids had been stabbed numerous times. The killer weapon hadn't been found, not even by the police themselves.
They believed that it had been hidden. And the only way to search was to look at Ben Lincoln's house. It was a dangerous move, and they would be doing a crime themselves by breaking into his house without permission.
"He's in rehab right now," Edward declared. "He had made a promise to his parents that he would change and find a better life."
"What," Joshua returned. "After he murdered an innocent family?"
Their boss shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. But no is so sure that it's really him though."
"That is impossible," Joshua muttered in dismay. "That criminal record is enough to show that he is guilty of the crime. He had the motive to kill her because his cousin was about to inherit a massive fortune. And if you start to link it together, then it would all lead it back to Ben Lincoln."
"Not a strong lead to work on, Baker," Edward said before closing the folder. He slid it back to them before leaning in his chair. "I suggest you do further investigation."
"We're not detectives, Edward," Joshua said. "Lauren and I are just reporters who are working on a case that you put us in. We're threading with dangerous water here so give us a break."
"As much as I appreciate the hard work," their boss answered with a flat tone of voice. "I need you guys to work harder. Look deeper into what Elijah is saying so that you will be able to find out who did the murder. It's all about trusting your gut and using your ears, Baker. Same goes for you, Lauren. I need you guys focused and come up with a strong proof that it's really Ben Lincoln."
"What are you saying though?" she asked, finally speaking. "You don't think Ben didn't kill his cousin and her kids?"
Edward shook his head. "I didn't say that. I just have a feeling that there is more to this story that anyone was letting on. Now, it's up to the both of you how you're going to deal with it."
They were dismissed, and the two of them headed back to their desks. Lauren stayed the whole day pondering about the missing piece in the story. She ran it through her head, remembering Elijah's exact story.
She frowned, calling Joshua's name. "What is it?" he asked.
"Elijah said Ben is jealous of Elisa, right?" she said, and he nodded. "Let's face the fact that Ben has a bad history with her family and the police. He was supposed to inherit a small fortune, but it seemed that he wasn't happy about it. It was too small, so he decided to kill her instead and her kids."
She listened to what she said before realizing that it had a few holes in it. "But it doesn't make any sense though. Why would Ben bring the kids into the murder? They were obviously innocent and had nothing to do with the feud he had with his own family. What triggered him to kill two innocent kids?"
"Nothing is adding up anymore," he said as he huffed. Combing his fingers through his hair, Joshua tugged at the strands. They were both at a dead end at this point. They had to make sure that they play this out carefully. Or they could end up losing their job and ruining someone's life by one simple mistake.
"Maybe we need to talk to Elijah again," Lauren murmured to herself. "He might be able to answer a few questions that we have."
"Let's go over to his house right now," Joshua said as he got up.
"We need to call him first before we just come over," she said as she pulled out her phone. She made a quick conversation with Elijah before she hung up. She made sure that the conversation was curt and short, not wanting to make it long. The last thing she wanted was for Joshua to get jealous again.
They left their desks before hopping into his car and driving into Elijah's house. The drive took about thirty minutes before they finally arrived. As usual, the gate sprung open slowly, automatically.
"I would never get tired of going past this gate," Joshua said admiringly as he parked in front of the house.
They got out of the vehicle and was let in inside, leading them to Elijah who looked as if he hadn't been himself for days. He wore a black robe that went all the way to his legs. He wore pj's underneath it as if he hadn't had the motivation to go to work and get himself pulled together.
"Elijah," Lauren said as they lingered by the couches.
"I guess you all are here to question me about the murder again," Elijah said, his voice croaky as if he hadn't spoken in a long time. "Well, take a seat. No need to stand by there like a pair of idiots."
She was shocked with the way he was acting but told herself he was out of it. Lauren had to stop Joshua from reacting. They had taken their seats before she began with the questions.
"We're just here to ask a few questions, Elijah." Lauren started carefully. The last thing that she wanted was for him to close up and not tell the whole story. They were so close to finding out who murdered the Elisa and her kids.
"Go ahead," Elijah encouraged before propping himself on the arm of the sofa.
"You said that your wife's cousin, Ben Lincoln was jealous of the fortune that your wife received from her parents, right?" The older man nodded at this. "But what do you think made Ben
kill your children during the process?"
"That's an easy question," Elijah replied. "The kids must have heard her scream or something that caused them to be killed as well."
She nodded at this, writing down every point that the older man said. " Ben killed Elisa for fortune and the kids happened to have been an intervene. They were brought into the chaos and got killed in the process."
"That's what the police believe," Elijah said growing bitter by the minute. "But I think that Ben killed my own kids just so that there won't be any sort of witness to the crime he committed."
"That's also possible," she said before jotting it down. "Aside from the motive of stealing her fortune which he never really got at the end, what happened to Ben after?"
"He was set free," the older man continued. "He never went to jail for the murder of my family, although he got out of jail two months prior the incident. Ben had always known he was some sort of cast out in the family. He was just a cousin of my wife and never really had the right to any of the fortunes that my wife inherited."
" What happened to the money and lot?" Joshua asked.
"When she died, everything was passed down to me. I wanted them to stay in her name, but the lawyer said that I'm the only family that Elisa had. Ben wasn't entitled to any of her inheritance, and as her husband, I was able to take it all."
"So, there's no aunt or other older relative to her?" her partner asked.
Elijah shook his head.
"If you don't mind my asking, but what do you exactly plan on doing with all
that money?" Joshua continued. Lauren almost kicked him in the shin for asking such a personal question. But she was also curious about where it would go after gaining such a massive fortune.
Elijah didn't hesitate. "I would build a charity foundation or something close to it. Elisa had a dream of having a charity running that would help out homeless kids or people who don't have any family so that they could afford to go to school and get a better future than what they have right now as their present."
"That seems like a great plan," Joshua said as he wrote a couple of words.
"Besides," the older man said as he shifted his weight onto his other foot. He had been standing a long time, and she noticed that he had trouble stretching his legs. "I want to carry out my wife's wishes so that someday she'll be able to overlook some of the things that I had done to her."
That made Lauren frown. "What are the things that you have done to her, Mr. Crimson?"
"I cheated on her once while we were still younger. Perhaps, it was ten years ago now. It had been a stupid mistake, and I regretted it deeply. Elisa had said that she had forgiven me, but I guess action is louder than words, they say."
"Did she show some sort of contempt for you?" Joshua asked.
"Yes, she showed me that she never really got over it," Elijah said as he took on a faraway look that made her heart ache for this older man. "She had accused me of my gambling issue coming back when that had happened in the past. I never gambled or had any other woman but her. But it seems that Elisa never really got over it. I guess the start out of our marriage was never really great."
She reached over and touched his arm in a reassuring manner. "I'm so sorry to hear that, Mr. Crimson."
Elijah merely shrugged before sitting down. It took a few seconds before finding a comfortable position. She couldn't help but ask what happened to his leg. "What happened to your leg, Mr. Crimson? Did you have an accident in the past or something?"
He looked up, obviously not expecting her to ask that question. "I got into a car accident years ago. I believe my friend was drunk and he got killed in the process. He was the one driving, and I was in the passenger seat. I was lucky to have survived that crash."
"It seems that the worst things happen to you, Mr. Crimson," Joshua observed.
"Indeed," Elijah confirmed before lifting his leg up. He looked to be in so much pain, and she took that as an initiative to go.
As soon as they went, Joshua had a few conclusions that he had in mind. And if one person confirmed one of them, then he had the criminal pinned down already.
Chapter 10
"I've tracked down a few relatives that Elisa Crimson have in the lower part of the city," Joshua said weeks after the interview that they had with Elijah again.
"Wait," Lauren said as she flopped down on the sofa in his apartment. "I thought Elijah said she didn't have any living relatives?"
"He lied," he said as he turned on his laptop and showed her the photos that showed Elisa looking young and beautiful with her two kids and family. Elijah was nowhere to be seen, or at least she thought he wasn't in the picture. He was behind her, his hands placed on his wife's shoulders. They looked like a happy family that had no care for the world, not knowing that his wife and two kids would be massacred one night.
“Why would he lie?” she asked.
“Remember when he said that he had gambling problems? And even cheated on his wife in the past?” Lauren nodded. “Well, her family detested him for it. They think he’s an asshole that didn’t deserve Elisa as her husband.”
“What does that have to do with her family?” she asked, still not getting his point.
“He didn’t want them blaming him for the crime,” he pressed on. “He made it seem like that they were dead. That way, he won’t get the hate or blame that he thinks he doesn’t deserve after his family was killed.”
“I wonder if he has spoken to any of her family though after the incident,” she said with a wonder in her voice. “But if he truly loved his wife, he would do his best to get along with them, right? Besides, Elijah said he had quit those things a long time ago.”
“Yeah, he did through the physical gambling that his wife saw before. But he hadn’t completely quit because I have a few copies of his online gambling.”
“What?” she uttered, completely shocked by what Joshua had investigated.
He turned the laptop around and showed her the details he had managed to retrieve from a special resource he had worked with before. “Do you see the amount of money that he spent in just one game?” She nodded, seeing it. “Well, he wasted a lot of money on each play. Elisa was never aware of this, and so is her family. Elijah’s gambling habits are out of control.”
“I never thought that he would be this bad,” Lauren said as she placed her hand over her mouth, completely astonished. She was aware that the older man had made so many mistakes in the past. But to lie about his gambling habits was unbelievable. He needed help for this, and it must stop immediately.
“What else did you find out about her family?’ she asked after a moment. “Did you manage to talk to them?”
Joshua nodded. “I did manage to talk to one of them.”
“What?” she uttered. “Without me?”
“It just happened that I was in the office and you weren’t,” he reasoned. “After I managed to get in contact with Elisa’s aunt, Anna, I convinced her to come here. She did, and we got to have a chat about her daughter.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said that Elisa was never a violent person,” Joshua began with a serious look on his face. “She had never hurt a single living thing in her entire life. She was considered as a wallflower, someone you could bully and still be forgiven. She was like that. But the thing is, her aunt was so confused when she found out she was massacred.”
“How could Anna be confused?” Lauren asked, growing bemused herself.
“Anna said that Elisa never had a fight with anyone. It was more like an argument with her husband, but it was never something severe. Not something that would lead to a killing. I took the chance to bring up about Ben Lincoln.”
“She knows him well, too, right?” she asked, feeling hopeful. She could feel that they were getting close to putting the pieces together.
“Yes, she does. Too well, actually. Like what Elijah described Ben as it was the same exact description that Anna gave me. He was jealous of her and wanted the fortune, so it was possible that it’s him who killed his cousin and nephews.”
“We could use her as a way to make our argument stronger,” she said.
“Remember that we’re not lawyers or the police, Lauren. They would still need to handle this themselves, so there’s no point in trying to be a detective.” He was right. They couldn’t just bring people into the case like it was some game that didn’t involve people’s lives.
“You said you wanted to look around Ben’s house. But what are you actually going to see there? If he killed them then don’t you think he must have hidden the evidence by now?”
“I’ve already scratched that thought from my head,” he answered. “But thinking about it now, that would be impossible. That guy has some communications that could possibly get us more in trouble. It’ll blow up everything that we had worked on. If that happens, Elijah and his family won’t get their revenge in a way.”
“So, what are we going to do now?” she asked.
“We wait patiently and think about our next move,” Joshua answered. “Edward gave me advice that I don’t bring you with me anymore. And I agree, Lauren. This is so dangerous, and I don’t want you with me while I figure this out. It was good the first couple of investigations, but it’s getting more dangerous by the minute. You can get killed.”
“And so, can you,” she said stubbornly. “I don’t want to back out now nor am I going to do that. So just forget about it, Joshua.”
He cupped her face in his hands before kissing the tip of her nose. “Listen to me, lo
ve. I need you to listen good and hear me out. This is very dangerous. I don’t want you getting involved because I can’t bear the thought of losing you. You’re very important to me, do you know that?”
It touched her heart as she heard him say that. But she couldn’t let him do this alone. They had started this together, and they would end it together.
“You are just as important to me, Joshua. But I can’t let you do this alone. We’ve spoken about this many times. You know I would never leave you.” Tears were starting to appear on the back of her eyes, and it made her sad that this case had to bring them close only to be pulled apart in the end. “I can’t let you do this to me. We’re always going to be together no matter what happens.”
“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m torn between my work and you. I should have really taken on the advice that Edward gave me. Never get involved with anyone from work because it would only cause heartbreak, and it’s too dangerous.”
“Why would it be dangerous when you have me to rely on?” she whispered, staring right into his eyes. “Do you ever regret being with me?”
“Of course not,” he said, his answer quick and automatic. “I would sacrifice everything for you, Lauren. I would always be here even if you grow to hate me. I will always be here.”
“Stop speaking nonsense, Joshua. You know I will never hate you.”
“I hope you don’t too,” he murmured.
There was something in his voice that made her suspicious but made her heart ached as well. He was indicating something that she didn’t quite understand. As much as it bothered her, Lauren decided to let it go. It was something for her to worry and ponder about later. For now, all she could think about was him here with her.
“Stop acting so weirdly,” she said before wiping a fallen tear.
“Hey, don’t cry.” He said before kissing her forehead, cheeks, and lips.
“I’m not,” she said as a smile lifted up her lips. “I’m just happy that you’re here with me.”
She had fallen in love with him. Lauren could no longer deny it. She didn’t know when it started, but she had fallen in love with Joshua Baker, who infuriated her on a daily basis before the case that put them together. Much closer and showed her that love could bring two different people together in the weirdest time and place.
The Lost Seal: A Seal Romance Page 48
