Serendipity Chapter 67: Suspicious

“What happened?” Deku asked the policeman.

“It’s assumed that she got drunk and fell into the pool then hit her head and pulled herself half out of the water before she had a brain hemorrhage and died,” the policeman said. 

“What did she hit her head on?” you asked, trying to put the pieces together.

“I’m assuming on the bottom of the pool?” the policeman replied.

“Bottom?” you asked, “isn’t the pool a little deep?”

“She could have hit it on the steps here at the shallow end?” he replied.

“Oh… true…” you replied, walking around to look at the steps. 

You tried to imagine how she could have fallen and hit her head, then stayed conscious long enough to pull herself out of the pool… but… something wasn’t adding up. If she had slipped in accidentally wouldn’t the bump on the head have been at the front or side? You frowned as you stood there scrunching your eyebrows together.

Deku and the policeman were in a deep discussion when a loud voice called out from the door and you all looked up in its direction. 

“Let me in! That’s my girlfriend!” the distraught voice called, pushing his way into the room.

“Maya!” The male called again, urgently, “Mayaaaa!!”

He struggled his way through the door and burst into tears when he saw his girlfriend lying motionless on the ground.

The policeman quickly covered her body and Deku walked over to calm the sobbing boyfriend down. 

“What time did this happen?” the boyfriend asked loudly and you tilted your head curiously. 

“I would have asked ‘what’ happened, first… not what time it happened?” you thought curiously.

“Are you the boyfriend?” Deku asked the male, trying to get some information first before answering questions.

“Yes,” the male replied, tears flooding down his face, “I left the party early last night and Maya insisted on staying and ohhhh, Maya, why?!” he sobbed, falling into Deku’s arms, “bring her back to me!”

You walked over too, at that point, and introduced yourself, also adding in your condolences.

“Thank you,” he said, wiping his eyes, “excuse me this is a very upsetting circumstance.” 

“That’s understandable,” you said, “you said you were at the party last night?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Did you know everyone else who attended the party?” you asked.

“Yes. It was a staff party, with a few outside members who were significant others of staff and some celebrities,” he said, “everyone got along well.”

“I see,” you replied.

“Such an unfortunate accident,” he said, tears welling up in his eyes again.

“Has it been announced as an accident?” you asked suddenly, “nothing was been said yet about the status of death?”

“Well,” the boyfriend replied, a little flustered by your comment, “I assume it was an accident? How could it be anything else? What are you trying to say? That she was murdered?? No! God no! Please! Who would want to kill my beautiful girlfriend? She was loved by all! She had worked here at the Plaza for 8 years!”

You looked at Deku then back to him.

“Sorry. My comment was out of line,” you apologized, “I didn’t know your girlfriend but I’m sure you are correct. She sounds like a lovely person.”

“She was,” he replied.

“You work here as well?” you asked, seeing him in the staff uniform.

He nodded. “Yes. Maya and I met here and had been dating for 7 years.”

“I see,” you replied, “my sincerest condolences for your loss then.”

“Thank you,” he said, covering his face and sobbing into his hands.

Something didn’t feel right but you opted not to say anything else at that point, promising yourself that you would chat to Deku later.

It was at that point the manager re-entered the room with the guest list and he saw the boyfriend there.

“Philip!” The manager called with horror in his voice, “what are you doing in here? You can’t be here. Oh god. No, no, no,” he tutted.

The boyfriend, Philip, turned and saw the manager and burst into tears again.

“She’s gone!” he wailed.

The manager quickly handed the guest list to Deku then grabbed Philip and walked him out, uttering words of sympathy and comfort as he led him from the scene. 

Deku looked at you.

“I feel like you sense something amiss,” he whispered.

You nodded. “I’ll talk to you later about it…”

Deku walked away to talk to someone else and you decided to have a look around as well. 

You saw some policemen handling some money and you walked over to ask them some questions.

“Hello,” you greeted politely, “I’m here with hero Deku. Was that money here in the room?” 

“Yes. The policeman replied, “money was being used for the payment of alcohol and such.”

“I see.” Your eyes fell to the money in his gloved hand and you squinted curiously at it, “may I feel it?” you asked.

“That would contaminate the sample,” the policeman said.

Deku, overhearing you talking with the officer, walked over to see what the issue was.

“What is it, Y/N?” he asked you.

“I would like to feel the money,” you said to him, “my quirk is to copy paper items but if this money is made by a quirk I won’t be able to copy it because it’s not paper… it’s not genuine.”

“What makes you think it’s made by a quirk?” Deku asked curiously, also a little fascinated that you had picked it up so quickly.

“It moves differently to normal paper money,” you replied, “I use my quirk daily for copying so I know what normal paper moves and feels like. I just saw that it doesn’t flop like paper money should…”

The officer looked at Deku then back to you.

“Please allow her to try and copy it,” Deku said, “this will greatly help the case if it if found that some of the money is counterfeit.”

The officer nodded and placed the money down on the table and you gently touched it with your hand and tried to copy it but you couldn’t.

“It won’t copy,” you said to Deku after trying a few times, “this one is a counterfeit.”

The officer looked at his co-work with surprise then showed you the other bills he had picked up.

“Miss… are they all counterfeit?” he asked, placing them down on the table for you to look at.

You looked over them then pointed to one in the middle of the pile.

“Can I try copying that one? I think that’s a real one?”

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