Serendipity Chapter 73: You Can See Where This Is Going

Guilt washed over you. 

Had you been barking up the wrong tree? 

Had you been reading all of his hesitancy and nervousness wrong? 

You had thought that maybe he was hiding something and he had been! He was hiding the fact that his girlfriend was a criminal and he didn’t know what to do now.

“I’m so sorry,” you said genuinely, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder, “don’t worry, we’ll find the person who was making the money from her blood and have him jailed. It won’t change what she did, but it might help to give you some closure.”

“Thank you,” he said in a wobbly voice.

“Do you know the person, or do you have any leads that might help us?” Deku asked him.

“I’m sorry I don’t. I don’t even have a name,” he replied.

“Would the name of the person be in Maya’s phone?” you asked him.

“I don’t know,” he replied, “you can have a look?” 

“The police have all of her things so we might need to go to the station,” you said to Deku.

“This is just all so much to take in,” Philip said with a sigh, “her suicide and all of this coming to light…”

“Suicide?” you asked, “I thought you said it was an accident before?” 

“W-Well… she killed herself because of the guilt of doing the wrong thing, had she not?” he fumbled out.

Your gut twisted and you just got that feeling again… like maybe there was something still suspicious going on.

“Mmm, maybe?” you hummed, not wanting to let on that you now suspected him again.

He sniffed and did a dramatic sigh and you glanced at Deku.

“Well… thank you, Philip, we’ll let you know if anything else comes up,” you said.

He left and you turned to face your hero husband. 

“He had me for a second. I thought maybe he hadn’t killed her but something is still not quite right. I’m going to go and watch the security footage of that day,” you said, re-doubling your efforts in this case. 

“While you do that, I’m going to see if there’s a way I can narrow down people with the money making quirk,” Deku said, giving you a quick kiss on the lips, “and then I’ll come back quickly because it’s getting dark.”

You nodded and left the room- not seeing Philip hiding around the corner watching you leave. Purposefully you walked down to the security room and knocked again.

“You again,” the guard said when he opened the door.

“Hi,” you said with a chuckle, “I may as well move in here right? Do you need an extra worker?”

The guard chuckled and let you in. “What did you need this time?” he asked.

“I need to review the footage from today from as early as 6am.”

“Right.”

He pulled up the tapes and started playing them from 6am, letting them roll for a bit.

“Anything in particular you’re looking for?” He asked.

“This is going to sound strange but can you please follow Philip’s movements for the day?”

“Philip?” 

“Yes.”

“Is he a suspect?” 

“I’m not at liberty to say,” you replied.

He shrugged and leaned past you, fast forwarding until Philip entered through the staff room at the back of the hotel. He immediately changed into his uniform and then walked out into the hall, making his way up to the room in which Maya had died earlier that morning and spoke with the guards before entering.

“That’s very suspicious,” you thought, “he must have known something had happened otherwise why would he have walked straight up to the room. No one else spoke to him that morning so he can’t claim someone mentioned something. He knew. He totally knew!”

Excited by this, you turned to the guard. 

“Can I please have a copy of the tape from where Philip enters the building to where he enters the room upstairs?” you asked.

He nodded and grabbed another USB from the pile and copied it for you.

You thanked him then left, making your way back to your hotel room.

“I have it! I have the evidence!” you said excitedly to Deku as you entered.

“Oh? Really?!” he asked expectantly.

You held up the USB and wiggled it between thumb and forefinger.

“This shows Philip walking into the building then going straight up to the room where Maya was killed. How did he know that something had happened? No one spoke to him that morning.”

“That’s good… but it’s not enough to seal the case,” Deku said thoughtfully, “I’ve been unsuccessful in my pursuits of finding the blood quirk counterfeiter unfortunately… I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find anything conclusive.”

“I’m sure this will hold up in court,” you said again, referring to the footage you had in hand.

Deku shook his head sadly. “It’s suspicious… but it’s not enough to conclude the case. I’m sorry.”

You sighed. “I’m going to keep it anyway because it may help.” 

Deku nodded. “Definitely keep it. But let’s leave it for now. We can continue tomorrow.”

You nodded, “I just want this case ended!”

“I do too,” he said as he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into him as he sat on the side of the bed. 

You straddled his lap and lay him back on the bed as your lips pressed to his. 

…………………….

Meanwhile, down at security, Philip was doing a little snooping.

“Good afternoon, Greg,” he greeted the security officer, “how’s your day been?”

“Oh, hi Philip, boring as usual,” Greg replied.

“Had any visitors?” Philip pressed as he pretended to be getting some files from the cabinet behind the guard.

“Yeah. A few,” Greg replied vaguely, “old lady from 22 came down to complain that the camera in the bathroom was pointing into the shower. There’s no camera in the bathrooms, I don’t know how many times I have to tell her. She’s been here for so long she’s gone insane.”

Philip laughed.

“That’s funny. Anyone else?”

“Yeah. The blond that hangs around reception,” he replied.

“Mmmm,” Philip replied… none of these were the answer he was after, “I bumped into that Mrs Midoriya, the hero’s wife, in the hall… shes interesting…”

“Oh, yeah, she came down here too,” the guard said.

“What was she after?” Philip asked.

“Just some footage,” Greg said, avoiding eye contact.

“Of what?” Philip asked again, starting to get a little annoyed by these short answers.

“Just stuff. I don’t really know,” Greg lied, still not looking at Philip.

“Was it of me?” Philip asked bluntly.

Greg flinched.

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Serendipity Chapter 74: A Snare >>>