Madam Escaped Again Sir

Chapter 1325

The officer stopped in his tracks. "Is there anything I can help you with, Miss Reed?"

"Is there any update on Asher?" asked Sonia.

Since the officer was here, she did not see a reason not to seek an answer from him.

He was not planning to hide the truth from her. After all, she was the victim, so she had the right to learn the suspect's current status.

"We put him in custody for the time being. We have just done the first interrogation on him," he replied.

She inquired, "Did you ask him how he set the fire last night?"

"Of course." He took a seat the second time. "Based on his statement, he had always wanted full control over Paradigm, but his efforts were wasted every time. The taste of defeat irritated him, and he wouldn't accept his fate. Thus, after going through the inner conflict over and over again, he decided to lay a hand on you. The reason behind it was the same as what you told us."

"I see." She nodded.

He continued, "Asher eventually decided to get rid of you a month ago. He thought that once you were dead, he could regain control of the company. Even more, he could transfer your shares to his name by pulling a few strings."

The feeling of nausea surged within her. Is full control of the company not enough for him? He even covets my shares. What a shameless man!

Truth be told, when the officer first heard the statement from Asher, he found it both ridiculous and incredulous.

Sonia and Asher were not blood-related. Although he could pull a few strings to obtain her shares, the outside world would end up suspecting him. After all, it was already questionable when a man received the shares of his enemy.

"Based on his statement, he has planned many scenarios to kill you and make it look like an accident over the last month. However, since you almost go to the same three places every day, he never succeeded with either plan until last night. He learned from one of your factory manager's subordinates that you were visiting the factory at night. He knew his opportunity had come. He spent some money on hiring a group of gangsters and asked them to prepare gallons of gasoline. Then, the group would wait in the factory for an ambush. Once you and President Fuller arrived, they would leave their hiding spot and pour the gasoline around the factory before they set it on fire."

"I see." She clenched her fists.

"As for President Fuller, Asher told us that he met you yesterday when you and President Fuller left the company in the afternoon, so he knew President Fuller would accompany you to the factory. As you said, Asher is holding a grudge against President Fuller. After he pondered for a while, he decided to kill both of you."

"He's insane," she spoke through gritted teeth. Anger was written all over her delicate face. "Did he think he could get away with murdering us? His plan was sloppy. Or else, he wouldn't get arrested right after that."

"You're right. He formulated the plan without deliberation since it was last minute. Thus, he left his traces behind. Besides, he thought you were probably dead in the fire, so he got carried away. He even used his private vehicle when he went to the factory to watch the scene and ended up leaving the tire tracks. The tire tracks helped us to track him down after that. Once we found him, the rest

were less difficult. At last, we arrested him, the gangsters he bribed, and the manager's subordinate."

Learning that all the people involved were arrested, Sonia sighed in relief as happiness bloomed inside her heart. "That's good to hear. Thank you very much."

"I'm glad to be of help," the officer replied.

She cast him a grateful smile. "May I know how long he will be sentenced based on the crimes he committed?"

"He's charged with arson and intentional homicide. Even though it was only an attempted murder and ineligible for the death penalty, the two charges are odious crimes. My guess is it'll be around for more than ten years or a life sentence. You'll have to wait for the court's decision for a concrete answer," he answered after pondering for a moment.

She nodded. "All right. I get it."

“Any more questions?”

"No. Thank you."

"No problem. I'll be on my way. For the next several days, the police might come over for a better understanding of the case. Please answer them truthfully."

"I will."

"President Reed, I'll see him off." Rita gauged Sonia's response.

Sonia waved to approve. "Go on."

Then, the two left. Sitting on the bed, she digested the information the officer poured into her head a while ago, which was the final judgment on Asher.

She was well aware that he would not get a death sentence, and she had no trouble accepting the truth. After all, Toby and she made it out alive. Although Asher attempted to murder them, as long as the victim was alive, the murderer would never be sentenced to death.

However, it was possible to sentence him to life imprisonment. She remembered the officer telling her that another possibility was he could be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment. If so, she could never be satisfied with the verdict.

After all, it was a near-death experience for Toby. She would not be happy to see Asher not getting the life imprisonment he deserved.

Just as she was lost in her thoughts, the ringing phone caught her attention.

Coming back to her senses, she extended her pair of hands in the direction of the ringtone and fiddled with the surface. She reached for her phone, which was placed on the bedside table, without difficulty.

However, as she had trouble using her eyes at the moment, she could not tell who the caller was. Using her memory, she answered the call and asked, "Hello, this is Sonia. May I ask who's calling?"

She was greeted by a few seconds of silence before a familiar voice spoke, "Sonia, it's me. I just talked to you yesterday. How could you forget me so quickly?"

It was none other than Zane.

She chuckled. "I'm sorry. I didn't look at the caller ID."

She did not plan to tell anyone about what happened to her and Toby last night to avoid drawing any attention to them.

He did not doubt her words either. After all, he could relate to that. Some people tended to ignore the caller ID when they were preoccupied with a task at hand.

"Don't fret. It isn't a big deal." On the other side of the phone, Zane, who just got home from visiting the rural area, alighted from the car.

Lenny and Douglas were welcoming him at the entrance with dropped jaws when they recognized his new look. What's going on? What happened to him? Why did he have skin as dark as coal? Did he just come back from the beach or what?

"By the way, Sonia. I'm back in Seafield." Zane grinned as he talked to her, showing his teeth.

His ebony skin accentuated his white teeth to the degree that his teeth were reflecting light under the contrast.

Lenny and Douglas did not dare look straight at him. He looks shabby. He used to be a handsome man. Now, he's kind of… sleazy.

"I know. I got your message yesterday telling me that you're coming back. Welcome back." She gave him a sincere reply. NôvelDrama.Org owns this.

He walked into the house. "Are you free? Do you want to come out for dinner? It's for welcoming me back."

But don't bring Toby. He's a jerk. In thought, he added.

She sighed, "I'm afraid I must decline, Zane. I'm out of town at the moment, so I can't have dinner with you. It'll have to wait."

"You're out of town?" He was taken aback by the answer before he asked, "Where are you?"

"Toby is going on a business trip abroad while I follow him. He remarked that broadening my horizon around the world can help me in managing the company. Thus, I agreed with him. It was a last-minute decision, and we departed last night. I'm sorry." She hung her head, both guilty and apologetic for having to lie to him, and it was shown on her face.

It was wrong to lie to others.

The corners of Zane's lips twitched in disappointment. "Well, it's fine with me. I'll wait for you—I'll wait for both of you to return. Then, I'll treat the two of you to dinner."

"Sure. There's no way I would say no." She nodded with a faint smile stretching across her face as a decision formed in her mind.

I'll bring him some presents then. I want to make up for lying to him.