Returner Fantasy-Chapter 177: Murder - Part 10

"I can’t believe that we really did it right here," Mira said as she sat on the blanket laid out on the sand inside the dimly lit cave where they had a foursome just the other night.

"Right next to where a corpse was drowned and hidden," Mina added while sitting beside Mira, clarifying what they were both grumbling about.

Jess and Jeff, on the other hand, weren’t even bothered in the slightest and were actually playing with a large shark float on the beach inside the cave while enduring the cold water.

The case of Cindy’s murder had already been solved last night after they baited the producer Gary into confessing that he knew about Jess’s greatsword being the murder weapon.

It was enough evidence for Gary to be arrested for murder. And even though he still hadn’t confessed yet, Jeff was able to learn the truth by reading the reward of Quest 30, which was the Murderer’s Archive.

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It all started with Cindy blackmailing Gary with the threat of exposing the video of their intimacy that would get him fired from the PoruMerc Fashion Company unless he helped her ruin Jess’s career as a model.

Gary agreed at first—when Cindy messed with Jess by putting a hidden camera in her dressing room in an attempt to get a video of her naked—but not because he felt threatened. It was because he also wanted to use the opportunity to lay his hands on Jess.

Their plan, however, was easily foiled by Jess’s inhuman sense of smell, as she figured out someone had gone inside her dressing room.

After that incident, Gary was repeatedly asked by Cindy to mess with Jess, threatening him again and again since she herself couldn’t do it due to the restraining order that PoruMerc enforced on her.

Regardless, Gary didn’t plan to kill Cindy—not until he accidentally found Cindy’s ex-boyfriend, Rico, hiding on the hotel rooftop to stalk Jess once she arrived at the vacation island for the photoshoot.

His plan was to blackmail Rico into helping him kill Cindy, or he would report him to the police for stalking Jess.

Rico desperately agreed, as he was becoming obsessed with Jess and also wanted revenge for Cindy abandoning him when he was fired because of his sneak photos of Jess.

On the night of the murder, Gary secretly met up with Cindy at the cave where Rico was already waiting.

They drugged Cindy unconscious and brought her to the villa through the underground tunnel.

Using the knife that Rico brought, they killed Cindy by stabbing her in the stomach and letting her bleed to death.

Gary then used Cindy’s phone to message Jaxon to erase the hotel camera footage to make sure they didn’t leave any evidence behind.

He didn’t mean to frame Jess at first—or to kill Rico as well.

Gary was supposed to quickly return to his room and call Rose to spend the night with her and establish his alibi.

Rico would continue disguising himself as one of the hotel staff, unaware that he had been recorded stealing Jess’s undergarments.

Cindy’s death should have remained a mystery—that was Gary’s plan.

A perfect locked-room murder case of a phantom killer.

But when they were about to leave the underground tunnel, they encountered Jess and Jeff sharing intimacy in the cave illuminated by moonlight.

Once again, Jess ruined his plan without even trying.

They couldn’t leave the cave without being noticed by Jess and Jeff. Worse, Gary alone would be left without an alibi—unless he framed someone else. Not Rico, since he would just confess to their crime, but Jess herself.

That was the improvised plan that came to Gary while looking at the greatsword strapped to Rico’s back.

Gary thought it would be the murder weapon they would use, but Rico refused, saying he got it from Jess.

While Rico was distracted, touching himself as he watched Jess and Jeff’s intimacy, Gary drugged him unconscious before taking the greatsword and returning to the villa to stab Cindy’s corpse with it.

He then took the knife and returned to Rico.

When Jess and Jeff finished their intimacy and left the cave—only to be greeted by Mira and Mina outside with the news of Cindy’s death—Gary proceeded to drown Rico and sink his corpse, with the knife, in the shallow water by placing large stones on top.

He secretly returned to the hotel, blending in with the crowd, unaware that Rose had been in his room waiting for him—not until he spoke to her after she had already given her own alibi to the police, lying that she had been in Cindy’s room waiting for her.

On the morning after Gary was arrested, Luke had the police search the beach near the cave and finally proved that his bluff about finding Rico’s corpse was true.

Even if Gary didn’t confess, the knife and Rico’s clothes stained with Cindy’s blood were already enough to prove Jess’s innocence.

---

If Jeff told Jess that they had been seen sharing intimacy in the cave, she would probably get violent again—not that he didn’t love that side of her.

Still, he would rather keep her from worrying about unnecessary things.

"I’m freezing..."

Jess quickly got out of the cold water and rushed toward Mira to embrace her and warm herself up.

"Warming yourself with my body is fine, but don’t suddenly start touching me!"

"I’m only increasing the heat, though."

While Jess and Mira’s playful hug slowly started getting intimate, Jeff got out of the water and warmed himself by embracing Mina from behind.

"You’re heating up quickly, Mina."

"We still need to finish the photoshoot, so don’t tease me yet, Jeff."

On that note, the PoruMerc Summer Collection photoshoot continued after Luke and the rest of the police—including his senior detective, Rowan—left the vacation island with Gary and Rico’s corpse.

All the models were able to finish their photoshoots despite the one-day delay due to the investigation.

It was the same for Jess, with only a retake of her photoshoot in the cave at night, with the moonlight reflecting through the water as the background.

"Now get back in the water while the moon is at the perfect height," Mira said while pushing Jess after she got her dressed in her white two-piece swimsuit.

"I’m still feeling cold!" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"And whose fault is that? We told you and Jeff not to play in the water before we could start," Mina added, dismissing Jess’s complaint.

Jeff, meanwhile, prepared to take Jess’s photos, followed by Mira’s and Mina’s as well.

Lastly, a photoshoot with Jeff alongside each of them.

That ended their photoshoot—with a little bit of foursome—before going back to the hotel.

By the next morning, the PoruMerc Women’s Division left the vacation island, ending the Summer Collection photoshoot.

As for the promotion of the vacation island, Jeff, Lena, and Nubia already had a plan prepared to use the murder case to their advantage.