Maisie Lynch’s expression shifted slightly when she heard Melody Summers’s accusation.

She hadn’t expected Melody to realize so quickly that she was in cahoots with the Suttons.

But Maisie didn’t panic too much. After all, they had anticipated this.

When they had gathered yesterday to discuss the plan, Ivan Warren had pointed out that Melody might guess what was going on, so Maisie had already prepared a response.

After all, Melody had no proof.

So, Maisie put on a disappointed look. She looked at Melody and said, "Melody, we were classmates, after all. I really didn’t think you’d say something like this... We may have had our issues, but when it comes to something so serious, do you really think I would lie?"

Then, Maisie turned to Officer Tate, a wronged expression on her face. "Officer, I admit that Melody and I have had some conflicts in the past. But I’m really not lying about this. I truly don’t know these two victims."

Seeing his chance, Mr. Sutton quickly chimed in, "That’s right, Officer. You can check our move-in date. Our family just moved in. We really don’t know this witness!"

Mrs. Sutton nodded repeatedly. "Officer, Melody Summers is just making baseless accusations with no proof, but we have surveillance footage as evidence! You can’t just take her word for it!"

Melody scoffed at that. She looked at Mrs. Sutton and said, "The surveillance video is your evidence? My face never appears in that video, not once. What makes you so sure it’s me?"

Melody then pointed a finger at Maisie and said to Officer Tate, "But *her* voice is on that video! Officer Tate, if I’m a suspect, then so is Maisie Lynch. She should be investigated too!"

Maisie’s eyelid twitched violently when she heard Melody say this.

Her previous composure was gone. She stammered nervously, "I-I was just passing by and saw you run out of the elevator, so I asked what was going on. What does this have to do with me? How could I be a suspect?!"

Mr. Sutton quickly turned on Melody. "Don’t you try to slander others! I saw you clearly from my living room—the thief was you! Besides, the surveillance video clearly shows the thief wearing the exact same clothes you have on right now! The clothes are the evidence!"

Melody mentally gave Mr. Sutton a thumbs-up. ’This was the exact sentence I’d been waiting for.’

She sneered at Mr. Sutton, then turned to Officer Tate. "Officer Tate, Maisie Lynch has the same down jacket! Therefore, I have reason to suspect that the thief in those three video clips is Maisie herself!"

Melody’s words struck Maisie like a bolt of lightning. In an instant, Maisie felt like she was on pins and needles, and her palms grew sweaty.

’Why would Melody know I bought this jacket?’ Maisie wondered in shock. ’I’ve never worn it to school!’

She had seen how good the jacket looked on Melody and asked her for the link to buy it.

Later, the online store happened to have a clearance sale, and the jacket was half-price. Maisie couldn’t resist, so she bought it.

But after the jacket arrived, she realized that while it was a nice jacket, it looked nowhere near as good on her as it did on Melody.

Following the principle of "it’s not scary to wear the same outfit, it’s just awkward for whoever looks worse," she never wore the jacket to school, even though she really liked it. And she certainly never told Melody that she had bought one too.

’How could Melody possibly know?!’

Seeing the shock in Maisie’s eyes, Melody continued, "Officer Tate, as for whether Maisie has this jacket or not, we’ll know as soon as we search her apartment."

Melody wasn’t worried that Maisie might have gotten rid of the jacket yesterday. Even if she had thrown it away, the purchase history would still be on her online shopping account.

Hearing this, Maisie frantically waved her hands in protest. "No! I-I don’t have the same jacket! Besides, what right do you have to search my home!"

Seeing how nervous Maisie was, Melody thought, ’She probably didn’t throw the jacket away...’

So Melody said directly, "It’s an investigation. First, we’ll check your place for the down jacket. If it’s not there, then we can check my place for the so-called Blue Diamond Ring. You wouldn’t be refusing because you have a guilty conscience, would you?"

At her words, Maisie’s face went deathly pale.

Mr. and Mrs. Sutton started to panic too. They hadn’t expected the situation to turn out like this. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Just yesterday, when they were planning this, Maisie had assured them that Melody didn’t know she owned the same down jacket. That was the whole reason they’d come up with this plan!

’How did Melody know?’

’This Maisie Lynch is so unreliable!’

Now that things were spiraling out of their control, Mr. and Mrs. Sutton didn’t dare say another word.

They didn’t dare object to the police searching Maisie’s apartment, either. That would only make them look guilty—after all, they had insisted they didn’t know Maisie, so what grounds would they have to stop the police from investigating a suspect’s home?

And so, at Officer Tate’s request, the group went to apartment 1602.

With a trembling hand, Maisie used her key to open the door to 1602. Her panic was undeniable. Her hand was shaking so much that it took her several tries to get the key into the lock.

Just as the group stepped inside 1602, Ivan Warren came out to greet them with an awkward smile.

Ivan had been secretly listening to the commotion outside from behind the door, and he knew the situation was not in their favor.

Fortunately, he had already anticipated this worst-case scenario. In the middle of the night, he’d had Maisie sneak out through the fire escape to throw the jacket away, along with the mask and shoe covers...

’The jacket is gone,’ he thought. ’There’s no physical evidence. Even if they find the purchase record on the shopping site, it doesn’t prove anything. Maisie can just say she lost the jacket a long time ago and has no idea who might have found it.’

Just as Ivan was smugly patting himself on the back for his cleverness, something he never could have predicted happened—

From a burlap sack in the corner of the storage room, buried under a pile of old shoes, Melody triumphantly pulled out the down jacket.

Excitedly, she held it up and handed it to Officer Tate, saying with a smile, "Officer Tate! This is the jacket! Look, it’s identical to the one I’m wearing!"

Officer Tate took the jacket, looked it over, and nodded. It was indeed the same model as the one Melody was wearing, and identical to the one in the surveillance footage.

Ivan Warren stared at the scene, dumbfounded. He found it unbelievable. ’How could this be?!’

’Didn’t Maisie say she threw the jacket away?!’

’Could it be...’

’...that Maisie was lying?!’

At that thought, Ivan whipped his head around and glared fiercely at Maisie. ’That stupid woman! She actually dared to lie to me!’

Maisie’s face was now as white as a sheet, completely drained of color. Even though it was the dead of winter and bitingly cold, her forehead was beaded with nervous sweat.

She was so tense that she had bitten her lip until it bled without even realizing it.

’It’s over. It’s all over...’