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 nning 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 firest 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 ept his fate. Thus, after going through the inner conflict over and over again, he
decided toy 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 thepany. 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 thepany 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-rted. 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 nned many scenarios to kill you and make it look like an
ident over thest month. However, since you almost go to the same three ces every day, he
never seeded with either n untilst night. He learned from one of your factory manager''s
subordinates that you were visiting the factory at night. He knew his opportunity hade. 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
thepany in the afternoon, so he knew President Fuller would apany 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 n was sloppy. Or else, he wouldn''t get arrested
right after that."
"You''re right. He formted the n without deliberation since it wasst 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. Atst, 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."
Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!
"I''m d 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 mighte 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 epting 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 ced 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 n to tell anyone about what happened to her and Tobyst night to avoid drawing
any attention to them.
He did not doubt her words either. After all, he could rte to that. Some people tended to ignore
the caller ID when they were preupied 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 Dous were weing 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 juste 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 entuated his white teeth to the degree that his teeth were reflecting light under
the contrast.
Lenny and Dous 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''reing back. Wee back." She
gave him a sincere reply.
He walked into the house. "Are you free? Do you want toe out for dinner? It''s for weing 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 thepany. Thus, I agreed with him. It was a
last-minute decision, and we departedst 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.