Leahlya entered Susie's room and started searching. First, she opened the drawers and found them to be empty. Then, she looked at her almirah and observed its texture. She slowly moved her hand over the almirah's smooth edges.
Hmmm... this almirah looks new. It's shiny and has very smooth edges. This material... is not made up of iron. No, it's something more valuable. Let's open it.
To her dismay, it was locked. Leahlya nodded to her and took out a small clip out of her hair. Breaking into secure spaces... she used to do it plenty of times in her past life. Without much effort, she unlocked it and found a bag.
Interesting, there are no clothes in here. And judging by the bag's storage capacity, I don't think it contains clothes.
Leahlya pulled the chain and found something in it which made her frown.
Gold coins. Lots and lots of gold coins.
Now, this is what I was talking about. A maid can't have this much money unless... she was doing to something like money laundering.
Suddenly, her eyes fell on the bed. Leahlya walked towards the bed and observed the bedsheet with a calculating eye. There were numerous stain marks on it, one that she knew very well.
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"So, have you found out?" Victor asked.
Leahlya nodded and replied, "Yes. I have. So, would you like to bring out our suspects? The dinner's over."
Victor gave her a look and ordered the knight near him to bring them to the dining hall.
Within a few minutes, the two 'suspects' arrived. Both of them had a haggard look on their faces. Although, there was a shine of hope in their eyes.
"Will you like to tell now? Who's the culprit?" asked Victor.
Leahlya clasped her hands and stood up. With a joyful voice, she replied, "Patience, Father. Good things come slow. Hmmm... so, where was I? Yes, the culprit... is... should I just tell?"
"Just tell already!"
Nodding, Leahlya answered, "The culprit... is... Mari."
"Yes! I knew it! You bitch! Did you think you can frame me! Huh! I hope to see you rot in jail once this is over!" yelled Susie. If not for the chains around her, she would have done a victory dance.
"Now, wait a minute. It's not as simple as that."
Victor frowned at Leahlya and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Like I said, patience. See, Susie... I found a bag full of gold coins inside your almirah."
Susie paled visibly. She stuttered, "I-I... m-must have been... t-that p-p-planted the bag there! Yes!"
Leahlya said, "Now, hold on. Let me finish. Do you know Susie that you have very distinctive smell? Petunia. It's kind of annoying to have that awful smell bombarding your nose, it's horrible. You are the head maid. You oversee my late grandmother's rooms. See, that's what should have been answer. This made me doubt on you. I was very close to my grandmother; she had been proud of her jewellery collection. So, I kind of knew her jewelleries. Do you know what did I see? Some of her jewelleries were missing. The room... had the same petunia smell, especially the jewelleries. Now, you can argue that you were the cleaner of her room so your smell was left everywhere."
Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Then again, it had a sweaty smell on it. Now, let me tell you my grandma never sweat and it's not an exaggeration. This 'sweaty' smell will only be possible if someone had recently worn her jewelleries. The smell of petunia and sweat... is much like I am smelling now. Oh god! You have just ruined the smell of petunia for me, you know."
"Are you saying she stole the jewelleries?" asked Victor. He had never though his daughter would note every detail.
Leahlya smiled, "Yes, she did. In fact, the bag full of notes confirms it. Although, I crosschecked with a pawn shop nearby. Richard confirmed it. He brought me a receipt showing the list of jewelleries she had sold to him. Luckily, the owner has expressed the desire to return the jewelleries if we pay him the double of gold coins he had given to Susie."
Susie yelled, "YOU ARE LYING! YOU BITCH I WILL BREAK YOUR—"
"SHUT UP! BEFORE I KILL YOU HERE MYSELF!" yelled Victor, stopping Susie's anger filled rant. His face was cold and his eyes held a killing intent in them.
"As I was saying, it's just doesn't stop here. Your 'nasty' smell was all over Mari's room as well. The marks as well," said Leahlya, who was completely unaffected by what had happened just now.
Victor asked, "What 'marks?' Do you have something else?"
Leahlya replied, "The marks of sexual activity."
This time both Mari and Susie's face was full of horror. They couldn't believe that their secret was out in the open. They wanted to say something but they couldn't utter even a single word.
"And how do you know this?" asked Victor, whose face was worsening with each passing second.
Calming herself, Leahlya answered, "I-I j-just... know, okay? Well, let's forget it. We can talk about this later. I asked once again some questions to the maids, who answered me a very weird answer. They said that you don't have any boyfriend, neither you, nor Mari. At least, no man has ever stepped in your rooms. So, where did that come from? Then, I smelled 'you' in Mari's room. What a weird coincidence, isn't it? The same marks were on you sheets as well. So, I deduced an absurd theory. You two... are 'lovers.' That would explain some unanswered questions."
Clapping mockingly, Leahlya continued, "So, here what's I had in mind. Mari was in laundry department. Sone day, she caught your eye. Susie, the maids have always felt unsafe around you. Although, due to your heavy influence in our mansion... they never uttered a word. Those who did, were fired by you. You are a 'predator.' You force upon yourselves on women, but it's not enough for you, is it? You target children, both genders. Mori, who was supposed to be working in laundry, met you by mistake in the kitchen. Being a 'predator,' you decided to put your claws on her."
"Hence, you started demanding her to work in the kitchen as well. You named it as 'extra work.' One day, you confessed your 'feelings' to her. To your surprise, Mari agreed. So, you don't have to force yourself on her. This started your 'romantic encounters' everywhere... mostly inside both of your rooms, I mean. But what you didn't know that Mari was a highly 'ambitious' person. She wanted to be the head maid herself, yet she couldn't. One, you are our head maid for almost fifteen years now. Two, you are a dangerous person, according to her that is."
"So, she concocted a plan. She stole the necklace, and framed herself... knowing you would be the one who would get implicated. Being a foolish woman, you fell for her trick. You noticed a jewellery was missing from my grandma's room. And in an instant, you knew thar Mari was the one who stole the jewellery. Betrayed by your 'love,' you decided to inform my father. You thought it was for the better as it was your 'contingency plan.' If she opens her mouth, throw her out by any means possible. Unfortunately for you, Father didn't buy to any of your words and imprisoned both of you."
"You two fell in each other's trap. So, let me conclude here. The thief is Mari, and the 'criminal' is Susie. Maybe Mari would come out one day of the jail but you won't Susie. And by the way, the maid which had been fired by you or were 'targeted' by you, are ready to talk. The same goes for the children as well. Your fate will to be 'imprisoned' behind the bars, until you stop breathing," concluded Leahlya.