Chapter 15

In the end, she did not manage to taste the dumplings that Aunt Frances prepared for her.

Seated in an interrogation room of the police station, the blinding white lights were shined directly at her.

Estelle felt a wave of remorse as she mulled over the fact that she would not have been able to taste Aunt Frances’s dumpling anymore.

Now that Aunt Frances was dead and she was also dying, she felt as if life was a joke. God had to take away her one last hope.

“Miss Sanders, now that we have both the witness and physical evidence against you, is there anything that you’d like to clarify?”

Lifting her head, Estelle asked, “Is Camilla the witness?”

The cop nodded his head. “Camilla claims that she was there to witness it when you pushed Aunt Frances off the roof.”

Estelle nodded her head. It was exactly what she expected,

“What about the physical evidence?”

“The shoe prints left on the rooftop. We only managed to collect the shoe prints of Aunt Frances, Miss Camila, and your shoe prints on the rooftop. Besides, both Miss and Aunt Frances don’t know each other. There’s no reason to speculate that they had any conflicts between them. Hence, leaving only you with the motive to kill.”

Hanging her head low, Estelle queried, “Sir, if I admit to all the charges, what would I be sentenced with?”

“You will be charged with intentional homicide and you be sentenced to the death penalty.”

“Will I be executed through a shooting?”

“You’ll be executed by lethal injection.”

“Will it be painful?”

“It won’t hurt. The execution these days are more humane now. You’ll be executed in your sleep and you won’t experience pain.”

As if she was satisfied with the answer, Estelle nodded her head and expressed, “As long as it’s not painful. Perhaps this will be better.”

“With that being said, are you admitting to all the charges? If so, sign here.”

Estelle queried, “Can we wait three more days?”

The cop was confused. “Why three days?”

“Because I could be...pregnant. And I’ll find out if I’m pregnant in the next three days.”

The cop was right about how the law is treating the suspects more humanely.

She spent three days in the police station. On the third day, with the supervision of two female officers, she visited the hospital for a final checkup.

When the doctor saw that Estelle accompanied by two female officers, he was puzzled. “Miss Sanders, are you...in any sort of trouble?”

Putting on a smile, Estelle replied, “I’m fine. There’s nothing more important than me getting pregnant.”

The doctor was perplexed by the situation but he still handed her the checkup list.

Her hands were trembling as she waited for the results of the checkup.

The female officer seemed to take pity on her and handed her a glass of warm water. “Drink some, you haven’t been eating for the past three days.”

Estelle smiled and thanked her. “I can’t drink.”

“Why?”

“...It’ll hurt.” Estelle pointed to her chest. “It hurts a lot here. Every time that I drink, it hurts to the extent that I want to end my life right there and then. But I can’t.”

The female officer furrowed her brows and asked, “You have stomach problems?”

“She’s in the last stage of lung cancer,” the doctor replied while handing over the checklist to Estelle. “Miss Sanders, I don’t know if this is something to congratulate you with, but you’re pregnant.”

Feeling surprised yet in disbelief, Estelle lifted her head and asked, “Am I...pregnant?”

“Yes, you’re indeed pregnant. But this also means that if you’re determined to keep this child, you’ll need to start to count down the days that you’ll have left. Also, you won’t be able to go through with the chemotherapy anymore.”

She took the checkup list from the doctor and went through the document carefully. There was a slight glow on her face.

She softened when she saw the word pregnant on the result document for her checkup.

She smiled in joy and said to the female officers beside her, “Look here, I’ll die anyway after I give birth to this child. You guys could even save on the lethal injection.”

Feeling complicated, the female officers explained, “Miss Sanders, according to the law, pregnant ladies are granted with medical parole. If you have any new evidence that can prove your innocence, you should collect those evidence in the meantime as it’ll help with reducing your sentence…”

“It’s all right. Nothing else is more important than having this child now.” She kept the document carefully, treating it like a precious thing.

Being able to have this child was all that she could ever ask for.

“Madam, are you sick again?”

Estelle saw the little boy that she met the other day at the hospital, and he looked happy. “Madam, my mommy said that I should thank you after accepting your money. I’ve been waiting for you at the entrance of the hospital for a few days but have not seen you around.”

Crouching down to meet his eyes, Estelle stroked his head gently and said softly, “This is my last time here to see the doctors. After today, I won’t be coming here anymore.”

"Oh, are you getting better now madam?"

Kids are always optimistic. She did not bear to dim his optimism hence she hesitated and said, "...You can say that I'm getting better. "

The little boy hummed happily while holding her hands tightly. "Madam, let me sing you a song to congratulate you on getting better."

“Sure!”

The little boy was delighted. He held his chest up high and sang his heart out, “...Twinkle twinkle little stars, How I wonder what you are…”

The little boy looked disappointed when he finished the song. “Madam, why are you crying? Was my singing bad?”

Wiping away the tears from her face, Estelle flashed him a big smile. “You sang amazingly. It’s just that I feel sad that I won’t be able to see you anymore.”

“I’ll always remember you. You’re a good person. A very, very kind person.”

Before he could finish his sentence, Estelle’s phone rang.

It was a string of unfamiliar numbers. She picked up the call. “Hello?”

“Good day to you Miss Sanders. I’m Zayne, the lawyer that Mr. Skyler had entrusted to be responsible for the divorce matters. Mr. Skyler received the divorce papers that you mailed him. Please come to the Civil Administration Office so that we can proceed with the divorce procedure.”