Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
I psyched myself up to confront Neil at work the next morning. I knew he’d be mad at me for digging, but there was something I had to ask him. Something I had to know.
My heart thudded as I approached Neil’s office, but when I reached his door, I realised it was locked shut. That was strange in itself, but even stranger was the blue Post-It note attached to the surface. In Neil’s spidery scrawl, it read:
Meet me on the roof.
N.
Dread blossomed in the pit of my stomach.
The roof?
I thought the roof had been locked and out of bounds since Alex died. Why would Neil go there? And why did he want me to join him?
It crossed my mind that it could be some kind of test, or maybe even a trap, but my concern for Neil overrode those thoughts. What if the police had missed something in their investigation, and danger lurked? The rumoured rickety railing, or an uneven surface which could cause him to stumble towards the edge…
The memory of Alex falling to his death replayed in my head. The human-shaped downward blur. The all-consuming sense of terror as I realised what I had witnessed.
I took a deep breath. What mattered most was checking on Neil. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to him.
The fire exit door was next to the lifts. I pushed it open and entered the cold concrete stairwell. The stairs did one zigzag up before reaching a windowless landing, lit by a faint, flickering bulb. This was the end of the road. A large, heavy-looking steel door awaited me—the door that had been locked to staff since Alex died.
I turned the handle and forced the stubborn door open. It squeaked on its hinges, and a vortex of howling wind leaked through the widening gap and into the stairwell. I squinted my eyes against the gust and the brightness of the overcast sky.
The roof was a wide concrete surface, flat apart from the air-conditioning units, vents, and satellite dishes jutting out. A safety barrier bordered the perimeter. Neil stood at the edge, looking out at the cityscape. The blustery wind ruffled his hair and whipped at his tie.
Before I could close the door, the wind slammed it shut for me. The banging sound alerted Neil to my presence. He turned and locked eyes with me. I cautiously approached, stopping a few steps short of the edge, unwilling to go any closer.
Neil leaned back on the barrier, hands in his pockets. “You came.”
“Of course. You asked me to.”
“I thought you might think twice.”
“I was worried about you.”
Neil smirked. “Why? Did you think I might fall?”
“I don’t know. Yes. It seems dangerous. My heart is pounding just seeing you lean on the wall like that. Can you please stop?”
He acquiesced. “There. Is that better?”
“Much better.”
He stepped closer to me. “You’re brave to come here. Or foolish. Let me ask you something. Did it ever cross your mind that I might have killed Alex?”
I stared at him in shock.
“Well?” he asked.
“Of course it crossed my mind!”
“Yet you were willing to go alone to meet me on the roof?”
“Because I trust you now.”
“Trust no one, Amelia.”
“Well, I trust myself, and I don’t believe you’re a villain.”
“Life is not black and white. There are no heroes and villains.”
I crossed my arms, starting to get tired of his bullshit. “Okay. I get it. Cut it out and tell me why you came here.”
A pensive look replaced his smirk. “Talking to you last night… it got me thinking.” He focused on the ground and made a precise step towards the barrier. “There used to be a chalk mark right here. This is the approximate position Alex fell from.”
“Oh God.” I backed away, shuddering.
“It’s common knowledge that Alex used to come up to the roof several times a day to smoke, so it’s not surprising he was up here.” Neil measured the height of the barrier with his hand, placing it somewhere between his waist and his chest. “The wall is not particularly high. One could easily climb over it if they intended to jump. Or they could be pushed. An accidental fall seems unlikely, even in winds such as this, but who knows? If one leaned too far over and lost their footing… Perhaps it’s possible. I’m unwilling to put it to the test.”
“Maybe he liked to sit on top of the wall while he smoked.”
“Maybe.”
“What do you think happened?”
“The police were certain no one else was on the roof, but even if I take that as fact, I’m still of two minds. Daniel could have threatened Alex, provoking him to jump. ‘Kill yourself or I’ll have your children killed.’”
“That’s awful!”
“That’s how he operates. Though maybe not in such plain words. He’ll threaten whoever you care about the most in order to manipulate you. On the other hand, maybe no such threats were required. It could be as the police concluded. Alex’s mental health struggles were well-documented, and he would have been worried about his mishandling of the company’s finances coming to light.”
“Could there be another explanation? There was a rumour someone tampered with the railing, but I see now that it’s a solid wall. What about his cigarettes?”
Neil tensed. “What do you mean?”
“As you said, he came up here several times a day to smoke, and lots of people knew that. Could someone have tampered with his cigarettes? Laced them with something that could mess with his head? Ugh. Forget it. I just realised how stupid that sounds.”
Neil shook his head. “It’s not stupid at all, but that method would lack certainty.”
“It was just a thought.”
“Of course. This is all speculation. I have no evidence Daniel was involved, just a gut feeling. His dislike of Alex was part of the reason he sent me here in the first place, but maybe it’s just a coincidence.”
The wind died down as we reached a natural lull in our conversation. Neil looked out over the barrier wall, holding his hands behind his back, his expression contemplative.
I remembered I had something important to ask him. This was my opportunity.
“Neil.” I stepped closer to him and the wall separating us from the sheer drop to certain death.
He turned and gave me his full attention, his arms crossed and his head cocked to one side.
I forced the words to the tip of my tongue as a rush of nerves threatened to engulf me. “I think I know what it is… What you’re scared Daniel knew about.”
Neil clenched his jaw. “Go on.”
This was the moment of truth. I braced myself. “Are you in a relationship with Daniel’s sister, Veronica Ling a.k.a Ruby?”
My question hung heavy in the wind-whipped air.
Neil looked down his nose at me, dissecting me through his narrowed eyes. “It seems, yet again, I’ve underestimated you.”
Does that mean I’m right? Neil and Veronica…
“How on earth did you know her alias?” Neil asked.
“I’ve seen that name pop up on your phone a few times, and I wondered who she was. It was just a hunch.”
A muscle ticked in Neil’s jaw. “You’re very perceptive.”
“So, it’s true then? Is she your girlfriend?”
“No.”
“…Huh?”
“But you’re on the right track. I’m not in a relationship with Daniel’s sister, but I have been in contact with her.”
“You’re not… together ? But you looked so close…”
Neil’s eyebrows shot up. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw you with her. I was on my way home from cleaning your place a couple of weeks ago when I saw you at a restaurant.”
“Ronnie is an old friend. Okay, she’s my ex. She was visiting from Singapore.”
“Your ex?” The words felt tinged with bitterness in my mouth.
“She was my fiancée for a while, but we split up a long time ago.”
I dropped my gaze to the ground. “Oh. I see.”
I still couldn’t quite believe it. Were exes usually so at ease with each other? What if they wanted each other back? It certainly looked that way.
He even has a nickname for her…
“If you’ve done your research, which I suspect you have, then I suppose you know why I would want to keep my recent contact with her a secret,” Neil said.
“It seems like there’s bad blood between Veronica and Daniel. They’re estranged.”
“Yes. Relations in the Ling family are very tense. Donald Ling, the chairman of Zelthia, is on the verge of death. The future of his assets is at stake.”
“Daniel is his only heir…”
“Right. The company and assets are to pass down the male line only, leaving nothing for Ronnie.”
“But Veronica already has a fortune. She’s a self-made businesswoman with her own successful company.”
“It pales in comparison to the chairman’s fortune. But this isn’t about money. I, and many others, strongly believe she would take the company in a more ethical direction if she were in charge instead of Daniel.”
“But what can you do?”
“Change the chairman’s mind. Ronnie and I have been trying to achieve this for some time now—behind Daniel’s back. So, it’s a problem he somehow knows I’ve met up with her. Unless he was bluffing—I couldn’t be sure.”
“Just meeting her doesn’t have to mean anything. You used to be engaged, after all.”
“True, but if Daniel catches even a whiff of what’s really going on, he has the power to make my life a living hell.”
An involuntary tremor coursed through me, goosebumps erupting on my skin. “You really believe Daniel was behind Alex’s death, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Then what you’re doing is incredibly dangerous.”
“Yes.”
The conviction in his voice gave me chills. “You’re willing to risk your life for Veronica’s sake?”
Neil shook his head. “I’m not doing this for her sake. I’m doing it because I truly believe the world would be better off with her at the helm of Zelthia rather than her brother.”
I could accept his stance. From all I had read about Veronica Ling, she was a virtuous person—a known humanitarian and philanthropist. “You could have told me all this yesterday. I would have understood.”
“I suppose I was delaying the inevitable. You’re in the middle of this now. You know what’s going on. The future of a two-hundred-and-fifty billion dollar conglomerate is at stake.”
Before I could process the scope of Neil’s words, the wind suddenly picked up in an immense gust, which nearly knocked me off my feet. I grabbed hold of the barrier ledge to support myself, but the view I had been avoiding entered my field of vision.
The drop.
A dizzying spectacle. Twenty flights down to the hard, unforgiving pavement. A yawning abyss of concrete and steel that threatened to swallow me whole.
A vision of my father plummeting to his death flashed in my mind, accompanied by the sickening sensation of falling. My knees buckled, and my stomach lurched. I felt lightheaded and unstable. The world was spinning around me. Neil said something, but his voice was distant and muffled. It felt like I was underwater. My vision was blurry. My legs… My legs… Ah.
“MILLY!”