Chapter 70

Michael POV

With both my children locked into my arms and Lisa trailing behind us we walked through the gracious door of Carmen's home where most guests have already arrived.

They spread across the house and garden while waiters walked through them, handing out snacks and beverages.

"Are you coming?" I looked behind me to find Lisa admiring the beautiful front yard of the house.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry... this is... wow! I need to ask Maeve for the number of her mother's gardener."

When she reached us and looked into my children's sad faces she spoke again. "Maybe another time..."

*****

There was no sight of Maeve at the funeral feast and her family started to scare the children. They kept staring and whispered which is nothing new to me but for the children it's awkward.

"Daddy, can we go home?" Charlotte asked while cuddling into my side.

My eyes scanned the room one last time before slowly nodding at her.

"Okay, let's get out of here" I spoke before grabbing both my children's hands as we walked towards Lisa who seemed to be the only one of us who fit in.

"Lisa, we're leaving" I said as soon as we stood next to her. She seemed to be annoyed that we wanted to leave already but she didn't complained.

"It was nice talking to you, Caleb" she said her goodbyes to Maeve's cousin before following us outside.

"Mr. Sparkles" Charlie whined as she reminisced that she left her teddy bear inside.

"Go get it, Nicholas and I'll wait by the car." Lisa spoke before she and my son continued the walk to the car.

"Daddy we have to find him" Charlotte started dragging me back inside where we searched the living room but there was no sight of him.

"Daddy" my daughter looked at me with teary eyes.

"We'll find him, don't worry" I reassured her.

"Maybe someone of the staff took Mr. Sparkles, we should check the kitchen."

When we entered the kitchen, nearly every door of every cupboard stood wide open. I raised my eyebrow at the sight. It looked like someone is looking for something and when I heard rustling, I checked behind the counter.

Under the sink there was Maeve looking through the cupboard of cleaning supplies.

"Um.. what are you doing, Maeve?" I spoke but until now she was unaware of our presence and I might have scared her a little because she hit her head before coming out of the little space.

"Ouch" she rubbed her head.

"Michael, what are you doing here?" She was still kneeling on the floor.

"Mommy, we lost Mr. Sparkles, have you seen him?" Charlie asked.

"I haven't seen him inside the house, did you check the garden?"

"Not yet. We wanted to first see if someone found him..." I told her.

"Okay, do you want me to help you search the garden?"

*****

"FOUND HIM!" I yelled as I bent down picking up the teddy bear somewhere in the back of the garden.

Charlie immediately came running towards me to get her precious toy. I noticed Maeve standing far from all the other people, talking to a man I haven't seen before. He definitely had indian roots but he wasn't at church today, I would have noticed him for sure.

My curiosity made me walk closer to them, Maeve has been acting strange ever since her mother died and I needed to know whatwas going on.

"...found absolutely nothing that could proof she-" I heard the man say before they noticed my presence. But before anyone could say anything, we heard someone yell.

"STOP, DON'T!" I turned around and saw the gardener yelling at my daughter.

"HEY" I yelled back at him while quickly sprinting towards them. Immediately I picked Charlotte up who was visibly scared of the creepy gardener. By now Maeve was by our side.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I... I just wanted to pick some flowers for grandma" little Charlie spoke with tears falling down her eyes.

"Yes, but not these!" The gardener spat.

"Burt, she's allowed to pick any flower she wan-"

"They're poisonous!" He said and immediately Maeve's head shot to the man with the long black hair that she talked to before this incident, who was already approaching us.

"The flowers are poisonous" Maeve repeated, getting his attention.

"What are they called?" The man asked the gardener.

"Foxgloves"

"Did you plant them here?" Maeve asked and the gardener nodded.

"Mrs. Harris wanted them because they look so beautiful but they are very poisonous, that's why she wanted them planted here in the back." The gardener explained while the other man put on a glove he got out of his pocket and ripped one flower out.

"Hold on, do you want to kill someone?" The gardener laughed to which the man replied "no, I want to take a closer look at it through the microscope, I love flowers".

How come I don't believe him?

"It's poison can kill someone?" Maeve asked curiously.

"Yes, ma'am. A poisoning with this flower can induce heart arrhythmia which can lead to death. Everything about this plant is poisonous, the leaves, the flower, even it's seeds."

Maeve just nodded at the gardener who proceeded to walk away when she called him again.

"Burt?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Please get rid of them, every single one of them!"

"Yes ma'am" the gardener replied before Maeve and the other man started to walk away. I followed them slowly with Charlie still on my arms.

"If the tests come back positive, is this enough proof for you?" he spoke, they were heading for the parking lot.

Maeve nodded. "But I still need you to find him!"

"Of course. I'll get you the results as quick as possible!" He got into one of the cars and we watched him drive away.

"Maeve? What's going on?" I asked as she turned back to face me.

"Can you bring the kids later this evening?" She questioned instead of answering me.

*****

"Sean, what's up man?" My son greeted as Sean opened the door.

"Nicholas, my man! Great to have you back" Sean matched his enthusiasm while they performed a secret handshake.

"Hi Sean!" Charlie yelled while running through the door.

"Hey little princess!" He replied as Charlie squeezed through besides him.

"Michael, hey" he turned back to me.

"Hi Sean" I faked a smile at him.

There was an awkward silence between the two of us. Neither knew what to say.

"Um... Maeve is too scared to ask you, so she left that task to me... would you like to stay for dinner?" Sean broke the awkwardness.

"Are you sure Maeve wants me to stay?" I wondered because for the past week she tried avoiding me as much as possible.

"Yeah..." Sean scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, she wants you to stay!"

Before I could say anything else a car pulled up behind me and Ava yelled at us, asking to help her carry the pizzas inside.

They lead me to the living room where I placed the food on the coffee table, the children immediately grabbed a piece each.

Sean and Ava were casually talking. They sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table before grabbing a piece as well.

From where I was standing I could see Maeve in the kitchen, her back facing me. I decided to walk up to her.

"Hey..." I spoke when I was directly behind her.

She must've been deep in her thoughts because I startled her and when she turned around the glass she held in her hand, slipped to the ground, breaking into pieces.

"God, Michael" she murmured as we both bent down.

"You really need to stop scaring me" Maeve spoke while picking up some pieces of glass.

"I'm sorry, again..." our hands accidentally touched while trying to pick up the same piece.

She pulled away immediately but her eyes looked directly into mine. A brown strand of hair fell into her face.

With my free hand I put it back behind her ear, to my surprise, she didn't protest. My hand stroke down her cheek-

"Are you guys okay?" We heard Ava's voice and Maeve's body shot up immediately.

"Yeah, just dropped a glass" she said while getting the broom to clean up the mess.

*****

The only light in the room was coming from the TV since it was already late at night. The children went to bed hours ago, as well as Sean who had to get up early for work the next day.

Ava was already fast asleep whileMaeve was interestingly watching the true crime show when her phone rang.

For the third time today she got startled as she hurried to pick it up without waking Ava.

"Yes?" She spoke into the receiver and within a few seconds she hung up and turned to me.

"I'll be back in a second" she spoke before walking out of the living room but when I heard the front door open, I decided to go after her.

Through the crack of the door I watched her being handed a letter by the man I saw earlier. I couldn't make out the words but he was quick to leave again.

With the paper in her hands she stood there and because she looked so lost, I walked to her.

Nervously she let the letter glide from one hand to another.

"What's that?" I asked as I was coming closer.

Maeve turned to me and handed me the letter. Hesitantly, I accepted it.

"Do you want me to open it?"

She nodded her head slowly. But as I was about to rip the envelope open, she spoke again. "Wait, let me get a drink first!"

She rushed inside and while I waited outside for her to come back I took a seat on the bench of the front porch.

"Here" she came back and handed me a glass of what I guessed was alcohol before she sat down next to me.

"Are you ready?" I asked and watched her taking a few sips of her drink before she shook her head.

"No, but continue..."

The paper ripped open and I pulled out a piece of paper. By the logo I could tell the document was made by an official laboratory.

My eyes scanned the paper and when I quickly read through it, I spoke. "The two samples matched..."

I waited for any kind of response but Maeve just kept her head low as she stared into her drink. A small nod of her head was everything I got.

"What does that mean?" I questioned and her head slowly lifted and when our eyes met she spoke "That my mom is a murderer."