Unfortunately, the police were a step too late. By the time they arrived, Cora had already run away with a suitcase.
When she poured hot water, she seemed so calm, I thought she wasn’t afraid, but I didn’t expect Cora to be so timid. Her escape was a tacit admission that she was the murderer. The police intensified their efforts to catch her.
After two days of chase, Cora was finally caught and brought back to the station in handcuffs.
Smack!
The interrogating officer slapped the table, looking at Cora with a stern face, “Confess and you’ll get leniency. Resist and you’ll face severity.”
Cora waved her hands, stubbornly telling the officer, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t need to know anything, just tell me how Adeline died.”
“Wasn’t she frozen to death?”
“Did you see her freeze to death with your own eyes?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you soak her in hot water after her death?”
Cora answered everything smoothly until this question made her stumble, probably not understanding how the police knew about this.
“She was frozen to death. I was just defrosting her with hot water. Is there a problem with that? It’s hard to be a good person these days. You try to save someone and get suspected of murder.”
The police hadn’t been sure if I had been scalded to the point of decomposition, but this trick worked, and Cora accidentally confessed.
“What an unexpected confession.”
The officer winked at Cora and prepared to leave. Cora realized what had happened and went crazy.
“You tricked me, you actually tricked me!”
“Let me go! Let me go!”
“I was just being a good person, doing a good deed. You should be thanking me, even giving me a reward. Why are you arresting me?”
No one paid attention to Cora’s shouts in the interrogation room. In her rage, she blurted out, “So what if I did it on purpose? She’s just a helpless country girl. Why should she compare to me? Why could she marry Asher?”
It was because of my sincere heart. What if I was from the countryside? What difference did it make if I was from the city? Relationships are about connection and chemistry.
But Cora didn’t understand.
My murder case had clear evidence. Neither Asher nor Cora could escape. On the day they were sentenced, my mom raised her fist and shouted loudly from below, “Adeline, don’t be afraid. Mom and Dad will get justice for you.”
Unfortunately, because Asher didn’t intentionally kill me and it was a marital conflict, he was only sentenced to a short ten years.
Cora was sentenced to three years for desecrating a corpse.
My mom thought the court’s sentence was too light. She appealed once, twice, but was rejected every time. In the end, she had to accept it, and she and my dad, dragging their aging bodies, went to pack up my things.
They packed while shedding tears.
“Adeline, don’t be afraid. Mom is here to take you home. Once we’re home, everything will be alright.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to leave home? I told you not to leave home, but you wouldn’t listen. You gave up everything for Asher, and now you’ve lost your life.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to leave home? I told you not to leave home, but you wouldn’t listen. You gave up everything for Asher, and now you’ve lost your life.”
She kept nagging me as if I were still alive. My dad couldn’t bear to watch anymore, shook his head, and went out to cry quietly.
I was unwilling too, unwilling that Asher and Cora got such short sentences when I lost my life.
But evil people always get their due. The first day Asher and Cora were imprisoned, they were bullied by the inmates for not fitting in.
They were severely injured, and when they were taken to the hospital for treatment, they were already unconscious. I followed them into the operating room and watched as Asher and Cora died on the operating table.
This time, my soul felt as light as a feather.
I’m not satisfied either. I can’t come to terms with the fact that Asher and Cora, who caused my death, received only a very light sentence. After all, I lost my life.
Fortunately, there is a sense of karmic justice in this world. On their first day in prison, Asher and Cora were targeted by other inmates for not fitting in.
They were severely injured and fell into a coma on their way to the hospital. I followed them to the operating room and witnessed Asher and Cora dying on the operating table, despite the doctors‘ efforts to save them.
At that moment, my soul felt almost entirely weightless.
After my parents took my ashes home for the funeral, my soul finally lost all weight and dispersed with the wind into the vast world.
If there’s a next life, I hope to never meet Asher again.
The End
