For the few months after Florence had moved there, the only person whom she had interacted with was Susan. On top of that, the one who had reported her death to the police was also her so it was inevitable that the police would have to interrogate her.
"You were the one who called the police?" Jefferson asked as he sized Susan up. She was about 40 years old, sturdy in physique, and her makeup on the heavy side. Moreover, she might have been shell-shocked, to which her makeup was completely ruined, making her look a little scary.
Susan nodded in panic and answered, "Yes, I was the one who called the police."
Jefferson looked at her and fell silent for a moment. Then, he asked, "When did you find out that Florence was dead?"
"I..." Susan was still in a state of shock, so her brain was working rather slowly. After a few seconds, she answered, "I made an appointment with her, saying that I'd go over to her place at 9pm tonight to collect the rent. However, when I came here at the appointed time, no one answered the door, so I used the spare key to open the door."
At that point, Susan's fear and shock multiplied. She said while trembling, "When I opened the door, I saw her lying on the sofa. I thought that she was asleep, so I approached her and called her, but she didn't answer me. That was when I learned that she was dead. I was so scared that I ran home immediately. After telling this to my family, they helped me call the police."
Jefferson asked again, "I heard that you are the only person Florence had interacted with during the course of her time living here, so did you find anything suspicious about her?"
Susan shook her head. Then she thought of something and said, "Yesterday, she did mention to me that she'd found the father of her child, and she was very happy. I'm not sure if that counts as suspicious though."
"She found the child's father? Could it be..." Jefferson found that it suspicious. "Tell me every detail you know."
Susan continued, "Florence told me that her pregnancy was a premarital one. Her family was ashamed of her when they heard of the news, so they asked her to get rid of the baby. But she didn't want to do so, so she ran away from home. I asked her about the child's father's whereabouts, and why he was not by her side, but she said that they were not fated to be together.'"
Jefferson continued to ask, "Do you know who the father of the child is?"
Susan shook her head and said, "Even though Florence had lived here for several months, the man had never showed up at all. Later on, through our conversation, I learned that she loved that man very much. She told me that even if the man didn't love her, and even if he didn't know the child's existence, she would still choose to give birth to the child and raise the child properly. Alas, how could there still be such a silly girl in this modern day and age?"
"So, you're saying that the child's father didn't know about the child's existence?" A figure suddenly flashed across Jefferson's mind, which froze his body a little.
Before the pregnant woman showed up at Freddy's door, he did not know that she was pregnant with his child either, and it was said that the woman seemed to be deeply in love with him.
Susan continued, "During the few months Florence lived here, she was rarely happy, and I seldom saw her smiling, so much so that I thought she didn't know how to smile. Until yesterday. She was over the moon and even her voice sounded so much happier. She was happy because she had found her child's father, and she thought that the child could be born with a father."
Thinking of how Florence had looked the day before, Susan's heart ached once again. "She had been trying very hard to live on even when she was pregnant and she never caused any trouble for anyone either. Everything was developing in the right direction, so how could such a thing happen all of a sudden? Who on earth would do such a cruel thing to a pregnant woman? It's not one life, but two. How crazy is the murderer?"
Some things were so coincidental that it made Jefferson feel a little uneasy. He immediately ordered the officers, "Find the father of the child immediately."
He had to confirm if the victim had anything to do with Freddy only then could his restless heart be at ease.
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