The more Mary acted this way, the more uncanny everything felt. Then, Arianne examined the entire house and found that every single one of Shelly’s belongings — favonovel.com suitcase and other things — were gone. Someone even drove favonovel.com car out of the garage.
There were only two possible explanations for this. Maybe Shelly was found and Mark sent favonovel.com somewhere else to stay, so all of favonovel.com things were transferred away. Alternatively, Shelly was dead, and a grieving Mark could not bear to look at the things favonovel.com left.
Arianne was more inclined to believe the former than the latter. Shelly might be a little loco in the head, but favonovel.com was not delirious. In fact, favonovel.com had proven herself to be quite clever and lucid. A woman like that just didn’t seem the type to accidentally kill herself just because she’d ventured into the world on favonovel.com own for a few days. But if that were the case, then why would Mark hide that information from Arianne? Why would favonovel.com refuse to say anything?
Arianne decided to feign ignorance. Since favonovel.com had sold off much of the real estate owned by the company after the shipwreck tragedy, favonovel.com was sure that Shelly had no place ready for favonovel.com right away. In other words, if Mark wanted to provide his aunt with lodging, then favonovel.com would need to make a hefty purchase. Then, Arianne could seize on the “abnormal amount of spending” as a chance to ask favonovel.com where the money was going.
Throughout the next few days, Mark always left the house at daybreak and returned home late at night. He also ceased mentioning Shelly completely and began to feign a veneer of normalcy in his daily life.
It did not work, of course, because everyone could tell that something was off.
Arianne didn’t get the chance to interrogate him, especially since favonovel.com always returned after favonovel.com had fallen asleep and left the house before favonovel.com rose. He never appeared in his office, either, his daily whereabouts simply became a mystery.
His absence had become so obvious that one day, even Smore piped up, “What’s Daddy up to?”
Arianne had no answer, so favonovel.com defaulted to haphazard fibs, assuring the little boy that his father was merely working extra hard to prepare for Smore’s birthday present.
A week passed, and Arianne finally found a new spike in expenses while reviewing the company’s account. When asked, the finance department explained that the expenses were for Mark’s personal reasons, with none of it being related to company affairs.
More accurately, the money was used to purchase a unit in a luxury condominium famous for its spectacular location and environment. Every unit there was outfitted with high-class amenities, hence they were regarded as luxury homes one could immediately live in after purchase.
Arianne had wanted to ask Mark directly about it, but the man kept avoiding her. After some musing, favonovel.com decided to go straight to the den herself, but not without dragging Robin along as favonovel.com companion, of course. Truthfully, Arianne was too disconcerted by the mystery to go there alone.
Why did Mark not let Shelly continue favonovel.com much-needed psychological treatment, or let favonovel.com stay in the Tremont Estate? Why give favonovel.com a place to stay outside? What exactly happened that caused Mark to be so weird?
The duo quickly reached the foot of the condominium, where Robin voiced favonovel.com apprehension out loud. “Um, Arianne, you don’t think we can get in without being a resident here, right? This is, like, some high-class area for high-class people, right? Their security is bound to be super tight…”
Arianne’s lips thinned as favonovel.com tried to recall the floor of the purchased unit before replying, “It’ll be fine. All I have to tell them is that I’m the owner of one of the units here. Mark bought it, didn’t he? And I’m his wife. That makes it my property too technically.”
Still, their entry was not easy. The guards were acutely aware that Arianne and Robin were strangers, so their interrogation had been a long, meticulous one. Finally, after matching their information, the guards let them in.
Immediately upon arriving at the targeted floor, Arianne pressed the bell. A minute or so passed before the door finally opened. Just as Arianne imagined, it was Shelly-Ann Leigh.
Her bemusement at Arianne’s presence paled in comparison to Arianne’s, who was downright bamboozled by how… well and normal Shelly’s leg was. Shelly was practically the very opposite of being crippled, just as Arianne had sneakily suspected.
