MY UNKNOWN HUSBAND - Season 2 Episode 97

Noah took the piece of jewelry carefully and examined it for a while. There were words carved on it.

“Tom, can you please fetch me my magnifying glass? I left it in the car.” Tom nodded and left the room.

Meanwhile, Nina found some clues on the sofa.

There was a large, distinctive stain on the cushion. Nina leaned over and smelled it. She caught a hint of copper, which she guessed was blood. There was also a whiff of orange juice.

Then, she turned her head to look at the fruit basket on the table. There was an apple that had not been completely peeled and a halved orange, the other half was missing.

Nina squatted down and found the other half of the orange by the foot of the table. It was deformed and dry like it had been squeezed.

With the data she had so far, Nina roughly surmised that Kristina had struggled with someone. One of them, for whatever reason, must have picked up the other half of the orange when the fight took place, dropped it on the sofa, and then fell on it.

“There are some signs of a fight over here. There are traces of blood and orange juice on the cushion. I can’t be sure about who the blood belongs to, though.” Nina compared the halved orange to the stain on the sofa. They were virtually the same size.

Nina stood up and continued, “Let’s check the surveillance tapes to see who came here last night.”

Noah shook his head and said, “There are no security cameras around. This is a private residence, and the area is a little far away from the busy district. Surveillance is rare here.”

Nina felt disappointed. Things would be more difficult without surveillance videos.

“Here’s the magnifying glass.” Tom came back with a magnifying glass and handed it to Noah.

Noah held the magnifying glass in his hand and examined the bracelet once again. He read the carved words slowly, “DRAY HTRON NI KLE.”

“DRAY HTRON NI KLE? What does that mean?” Tom frowned in confusion. “It doesn’t make sense. Maybe it’s in reverse.”

“Reverse?” Noah wondered if he had made a mistake, so he read the words from right to left. “ELK IN NORTH YARD.”
Nina’s jaw dropped to the floor.

When she heard the words, her face turned deathly pale.

North Yard was where she and John lived.

Her family name was Lu, which meant elk in Chinese.

“Nini? What’s wrong? Are you okay? You’re bone white.” Noah noticed the change in Nina’s expression. He got worried.

Tom rubbed his chin and thought. Before Nina could speak, he said. “North Yard. That’s where Mr. Shi lives. Everyone in the city knows that his residence is called North Yard. As for ELK, it refers to Nina, right? They are a couple.”

As the atmosphere in the room slowly loomed over their heads, Tom turned his head to Nina. He was about to say something else but halted himself. Noah’s fingers turned cold, the bracelet in his palm even colder.

The words engraved on the bracelet were strong evidence that it did not belong to Kristina. It was possible now that her killer might be the owner of the bracelet.

“Nini…” Noah started but Nina suddenly spoke.

“Let me have a look at that.” Nina snatched the magnifying glass and the bracelet from Noah’s hand.

After careful observation, Nina found that the words carved on the bracelet were indeed references to her and John. Nina ground her teeth together to keep her lips from shaking. “Investigate who the owner of this bracelet is.”

Noah took the bracelet and put it into an evidence bag. “Tom, please find what you can about this piece of jewelry. Start with stores that could have possibly sold it. Also, find the people who contacted my aunt and saw her yesterday around the time of death. When you’re done, meet us at the coroner’s office. We’ll take care of the body.”

“Yes, sir.” Tom dipped his chin in acknowledgement and left.

Then, Noah turned around and looked at Kristina. Only then did he notice that there were tearstains on her face. Thinking that she had cried before her death, Noah felt the back of his eyes sting.

He bent down beside his aunt’s corpse. He promised in a soft but determined voice, “Don’t worry, Auntie. I will find who did this to you and bring them to justice. Then, I will give you an elaborate funeral.”

Then, Nina followed Noah out of the crime scene and to the coroner’s office. After meeting with the coroner and making sure that Kristina’s body was documented properly and taken care of, Noah and Nina left the coroner’s office to meet Tom.

Tom was waiting for them in the car parked outside.

Noah took the driver’s seat while Nina took the passenger’s seat. Tom was in the back seat with a transparent file bag beside him. It contained all the information he had just found.

Tom handed copies of the documents to Noah and Nina.

“This is what my digging yielded. The shop assistant from the store where the bracelet was purchased said that it was Mr. Shi who bought the piece. In fact, he especially asked the shop assistant to engrave the words, saying that it was a gift for someone dear to him. My guess is, Mr. Shi got the bracelet for Nina.

Also, your aunt didn’t meet many people yesterday. She only saw Nina and Mr. Shi. I went to the Time Group and asked around. An assistant said that your aunt had stayed in Mr. Shi’s office for about twenty minutes. She was in a bad mood when she walked out and ran into someone at the elevator.

I also checked the surveillance videos to see where she went after leaving the Time Group. They showed that she went to West Forest Street.

Nina has an alibi. She was with Albert Song at the time of the murder. The only one without an alibi is Mr. Shi. He’s our prime suspect.”

Nina was reading the information on the documents while listening to Tom’s report. After he finished, she came to the horrifying realization that he might be right. John was the only one without an alibi.

Nina looked calm, but in truth, all hell just broke loose inside her chest.

She did not want to believe that John had anything to do with Kristina’s death, but the evidence did not lie.

Besides, it was suspicious that John did not come home last night and that Nina could not get a hold of him.

Right to this minute, Nina still had not heard from John.

Her mind was in a mess.

She believed that John would never do such a thing.

Even if there were a large conflict between him and Kristina, he would not kill her.

What he liked most was to play tricks on others. It was his personality. He might be a competitive, even ruthless businessman, but he was not a murderer. He always turned his back on anything illegal.

“John is not a murderer.” Nina looked at Noah firmly, hoping that he would believe her.

A hint of sadness flashed through Noah’s eyes. When it came to John, Nina had always been emotional.

“He is your husband, Nina. Of course you’d believe that he wouldn’t do anything wrong, but we’re investigating a homicide here. There’s no room for emotions.” Tom was a little angry when he spoke.

Noah immediately stopped him. “Tom, I agree with your deduction, but we shouldn’t dismiss other possibilities. Besides, Nina knows him better than anyone else. She should know what he’s capable of.”

Hearing Noah’s words, Tom lowered his eyes and kept quiet.

Nina knew that she should not be emotional, but there was bias in her heart.

‘I’m sorry, Noah,’ she thought.

At the moment, she felt her eyes burn. In order to prove John’s innocence, she would have to go about things on her own for the first time.

“Please give me three days. In three days, I will find out the truth.”