MY UNKNOWN HUSBAND - Season 2 Episode 98

Noah hesitated for a while and looked away. Looking at the people coming and going in front of him, he closed his eyes and finally agreed.

“All right.

You have three days. If you can’t prove John’s innocence in three days, I will go hunt him down myself.” Noah’s voice sounded a little helpless, but the underlying note of resentment was unmistakable. Someone had murdered his aunt, his aunt who loved him the most in the world. He was more hell-bent on finding out the truth than anyone else.

‘After all, Aunt Kristina likes and trusts in Nini.

Three days. Three days is all I can give her,’ Noah thought.

Nina drew a deep breath and bowed to Noah solemnly. “Thank you, Noah,” she muttered.

To be honest, she did not think that she could solve the case in three days.

But she had no choice. She had to try for John’s sake. She had to find out the truth.

She must rule out John as the prime suspect.

After getting Noah’s approval, the first thing Nina did was to try and contact John. She needed to know where he was last night between nine o’clock and half past nine.

She called John several times and sent him several WeChat messages, but she could not get in touch with him.

Then, Nina decided to head back to North Yard to try her luck.

It was already noon when she set foot in North Yard. Helen had only prepared lunch for her, which meant that John had not showed up.

“Has John come back this morning?” Nina asked anxiously.

“No,” Helen replied, shaking her head. She was worried that Nina was hungry, so she ushered her to the table. “It’s time for lunch, Mrs. Shi. Mr. Shi may be busy today, so he can’t come back and have lunch with you. You should eat even when you’re alone.”

But Nina was not in the mood to eat at all. She had a lot on her mind. She continued to ask, “Did you notice if he came home last night?”

“He came back, but he just sat in the living room for a few minutes and then went out again.” Last night, when John came home, Helen happened to see him talking to Amy and Lena.

“He came home last night? Around what time? Do you remember?” Nina remembered that when she came home, there was no one in the living room, and John was not in the study or the bedroom.

Besides, she stayed on the sofa the whole night and waited for him. Not even his shadow showed up.

Helen answered truthfully, “About eight o’clock. He went out a few minutes after he came home.”

“He went out a few minutes after he came home? Do you have any idea where he might have gone?” Nina frowned.

“I don’t know, Mrs. Shi. If you really want to know, why don’t you ask Mr. Shi? I’m sure he will tell you.” Helen smiled, but Nina’s face gradually turned pale.

If he did go out around eight o’clock, it would have taken him about half an hour to get to West Forest Street from North Yard.

‘No.’

Nina felt as if she was woolgathering. She shook her head, hoping her unwanted ideas would fall off her head, and turned on her heel. She needed to find John.

She would directly ask him about this. He was not in North Yard. He was probably in the office.

“Mrs. Shi, where are you going? Please eat your lunch first.” Helen called out and went after Nina, dragging a garbage bag behind her.

John was a neat man. There was a rule in North Yard that trash cans should be emptied at noon and at night every day. After a few breath-stealing strides, Helen finally caught up with Nina, but she lost her grip on the garbage bag and dropped it on the floor.

A pink, square jewelry box rolled out of the garbage bag and onto the carpet.

“Mrs. Shi, you must eat on time, or Mr. Shi will reprimand us. You know that. Please,” Helen begged. “Mrs. Shi, I know you want to see Mr. Shi right now, but need to eat lunch first. And you won’t have the energy if you’re hungry. Once you’re full, you can turn this place and Mr. Shi’s office upside down to find him.”
Helen’s words amused Nina. Her tensed nerves relaxed a bit. She thought what Helen said was reasonable. Besides, she was also starting to feel a little famished. Detective work tended to consume a lot of energy. She could go find John after lunch.

Nina was about to go to the dining room when she caught a glimpse of the pink box on the floor. The logo on it struck a bell.

She saw the same logo on the pearl bracelet they found at the crime scene. “Helen, wait!” Nina stopped Helen from sorting out the trash on the carpet. She stooped down and picked up the box.

When she saw the logo more closely, she frowned.

Her nerves, which had just been relaxed, tensed up once again.

“Mrs. Shi, this is trash. Why do you pick it up?” Helen asked.

“Helen, who threw this box into the trash can?” Nina examined the box and opened it. The interior was lined with black velvet, and there was a circular dent where a bracelet should be.

Helen was a little confused. “Didn’t you throw it?” she asked.

Nina shook her head. “No. This is not mine. I haven’t bought anything from this store,” she murmured, showing Helen the logo on the box.

“There are only two people in North Yard, you and Mr. Shi. Since it’s not yours, then it’s Mr. Shi’s. Besides, that box is already empty. It’s useless. Give it to me. Let me throw it away.”

Helen was about to reach for the box, but Nina turned away. She asked, “Helen, do you know when John threw it away?”

This was the box that contained the bracelet.

The bracelet was found in Kristina’s house, and its empty box was in North Yard’s trash.

Just as Helen said, the only people who produced trash in North Yard were Nina and John.

It was either her or her husband.

Nina subconsciously started tapping her finger against the small jewelry box. She needed Helen to answer her right now. The suspense was beginning to kill her. “Please answer me, Helen. It’s important,” she urged.

Helen waved her hand in defeat. “All right. If it means that much to you. I empty the trash cans at 12 o’clock at noon and at seven o’clock at night daily. I didn’t see this box when I cleaned the bins last night.”

Nina drew a nervous breath. So the box did not show up in the trash can until after seven o’clock last night.

‘Could it really be him?

No, no. It couldn’t be.

There must be something I’m missing,’ Nina debated with herself.

She blinked and took two deep breaths. She must calm down and straighten out her messy thoughts. Otherwise, she would not be able to figure this all out and prove that John was innocent.

Last night, John came back at eight o’clock. He went out a few minutes later and never came back.

The jewelry box only appeared in the trash after seven o’clock last night.

Even if the timeline aligned, there was no need for John to throw away the box first and then take the bracelet with him.

It simply did not make sense.

“Mrs. Shi, what’s wrong?” Seeing that Nina seemed to be absentminded, Helen looked at her with concern. “Are you not feeling well?”

Immersed in her own thoughts, Nina did not even hear Helen.

On the other hand, Helen mistakenly thought that Nina was sick. She was suddenly nervous. “Oh my God. I have to call Mr. Shi and ask him to send a doctor to check on you.”

As soon as Nina heard Helen refer to John, she reacted quickly.

“You can contact him?” She could not get in touch with him since yesterday. ‘Couldn’t Mrs. Shi get in touch with Mr. Shi?

How could that be possible? Mr. Shi stuck to his wife like gum every day. Oh, my God! Mrs. Shi must be really sick. She must be hallucinating or something,’ Helen thought.

She hurriedly made a phone call to John. “Mr. Shi, Mrs. Shi is sick. She is seriously sick…”

Nina quickly stepped forward, grabbed the phone, and barked, “Where are you, John? I want to see you right now.”

The line was dead for quite a while. Nina thought there was something wrong with the signal. “Hello? Can you hear me?” she asked.

A voice from the other end of the line answered, but Nina did not recognize it. “Mr. Shi is busy, Mrs. Shi,” it said.

Then, the owner of the voice hung up.

Nina tried phoning John again, but his phone was already powered off.