It was no surprise that Michelle could not say anything, the news of their deaths was enough to render anyone speechless. To say she was shocked would be an understatement Michelle's mind was reeling. These men did not die in her previous life, granted it was because they got away with it but she never imagined they could have killed themselves this time. How weak minded were they that they preferred death to spending time in prison. Also what about Caleb's theory, did someone kill them? If so who and why?
She now had more questions than before. Getting Penn and Freddy arrested was meant to tie up loose ends but now it felt as though tying it up had left her with knots that she had no idea how to start detangling.
"Michelle?" Meg asked shaking her a little, "We lost you there for a second. What's wrong?"
"What? Sorry," she cleared her throat, "It's just hearing they are dead is just baffling. I mean the fact that they are even contemplating suicide is just…" She let out a tired huff.
"I think someone got rid of them." Caleb whispered.
"What do you mean got rid of them? Why would anyone want to get rid of them?" Meg asked frustrated.
"Listen, you know I've been working with the police thanks to Michelle having her grandfather pull some strings."
"Yeah, what of it?"
"During one of my visits I heard one of the police officers talking about how they were ready to come clean and make a deal."
"A deal?" Michelle asked puzzled, "What kind of deal?"
"I have no clue; they don't really talk about them when I'm around. I only heard about this cause I was snooping around."
"So Penn and Freddy had some sort of deal to make with the police a deal that would have probably helped reduce their sentences." Meg said thinking aloud.
"Yep, it would also mean they were involved in something much bigger than we thought." Caleb added.
"If that's so, then it is safe to assume that they didn't steal from the company of their own accord but they were asked to by whomever they were involved in." Michelle concluded, "Which means that person must have found out Penn and Freddy was ready to roll over on them and they opted to get rid of them."
"Whoever it was must be very powerful and well connected." Caleb mused, "I know the officers were talking about how their cell had round the clock supervision."
"So a member of the police force killed them? Why?" Meg asked confused.
"People are willing to do anything for money or a loved one or both." Michelle replied, "There's two ways those men could have died- first whoever was on the inside forced them to hang themselves, second the person hung them himself."
"Too many unseen variables." Caleb said, "it is safe to assume that this person is very dangerous and we may have just gotten on their radar with how we got rid of Penn and Freddy."
"Wait, are you trying to say our lives might be in danger?" Meg asked alarmed.
"No, I'm just saying that we are probably being watched" Then he turned to Michelle, "I know you want us to take down Peter and Parker but we might have to put that on hold, we have to lay low for a bit. There's a strong possibility that they're also involved in whatever it is their uncles were involved in."
"I understand and you're right. We lay low till the media's calmed down from their deaths but Caleb if it's not too much to ask, please take full advantage of however long you have left to work with the police."
"I'll be sure to Michelle."
"I also have some contacts on the force, I can ask around and find out more about the supposed deal that they were going to make."
"Yeah, thanks Meg. I'll also talk to my grandfather about this and find out what he knows."
They spent the rest of lunch in silence and returned to their works after it was over, the new turn of events weighing down on their minds.
Before she went home, Michelle went up to talk to her grandfather.
"Miss. Hart." She was greeted by Hank who looked at her an exhausted look on his face, "He has been expecting you for a while now. From your demeanor you must have heard the news."
"Yeah, it is crazy to even think about."
"You may go in. though be warned he is a bit upset."
She nodded and reached forward to open the door just a little bit, from the crack she could hear his voice, thunderous and filled with rage.
"I paid you thousands, thousands to keep watch over them. How could they have died under your supervision?!" He paused a bit listening to the person on the line.
"What do you mean you can't find the guard that was on duty that night? Find him and bring me an explanation for how and why this could have happened." He cut the call with a frustrated groan.
During his call, Michelle quietly entered and sat at the table watching him. He turned around and was startled to see her there.
"The guard is missing?" she asked.
He debated whether or not to have this conversation with her, in his eyes she was always going to be his grandbaby but Michelle had proven to him that she was an adult and he had to accept it.
"Yes." He responded with a heavy sigh, "The night of their deaths, the guard on duty mysteriously disappeared. The people I hired are trying to find him."
"Hmm, do you want to hear what we came up with?" She asked him.
"You guys have a theory as to what might have happened?" She nodded, "Alright, I'm listening."
"Ok, so Caleb has been working closely with the police, this you know. Apparently, he overheard some of the police officers talking about how Penn and Freddy-."
"Freddy?"
"Frederick, we call him Freddy." She explained, "Anyways, Penn and Freddy were well on their way to making a deal with the police. We think it was so as to reduce their sentences or maybe even wipe it away entirely."
"That's not a bad theory, but why would they need to make a deal with the police?" He paused thinking, "Unless, they were involved in something that confessing about would grant them lesser sentences." He rubbed his temples groaning, "So in theory, Penn and Frederick were involved in something so terrible compared to embezzling that confessing on the former was going to have their embezzling charges cleared?
"That's the theory. We think the dangerous person they worked for found out about them planning to squeal, so they got rid of them. We speculated that it was a member of the police force but now that I know you had people watching him and one of those people is now missing, it is safe to assume that it was the guard that killed Penn and Freddy on the orders of this person." Michelle said.
"That is a huge leap Elle dear, but I will make sure I look into it." He said thoughtfully.
"Thanks grandpa, I knew I could count on you. I'll make sure to let you know if anything new comes up." She smiled, stood up and gave him a hug, "Try to come back early this time. Let Hank go home to his family and you come home to yours. Maria said she 's going to cook your favorite and you do not want to disappoint Maria."
He chuckled at that, "You're right. Let's go home together child. It has been a while."
Together, they left work, arrived home, enjoyed dinner and retired for the night.
Michelle spent Saturday in bed, her mind swirling with numerous thoughts. She contemplated on whether her father was this mysterious person who was powerful enough to have two men under personal and police supervision killed but she dismissed immediately. Lionel did not involve himself in things like that, this also made her discard her theory that Freddy was embezzling under his orders it was clear he wasn't. He did however, spy on her based on Lionel's orders that much was true.
Now that she was working a lot closer with grandpa and Freddy was gone, Lionel would have a much harder time keeping an eye on her. She did not however have a hard time keeping an eye on him and his family. A quick check showed that only Lionel and Abigail were at home, the children were nowhere to be found. She frowned slightly wondering where they could have gone.
A message that one of the staff delivered to her answered her question.
"Young mistress, a group of people claiming to be your younger siblings are outside waiting for you. Twins and a young lady."
Her face twisted in confusion, why did they come find her here. She steeled herself for whatever it was that they had planned.
"Let them in; tell them I'll be down to join them as soon as I can."
"Very well Young mistress."
Michelle was in no rush to meet them, so she decided to take a long hot bath and dress herself in something pretty- she chose a blue sundress and dried her hair enough that it was still damp, she wanted them to know that she did not care about them enough to worry about wasting their time.
She walked down the stairs and watched them as they gawked at the scenery before them, compared to Lionel's house that had every furniture, curtain and wallpaper scream wealth, grandfather's house was elegant and calming.
Leo noticed her first, taking note of her hair, "Wow sis, your siblings come say hi and you take that as the time to go take a bath? How mean." He said acting hurt.
"Leo, don't tease big sis." Lucy said acting like she was on Michelle's side, "I'm sure didn't mean to keep us here for thirty minutes."
"Why are you here?" she asked tone firm.
"Well we were worried about you sis," Logan began, "I mean away in a foreign place and then the news of your coworkers dying. We wanted to make sure you were ok. Though by the looks of things," His eyes darted around the room, "It's obvious that you're not facing any discomfort."
"Hmm, how nice of you. Well as you can tell, I'm doing just fine. Is that all?"
"Is that all? You're not even going to ask how we've been? Whether we're faring okay?" Leo asked in a baffled tone.
"I'm not your nanny or your nurse or your parents. If you don't know how you're feeling, just go to the hospital, I'm sure they'll give you a perfect answer." She retorted.
"Dad was right." Logan said, "it seems working and being away from home has warped your senses. That's why he has tasked us with bringing you home. So get your things and let's go, you've played runaway long enough."
So that's why they were here, Lionel failed in getting her to come back so he decided to send her siblings thinking they'd be enough to convince her. She burst out laughing, laughing for a long while as they stared at her as though she had gone insane.
"Honestly, this is so funny, thank you for making me laugh so much. Now that you've entertained me, you can leave now." She said finally calming down.
"What?" The twins said in unison.
"Big sis, we all want you to come back home," Lucy began with an imploring tone, "We all miss you. Plus I don't think you want to be a burden for grandpa Hart for much longer. Just think about how much your presence here bothers him." Lucy said sounding as though she was being considerate of Michelle's feelings.