His voice was low and steady. “Mom, what if I told you Rachel is the real suspect? These past five years, Jessie wasn’t investigating in the wrong direction. It was me. I forged the autopsy report… just to give Rachel a peaceful life.”}
As soon as the words left his mouth, his mother’s expression changed drastically. But he gave her no time to respond.
Martin stepped on the gas and sped off.
He didn’t dare return to the station, so he reported the case to a different department.}
Thankfully, the system still held records of my deactivated ID and my new identity information.}
Following the records, he went to the last hospital I had been seen at. But the response crushed him.§
I had suffered a miscarriage and had already been discharged.
The nurse added that my emotional state had been terrible and I had never seen a patient look so hopeless.}
Several times, they suggested I see a psychiatrist, but I refused them all.
Martin knew he was the root cause for everything I had gone through. He didn’t have the courage to keep asking.
After a full day of searching, he finally found my flight information at the airport. But when it came time to book the ticket, he hesitated.” He didn’t know how to face me and didn’t know what emotion he was supposed to feel.
He had no idea how to make up for the pain he’d caused me.
Guilt and regret swirled within him, crushing what was left of his sanity.
A grown man sobbing uncontrollably in the middle of an airport. In that moment, he realized he had truly made a mistake.§ Then, a commotion broke out nearby.
Rachel, who was supposed to be hospitalized, was pinned to the ground in front of him by his colleagues, completely restrained. Her face was streaked with tears and snot.
When she spotted him, she immediately cried out, begging him to plead for her.
But this time, he said nothing in her defense.}
Seeing that he had finally come to his senses, his colleagues stopped holding back and brought out a document. It was a genetic test between Rachel and the man who had been executed five years ago.
In biąck and white, it stated clearly that they were father and daughter.
The so–called “hostage” she had claimed to be protecting never existed.§
The truth, buried for years, was finally exposed in full.
In that instant, Martin looked as if he’d aged ten years. Even his smile was unbearably forced.
The sense of justice he had believed in, the ideals he had held onto, were ruthlessly shattered in an instant.
After returning to the station and facing all the interrogations, he submitted his resignation.
These hands could never again make the dead speak, could never again discern right from wrong.N
He no longer had the face to continue in this job.
The case trial caused a massive uproar online. Martin, who had forged the autopsy report, was decided to be Rachel’s accomplice and was also sent to prison.
On the day he was incarcerated, he opened his phone and found the divorce agreement I had sent.
After signing the document, a relieved smile finally appeared on his face.
He hoped, this time, he hadn’t made the wrong choice.
(The End)!!
