He really wanted to be there to witness it firsthand, but he couldn''t think of a good excuse.


    As the thought crossed Quennel''s mind, a bold idea took shape, and an unreadable light flickered in his eyes. A faint smile touched his lips.


    The next morning, Lionel went to Sandra''s room. She had just taken a painkiller when he walked in without knocking.


    His arrogant attitude was identical to Quennel''s; he treated her room not as her own space, but as a prison cell.


    "Sandra, after breakfast, you''reing with me to see Hannah. If you''ve forgotten what I told you yesterday, I can repeat it for you now."


    He finished speaking and stared at Sandra, waiting for her reply.


    In truth, Sandra had gone over his words several times. She had even managed to get her message out.


    Unfortunately, a different doctor hade to treat her this morning, so she hadn''t received a response from Quennel.


    She wasn''t sure what to do, but she felt that whether she confessed or not, the oue wouldn''t change much.


    Besides, her life was still in Lionel''s hands. If she didn''t do as he said, he might just kill her when they returned.


    After a long silence, Sandra finally spoke. "I know what to do. You don''t need to keep reminding me. I''m not an idiot who can''t remember what you said."


    She sat down at the chair irritably and began to eat her breakfast.


    "If you have time to stand here lecturing me, you''d be better off guarding your evidence, lest you lose it before we even see Hannah."


    For some reason, her words gave him an ominous feeling. Could she have already seen that his evidence was fake?


    That seemed impossible; she shouldn''t know anything.


    She was probably just ying dumb to scare him. He couldn''t fall for her tricks and lose hisposure.


    As long as Sandra was willing to name Quennel as her kidnapper today, things would be much easier.


    As for the evidence, he would figure something out.


    Quennel had been too meticulous, destroying everyst trace of proof. Finding any would be like searching for a needle in a graystack-not a simple task.


    Fearing he''d be turned away


    door, Lionel had taken the


    mak


    precaution of calling the Temple family''s staff in advance to appointment


    an


    The staff member had said he would pass the message to Hannah and let him know when she replied.


    Two or three hours had passed with no word back, and Lionel began to worry that Hannah wasn''t going to see him at all.


    But this was about Quennel; surely Hannah would agree to meet. She was probably just busy and hadn''t gotten around to it yet.


    Lionel went downstairs to wait. A


    dozen minutester, the staff member from the Temple family called back. Hannah would see him, but she was out today, not at the family home. They gave himan address.


    Lionel didn''t hesitate. He sent someone to get Sandra.


    As long as Hannah was willing to see him, it didn''t matter if it was at her house or somewhere else.