The interrogation room.

Mae Sullivan had been sitting here for two hours.

She hadn’t said a single word, claiming she didn’t know anything no matter what they asked.

"Chief, she’s a tough nut to crack," Kyle Morgan said, scratching his head.

Henry Stark’s dark eyes narrowed. "Let her stew for another two hours," he said coldly. "Have you reached Connor Kent?"

Sawyer replied, "We just got ahold of him. He said he’ll be here in half an hour."

Twenty-nine minutes later, Connor Kent arrived at the police station, his expression grim.

Kyle Morgan led him into an interrogation room.

Henry Stark sat across from him, his deep, dark eyes scrutinizing. A cold voice issued from his thin lips, "Name?"

"Connor Kent."

...

"At ten o’clock this morning, the police discovered a woman’s body in the flowerbed in your garden. Were you aware of this?"

"I didn’t know," Connor Kent said, shaking his head.

"Is that so?" A cryptic smile played on Henry Stark’s lips. "But your wife, Ms. Mae Sullivan, has already confessed."

Hearing this, Connor Kent asked calmly, "Confessed to what?"

Henry Stark said, "That she committed the murder, and you hid the body."

Connor Kent was only pretending to be calm. Inwardly, he was panicking, his clasped hands already slick with cold sweat.

"You must be joking." He forced a laugh. "Why would my wife confess to something we didn’t do?"

"Are you sure?" Henry Stark said lightly. "Mr. Kent, I feel I must remind you of our country’s policy: leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist."

"Of course I know that," Connor Kent said with a smile. "But I cannot accept such a baseless accusation."

Henry Stark stood up, planted his hands on the table, and leaned in to glare down at him. "No matter. You have plenty of time to think it over."

With that, he turned and walked out of the interrogation room.

The moment Henry Stark opened the door, he saw Renee Jennings.

His eyes lit up, a flicker of joy rising in his chest that even he didn’t notice. "Renee."

Renee Jennings turned to see him striding toward her.

"How did it go?" she asked.

Henry Stark shook his head. "The two of them are tight-lipped."

Renee Jennings said softly, "I’ll go see Mae Sullivan."

Henry Stark said, "Alright. Have Sawyer go with you."

Renee Jennings pushed open the door to the interrogation room. Mae Sullivan was sitting at the table with her head down. Her hair, draped over her shoulders, was a mess, and her coat was buttoned incorrectly. She had none of the elegance and composure she’d shown just days before.

Hearing the noise, Mae Sullivan looked up.

When she saw Renee Jennings, her dull eyes flickered. "You’ve been suspecting me all along, haven’t you? I didn’t do anything."

"No." Renee Jennings pulled out a chair and sat across from her, her expression serene. "We didn’t suspect you at all in the beginning."

Mae Sullivan’s brow furrowed as she tried to pinpoint where she had gone wrong and why she had aroused the police’s suspicion.

"You were too confident," Renee Jennings said gently. "Did you think getting close to us on your own initiative would clear you of suspicion?"

Mae Sullivan’s expression faltered, but she immediately denied it. "I didn’t! I just thought you were all working so hard on the case!"

"Ms. Sullivan." Renee’s tone turned serious. "You ruined yourself and Grace Sullivan—the cousin you grew up with—for a man who isn’t worth it. Do you really not regret it?"

Mae Sullivan stared intently at the young, beautiful face before her. After several shifts in her expression, she suddenly started to laugh. "What do you know?"

Renee Jennings nodded. "It’s true, there’s a lot I don’t know."

The answer left Mae Sullivan speechless. "You..."

Renee Jennings sighed softly. "I just think it’s a shame. You could have had a very happy life."

Mae Sullivan looked stunned for a moment, then murmured, "How could I be happy?"

Renee said, "Connor Kent doesn’t love you. You could have taken half his assets and found a younger, more handsome boyfriend."

"How could it be that simple?" Mae Sullivan gave a bitter smile. "You don’t understand."

Renee Jennings looked at her earnestly. "Is there something bothering you? Can you tell me about it?"

"Can you understand what it feels like to live in someone else’s shadow?" Mae Sullivan’s eyes grew hazy, her brow furrowed in pain. "I grew up under Grace Sullivan’s brilliant light. Do you have any idea how much I worshiped her?"

"You worshiped her?" A trace of doubt appeared in Renee Jennings’s eyes. "Didn’t you resent her?"

Mae Sullivan laughed maniacally. "I worshiped her and resented her."

"Why?"

"She was brilliant, and she was kind. When everyone criticized me for not being as good as her, she would always be the one to comfort me." Mae Sullivan’s smile turned gentle. "I felt so happy back then, having such a wonderful cousin."

Renee Jennings didn’t speak, quietly playing the part of a listener.

"But then she started dating, and she paid less attention to me." Mae Sullivan’s expression grew sorrowful. "And I saw her less and less."

Renee: "..."

’This was unexpected.’

’To think Mae Sullivan cared so much about her cousin, Grace.’

Mae Sullivan continued, "She was dating Connor Kent, so I deliberately confessed my feelings to him. If I succeeded, he wouldn’t be able to monopolize Grace anymore."

Renee Jennings and Sawyer exchanged a look, seeing the astonishment on each other’s faces.

’Mae’s feelings for Grace seem... strange, don’t they?’

"Unfortunately, Connor Kent didn’t respond to my confession," Mae Sullivan sighed. "Later, when Grace divorced Connor for her career, I was thrilled."

"But I never expected that Connor was still hung up on Grace. I didn’t want Grace to have anything to do with him again, so I deliberately got close to him."

Mae Sullivan raised a hand to stroke her own face. "Relying on this face, which looks a bit like Grace’s, I successfully married Connor Kent."

"You..." Renee Jennings pressed her lips together. The whole thing was just too absurd. "You married Connor Kent because of Grace? So you don’t love Connor at all?"

"I didn’t have any feelings for him when we got married." Mae seemed to recall something happy, a small smile playing on her lips. "But he’s a gentle and considerate man, so I gradually fell in love with him."

Renee probed, "But you didn’t expect that as soon as Grace returned to the country, Connor would ask you for a divorce?"

"That’s right." Mae Sullivan’s smile faded, her eyes filling with resentment. "Were my seven years with him not as good as his five years with Grace? I even gave him two children!"

Renee Jennings frowned slightly. "That’s Connor Kent’s fault. Why are you blaming Grace Sullivan for everything?"

"Is Grace blameless, then?" Mae Sullivan murmured, her gaze distant. "She’s at fault, too."

"What did she do wrong?"

"Why did she have to come back? She knew Connor still had feelings for her, but she came back anyway, and she even met with him!" Mae Sullivan’s tone turned angry again. "If she hadn’t come back, Connor would never have asked me for a divorce."

Renee said softly, "But from what I understand, Grace tried to talk sense into Connor and rejected him. She had no intention of interfering in your marriage."

"I know." Mae Sullivan sneered. "She was always so considerate of me."

Finding her statement contradictory, Renee frowned. "If that’s the case, why did you poison her?"