Mistaken by the Billionaire Marquess

CHAPTER 17: Guard Up

– LIA –All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“WHAT do you mean? Her name’s not in the record?” I asked my senior.

That’s impossible! I have a strong feeling we missed something. Chynna even unconsciously told me about that information.

I felt that I’m starting to overthink things again, so I take series of deep breaths to calm myself.

They will find that name in the records, unless Dennise used a different name. I almost forgot that she can do that. Maybe she used a different name when she went to Spain.

“Maybe, she had a different name. Did you try searching for other women who named Dennise or any women have a Lopez as their surname?” I asked Detective Javier.

Although I think that Dennise won’t stick to any part of her old name, I want to check the possibilities. Sometimes, when we try to overanalyze things, we tend to miss the bigger picture. Sometimes, the answer you are looking for is just in front of you. The answer might bite you in any minute, but you still can’t see it.

“Yes, I did,” my senior answered. “We also removed those women who are not qualified to the information you gave me like the age, and those who have records of legitimate accidents.”

“I also included those who are missing up to this date, but still no to avail,” she added.

I opened my sling bag and grabbed my pen together with my small notebook. I used my teeth to remove the ballpen cap and put my right hand on the page.

“Did you discover something? I’m sure you did. You wouldn’t call if not,” I asked while flipping the pages, looking for the page where I wrote down Dennise’s information.

“Yes. I checked their travel records and there are only two Dennise who left the country. However, they did not land in Spain,” she responded. I was aching for her to continue on talking while I’m hearing flipping pages on the other side.

“The first one, Dennise Mae Montenegro, is currently living with her Turkish husband in Turkey. They have been married for 5 years,” she said.

I tapped the ballpen on the page of the notebook. If that Montenegro is already married 5 years ago, then it’s impossible that she’s the one we are looking for. Kelleon and Dennise are still in a relationship 3 years ago.

“The second one, Princess Dennise Grande, went to Canada two years ago. She’s currently on monitoring and medication because of her illness,” she continued, still not giving me the information that I want.

“I can hear a but hidden in you statement,” I said, getting a little bit impatient. She might have sensed it.

“Relax, Lia.” my senior said. “What you heard right now is just the surface of the information I got.”

My eyebrows furrowed at her statement. “What do you mean? You found out more?” I asked. I mean, filtering the PSA database is too much work. Considering that there are only three of them working.

But then I remember, Darwin is a part our team. If there’s someone who can find a missing person in the crowd of eight billion people, it’s him.

“Yesterday, I received a call from Darwin. I asked him to help me with the records,” she said. “Darwin told me that there was one Dennise Lopez who went to Spain, in the same year that the Dennise we’re looking had a relationship with that Kelleon. It’s 2020, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.” I remember the photo that Kelleon showed me. It has a caption of ‘6th monthsarry, 11/08/20’. That means that their relationship started on May 2020.

“It’s just that, there were no records of any Dennise Lopez in the PSA. That means that she wasn’t born here and she just went to Philippines from a foreign country. However, there were no records of any Dennise Lopez entering our borders prior to that date,” she explained.

My eyes widened because of what I heard. My mind is telling me to write that information down but my body won’t coorperate. I felt like I was paralyzed by it.

“Darwin found more,” she continued talking while I heard someone typing on a keyboard from the other end of the line.

“A year before Dennise Lopez left the Philippines and flew to Spain, there was one other Dennise who travelled from Spain to our country,” she said.

“However, the spelling of the name is different from what you gave me. Instead of D-E-N-N-I-S-E, her name is spelt as D-E-N-I-S-S-E,” she added. “She has double s instead of double n.”

I wrote that information down on my notebook. “Is her surname also Lopez?” I asked.

“No. Her name is Denisse Cantos. 26 years old. She’s just months older than you,” she answered. “Denisse Cantos travelled from Zaragoza, Spain to Philippines, based on the records.”

“Then it must be her! She might have changed a little bit of her name!” I exclaimed.

“Lia,” she called me. “Relax.”

I take deep breathes and when I felt myself calming down, I started writing the information that I wasn’t able to take note.

My mind was in chaos because of that. If Denisse Cantos is the one we are really looking for, then the information I got from Chynna must be fake.

Did Chynna purposely do that? Or Dennise also lied to her?

I don’t know what to do. Staring at the list of information that I got from Chynna, it makes me think twice of believing it.

“What else?” Those were the only words I can say after getting myselft back together.

“Denisse Cantos arrived in the Philippines last 2019. During the months after that, there were records of her reservations at different restaurants. However, after seven months, there were no traces of her,” she explained.

As if a cue, after Detective Javier paused, the bedroom door opened. I know that it was Kelleon who entered, but I didn’t even bother looking at him. I was so focused on the conversation with my senior.

“She didn’t leave the Philippines after that. There were no records of her travelling again abroad. But there were also no records of her existence here. No credit card transactions, no grocery shopping, no reservations, nothing. We’ve looked at everything, even on the insurance, but there was nothing,” she explained.

I slowly opened my mouth to speak. “It’s like… she disappeared all of a sudden.”

Kelleon stopped in front of me. I don’t even need to turned my head to him to say that he wants to ask me questions about who I am talking to. I can already feel it at his stares.

“Which is suspicious. Because months after she disappeared, Dennise Lopez emerged from nothing and flew to Spain afterwards,” she added to what I said.

From the other end, I heard someone call my senior’s name.

“Lia, right now, Nick is trying to get the footages of the arrival of Denisse Cantos and the departure of Dennise Lopez. I’ll give you a call once I got an update,” she said. “Darwin is also looking for the last traces of Denisse Cantos before she went missing, while I will do a background search about her.”

“But it’s my job to do the profile,” I argued. I saw Kelleon straighthen his back.

“I know, but it will be easier if I will do it since I have connections in Spain,” she answered, which make a lot of sense.

“Lia, all you have to do now is to assist us and try to talk to her ex-boyfriend regarding this matter. But you have to be very careful,” she reminded me. “They think that you are Dennise, and they won’t believe everything you will say. Put trust on them, but don’t put it all. Leave a room for doubts.”

“Yes, senior,” I answered.

“I’ll end this call now. Take care, okay?”

“I will. Take care, too… and thank you.”

She chuckled on the other line. “Thank me once we finished solving this case.”

With that, the phone call ended. I was still staring at my phone and registering the details in my head when I heard Kelleon spoke.

“Who’s that?” he asked while staring at me.

“My senior from the police department where I’m currently working,” I answered him.

He asked me again. “Is it a man or a woman?”

My left eyebrow raised because of his question. Is the gender of my senior important?

I guess… it is.

“Woman. Why? You will investigate about her, too?” I asked him back.

He didn’t answer me. Instead, he walked to my side and stared at the notebook that I’m holding. He bent his back a little bit to touch the notebook, and then grabbed it from my hand.

He was reading the contents quietly. I’m not sure if he can understand it, though. My handwriting is somehow looks like random scribbles. My original handwriting is not ugly. It just looks like that because I’m writing fast.

When he finished reading the contents, he puts it back to my hand. Instead of just putting it down to my palm, he also grabbed my other hand and gently placed it on the top of my notebook. Does he really need to do that?

“Is your senior the one who gave you this information?” he asked while putting his hands on his pockets.

I nodded at him. “Yes, but our whole team investigated and extracted those info.”

He didn’t reply to me after that. He just walks towards his walk-in closet. I followed him there and asked him.

“Do you want me to give you a copy?”

He shook his head. “No need. I already memorized that.”

My mouth opened a little bit because of amusement. Wow. Having the ability to memorize something in just one reading is so amazing.

He must be so smart. It suits him, though. He looked hotter because of that.

“Here,” he said while giving me a brown paper bag. The bag came from one of his closets.

I grabbed the bag and opened it. “What’s with this?” I asked.

“Clothes. For you,” he answered.

I thought he was joking. But when I opened the bag, there were really clothes inside. Not just a shirt and pants, but also a panty and bra!

I put the undies outside and scritinize it.

“How did you know my size?” I asked him when I noticed that the bra size is the same as mine.

He looked away. “From your own bra,” he answered.

I glared at him and was about to argue when he spoke.

“The maid told me when they finished changing your clothes.”

I don’t know if I will believe what he said. Somehow, a little part of me was relieved that he was not the one who did it. However, there was also a huge part of me who is disappointed because it’s not him who removed my clothes.

Maybe, if I’m conscious at that time, I would have told him that I want him to be the one to dress me up.

I decided to just let his excuse slide away. I turned my attention to the shirt and smiled when I noticed that it was the fabric that I always wear.

I want to ask him more but he spoke again.

“I already talked to my parents. They agreed to let you go, for now,” he said, which made me feel relieved.

“However, we’ll send a bodyguard to be with you at all times. She will be monitoring all of your movements,” he added.

I pouted, but I realized that by doing that, their suspicions of me might decrease.

“Okay. Fine by me,” I said.

He now started walking and motioned me to also walked outside of the walk-in closet. When I turned by back to him, I felt his hand touched my back, as if he is guiding me to walk towards the exit.

I won’t deny. I like the feeling of him touching me. It makes me feel like he’s possessive of me, even though all he did was to touch my back.

Yeah, I was that delusional.

When we are already near the bed, he spoke again.

“Take a bath. Your bodyguard and I will be waiting for you at the living room,” he said.

I smiled at him and responded with an ‘okay’ and walked towards the bathroom.

When I locked the door, I let out a sigh of relief.

I realized, Kelleon is not that scary at all.