"I mean for most of the 8 years that she lived here she was out of the house most of the time. I would go weeks without seeing her and then she would suddenly appear for a day or two before she disappeared again for weeks." The woman explained.
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The information we had compiled on Diana didn’t mention anything about Diana being elsewhere during the 8 years that she was here. I mean if she wasn’t at the house that much we should have known. Where was she living then?
The woman then squinted her eyes at me. "You said you’re her sister but you don’t look alike," she commented.
"We’re stepsisters," I said.
"How come you don’t know much about her life?" she asked.
"She’s not exactly close with the rest of the family, it’s complicated," I explained in a low voice, trying to come across like it was a sensitive topic for me.
She then scoffed. "I’m not surprised with that stinking attitude she had," she said. "She never greeted me and would act like I was trash or something whenever I saw her. I’m surprised you even want to find her."
"We may not get along but that doesn’t mean I want her to be in any trouble," I nervously laughed.
"You’re too sweet dear," she said to me with a smile.
"Do you have any idea where she would go when she left for weeks? Perhaps she’s there now." I asked her whilst still playing into the concerned sister act.
She shook her head. "No, I barely talked to her, as I said before," she answered.
"Did anyone ever visit her when she lived here?" Louis then asked her.
"No, not anyone I can recall," she said. "I think I remember seeing her with a man once or twice."
Can you describe him for us?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "No, it was so many years ago I can’t remember," she said.
"Has anyone been around the apartment recently?" Louis went on.
"The maintenance man I suppose he comes around from time to time," she answered.
"Look I would love to answer more of your questions but I’m a little tired. Can I offer you two some tea in my home? It’s been so long since I had visitors," she asked me.
I then felt Louis come up behind me, and he gently squeezed my arm. I didn’t have to look at him to know he was telling me we had to leave.
"We would love to miss..."
"Caldwell dear," she told me.
Miss Caldwell, it’s been a pleasure talking to you, and thank you for answering all our questions but we really need to get back to my family whom I left abruptly to come here," I said to get.
"Perhaps, I can get your number in case I have more questions?" I asked her.
"Of course," she replied and she gave it to me. We then said our goodbyes and Louis and I left the apartment.
Louis met with the bodyguards that had returned but they didn’t have the culprit with them.The bodyguards informed us that the person whom they suspected to be a man was long gone. Louis instructed one of them to remain in Kensington and continue looking into the issue.
Louis then turned to me. "Its getting late and I feel the place is too dangerous for us to remain so let’s head home."
I looked up at sky in surprise as I hadn’t even noticed it was late afternoon already. I thought of Tony back home. I agreed with Louis to go back.
"We need to find the owner of the apartment," Louis said as we got on his motorcycle.
The ride on the train back to Yorkshire was quiet. We had agreed we wouldn’t talk about something so sensitive in public. Throughout the ride I was just thinking about the days events.
Upon arriving at his apartment in the early evening I greeted Tony.
"How was your day sweetie?" I asked him as I gave him a hug and also kissed him on the forehead.
"It was good mum," he told me.
I then chatted with Tony for a bit before I went to find Louis so we could finally talk. He was in his home office. As I made my way I walked past a bodyguard who was coming from the direction of Louis’ office. I assumed he came from speaking to Louis and giving him a report on the situation in Kensington.
I found Louis seated in the seating area of his office smoking a cigarette.
"What’s on your mind? you seem to be in deep contemplation the whole time Kensington to here," I said to him.
"There is something strange going on here," Louis said to me as he tapped his cigarette on the ashtray on the table. "There is so much information that we only found out today about Diana’s life. It’s hard to believe that my men couldn’t can’t find out about it before. Why couldn’t they find out that she was hardly ever at the house? The bodyguard that left just now told me that the perpetrator got away and they don’t have a lead on him at all. I’m now looking into the landlord of the apartment. I bet we’ll have issues with that too."
I thought about what he saying he was right. There was definitely something strange at play.
"This is the same as with the bank statements for your account, where the level of concealment in the transactions is just too high level for her to do. It’s almost like there is a concealment effort that is going on."
My eyes narrowed as I pieced together what he was saying.
"Are you alluding to someone else being involved?" I asked him.
"I’m saying it would make more sense if someone else is involved because not to insult Diana or anything but the scale of what is happening is impossible for someone who grew up in poverty to accomplish alone. Certainly, not in that 8 year gap. I can sort of believe her being capable of doing it now with Keith’s resources. However, even with them, the level of thoroughness in covering up is too much. Especially, when you consider the fact that I have evidence of her contacting Gatwick to get you fired. So why would she be sloppy in some aspects and thorough in others?"
It was true, I thought to myself. His argument made a lot of sense.
"This is starting to sound like a conspiracy, Louis," I told him.