เข้าสู่ระบบMy laughter had not died down even when the sound of sirens came from downstairs. This time, it was real. It was not some sound effect, and it was not a trick of my mind.Officer Zane burst in with a squad, parting the crowd. His face went pale at the scene inside.“Lindy, you’re under arrest.”The cold handcuffs snapped around my wrists. I did not struggle.The coroner began examining the body I had dug out of the wall.I collapsed to the floor, putting on a pitiful act. “Officer, I didn’t kill him! He fell and hit his head. He died by accident! I just… I just hid him because I didn’t know how to explain… I’m only a woman. How could I dare kill anyone?”The body had no visible wounds. I was betting that they would not be able to determine the real cause of death, and maybe, just maybe, I would have a chance.The forensic pathologist, with his gloves on, probed the corpse's throat for a moment, then picked out something shiny with tweezers. It was a gold ring.It was the one I
I stared at the glass and Maya, the person behind it. My mind exploded with a deafening boom. It was a one-way mirror. She had secretly replaced this wall a long time ago.Everything I had just done, every word I had just said—every ugly, pathetic second of it—had been recorded. She had seen it all.“You… You’re not blind, after all!” I spat at her, pointing at her with my trembling fingers.Maya gave me a cold smirk. “It’s been a while, Lindy.”I had been fooled. Completely and utterly fooled.From the drill sounds in the beginning, to the mannequins, to her fake collapse and ambulance… Every bit of it had been part of her trap.It was all to force me to break open that wall myself and to make me confess with my own mouth. The humiliation ignited the last of my sanity.“I’ll kill you!” I grabbed the kitchen knife and charged at the glass. If I could just shatter it, I could get to her. I could kill her.The blade struck the surface, leaving a white mark. The glass did not even
At noon the next day, there was suddenly a loud crash from next door. It was the sound of something heavy hitting the floor, like a table had been knocked over.Not long after, an ambulance siren wailed downstairs.I pressed my eye to the peephole and watched as several people in white coats rushed into the neighboring unit and carried Maya out on a stretcher. She lay completely motionless. Her face was bluish, with white foam clinging to the corners of her mouth. She looked like she was dying.A surge of wild joy flooded my chest. The suffocating pressure I had been under for days finally lifted.She wanted to mess with me. She wanted to play her little games. Well, now, she was going to hell! Still, this was not over yet.Once the ambulance left, the police would definitely come to investigate. If they determined it was poisoning, they would trace the water source. If they followed the line back to the tampered pipe, I would be finished.However, that did not matter now. Th
Now that I knew the drilling sound was fake, my panic eased a little. This blind woman was playing mind games with me. It only meant one thing.She had no evidence, and she was trying to force me to hand it over myself. Who exactly was she?Zach was an orphan. He had no family. No one would care this much about whether he lived or died, except for his so-called godmother.The hidden pinhole camera I never found and the crack in the wall I had sealed up… There was no way Maya was truly blind. What kind of blind person would renovate their own place with an impact drill? What kind of blind person did woodworking?Also, how could a blind person place that recorder so precisely in the center of those mannequins?I needed to test her again.…Early the next morning, I bought a bag of apples and knocked on Maya's door.“Hey, sorry about yesterday. I overreacted. These are for you. If you still want to fix that wall, we can figure out a time.”Maya, still wearing her sunglasses, acce
I barreled into the bathroom like a madwoman. Of course, it was that wall. The sound of the drill pounded in my skull, making my teeth rattle.That wall was shared with the apartment next door. The two units were separated only by hollow bricks. If I did not stop Maya, that drill would go straight through the thin facade, and Zach’s rotting face would be exposed.I could not be bothered about anything else. I grabbed my crutch and pounded on her door.“Open up! Open the door! What the hell are you doing?!”Maya opened the door while holding the drill, looking innocent.“Sorry, miss. The wall’s leaking and moldy. I want to strip it and redo the waterproofing.”Leaking? Sure, it had to be because Zach’s corpse was starting to rot and seep.My throat went dry. I lowered my voice, trying to sound reasonable. “Well… it’s really late. Doing renovation work at this time of night will disturb the neighbors, and I have heart problems. Can you please stop drilling?”Maya shook her head
It was a blue shirt, covered in dark brown mud stains, with several obvious tears. How could it be this shirt?!This was what Zach had been wearing the night I killed him. I had taken it off, planning to burn it, but I must have shoved it into a trash bag and thrown it out in a panic.I flipped over the shipping label. The sender’s address was this building. In the sender’s name, one name was printed clearly:[Lindy.]I mailed a dead man’s clothes to myself?This was pure, brazen provocation!That blind woman. It had to be her!She must have dug the shirt out of some trash pile. She wanted me to know. She wanted me to know she knew.Well, if she was playing games, I would play to the bitter end.While she was still out, I took out a master key I had prepared long ago.I had been living in this building for years. I knew these old locks inside and out. All it took was a few twists and they would open.Dragging my broken leg behind me, I crept to her door and glanced around to