Chapter 49: She Lost
Vivian Lowell heard her own voice on the recording and knew they were approaching the part of the footage where she and Wendy Wynn had their dispute.
Eleanor Rhodes grew tense as well, clutching Vivian Lowell’s sleeve and shooting Wendy Wynn a glare.
Wendy Wynn was still like a frightened little rabbit, huddled beside Henry Sterling. She wasn’t really watching the monitor, just murmuring, "Is this it?"
Henry Sterling nodded. "I think so," he said softly.
"Mm."
Wendy Wynn nodded as well and said in a low voice, "Once you see it, you’ll understand what happened. I—"
But Wendy Wynn didn’t even get to finish her sentence.
On the monitor, just as Vivian Lowell and Eleanor Rhodes reached the mother cat, the image suddenly shook, then dissolved into a screen of static.
???
"What’s going on?"
Wendy Wynn put on a puzzled expression, and Eleanor Rhodes went over to the laptop to see for herself.
But Henry Sterling’s laptop wasn’t like the old televisions from their childhood. Back then, if the screen acted up, an older family member would just give the set a good smack.
Sometimes, when the picture flickered with static, a few pats would clear it right up.
Obviously, a modern laptop was not the same as an old TV. Vivian Lowell could tell at a glance that the camera feed had probably been jammed.
’Well, well, well.’
Vivian Lowell gave a cold smile. Her gaze swept over Wendy Wynn’s equally puzzled face. "Miss Winslow," she said, "take it out."
Wendy Wynn looked utterly baffled. She looked up at Vivian Lowell and asked, "What? What are you talking about? Take what out?"
Vivian Lowell’s expression was placid.
She and Eleanor Rhodes had been rescuing stray cats for a long time and had installed countless cameras. Naturally, a situation like this had occurred before.
In the past, some residential communities had people who didn’t like seeing others feed stray cats. They complained the cats were too noisy and frequently got into arguments with the cat lovers.
Some of the more extreme individuals would even mix things like rat poison into the cat food to harm the animals.
Some of them were clever enough to know about the cameras and would avoid them while planting the poison. Worse still were those who, by some unknown means, managed to jam the camera feed entirely.
Afterward, when Vivian Lowell would check the recordings to find out what happened, she would discover a screen full of static.
It was exactly the same as what was happening now.
Therefore, Vivian Lowell deduced that Wendy Wynn must be carrying some kind of signal jamming device.
When she got near the camera, she must have spotted it and turned on the jammer. Naturally, the camera recorded nothing of what happened afterward.
"Take what out?"
Vivian Lowell briefly explained her reasoning, then crossed her arms, fixing her gaze on Wendy Wynn. "Miss Winslow. Do you really think you can get away with this now?"
"I..."
Wendy Wynn immediately panicked. She looked completely flustered, glanced at Henry Sterling, and shook her head frantically. "Henry, no, it’s not like that," she stammered.
"I don’t have anything! They... they really did push me!"
Henry Sterling’s brow furrowed.
He knew a little about these surveillance issues. After all, Eleanor Rhodes rescued cats with Vivian Lowell, and he remembered her mentioning things like this before.
Now, everything was starting to make perfect sense.
The timing of the feed’s disappearance was just too suspicious.
"Wendy."
Henry Sterling looked at Wendy Wynn and asked, "Are you really carrying something like that?"
Wendy Wynn’s lips trembled. With a shaky hand, she pulled a small doll from her purse.
The instant Vivian Lowell saw the doll, she realized it was probably the source of the signal disruption.
But—
Vivian Lowell also noticed that the moment Henry Sterling saw the doll, his expression changed. A look of sadness, even heartbreak, crossed his face.
It was as if he recognized the doll.
"Mm."
Wendy Wynn clutched the doll. "Back when we were studying abroad, because we were Chinese and had good grades, we inevitably faced some discrimination."
"After what happened... that one time... you were afraid I’d be bullied again, so you gave me this doll. I’ve kept it with me ever since. And I have it with me today."
"I... I just wanted to keep it with me, that’s all. I didn’t think about anything else. I really didn’t mean for the camera feed to disappear."
"Henry, do you believe me?"
Henry Sterling said nothing.
Vivian Lowell saw it all and knew in her heart that even if he said nothing, he was unlikely to say anything more to rebuke Wendy Wynn.
Eleanor Rhodes didn’t understand.
She looked from Wendy Wynn to Henry Sterling, understanding only one thing: Henry no longer seemed to care about what had actually happened.
In his eyes, the moment that doll appeared, she had already lost.
"Professor Sterling."
Eleanor Rhodes called out his name, looking at Henry Sterling. "What’s the deal with that doll? Is that what made the feed go blank?"
Henry Sterling nodded.
A pained look crossed his face. He looked up at Eleanor Rhodes and said, "Tanya, let’s just drop this."
"Wendy has her reasons for carrying that doll with her. As for today... the business with the cat, why don’t you two come back another time?"
"She’s hurt. I want to take her to the infirmary first, is that okay?"
Hearing this, Eleanor Rhodes immediately took a step back, staring at Henry Sterling with an expression of pure disbelief.
"Professor Sterling, what did you just say?"
Eleanor Rhodes demanded.
Then, Henry Sterling added, "What happened today is my fault, too. It’s getting late. Why don’t you two just head home for now?"
"Head home?"
Eleanor Rhodes murmured, "So you don’t care about the truth anymore? Is that it? I didn’t push her! You... you believe her, don’t you?"
Henry Sterling didn’t answer directly. Instead, he sighed and said to Eleanor Rhodes, "Tanya, let’s just let this go this time, okay?"
"I’m sure Wendy didn’t mean for any of this to happen."
Eleanor Rhodes fell silent.
She understood.
This time, between her and Wendy Wynn, Henry Sterling had chosen Wendy Wynn.
She had lost.
Utterly and completely.