As soon as we got to that point, I remembered what happened back then.
"When she left, she cto say goodbye toin a rush, mentioning an urgent matter in her hometown. I remember asking her, 'What's the matter? Why the rush?' but she didn't givea clear answer and left in a hurry." Thinking about it now, I regretted being so careless. But even if I had known something back then, what could I have done? I continued, "Then everyone went to their internships, and Beatrice never returned. We only had occasional phone calls. At that time, I was busy with starting a business, dealing with Matthew, and the daily hustle of the building materials business. I didn't have tto contact her." As I spoke, the bitterness in my heart intensified. If I had known she was in trouble, I would have helped her, even if I wasn't that important back then.
"I didn't think anything would go wrong since she was back in her hometown with her parents, so I neglected her. I didn't know about her father. She even did her thesis in a hurry. We only met once during the graduation photoshoot, exchanged a few words, and she disappeared.
"I thought about having a celebratory party together since we graduated, but she was already gone. I called her urgently, asking where she was. She said she was already on the bus. I had to ask her when she would return to Foswood for a proper gathering. After all, we had just graduated, and she had left in such a rush.
"She said she wasn't sure, and she woulde seeafter dealing with her family. But she never showed up. When I paused the business due to my pregnancy and tried to contact her, her phone was already out of service." I vividly recalled that time.
Grayson snapped his fingers. "That's it! The timeline matches up. She returned to her hometown because her mother suddenly fell ill. She was reportedly in aa, and Beatrice had to take care of her." He finished his meal, grabbed a tissue, and said, "Oh, that was delicious." Then he continued, "At that time, she had a boyfriend, a high school classmate. He had graduated from college and returned to Gerby. Apparently, they had a good relationship, but... But now, he's Hazelyn's husband." "What?" I felt utterly powerless. This was heart-wrenching.
"My goodness! Looks like both mother and daughter are professionals," Lauren cursed. "There must be something to this." I slapped the table and said to Grayson, "Enough. This is definitely related to Hazelyn. Start investigating Hazelyn now!" Grayson looked at me. "Beatrice is in a mental hospital in a county in Gerby." I said, "Right now, I just want to know if Beatrice really does have a mental problem. That's what all our classmates have been wondering." Lauren had a different opinion, saying, "Considering all that's happened, Beatrice might have been driven crazy by anger." When Lauren saw my puzzled expression, she started listing her reasons, counting on her fingers. "First, her mother's illness seems suspicious. I bet Jocelyn did it. Otherwise, how could she have changed Hazel Marrow to Hazelyn Chandler? Something's fishy here. "Second, if it weren't for Jocelyn, how could Byron take over someone else's factory and then take over Keller's Dairy? I'm telling you, we need to investigate this thoroughly. There might be a connection between them and what happened to the Keller family." Lauren looked at Grayson and asked, "Didn't you find out what illness her mother had when you were investigating this? Why did she suddenly get sick?" "Ah! That's right. You're a smart one, Lauren. That's the important part. Since the Keller's Diary incident, the Chandle family has tightly sealed all information. We can't dig anything out, and we couldn't find the reason. No one else would have a chance either." "Looks like we need to investigate everything about Byron. We should look into everything he did after he cinto contact with Helen. They were trying to eliminate the Keller family, including Beatrice." I couldn't calm my heart. I was determined to dig into this matter.