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I decided to ask Emily Green to meet me — just the two of us. At first, she was hesitant. But when I mentioned that I could arrange for John Miller’s death certificate, she took the bait.
We agreed to meet at a quiet teahouse.
When I saw Emily Green again, she was dressed fashionably and looked radiant. To a stranger, you’d never guess she was a single mother.
"Officer Lee, I really appreciate you going through all this trouble. Do you have John Miller’s death certificate? Mind letting me take a look?"
Her smile seemed a little forced — at least, that’s how it looked to me.
I took a slow sip of tea and calmly gestured for her to sit.
Her smile faltered for a split second before she quietly took a seat.
I said nothing. Just kept sipping my tea, watching to see if any guilt would show.
Sure enough, by the third cup ,Emily broke the silence. "Officer Lee, you called me here just to drink tea? You haven’t said a word. I’ve got a business trip to catch, you know. "
I looked up and met her eyes. "Your relationship with John Miller wasn't as distant as you made it out to be was it?"
Her eyes flashed with panic. “I… I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
I took a slow sip of tea and said quietly:
" Drop the act. We found John Miller’s phone — and we’ve read the messages between you and him."
The moment I said that Emily Green’s expression shifted — again and again — before she finally dropped her head.
Her hands clenched tightly in her lap, which was a clear sign of someone under intense pressure. I stayed silent and watched her calmly.
At last, she broke — her voice trembling as she spoke.
She admitted that John Miller had been pursuing her — and over time, she’d been touched by his sincerity and warmth. She was planning to give him a chance. But she never imagined things would end like this when she returned.
She confessed that the real reason she’d been asking about the death certificate was to use it — to claim the insurance payout together with Jack Miller. That money, she said, could give her and her daughter a carefree life forever.
As for Jack Miller, he was just a distant relative of John’s, still living back in their hometown. He had no idea whether any of this was happening.
Finally, Emily looked at me with pleading eyes "I've lived downstairs from him for ten years. I’d go upstairs to help him out — take care of things when he needed it. My daughter and I… we’ve had no one. We’ve been alone, struggling. Is it really too much to ask for a bit of compensation?”
I frowned. None of this surprised me — but clearly, Emily Green didn’t know how John Miller had actually died.
Could Lily Johnson have planned everything — waited until her mother was away to kill John Miller?
I pressed her about the stalker mentioned in the chat logs. Who was it? What was really going on?
She looked like I’d struck a nerve. Her breathing quickened, and when she spoke, she stammered.
She resisted — hard — but this was the key to everything. I had no choice but to push her a little harder.
“Talk — now. You’re still hiding something. You realize lying to the police is a crime, don’t you?!”
My words hit hard. Emily flinched — then burst into tears. Fear filled in her eyes. "It's him. He's back. He still won't let us alone !"
I blinked, confused. "Him? Who are you talking about? John Miller?"
Emily shook her head slowly, her voice trembling. “No… it’s my first husband. Lily’s father. He found out I betrayed him — and he came back for me.
He’s the one who killed John Miller!”
My heart skipped a beat. I knew exactly who Emily Green meant by “him.”
But Lily Johnson's biological father had died many years ago. The idea of a ghost coming back to stalk and kill? It made no sense. I wanted to press further , but Emily had completely unraveled , her words tumbling out, scattered and senseless. .
I had no choice but to end the interview.
As for her talk about a ghost committing murder — I didn’t buy it. Not for a second.
After returning to the police station, we’d hit a dead end. I checked in with the forensic team about the test results.
The official cause of death was a heart attack, but the specific time of death still couldn't be determined. And what had triggered it? We had no clue.
At the very least, it suggested he hadn’t been murdered — he died from natural causes.
Just when all of us thought that this case was over.
I was on the night shift when I got news that made my blood run cold.
Lily Johnson burst into the station in the middle of the night, asking for me. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her eyes were wide with fear, and her face was pale as a ghost.
"John Miller, he, he's back. He climbed onto my bed again..."
