The first thing I did with my phone was search the local news, just as I remembered from my last life.
Sure enough, Mark’s sweetheart, Stella, had committed all the same crimes.
But unlike the panic I felt last time, I was completely calm. I’d been locked up for three days. The person in the security footage couldn’t possibly be me this time, right?
But I was wrong.
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I had only taken a few steps from the police station, stopping to buy a bowl of soup from a street vendor, when a group of angry people surrounded me.
The man in the lead raised his hand to slap me. “Melody Reid, we finally found you!”
“You ran a red light and killed my son! I want you to pay with your life!”
The others chimed in. “You stole luxury goods from our store and damaged mall property! You’re not getting away with this without paying ten thousand dollars!”
“You dined and dashed at our restaurant! The bill was $888.88! Pay up!”
One of the victims, afraid I would deny everything, even started a livestream, pointing their camera right at
- me.
“Everyone, take a look! This is the deadbeat, Melody Reid, who owes money and a life!”
Faced with their accusations, a question flashed in my mind.
C
Why, after I had been locked in a police station for three days, were these people still coming after me?
But unlike the panicked, frantic me of my past life, I was incredibly calm.
“I think you have the wrong person,” I said, unhurriedly. “The person who did those things is named Stella, not Melody Reid. If you don’t believe me, check the security footage.”
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“We knew you’d say that!” one of them sneered. “We came prepared so you can’t deny it when we hand you over to the police!” They all pulled out their phones and played the footage.
The person in the videos, committing all those crimes, was still me.
The livestream chat exploded with comments.
[Wow, it takes all kinds. I’ve never seen a thief so brazenly accuse someone else.]
[Not only does she refuse to admit her crimes, she tries to pin them on someone else. Why doesn’t this wo- man just die?]
Seeing this, my heart sank.
Before I was taken into custody, I had considered the possibility that Mark and Stella wouldn’t give up, that they would still try to frame me.
But I hadn’t expected the worst–case scenario to still happen.
