"I understand. I will keep that in mind when I talk to him. Can you send someone over to call him over right now? Why wait when we can begin right now?" demanded Zach as if he had some place else to be at this time of the night.
"And don't let him find out that we don't trust him." Clara asked once again as she grew worried that Zach might use forceful means to get the answer out of him.
"Don't worry and call him here. Tell him that I am going to perform a medical check-up on him because you have been worried for his health during this time. He knows that I have some unique medical skills so he wouldn't doubt you or me when I attach this to him and proceed as per the plan." Zach laid out the whole plan in the open for everyone to consider.
Violet couldn't help but praise him in her heart for coming up with such an elaborate plan instantly. She was impressed with his ingenuity and means and couldn't wait for the result of the interrogation. She was hoping that Grace hadn't betrayed them because she was worried about Clara doing something impulsive again if it turned out to be true.
Clara exited Violet's office in order to send for Grace in the sugar production plant and came back in a few minutes after arranging everything.
In the meanwhile, Zach was busy trying to set up the lie detector machine next to a chair. He tested the apparatus once on Luke and was finally satisfied with it.
Grace arrived soon after. The servants had been ordered to bring him right to the office by informing him that the situation demanded him urgently.
Grace knocked on the door to the study mildly and waited for an answer.
The answer came instantly as if Clara had been anxious for his return and had been waiting for him.
Grace looked at Violet and couldn't help but be slightly surprised. The shock only surfaced in his eyes for an instant but Zach didn't let even that escape his notice.
After that he bowed to Clara slightly and asked, "Young miss, you asked for me urgently. Is there something wrong?"
Although Zach didn't believe Clara was capable of falsity, she didn't act any worse than him. She stared at Grace with genuine concern and asked, "Have you been all right these days? You have been absent most of the time and whenever you are accompanying me, you look extremely down all the time…"
Grace was so surprised by the sudden questioning that his heart was about to beat out of his chest but he acted calm and undeterred. A drop of sweat trickled down his forehead even though it wasn't so hot inside. His condition only improved once Clara began to talk again.
"You must be sick, right? It seems that I am right; you are sweating like a pig." Clara said cheekily with a forced smile on her face which was indistinguishable from her usual sunny smile that was capable of brightening up the day around her.
Grace let out a sigh of relief as the negative thoughts in his head disappeared instantly. He had almost come to believe that Clara had found out about him. Thankfully, Clara was just worried about his health.
"I am a little tired, that's all, young miss. You need not concern yourself with me. I can't bear to add to your troubles during this challenging time."
Clara looked like she wasn't convinced with his answer at all. She acted extremely unwavering as she began to push Grace into the chair that Zach had already prepared near the polygraph and said, "I have already requested Zach to take a look at you. I won't stop worrying otherwise. All these things have happened to my father and my eldest sister. You are the closest one to me amongst my family after them. I don't want anything to happen to you after all this. Bear with it and let him check up on you, just to set my mind at ease."
Grace turned his head to look at Zach and then looked back at Clara. His heart was in turmoil at the moment. The concern that Clara was showing for him was pinching his insides into a twisted mess. He felt like he didn't deserve her concern but felt happy about it deep down at the same time.
"I will do as you say, young miss."
Grace turned towards Zach after saying that and used his body language to ask Zach about what to do now.
"Please take a seat. I will be using some of my medical equipment to help take a look at your body. If you feel uncomfortable or any kind of pain during the scanning, please let me know. If everything goes right, it should be a painless process and you shouldn't even feel a thing."
Grace obliged and sat on the seat beside the polygraph in an uneasy manner. He was feeling guilt over betraying the people who fed him and clothed him for such a long time.
"Now let's attach these clips to your body. Bear with me for a minute, it will take a little bit of time." Zach acted like a professional doctor. His acting wasn't any lesser than that of Clara earlier. Even a doctor wouldn't have been able to distinguish him from real had it not been for his unorthodox medical techniques.
Zach attached the two pneumographs to Grace's body after he was seated. One was attached to his chest after he fumbled for a while trying to pull apart his shirt from the middle. The other was attached to his abdominal region. These two tubes would be able to measure any changes in Grace's breathing upon being asked a question.
Zach further attached some of the electrodes to Grace's fingers. He carefully positioned his arms on the armrests of the chair. The electrodes were to be used to monitor the conductivity of the skin in order to measure Galvanic Skin Response. This would allow Zach to sense the minutest stimulation in his body.
Grace felt a little uncomfortable since this looked more like a torture machine than a medical equipment. But since he had already seen his unconventional means when he healed the leader of the Windsor family, he knew that he was in good hands at least when it came to medical comprehension and diagnosis.
Zach finally placed the blood pressure cuff around his bicep before he was finally done.
"This one should contract and expand on an irregular basis and might even cut off blood flow in your arm for a bit. But this is perfectly normal and is only a part of the test so don't be anxious, all right?"
Zach gave Grace a warning once again because he didn't want the latter to run off during the interrogation using minor discomfort like this as an excuse.
Grace nodded as he was still slightly nervous with all the things attached to his body. It felt like several leeches were sucking out his blood except it was not as gross.
"This should take a while. Please don't move around during the examination is going on."
Grace nodded once again in acknowledgement and tried to relax as much as possible.
"I heard from Clara that you are coming straight from the sugar production plant, is that true?" asked Zach in order to test whether the polygraph was working or not. But to Grace it felt as if Zach was making small talk just like doctors usually did while checking on their patients.
"Yes, I was just helping out." replied Grace as he eased into the chair to give some rest to his overworked back.
Zach momentarily shifted his gaze and looked at the polygraph that was producing screeching sounds as it recorded Grace's pulse, breathing, blood pressure and skin conductivity.
There was no erratic or irregular motion in the polygraph indicating that it was the truth. After confirming that the machine was working properly, he began to delve into the more important matters; things that might prove Grace's involvement in the plan concocted by Hunter family and their associates.
"Did you hear any more rumors about the sugar poisoning incident? Are there any more victims that you might have heard about by any chance?"
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶