She Outshines Them All (Athena and Matthew)

Athena clicked on the information Cora sent over.

Perhaps due to Cora's meticulous investigation, the data only captured events from a month before Zilvia's disappearance. Specifically, it was the last month before kindergarten closed for the holidays.

The kindergarten officially closed for the holiday on Advent Sunday.

The documents Cora sent were arranged in reverse chronological order, starting with what happened at the kindergarten on December 31.

"At half past 2 in the afternoon on December 31, Nellie Lambert the honorary chairwoman of Rose Academy in Osceiton, visited Rose Academy privately with her assistant, without any official personnel or media coverage.

She spent an hour touring the middle school, followed by another hour in the elementary school, and arrived at the kindergarten at half past four. The visit was very low-key. Aside from the principal and a few teachers, no one knew who she was. Throughout the visit, she wore sunglasses, which she even kept on indoors.

She toured the various classrooms and facilities without attracting the children's attention, and there were no unexpected or strange occurrences.

Some teachers recalled that she didn't seem well, appearing somewhat dazed, but she was polite and spoke appropriately, leaving a good impression on the staff.

At five, Nellie had dinner in the kindergarten cafeteria with the head of the kindergarten.

Since the kindergarten was holding an Advent Sunday celebration that evening, Nellie accepted the invitation to stay and watch the performance.

After dinner, the head of the kindergarten and the teachers were busy preparing for the event, while Nellie took a stroll around the kindergarten with her assistant until she arrived at the playground shortly before the performance, sitting front and center. The event began at half past six.

Because Catherine and Zilvia hadn't informed their family about the Advent Sunday celebration in advance, and Zilvia was not fond of discussing kindergarten activities at home, no one from the Donovan family attended.

Zilvia's performance was the sixth on the program.

She recited a poem.

Nellie praised Zilvia briefly, and nothing more came of their interaction.

The head of the kindergarten noted that Nellie removed her sunglasses during the performance, revealing her blank stare, as if she hadn't slept well or was unwell. She frequently checked her phone and sometimes lowered her head to stare into space, appearing troubled.

Overall, the event was lively and bustling, but nothing particularly noteworthy occurred.

At exactly 8 in the evening, the performance concluded.

Nellie quickly presented awards to the winning students, including Zilvia, before hurrying off, with no significant interaction between her and Zilvia.

Catherine later drove Zilvia home.

Regarding the information about that day, Cora clearly recognized Nellie's significance, focusing her notes around

her. However, Cora mentioned that this was 17 years ago, and the teachers and parents of that time could hardly recall the details, only having a general impression.

Thus, the report lacked sufficient detail.

Athena murmured, "This must have been Zilvia's first encounter with Nellie.

"From this report, it seems that Nellie and Zilvia didn't interact much and that nothing particularly notable happened.

"Moreover, there's no indication that these two had any further contact after that day.

"So, how did these two actually come together?"

Athena printed out the two pages of information and studied them repeatedly, highlighting a few key points with a water-based pen.

After researching for over ten minutes, she locked the two pages in a drawer and moved on to the other materials.

During that month, several ordinary events occurred at the kindergarten, like children arguing and fighting, a collective cold among the kids, and parents comparing their children, all of which didn't escalate into major issues.

From her review, Athena noticed that Zilvia excelled in kindergarten, never caused trouble, and was exceptionally quiet and low-key. She got along well with both teachers and classmates, who all liked her. The kids even admired her.

However, she seemed reluctant to play with others, often choosing to read alone, gaze at the sky, or engage in puzzles that ordinary kids couldn't solve.

After reading this information on her computer, Athena clicked the "X" in the upper right corner and searched for Nellie online for the first time.

There was no information about Nellie on the internet.

Using her excellent computer skills, Athena struggled for quite a while and found a few photos of Nellie attending events abroad. Since she wasn't the main subject in those photos, the accompanying reports didn't mention her specifically. At most, they casually noted her id 'They've scrubbed her presence completely, leaving no trace, Athena thought.

Then she said, "Let's stop here for now. Continuing could alert her and raise unnecessary suspicions."

Athena mused as she glanced at the clock. It was already past eleven at night.

So, she logged off the internet, shut down her computer, and went to wash up for bed.

The next morning, during breakfast with the Donovan family, Arthur and Maria reported the messages sent to them by the Stevens family.

Arthur said: [Gavin told me they've come to an agreement. The house will belong to their family. Once the compensation for the new homes is settled, they will provide Joel's family with two houses. They want to meet with Mom and Dad immediately to process

paperwork. I told themtransfer

Mom is still

in the hospital and Dad is on a business trip. They're trying to

finalize the transfer within the next

couple of days.

Maria showed everyone a

few photos, saying: [Joel claimed that Gavin's family injured them. All five of them are receiving treatment at a clinic. They now have nowhere to live and no money for food, so they want us to hurry and pick them up. He also said that the four elderly members are partial to Several people looked at the photos while scoffing at Joel, feeling no sympathy for him.

In the pictures, Joel looked bruised and battered, but his injuries weren't severe.

His wife and two slightly older children had only medicine.

scrapes and a little bleeding that could be treated with some

Brandon sneered: [Why didn't they just beat each other to a pulp? I'm so disappointed.]

Athena smiled: [If everyone's okay with it, let's stick to our plan

Everyone shook their heads. [No objections, We'll do whatever Athena says.]

Arthur then shared what the Stevens family experienced the previous night.

Arthur said, "With so many people crammed into a two-bedroom apartment, it must have been unbearable, yet no one dared leave for fear of not being able to get back in. So, all ages, over a dozen people, squeezed into that old house, filling up, the beds, sofas, and even the floor. They had to tiptoe to go to the bathroom.

"What's even funnier is that after their fight and deciding who gets the house, it was already late, but there was no mosquito repellent in the old house, and all the nearby stores were closed, so they couldn't buy any.

"They had to sleep with the lights on all night, battling mosquitoes. It's just hilarious to think about."

As he spoke, Arthur laughed heartily, clearly enjoying himself. "Oh, didn't they publicly disclose several family members' phone numbers? It forced Dad, Mom, Jaden, Zayn, and others to turn off those numbers, so they couldn't reach anyone.

"I just turned my phone off too. In the morning, I said it was dead. They couldn't do anything about it."

As everyone listened and laughed, they found the breakfast truly delicious.

After finishing breakfast, Athena and Maria went to see Joel's family while Arthur went to meet Gavin's family.

At the clinic near Vlento Court, upon seeing Maria, Joel acted like a wrongfully accused prisoner facing a just judge, constantly complaining and cursing Gavin's family.

Joel said, "Gavin has two sons who are older, while we have three kids. Our daughter is only eight, our son is just over two, and our baby is six months old. How could we fight them?

"They're just bullying us because we have more women and kids. After talking for so long, they only tossed us two houses. How outrageous!"

Isla held their youngest son and looked resentful. "When Gavin got married, the four elders gave all the family savings to him to buy a house. By the time we got married, there was nothing left. "Now they have eight houses and only give us two, treating us like beggars. It's so unfair.

"Maria, you have to get your adoptive parents to seek justice for us!"