Part 3Reborn, Why The Explosion Still Happened

"This isn't mine!" I said through clenched teeth. "I sank mine in the pond!"

"What?" Brandon's eyes went wide. "Rachel, what are you talking about? Are you in shock?"

"I'm not crazy! At six this morning, I pushed my electric scooter to the pond behind the back mountain. I tied stones to it and sank it! This exploded scooter isn't mine!"

The crowd went quiet for a moment, then erupted in even louder commotion.

"This girl's lost it. What nonsense is she spouting?"

"Sinking it in a pond? I think she just wants to shirk responsibility!"

"Call the police! Have them arrest her!"

Dad rushed up and slapped me across the face. "You bastard! How dare you lie! Those are two human lives!"

I clutched my face, blood trickling from the corner of my mouth.

This slap hurt just as much as in my previous life.

But in my previous life, I thought Dad was truly angry and desperate.

Later I learned it was just an act, to make the performance more convincing, to make me feel more guilty, more willing to work like a slave.

But this time, the explosion was real.

If they really had orchestrated all this, then what about those two lives and that burning Maybach?

The police arrived quickly and sealed off the scene.

I was taken aside for questioning, my whole body numb.

"Name?"

"Rachel Reynolds."

"Is that electric scooter yours?"

"No." I lifted my head, eyes resolute. "My electric scooter is in the pond. I sank it myself this morning. That exploded scooter looks like mine, but it's not mine."

The officer frowned. "Miss Reynolds, we have eyewitness testimony that the electric scooter was yours. Also, we found remnants of your license plate at the explosion site."

"Impossible!" I jumped to my feet. "My license plate is A88888. What license plate did you find?"

The officer looked down at his notes. "A88888."

I felt like I'd been struck by lightning and sank back into the chair.

This was impossible. My electric scooter was in the pond. How could my license plate appear at the explosion site?

Could someone have retrieved my electric scooter?

But when could that have happened? I sank it at six in the morning. It exploded at three in the afternoon. Who could have retrieved an electric scooter from such a deep pond in such a short time, then pushed it to the village entrance to charge and detonate it?

And why would they do that?

"I need to check the pond." I grabbed the officer's hand. "Come with me to the back mountain pond. My electric scooter is there. If you dredge it, you'll definitely find it!"

The officers exchanged glances. Perhaps seeing how agitated I was, they finally nodded in agreement.

The pond at the back mountain was surrounded by villagers watching the commotion.

Two officers removed their jackets and jumped into the icy water.

I waited anxiously on the shore, hands clenched tight.

As long as they retrieved that electric scooter, it would prove my innocence.

The exploded one was a fake. Someone deliberately framed me.

"Found something!" An officer surfaced, holding up an object.

My heart leaped to my throat.

It was a red plastic fragment, definitely from an electric scooter.

"Is there more down there? Where's the whole scooter?" I shouted.

The officer dove down again. After a few minutes, he resurfaced, shaking his head:

"There's nothing else down there. Just this fragment and some stones."

"Impossible!" I shrieked. "I sank the entire scooter! I tied four big stones to it. How could it be gone?"