Crashed My Car to Avoid a Murder Charge

My company sent me on a week-long business trip out of town.

After it ended, I hurried to drive home for my mother-in-law Harvey's birthday.

But just as I was waiting at a red light, a line of text suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[Whatever you do, don't go home! If you go back, you're sealing your fate!]

[The moment you step inside, Harvey will fall from the building!]

[Harvey's body will be covered in your fingerprints. You won't be able to explain yourself and you'll be sentenced to death. Then Cooper will take the insurance money and live it up with your best friend Shelly!]

I froze. A few seconds later.

I decided to trust what the text said. I'd take this gamble!

The light ahead turned green, and the car started moving.

I slammed my foot on the gas pedal and crashed straight into the stone barriers on the side of the road.

Today was Harvey's sixty-fifth birthday.

My husband Cooper told me he wanted to have a simple celebration for Harvey at home.

So as soon as my business trip ended, I rushed to drive home.

The car was running smoothly on the road home, and I was just three intersections away from our neighborhood.

That's when semi-transparent text suddenly appeared out of nowhere before my eyes.

Just like watching a TV show, lines of text scrolled across my vision.

My mouth fell open. I thought my old eyes were playing tricks on me, so I rubbed them vigorously.

But the text remained firmly floating before my eyes, not dissipating in the slightest.

The messages kept sending me warnings.

[It's over, it's over. Lester's almost home! There's no escaping this now!]

[Lester, Cooper will find an excuse to leave you alone with Harveyit's all to frame you! Whatever you do, don't go inside!]

[At 7:10 PM tonight, Harvey will fall from the building right on schedule! And you'll be the murderer!]

[Watch out for your best friend Shelly. She's been fooling around with Cooper, plotting to get rid of you.]

My mouth fell open. I thought my old eyes were playing tricks on me, so I rubbed them vigorously.

But the text remained firmly floating before my eyes, not dissipating in the slightest.

My heart pounded wildly.

Why would Harvey suddenly fall from the building when she was perfectly fine?

And why would Cooper and my best friend Shelly want to frame me?

Countless questions churned in my mind, leaving my head completely blank.

Just then, my phone on the center console buzzed twice.

It was a message from Cooper.

"Lester, are you almost home?"

"My boss just notified me that there's an emergency at the company. I have to go handle it right away."

"Just get home and help Mom cut the cake. I'll be back as soon as I'm done with this."

The moment I saw the message, the blood in my veins nearly froze.

Could there really be such a coincidence?

Right when I was about to get home, right at this moment, he had to leave.

If what the text said was true, once I obediently went inside, only Harvey and I would be left at home.

If Harvey fell from the building, all fingers would point at me.

Those fingerprints all over the scene would only become ironclad evidence against me.

I wouldn't be able to explain myself even if I had a thousand mouths.

I didn't dare think further. The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became.

My finger hovered over the chat box, but in the end I didn't reply.

I looked at the timeit was 6:40 PM. Thirty minutes until Harvey would fall.

As the light ahead turned green, I made a decision.

Since the text said I would be framed, I'd take this gamble!

As long as I didn't appear alone with Harvey at home tonight, I wouldn't fall into this conspiracy.

I gripped the steering wheel tightly, took a deep breath, and suddenly pressed down hard on the gas pedal.

The car engine roared as it shot forward.

The car drove straight toward the heavy stone barriers on the side of the road and crashed into them with precision.

A deafening bang exploded, and the car body shook violently.

The next second, the airbag instantly deployed, protecting me firmly.

My head rested against the seat as intense dizziness swept over me.

My head felt like it had been struck hard with a hammer, incredibly foggy.

In moments, I felt warmth on my forehead as sticky liquid trickled down.

I could only vaguely see more and more people gathering around.

Some were holding up their phones, filming and making calls.

Several figures pushed through the crowd and walked quickly to the car.

"How are you? Can you hear us?" The traffic officer's voice came through the glass.

I opened my mouth but couldn't make any sound.

Soon, I was lifted onto a stretcher.

After confirming I was in the ambulance, I finally closed my eyes with relief and fell into brief unconsciousness.

After arriving at the hospital, the doctor treated the wound on my head.

By this time, my consciousness had cleared up quite a bit.

I quietly opened my eyes, my gaze falling on the electronic clock on the wall.

It was exactly seven o'clock.

I closed my eyes again, telling myself I just needed to hold on for ten more minutes.

During this time, I learned about the original plot through the text messages.

It turned out Cooper and Shelly had been having an affair all along.

Cooper wanted me to leave the marriage with nothing, but he couldn't find a suitable reason.

Plus, Harvey had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and Cooper felt Harvey was a burdenboth expensive and exhausting to care for.

So the two of them came up with this vicious plan.

After I was sent to court, Cooper cried his heart out, accusing me to the judge of constantly beating and verbally abusing Harvey, saying I had repeatedly wished for Harvey to die.

He successfully stirred up public sentiment, and thousands signed petitions demanding I pay with my life.

The police also presented surveillance footage from our building in court.

It clearly recorded me driving into the underground garage at 7 PM and taking the elevator to the tenth floor.

Neighbors on the same floor claimed they heard me cursing and beating Harvey inside the apartment.

Ten minutes later, there was a loud crash as Harvey fell from the balcony right on schedule and died on impact.

With all this evidence, I was sentenced to death on the spot.

And Cooper and Shelly not only got rid of Harvey, the big burden, and received a huge insurance payout, but also sent me to prison and seized all my assets.

Reading these messages, my entire body went cold.

So there had been two man-eating monsters lurking beside me all along.

Although I didn't know how they faked the scene or how they made it look like I cooperated so perfectly.

But right now, I could only wait patiently.

Every second of pretending to be unconscious felt unbearably long, until the clock on the wall passed 7:10 PM.

Only then did I quietly breathe a sigh of relief and slowly open my eyes.

Just then, the hospital room door was gently pushed open.

Seeing that I was awake, the doctor gave me a simple examination.

Fortunately, my car's safety features were solid, and my speed hadn't been too high.

I only suffered minor external injuries, and the CT scan of my head showed no problems.

After a few days of rest, I'd be fine.

After the doctor left, two uniformed traffic officers walked in, holding notebooks and pens.

"How are you feeling? Can you cooperate with us for a simple inquiry to understand what happened during the accident?"

I rubbed my still somewhat foggy head and said softly:

"Thank you. I'm okay now, just still a bit dizzy."

I paused, pretending to recall with effort:

"I was stopped at the intersection waiting for the red light when my phone suddenly rang. I instinctively reached for my phone, and then I accidentally hit the gas pedal. Somehow I just shot forward..."

The officers carefully recorded everything I said.

One of them said, "We've already examined the scene. Our preliminary judgment is that it was a single-vehicle accident. Fortunately, no other vehicles or people were involved. However, you may need to cover the cost of repairing the stone barrier."

"Also, your car's front end was severely damaged. We've already contacted a tow truck to take it to an auto repair shop for inspection."

I nodded lightly, showing a bitter smile on my face. "Okay, okay. I should be responsible. Thank you for your trouble."

Although I lost some money and was covered in scrapes and bruises, it was worth it.

There were traffic police at the crash scene, medical personnel, and so many onlookers.

They had already left plenty of evidence for me.

Then the officers returned my phone, which was shattered to pieces but could still barely turn on.

After signing the accident report and paying the medical fees, I hurried out of the hospital.

As I walked out the hospital doors, I glanced at my phone. It was almost 7:30 PM.

I hailed a cab at the intersection.

But when the taxi stopped at the entrance to our neighborhood and I opened the car door, my heart instantly sank to the bottom.

A crowd had gathered downstairs from my building, voices discussing and sighing one after another.

I pushed through the crowd and immediately saw Cooper kneeling on the ground.

He still wore his work badge around his neck, his laptop bag beside him, clearly having just returned from the company.

Cooper's hair was disheveled, his face covered in tears and snot.

He clutched a blood-covered figure tightly, crying heartbreakingly.

"Mom! Mom, wake up! How could you just leave like this! I'm so sorry, Mom!"

"It's all my fault! I shouldn't have left, or that bitch wouldn't have pushed you off the building!"

Seeing Harvey's familiar face clearly made me feel like I'd fallen into an ice cellar.

I staggered back a step, my head roaring.

I clearly hadn't gone home, hadn't followed the original plot.

So why did Harvey still fall from the building?

Just as I stood there in a daze, a shrill voice suddenly rang out.

"Lester! It's her!"

That sentence was like a thunderclap, instantly breaking through the chaos at the scene.

Everyone's eyes turned toward me in unison.

Before I could open my mouth to explain, the crowd surged toward me like a tide, instantly surrounding me so tightly I couldn't move.

"It's you, you vicious woman! You killed Harvey on her birthday!"

"How cold-blooded! Harvey was so old and had Alzheimer's, how could you do this to her!"

"I heard you'd been treating Harvey like a burden for a long time. What a snake!"

"Hurry up and arrest her! Don't let her get away!"

Curses and accusations came at me non-stop, with some even shoving me.

Then Cooper suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at me.

He rushed over and grabbed my arm, his grip so tight it felt like he might crush my bones.

"I knew you hated my mom, hated that she was a burden to you! But today was her birthday!"

"She treated you like her own daughter. How could you be so heartless?"

"I only left for a little while, and you pushed her from such a height. Aren't you afraid of karma?"

I struggled hard to break free from his hand and shouted at the crowd, "I didn't push Harvey! I wasn't even home! Cooper is slandering me!"

"Slandering you?"

Cooper looked like he'd heard the world's biggest joke.

"You still dare to lie! The neighbors heard everything. Around seven o'clock, you came home and verbally abused and beat my mom. Many people downstairs saw it!"

The neighbors chimed in one after another.

I stood there trembling all over.

I clearly hadn't been at home, so why would people insist they saw me?

Just then, several police officers pushed through the crowd and walked in.

"Who called the police?"

Cooper immediately rushed over and grabbed the officer's arm. "Officer, it was this woman who killed my mom! Please arrest her and bring my mom justice!"

The officer calmed Cooper down, then after confirming that Harvey was indeed dead, the police walked toward me.

I fought back my grievances and tears, trying to stay calm. "Officer, I didn't kill anyone! Because I wasn't even home at the time! I..."

But before I could finish, I was interrupted by my neighbor Nicole.

Nicole stood with her hands on her hips, speaking firmly to the police:

"Officer, don't listen to her lies! I live right across from her. I personally heard her beating and cursing, saying things like 'you old thing won't die.'

Poor Harvey kept crying and begging for mercy."

Another woman quickly stepped forward, nodding repeatedly. "Officer, I can testify too! I was downstairs at the time and heard a loud crash."

"I instinctively looked up and clearly saw a figure at the window. It was her!"

"Wearing a beige coat. I recognize that coatit's the one she usually wears! I couldn't be mistaken!"

Seeing people backing him up, Cooper immediately pointed at me emotionally. "Officer, you heard them, right! She's just making excuses! Arrest her now!"

The surrounding crowd joined in, shouting to arrest me, the waves of voices growing louder and louder.

The officer took out handcuffs from his pocket and said sternly, "Ma'am, please come with us to cooperate with our investigation."

Just as the cold handcuffs were about to touch my wrist.

I suddenly broke free from the officer's hand and let out a cold laugh.

I quickly pulled something from my pocket and held it high above my head.

"You say I was home pushing Harvey off the building after seven? Fine, then take a look at this!"

As my words fell, everyone froze.

The officer took it and examined it.

Cooper also hurried over to look.

The next second, his expression froze on his face as he looked at me in disbelief.