Collateral Damage: Love and Lies

Neil Jackson's true love steals highly radioactive materials, but I'm the one who's facing a jail sentence.

I find the thief, but Lorraine Larsen refuses to own up to her crimes. Even my longtime boyfriend refuses to act as a witness for me. All he wants to do is send me to jail.

It's too bad they don't know I'm a researcher at the nation's secret research center. They also have no idea that they've stolen highly radioactive materials—they can easily be killed by those.

I left some materials I was transporting for work at home, but they disappeared overnight.

Neil Jackson was out of town at the time. The only other person who had the keys to my house was Lorraine Larsen, who had a suspiciously close relationship with him.

Not daring to take this lightly, I reported the theft to the police.

Lorraine was called to the police station. She looked visibly shaken when she arrived. "I know you hate me, Sandra," she said tearfully, "but you can't just pin any crime on me."

Neil was agitated. "Lorraine has already lost her baby because of you. Why can't you just leave her alone?"

Because of me?

How could he even say that?

A few days ago, I returned from a business trip and found him lying on the bed with Lorraine as they browsed maternity products online.

I immediately broke up with Neil, but he refused to make it mutual.

Lorraine, on the other hand, disappeared for a couple of days. When she turned up again, her face was pale.

"I've aborted the baby, Sandra. Please stop being angry with Neil."

It was a cunning move—with that, she managed to worsen our already fragile relationship.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on personal grievances.

"The stolen item contains pure Iridium-192. It is a lethal radioactive material," I told the police.

The police officer I was talking to turned serious. "That is incredibly dangerous. We have to find it. If any of you took it, return it right now. Stealing something like this will land you in prison!"

His sharp gaze swept over us.

Hearing that, Lorraine began crying.

Neil also became anxious. "Lorraine is a public figure. She would never steal anything. We have surveillance footage to prove it."

Lorraine was a moderately popular live streamer. Public opinion was important to her livelihood.

For safety reasons, we had installed security cameras in the corridor outside our apartment. However, when I heard Neil's confident tone, I suddenly had a bad feeling.

The surveillance footage showed that I was the only one who had entered and exited the apartment. Lorraine was nowhere to be seen—in fact, there was nobody else in the corridor at all.

"This can't be!" I blurted out.

Lorraine and Neil looked as if they had been expecting this all along.

I suddenly realized that this was a trap.

They must have tampered with the evidence before this.

Sure enough, Neil raised his arm and pointed at me. "It's you! You stole it and cried wolf!" he accused with righteous conviction.

The arm that had once embraced me was now pointed at me, firm and unyielding.

I met his gaze. "Do you know what you're saying?"

If I were found guilty of stealing the Iridium, I would be facing prison time.

Did he really hate me that much?