N-A-A Chapter 59: The Situation is Complex
Chapter 59: The Situation is Complex
The vintage car bumped along the streets of Lockston, Smith gripping the steering wheel and glancing occasionally at the passenger seat beside him.
"Senior, why the sudden trip to 108 Rockston Street? What's going on with the jewelry exhibition?"
"A patrolman is dead."
"What?!" Upon hearing the news, Smith's hand trembled, causing the old car to accidentally carve an S-shape on the road.
After regaining his senses, he quickly pressed, "Wasn't yesterday the last day of the exhibition? Did someone break into the exhibition hall at night and kill someone?"
"They weren't bandits. But the exact cause of death is still unclear; we'll investigate."
Luo Qiu leaned back in the passenger seat, his gaze fixed on the gray sky outside the window, his face expressionless.
Half an hour ago, when Lekla pulled him into his office, he suspected something had happened in the exhibition hall. He never imagined it would involve a life.
In my memory, although Mr. Moran was strange, he didn't seem like a superhuman who would attack ordinary people.
This made his thoughts explode at that moment.
Ultimately, because things happened so suddenly, he didn't get much information from Lake. He only learned that Hammond, upon learning what had happened, immediately had everyone stay at the scene and sealed it off.
The truth is still waiting for him to investigate.
……
Ten minutes later, Smith hurriedly drove the car to the vicinity of the showroom.
Luo Qiu turned off the engine, got out of the car, and immediately saw Hammond waiting at the entrance of the showroom.
Hammond seemed like a completely different person when I met him this time compared to the first time.
He was still wearing that well-tailored dark gray suit, but the top two buttons of his collar were undone, and his tie was slightly askew. His hair was no longer perfectly styled; a few stray strands hung loosely over his forehead, as if he had been scratching it repeatedly.
Of course, if it were any other ordinary person in this situation, they would probably be in a much worse state than Hammond.
As Hammond saw Roch arrive, he managed to suppress his voice and force out a few words:
"Let's see the scene first."
After Hammond finished speaking, he led the way to the patrolmen's lounge at the back of the exhibition hall.
Smith had doubts throughout the journey.
Hammond said, "Let's see it in person first," and that "first" made him uneasy. As Smith walked through the exhibition hall, he noticed that all the display cases were empty. While it was highly likely that Hammond had ordered the jewelry to be put away, it still made him think of something.
However, upon arriving at the lounge, Smith was immediately brought back to his senses by the situation on the ground.
The rest area was about 15 or 16 square meters. There was an iron bed against the wall, a long table next to it, and a metal cabinet in the corner. The metal cabinet was used to store uniforms and tools and was kept closed. The iron bed was for patrolmen on their days off to take a short break. It only had a simple mattress and pillow on it.
The dead patrolman was lying on the bed in his uniform, his eyes closed, as if he were asleep.
On the table next to the iron bed, there were three mugs, an open bag of cookies, and a magazine that was half-opened; the contents were readily apparent.
"Agent Smith, you're finally here. That was terrifying."
"Derek said he was sleepy and needed to rest, so we let him lie down on the bed. But when we checked on him again half an hour later, he wasn't breathing..."
"What's going on? Is Derek sick?"
At the entrance to the break room, the patrolmen on night duty huddled together.
After Derek's death, the lounge became a forbidden zone. Everyone seemed terrified, yet they couldn't help but gather around and discuss it.
Their work hours had ended, but they couldn't leave even after Hammond ordered the exhibition hall to be locked down, so many people erupted in anticipation when Smith appeared.
Smith reached out to stop the people from making endless noise, and his first action was to check on the condition of the deceased.
He rolled his eyes, examined his mouth and nose, lowered his head to smell the odor, and then his expression turned serious.
"Senior, Derek has white foam at the corner of his mouth, and his face is a bit bluish, it looks like..."
"Please have the coroner come here."
……
Luo Qiu knew what Smith wanted to say—poisoning.
Although he didn't get close enough to examine the body closely, his considerable experience allowed him to spot something unusual about it at first glance.
Although Derek was most likely murdered, the method was not typical of someone with superhuman abilities. Luo Qiu showed no outward sign of this, but inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief.
While waiting for the coroner to arrive, Roch asked Smith to maintain order and gather clues in the surrounding area, while he followed Hammond to a room at the other end of the corridor.
There was another important matter that the two needed to discuss privately.
Pushing open the door, Luo Qiu saw an elderly man wearing glasses at the only table. Hammond introduced him as follows:
"This is Mr. Goodman, a senior member of the Federal Gemological Institute."
Luo Qiu nodded, sat down at the table, lowered his voice, and asked directly:
"Are you sure? How many pieces of jewelry were damaged?"
"Two items, the ruby and the pocket watch."
Hammond lowered his voice as well, but his tone was one of annoyance. He then gestured to Goodman, who pulled two items from under the table.
A dark red gemstone, and a gold pocket watch.
"I came over immediately after the incident, put all the jewelry in a safe, and handed it over to Mr. Goodman for inspection."
"Both of these are fakes, of course, Detective Luo Qiu should be able to tell... Someone used these things to swap for those two treasures. I think this matter is related to the dead patrolman, but he shouldn't have known the combination to the display case."
After listening to Hammond's account, Luo Qiu also looked at the two counterfeit goods.
The ruby's color was similar to the "Crown Jewel" in his memory, but its luster was dull, and the fire on its facets seemed to be suppressed by something, unable to shine through. The pocket watch's dial, on the other hand, had become shiny, its surface, which should have been dull, turned from an antique color to a freshly forged gold.
It certainly looks like a clear illusion.
However, in the innate vision, these two items were also emitting a faint red glow.
This must be the work of Mr. Moran, but I don't know exactly how he did it.
After gathering these thoughts together, Luo Qiu asked Hammond:
"Mr. Hammond, I understand the situation. Now, I'd like to know, to what extent do you intend to limit this investigation? Investigate the patrolman and then follow the clues to find out where the treasure went? Or…?"
"The investigation of the treasure must be conducted in secrecy."
When this topic came up, Hammond's attitude became resolute.
"Although the loss of over a million kroner is bad news for the company, our glass has already gained market share. And this incident doesn't seem to be related to the quality of the glass, so let's not drag the company into it."
"Investigate the jewelry, Detective Luo Qiu. You can do it discreetly. If you can't find it... I hope it won't affect the company."
"Okay, I'll try my best."
……