After a while, the familiar sound of police sirens rang out.
Beep-beep-beep…
Three long beeps followed by a short one, echoing for quite some time, sending shivers down their spines.
For ordinary villagers living their mundane lives, having the police show up at their doorstep was no small matter, enough to stir up the entire village and attract everyone’s attention.
The men maintained a curious gaze;
The women found the police officers’ stern faces and intimidating presence unsettling.
Children were visibly excited to see actual police officers.
That’s when Gordon arrived.
Today, surprisingly, he wasn’t wearing his usual uniform but casual attire.
A black jacket paired with a white shirt, matching pants, and a pair of black handmade leather shoes on his feet.
Cheyenne couldn’t help but snark, “Mr. Murillo, isn’t your dressing a bit outdated? At first glance, I thought you were some retired cadre from a government department.”
Topped with his short, fierce haircut and a cold face, even before he spoke, the children screamed and ran away.
“Ah! The police is here to catch naughty kids! Run, everyone!”
He wouldn’t catch naughty kids; he would just give them a spanking.
However, upon hearing this, Cheyenne couldn’t help but burst into laughter, her voice carrying a teasing tone.
“I must say, Director Murillo, with that grim face of yours, it looks like someone owes you money. Look, you scared off all those children just now. Don’t be so serious.”
This man is the director of police?
The way Cheyenne addressed him made the village head’s legs go weak, and he nearly fell to his knees, but he managed to catch hold of his wife in time.
As the village head, the highest-ranking official he had ever seen was a secretary or a district head, let alone the director of police.
Once his thoughts settled, the village head forced a smile and, with a face more swollen than a pig’s head, approached Gordon.
At the same time, he reached into his pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes.
He politely took one out and held it out to the high-ranking official in front of him, his voice slightly stuttering, “Director Murillo… Hello, I am Tommy, the village head of Hurtlepool.”
Gordon looked at him expressionlessly, giving him a cold glance.
That glance frightened Tommy so much that goosebumps appeared all over his body. This director of police was truly awe-inspiring.
After a few seconds, he finally heard a light and airy voice from above, “I don’t smoke, thanks.”
Because the village head had been losing his hair since the age of twenty-five, he now had a Mediterranean hairstyle, and Gordon was taller than him.
This cool and casual “thanks” sounded above his head, causing the village head to feel a tingling sensation on his scalp, and he instinctively pulled his neck back into his collar.
Only when Gordon saw the familiar face of Cheyenne did his expression change slightly. “Why are you here? And why did you call the police? What happened exactly?”
He wasn’t typically an impatient person, so asking three questions in a row was already quite a change for him.
As old acquaintances, Cheyenne didn’t beat around the bush or waste time. She straightforwardly said, “I came here because I encountered a scammer, but it turned into a homicide case unexpectedly. So, I called the police.”
She stated it simply yet clearly, and Gordon nodded slightly.
“I understand.”
“Hmm.”
“Any suspects?”
Cheyenne lightly tapped her chin, imitating his aloof demeanor and said expressionlessly, “I’ll be straight with you, in my mind, there are four suspects.”
“Hmm?”
Four!
What suspects? And she had come up with four.
Not to mention the villagers being confused, even Sean, who had accompanied Cheyenne, felt inexplicable.
More puzzling.
Gordon, however, brightened up. Cheyenne didn’t directly mention the names of those four suspects, indicating that she might still be considering other possibilities. He smiled slightly.
“I’ll ask you again later. For now, I’ll go in and take a look at the body.”
Cheyenne was still pondering Gordon’s “smile” just now. Did that count as a smile? With an unmoving face and furrowed brows, he barely lifted the corners of his lips… It was a terrifying, inscrutable smile.
Best not to dwell on it.
After all, she was a doctor, so it shouldn’t be a violation of the rules for her to go in and take a look at the body with the forensic comrade. And so, Cheyenne and the forensic expert entered the cabin together.
When they saw that the deceased was a little girl, everyone felt an unexplained heaviness in their hearts.
Gordon even clenched his fists, his knuckles bulging with anger.
“The fifth one this month…”
“Huh?”
What fifth one?
This time it was Cheyenne who was completely bewildered. She recalled some photos she had seen on the wall of the police station half a month ago.
It seemed that, just like Adrianna, the deceased were all girls. Thinking about how these innocent little girls had once been someone else’s cherished ones, but now they were gone forever, a surge of anger rose in Cheyenne’s heart.
This anger spurred her to feel an irresistible urge to find the murderer!
“Since the discovery of the body, I haven’t let anyone disturb the scene. No more than ten hours have passed since Adrianna went missing.”
“Get the photographers in here.”
The people brought by Gordon were all professional investigators, each knowing their job well.
The villagers were kept outside the house, helplessly watching the police officers going back and forth inside.
The forensic expert used a white cloth to cordon off the bed where Adrianna had slept, and began to examine the little girl’s body. Most people would have been too scared to even approach, but Gordon and Cheyenne stood quietly in place.
After a thorough inspection, the forensic expert reached his own conclusion and reported to Gordon, “There are two different types of bloodstains on Adrianna’s body. The blood that flowed from her chest is dark purple, almost black, indicating that it’s been there for some time.”
“While the blood on her skirt is bright red, so I speculate that this blood isn’t hers, but was intentionally caused by someone.”
“Her fatal wound isn’t the one on her chest, there should be another wound. I need to go back to the lab to conduct a comprehensive examination.”
“Alright, but you said the blood wasn’t Adrianna’s, then whose is it?”
Gordon glanced at the large patch of blood on the deceased’s chest, even staining the sheet. When he first entered the room, he even thought that the deceased had died from excessive bleeding that couldn’t be treated in time.
“Mr. Murillo, Adrianna came here with Nora and Yehuda’s two sons from the village. Now that Adrianna is dead and the other three are missing, this blood might belong to one of the three.”
Turns out there was this hidden story to the case. The forensic expert agreed, “It’s entirely possible, but we’ll need to match the blood to someone, and it won’t be easy to find those three who are currently missing.”