♡ TL: Khadija SK
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She thought he would ask about the matter regarding Kno Dearg mansion.
However, when something she thought no one else knew came out of his mouth, Jin-ah couldn’t help but be flustered.
“No, I….”
“You went up to the 14th floor of the hotel, didn’t you?”
At the inspector’s accusatory words, she instinctively leaned back.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just working in the hotel restaurant yesterday.”
The words to defend herself spilled out reflexively. The moment they did, Inspector Haywood’s eyes curved softly.
“I never said yesterday.”
“…….”
Biting her lip over the evidence she had unintentionally given away, Jin-ah stared again at the man sitting in front of her. Just moments ago, he had seemed like nothing more than a handsome, disheveled, and slightly cheeky policeman, but now he had become someone to be wary of.
As her expression hardened, the inspector clasped his hands and stretched them behind his head, leaning halfway back into his chair and slowly rotating his stiff neck.
“There’s no need to be so cautious. I’m not after that young lord; I’m after Jeremy Carrington. The bastard who was taken to the hospital yesterday with his face smashed in. That guy causes such chaos every year-end, so I thought I’d finally nab him this time.”
“…….”
Jeremy. She knew that name. The other man who had been trying to stop Ian had yelled at Jeremy for what he was doing.
Jin-ah quietly searched for the name Jeremy Carrington on her phone. As soon as she typed it, a picture of him appeared, wearing a prestigious public school uniform.
Though his face in the photo looked far younger than what she saw yesterday, he was undoubtedly the man who had tried to pin her down and inject her with drugs.
She even found a page about him and clicked on it. Immediately, the name of a large conglomerate, one as well-known to her as Aylesford’s, popped up. To top it off, there was even a title of nobility.
‘No wonder the hotel staff were so servile.’
She could now understand why they were so desperate to keep her quiet.
“As you might know, the aftermath of those wild nights can be quite severe. A few days after last year’s party, three people were found dead. This year… well, we’ll have to wait a few days to see what happens.”
“…….”
“So I was keeping watch again this year. How many people went in, when and in what state they came out.”
That must have been the reason he looked so exhausted.
“But… this year, the host left a little early, didn’t he? My source leaked to me that Ian Aylesford was behind it. The problem is I failed to get any more information beyond that. So I was about to pull out when you left the hotel. A person who entered through the staff entrance yesterday exited today through the guest entrance that leads to the river. And your clothes had completely changed, too.”
The realization that he had known her every movement, even if he didn’t know what had happened inside, sent a chill down Jin-ah’s spine.
“……I’m pretty sure spying on people like this isn’t exactly legal, Inspector.”
“No one lives completely by the law.”
She agreed with him, but it wasn’t something a policeman should say.
As Jin-ah continued to remain silent, the inspector crumpled the already crushed paper cup further, asking another question.
“Did you sleep with Ian Aylesford? Or was it Jeremy Carrington?”
“Hey, you—!”
That question finally made Jin-ah lose her composure and shout. However, Inspector Haywood remained unfazed. He unclasped his hands, stifled a small yawn, and said,
“Haaah. So you didn’t sleep with them. Well, then, that’s that.”
“…….”
Was this sexual harassment? Or police intimidation?
She wanted to yell back at him, saying something like, ‘Do you think I’d sleep with bastards like that? I’ll report you and file a complaint right now.’ But doing so would mean bringing up what happened at the hotel again.
Seeing the smirk on Inspector Haywood’s face, she was certain of it. This man knew she wouldn’t file a report over this.
To prove his point, he shook the signed document Jin-ah had handed over earlier before tucking it into his bag.
“I asked, ‘Who’s going to look at this?’ Didn’t I? My superior does. I get so many complaints, you see.”
Jin-ah clenched her phone tightly in her hand. It felt like she’d encountered every single jerk she could in the span of two days.
“If that’s all you wanted to ask, then we’re done here. I’ll be going now, so could you at least give me the contact information of whoever’s in charge of the Kno-Dearg case…?”
“It’s me.”
“……?”
“I’m the one in charge of that case. So please, sit back down, Miss Jin-ah Troll.”
As Jin-ah looked at him with suspicion, he pulled a few documents from his bag. Among them were photos of the Kno Dearg mansion, images of the victims, and the official investigation files.
Tapping his finger on the name at the bottom, the inspector said,
“I requested to personally handle this case when Ian Aylesford’s name got involved. That doesn’t mean I plan to take this matter lightly. I need to resolve it properly to ease some of the pressure from the Aylesford Group chairman.”
He shook his head and continued speaking.
“Do you know that chairman was practically out for blood, wanting to pin everything on you at first? He was furious because his precious grandson was hurt and wanted someone to take the blame. That’s how he could vent his anger—by convincing himself that it wasn’t his grandson’s fault but someone else’s. But now his anger has shifted elsewhere.”
“……To where?”
“To the missing Colin Parker. But there are some strange aspects about his disappearance. The police investigating the case so far have concluded that he fled out of fear after seeing his team members unconscious, assuming they were dead. I mean, of course, he must’ve been terrified. Imagine: sneaking into a mansion at his suggestion only for a corporate heir, one protected under his grandfather’s mighty influence, to end up dead. He must have thought his life was completely ruined.”
The inspector stopped there, glanced at the café menu, and then stood up. He walked to the counter, showed his ID, and mumbled something to the barista before returning with a hot cup of coffee.
Apparently, free things weren’t limited to just transportation for him.
“But in that basement, there was love and friendship. Camille Jenkins, one of the female team members, was Colin’s lover. William was also a very old friend of his. Do you think someone like that would abandon everyone and flee alone out of a momentary fear and panic? Moreover…”
He blew on his coffee to cool it before taking a sip, then continued.
“You saw Evans raging earlier, so you know—he keeps insisting that Colin Parker went down to the basement. At first, we thought he was rambling nonsense because of the trauma. After all, everyone except William Evans claimed Colin checked on them and then left. But Evans’ cognitive abilities were perfectly intact. Most importantly…”
Inspector Haywood drained the now cooler coffee in one go, shrugged his shoulders, and said,
“There were footprints showing Colin Parker entered, but there were no footprints showing he left.”
Then, the inspector grabbed Jin-ah’s pen and lightly tapped the documents in front of him.
“There are three things that have disappeared in this case. The first is Colin Parker.”
His hand circled Colin’s name.
“The second is James McCoy’s arm.”
This time, he circled James’s name.
“And the third… is your grandmother’s body.”
Then, he drew a final circle around the name Frida Troll written in the corner of the document and continued.
“Do you know what these three have in common?”
At the inspector’s question, Jin-ah paused to think but shook her head. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t find a connection between the three.
Colin Parker and James McCoy may have been friends, but her grandmother likely had no connection to them in her entire life. What could possibly tie all three together?
“Think about it. It’s a very simple and significant connection. And both you and I share this same connection.”
The inspector’s words only made Jin-ah more puzzled. What common thread could exist between her grandmother, herself, and this man?
She thought about it for a long time, but no answer came to her. Eventually, she raised both hands in surrender.
“I honestly don’t know. What’s the connection?”
At that, the inspector tapped the paper cup in front of him.
“What’s this?”
“…A cup?”
“Correct. And what’s inside the cup?”
“Coffee.”
“Right. And this?”
“Are you joking? It’s a pen.”
“Exactly. Now, you and I?”
“…People.”
At Jin-ah’s answer, the inspector’s eyes curved as if she had given the correct response.
“Precisely. Everything that disappeared from the Kno Dearg mansion is…”
His fingers tapped the circles on the paper.
“People.”
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