Chapter 253
About 10 minutes later, Mandy came out feeling completely refreshed. Ethan took away the wet clothes, saying they would be washed, dried, and returned later.
Mandy hadn’t expected the service at the Cosmos to be this good – she opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“What’s the situation at the scene?” asked Chris.
Mandy waved her hand and took a big gulp of water. “It’s complicated. There was quite a lot of media present; it was chaotic. No one dared to fight me for the headline when they saw I was from Hurricane Media, but as soon as any of the Hall family members came out, they all swarmed over.”
Jaden served Mandy some hot food. “Why did you say that Luke’s still alive?”
“Based on what I know about Elfa.” Mandy took a bite of the food and her body gradually started warming up. She said, “If the one who kidnapped Luke really was Michael, then Luke would definitely suffer terribly – but he wouldn’t die so easily. Elfa, or Michael, loved to torture people when he was abroad.”
During the time Mandy had been secretly gathering information, she had already collected quite a bit of evidence on Elfa’s abuse. But once Elfa whitewashed himself and returned to the country under the identity of Michael, that evidence became unusable. In Cheria, Elfa was a completely new person – not just a representation of Michael.
“Has Luke offended Michael?” Mandy asked in confusion.
Nina laughed. “Not exactly offended. It was probably just… jealousy over power and inheritance. Two men fighting over a bit of family property – Michael might’ve been joking, but Luke was serious. Both of them played tricks, openly and behind each other’s backs. Michael’s such a petty man – what on earth did Jessica ever see in him?”
Chris was rendered speechless.
That was a question not only Nina wanted to ask; anyone who knew about that past relationship wondered the same.
“Michael acted so weak and harmless in front of Jessica. It was quite a bitchy behavior. Even I didn’t notice anything off,” Roy said angrily, thinking of how he was letting Michael roam free. “I’ve said before – if we’d just arrested Michael and locked him up for a few days, I’d have had all the evidence I needed. But you all said no.”
Roy always needed to know the evidence or motive before making a move. As soon as he had either one, he would make a move. But Chris and the others were always thinking about the bigger picture, which often led to missing plenty of good opportunities.
Chris said, “Alright, I know it was a mistake. Aren’t we making up for it now?”
While speaking, Chris kept glancing at his phone. The signal at Montvue Tower really was poor. Usually, after sending several messages, it would take over half an hour before Jessica replied.
“Tomorrow I’m going to investigate Michael. This is the first time I’ve ever needed an appointment to question a suspect. Michael comes back from abroad and suddenly everything seems to have become very complicated!”
Mandy said, “In foreign countries, unless you’re suspected in a major case, if you have status and background, then yes – you need an appointment. In more serious cases, you might not even get to meet the suspect. You’d only meet their representative, who answers questions on their behalf.”
Roy was rendered speechless. Back in his years abroad, Roy would just lower his head and hunt down the person, no matter what. Once found, they were arrested – end of story. None of this hassle.
“Based on what you know about Elfa, where do you think Michael would keep someone?” Jaden asked Mandy again.
Mandy thought for a moment. “At Aitairy, Elfa had an entire floor dedicated to holding people.”
Seeing everyone’s surprised look, Mandy nodded. “Yes, that’s right – an entire floor, filled with all kinds of rooms. During my investigation, there were at least a dozen people being held there.”