Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 13 Yan's Story
Do you remember the story about infidelity that Yan told everyone at Evelyn's tavern tonight before we came to the law enforcement office?

Correct.

The method of the crime was the same as Yan's low-class story, except that the people listening to the story were observing from God's perspective, so the people in the tavern only thought that Yan hiding in the closet was ridiculous.

But if the God's-eye view is changed to the mistress's husband's perspective, it's a completely different experience...

……

"I have something to tell you, but you have to promise me you won't rush after you hear it."

Milo waved to Rebecca.

"Go ahead, I'm listening." Rebecca rested her hand on the hilt of the knife at her hip, indicating that she was very calm.

Milo took a deep breath.

“When I first came here, I said that the way that kid looked at me made me feel very strange and uncomfortable, remember?”

“Of course I remember. I’ve never met a man as pretentious as you before,” Rebecca retorted without any politeness.

Milo was too lazy to argue with her, and simply continued:

"Looking back now, her reaction to fear was even more intense than when she was locked in the storage room. At least then she could still speak, but this time she didn't dare to utter a sound. You might say it was a lingering effect of excessive fright, but now it seems that might not be the case..."

"What do you mean?" Rebecca didn't understand for the moment.

Milo turned to Rebecca and asked, "Haven't you considered the possibility that it's not that she doesn't want to talk, but that she's afraid to?"

“Dare not? But, that’s not right. I told her many times when I brought her back from the church that this is the safest place in all of Nanwei City. I said I would definitely protect her… And from her perspective, you and I are the ones who saved her. Shouldn’t she feel safer with us? Why is she afraid to speak?” Rebecca still didn’t understand.

With his back to the archives, Milo calmly stared into Rebecca's eyes and uttered a speculation that sent chills down Rebecca's spine:

"What if, from her perspective, there were more than just you and me present?"

……

"It's not just you and me..."

Rebecca quickly recalled the events in her mind.

When Daisy was first brought back, everything seemed normal, and she was willing to speak. She even made the request to see Milo herself.

But after seeing Milo, her reactions became very abnormal: she trembled, remained silent, and looked terrified.

Milo even misunderstood for a moment, thinking that his appearance was the cause of Daisy's reaction.

……

According to Milo's current speculation, there was not only Milo, Rebecca, and Daisy in the archives at that time, but also a fourth "person".

Furthermore, Milo and Rebecca were completely unaware of this; only Daisy knew of the existence of that "person."

From Milo and Rebecca's perspective, all they see is a pitiful child who has just experienced a horrific event.

But from Daisy's perspective, besides the two people who had saved her, there was also a pair of evil eyes lurking in the shadows, constantly warning her not to say anything reckless...

……

Rebecca gasped.

Once you put yourself in Daisy's shoes and imagine those few short minutes, you instantly feel your hair stand on end; it's a feeling of loneliness and despair.

"You mean, the murderer didn't enter the archives room to commit the crime during the ten or so minutes we were there; he was in the archives room the whole time?!"

Rebecca's voice trembled slightly.

"There are so many boxes, shelves, and files piled up here. Hiding one person, or even five or six, wouldn't be a problem." Milo kicked a box of files, anger gradually rising in his eyes.

"Only this explanation makes sense: the killer was already hiding in the archives before you and I came back, and he may have even assaulted Daisy before we entered the room. But because we suddenly came back, he stopped and threatened Daisy, then hid in the room. That's why Daisy had that strange reaction when she saw us. She was scared, but she didn't dare to say anything... After we left the room, the killer continued to commit the crime silently."

"Where is he now?!"

Rebecca's eyes were already filled with murderous intent, and a brand-new pistol was already in her hand at her waist.

In this state, if Milo randomly points to someone and says "it's him," Rebecca might not hesitate to rip a hole in that person's skull.

After all, this kind of thing is simply unacceptable.

Because both Rebecca and Milo had the opportunity to protect Daisy, but simply because they lowered their guard, the murderer managed to kill Daisy from just a door away.

Most importantly, Rebecca failed to detect any distress signal in Daisy's eyes when they met.

I can't imagine how desperate Daisy must have felt as she sat in the chair, closing the door behind her as she left the archives...

This is why Rebecca was furious.

She really couldn't hold it in anymore.

What broke her most was Milo's next sentence:

"I do not know."

Click!

Milo heard the sound of Rebecca's gun bolt.

He sighed:
"Before there is any concrete evidence, these are all just speculations. How would I know who the murderer is? I was with you when we took the person to the hospital. The murderer must have slipped out of the archives during that time. I was completely clueless too, sister."

"..."

Rebecca gripped the gun, her chest heaving.

They stared at each other in a stalemate for a while before she finally put the pistol away again.

“Right, calming down will improve the efficiency of the investigation.” Milo shook his head:

"Let me first go over some things I just thought of." He walked to the round table and pulled out the coachman's death certificate.

"The person who died in the suburbs is definitely related to the murderer. They may know each other. A week ago, you ordered Daisy to be taken to church. The only people who knew about this were you, the coachman, and the two law enforcement officers. As we all know, the carriage was not on any road to the church. So either the coachman and the murderer were in cahoots, or the coachman wasn't even in the carriage at the time, and the murderer was driving it. Because he knew the coachman, he was able to know your order in time."

"Adding to what just happened, if my speculation is correct, then the murderer must be very familiar with the inside of the law enforcement agency. He not only knows where you placed Daisy, but also the exact time."

“So this person must not be an outsider who sneaked into the law enforcement office, but someone from inside the office.” Daisy immediately understood Milo’s meaning.

“Whether it was the incident with the carriage or tonight, the murderer, as an employee of the law enforcement agency, must have entered and exited the agency multiple times. If I remember correctly, everyone entering and exiting the law enforcement agency is required to register their identity, even law enforcement officers,” Milo added casually.

"I'll go get the notebook."

Rebecca dashed downstairs in a flash.

……

The logbook clearly records all personnel entering and leaving the law enforcement office, including the time.

Milo's original idea was to narrow down the possibilities by combining the entry and exit records for tonight and the night of the carriage murder.

Given the premise that the murderer is an employee of the law enforcement agency, then regardless of whether the murderer is currently in the agency or not, there will at least be a record of the murderer's entry in the logbook.

On the day of the carriage murder, the murderer must have had records of entering and leaving the law enforcement office.

By comparing and filtering names that match, the suspect is naturally identified.

However, while the idea is simple, its implementation is extremely complicated.

On the day of the carriage murder, almost all the on-duty law enforcement officers were mobilized, and the entry and exit records alone were dozens of pages long.

……

The two of them split all the entry and exit records and laid them out on the desktop to filter by name.

Among these densely packed names, Milo saw the names of Old Kang and Yan from the day of the carriage murder, as well as the name of the church's Dilasi.

However, none of that matters. The key point is that almost every day, there are some record columns on the paper where a horizontal line is drawn directly across the paper, without recording the name.

Milo pointed to the lines on the record sheet: "What are these?"

“The kitchen or cleaning staff are all regular employees of the law enforcement office. Because they are all familiar faces, the records weren’t written in such detail,” Rebecca explained.

"A familiar face... in the kitchen."

Milo suddenly remembered something.

He dropped the record sheet in his hand, turned around, and walked downstairs:
"Damn it, I completely forgot about this. When I went to the kitchen to find something to eat just now, there was no one there, but the stove was still on."

Rebecca immediately realized what was happening and quickly followed.

Since the murderer might be an employee of the law enforcement agency, the kitchen and cleaning staff cannot be ruled out as suspects.

……

...

Five minutes later.

A chubby middle-aged man was forced onto a chair in the small dark room by Milo and Rebecca.

"Click."

Rebecca immediately chained the fat man's hands to the table, just like Milo had been treated on the day of the carriage murder.

"Go ahead."

Rebecca crossed her arms and glared fiercely at the fat man.

The middle-aged man looked completely bewildered and nervously stared at the two menacing-looking young men in front of him: "Say... what do you want me to say?"

Where were you an hour ago?

"I...I'm in the kitchen. I need to prepare midnight snacks for everyone on duty at this hour," the chubby uncle stammered.

“That’s not right. I just went to the kitchen and heated up a pot of milk before leaving. There was no one there.” Milo shook his head.

"That's impossible! I've been busy the whole time. When did you come here... Milk, oh, so it was the milk you took."

Swish!
Rebecca didn't have much patience. She grabbed the fat man by the collar and lifted him off the chair with one hand: "If he says he didn't see it, then he definitely didn't see it. You'd better tell me the truth."

"Huh?...Me, an hour ago...Ah! I remember now."

"I returned the food delivery cart to the vendor when I was not in the kitchen."

The middle-aged man answered haltingly.

Milo immediately pulled out the entry and exit log and indeed found a line from an hour ago, at 11:50 p.m., which was about the time Rebecca and Daisy met at the tavern entrance.

The record of the fat uncle's return was just a few minutes ago.

He was not lying.

……

"That's quite a coincidence."

Rebecca gave Milo an inquiring look.

Milo followed up with the question:

"A cart for transporting ingredients? Let's talk about carts then."

(End of this chapter)