Chapter 165 Searching For Clues

"So, what were you doing around 14:00?" Investigator Hais asked one of the students he hadn't interviewed yet.

The student looked at his watch and said, "I was in the gym, training. Jimmy can testify about this; he was with me..." The investigator nodded to the student, who answered almost immediately.

"There was someone else there that day besides Jimmy?" the investigator asked.

"Plenty. The gym tends to become very busy during these hours..." replied the young man standing in front of him as if it had been evident from the beginning.

"Who's Jimmy? A friend or a member here?" asked Detective Hais, looking at the student. "He is a friend of mine. We started training recently since we will go to military school in September..."

"Is this Jimmy's surname Morel, perhaps?" the detective asked.

"Yes, sir..."

The investigator strongly believed it was all Erik's doing; however, he didn't want to accuse an innocent young man, so he tried to do his job without any bias. It was better to go by exclusion instead of randomly accusing him.

Hais observed the young man in front of him with a pensive look. He seemed like an honest kid, but he could be simply good at lying.

The detective continued observing the young man until his mother came into the room. She walked up to her son and patted her head, knowing well what his son had to endure. She then turned to look at the investigator, "So, do you have an idea what could have happened?" she asked.

"I have a general idea. However, I still need to exclude other suspects..."

"Do you think it was a student?" The woman asked.

Hais kept his poker face and then replied to the woman, "No, I'm just trying to explore all the possibilities. I also have to refute other's people words and make conclusions based on the evidence before making a decision."

"I get it... I hope you will be able to find out what happened..."

Hais then looked at the woman and her son. "It must not be simple for you, am I wrong?" Logan, Conal, and Orson tormented the young man too. They went several times to the police and even talked to their parents. Still, they dismissed everything as 'kids making kids' mistakes' every time.

"It's easier than I thought..." the young man said.

The interview went on for half an hour. The investigator asked the young man multiple questions and jotted down whatever he said to avoid forgetting about it.

Later, the man went to find another one of the students he didn't interview yet and did the same thing. However, once he was done, he knew there was still much to do since he had to check whether what the young men and women said was true.

He went to talk to the school staff, students, and even parents and was able, in the end, to exclude all these people. The only one he was missing now was Erik Romano. However, the investigator didn't want to accuse him without proof, as he could still be innocent. He knew a student did this and that the awakener was his best lead; however, he needed to exclude the others with a hundred percent certainty.

Though, If he was right and the young man really did what he believed he did, it was clear that the police already knew it and that they protected him. Here a problem appeared: what was he going to do if that was true? Confront the young man? Tell the parents? Alert the police? In the first case, the young man would probably run away. If he told the parents, they would probably try to enact justice and kill the young man, and if he told the police, they would surely arrest or, worst, kill him.

However, that was something he was going to think about later. For now, Detective Hais decided to go search for clues in the northern district, especially to the house of a local farmer, a man called mister Fox, Erik's employer, who recently passed away. For that reason, he headed to the train station.

Multiple people were walking down the streets, as many of them were returning home after a long day of work. Some of those heading towards the city center stopped to chat while others continued. As far as Hais could see, most conversations involved the weather, gossiping over the latest news, or talking about someone else's misfortune.

Hais walked through the crowd, avoiding anyone coming close to him. He wanted no trouble from any of the people here today. All he cared about was solving the crime and returning to his house safely.

The man arrived at the train station after a short while, and then he waited for the train to arrive. He had to pick train number 113, the same one Conal, Logan, and Orson took when they were last seen.

As he boarded the train, he activated his brain crystal power, and immediately, his ability to think increased twofold. One of his brains observed the surroundings and tried to search for clues while the other process the information he was receiving. This meant that nothing could go unnoticed by the detective.

It was then that the investigator tried to reconstruct the chasing scene. He imagined the masked student entering the train and the three bullies chasing after him.

He then recalled the people he saw sitting on the train that he saw from the footage and slowly started walking to the other side of the train, as it was clear from the images that the masked student ran toward the end of the train.

Then, as he ended up on a certain carriage, he noticed a tiny blood drop. It wouldn't have been possible without his brain crystal power.

Immediately, he assumed that either Logan, Conal, or Orson had fallen and hit their head or that a scuffle had broken out.

However, this second case was unlikely since many people were inside the carriages. Besides, from the video footage, the investigator clearly saw two police officers inside one of the carriages. He imagined the masked student sitting where the police were in order to stop the other three from attacking him.

Like that, he arrived at the northern district, with his imagination still going freely. He saw the students come out from the train, and the chase resumed.

However, this was where detective Hais had to stop since he had no available data to determine what had happened.

Nonetheless, he thought his prediction was pretty accurate. As the detective left the train, he walked toward Mister Fox's farm and noted all the properties and farms along the way.

The next day he was going to interview all these people to see if they noticed something weird if the police came to talk to them. If the latter case was true, it meant that the police knew it was Erik and that they were covering him.

After a while, the investigator arrived at Mister Fox's farm. There were still police tapes placed in front of the property, as it was a crime scene.

Hais entered the main gate and followed the evidence markers trail leading into the building. His first priority would be to check the place where the body was found.

He made sure not to touch anything as he approached the door to the house. After peeking inside, he quickly realized why the police tape was present: the whole area was covered in blood.

The investigator started recording with his camera, hoping to find enough evidence to solve the mystery. He then started wondering where he could find such evidence inside the house. Maybe Erik left a note or a clue about what he did that day. Maybe, Mister Fox kept track of when his employees came to work. That would give him a window of time to focus on.

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