Chapter 488 Nightmare Tattoo
After Zeke was sent to the hospital, every major media outlet released fresh reports on Citron Apparel. As Courtney stood in the hospital corridor, she read through the reports one by one with her back against the wall as her face unconsciously expressed her fatigue.
‘Horrifying! Today, a large number of people marched in front of Citron Apparel to hold a demonstration. People in the know revealed shocking secrets that the black-hearted manufacturer, Citron Apparel, used toxic fabrics for profiteering, and now, more than ten employees have been diagnosed with leukemia…’
Courtney felt a little annoyed halfway through reading the article, so she put her phone back in her pocket.
Just then, Linda showed up and handed her a can of coffee before leaning against the wall with her. Her face also showed a sense of tiredness.
“If you have any legal problems, you can ask Caleb for help.”
Courtney nodded and poured the entire can of coffee down her throat.
Meanwhile, Zeke was left in Angie’s care while Courtney visited the ICU to accompany Scott for a while. At the same time, her phone did not seem to stop ringing, so she quickly went back to Citron Apparel in frustration.
“Mr. Chapman, we can dissolve our collaboration right away if you have any concerns. After all, it is our company’s reputation that has gone haywire, so we won’t pursue legal action for any breach of contract.”
In the evening, Courtney canceled all the orders that she previously worked hard to obtain. After hanging up her phone, she pinched her eyes to release some stress. However, her phone started ringing again after several moments.
“Hello?” Someone spoke on the other end.
“Oliver?”
…
Inside the quiet Japanese restaurant, Courtney sat across from Oliver. After he finished ordering their food, she almost fell asleep as she lay against the couch with her eyes barely open.
“If you want to eat Japanese food, we could’ve gone to the one near my company. Why did we have to travel so far?”
With that, she looked around her surroundings. When Courtney took in the dim lights, slightly greasy door curtains, and the not so elaborate open cooktop, she found it hard to see what attracted Oliver here.
“The portions are bigger here,” Oliver said faintly before taking out a pile of documents from the briefcase he was carrying. He cut to the chase and said, “These are documents of the two surveillance videos you sent me before. I have picked out several suspicious elements.”
“What do you mean?”
She looked through the thick pile of video screenshots, but she couldn’t see anything suspicious. However, when she saw that some of these photos weren’t taken from the videos she had sent, she realized that the situation wasn’t as simple as it seemed. At that moment, her eyes darkened.
Oliver first picked out some photos and placed them in front of her. “These are from the video of Natasha falling down the stairs, and we found something based on the recording. Take a look here.”
She followed the direction of his fingers that were pointing at the third photo, and she realized that it was a magnified image. It was so enlarged that she couldn’t point out which body part it was.
“This is the back of the woman’s hand. After zooming in, we refined the photo and saw that she has a tattoo on the back of her hand—just like this one.”
Then, he pointed at another photo. It was an image of a young plant with two leaves and a crescent moon clearly imprinted on the hand.
“It’s just a tattoo. What could it mean?”
She still couldn’t understand the situation. When she looked up, she saw that Oliver’s eyes had gradually darkened.
“A year ago, the Vietnamese police uncovered a major drug trafficking case. This drug trafficking gang uses religious beliefs to enlist the hearts of people, and the organization has gradually formed its own massive operation. Their so-called religion is called Crescent Church, and this tattoo is their symbol.”
Courtney was shocked. “Are you saying that she is a member of Crescent Church? Does that mean she is Vietnamese?”
He did not deny her speculations as he spread out another set of photos, which had been taken from the hospital’s surveillance video. At that moment, Courtney’s eyes lit up as she felt a chilling sensation lingering inside her body.
“What’s the problem with these?”
“The hospital’s surveillance cameras were too far away, and we couldn’t get a clear view since the incident happened at midnight too. As such, I looked through all the hospital’s surveillance footage that night and finally found this man in front of the washroom on the second floor.”
From the last photo, she could tell that it wasn’t taken from the surveillance videos she had given him, but it was enough to send shivers down her spine. Her trembling eyes could no longer restrain her shock.
“He’s from Crescent Church as well, isn’t he?”
Oliver nodded.
In the photo, there was a man with a face mask and a baseball cap; he had just come out of the washroom. He was squatting on the floor while tying his shoelaces, but from the image of him lowering his head, Courtney could clearly see the symbol of the ‘Crescent Church’ tattooed on the back of his neck.
Oliver’s investigation further confirmed her suspicions, but when all the facts were now laid out in front of her, it still felt a little overwhelming.
When Oliver saw how her face slowly turned pale, he lowered his eyes and pursed his lips. In fact, he looked as though he was considering something.
“Actually, there’s one more thing…”
His hand was holding the last photo.
At the moment, she felt as though the world in front of her was shaking while tiny sweat drops quietly dripped down her back and forehead. She felt a pain in her stomach, but she resisted it by gritting her teeth.
“Say it.”
The last photo Oliver placed in front of her was a photo of the demonstration in front of Citron Apparel today evening. It was the same photo that all the media outlets had used for their report this evening, but the angle was rather weird. From the looks of it, it had been taken from the windowsill of Citron Apparel’s building. As for who took the photo, Courtney also had her doubts.
However, this wasn’t the problem Oliver was trying to point out.
He then moved his finger toward a man in the middle of the photo. Even though it wasn’t particularly clear, she could immediately recognize the tattoo on the back of the man’s neck who happened to lower his head.
Again, it was the Crescent Church.
However, she was no longer shocked as her eyes radiated calmness, but the obvious pain in her body forced her to hold onto the tablecloth, turning the flat green tablecloth into disarray.
“I’m tired, Oliver. Send me back home.” Her voice was hoarse.
She got up after finishing her sentence. Oliver could sense that something was wrong, so he quickly followed her. The second her foot was about to step out of the restaurant, she halted and hesitated for a while before turning back. When her eyes were fixed on the decorative wall next to the bar, her entire body began to tremble.
She turned her head around and met Oliver’s eyes, and he nodded in response to her pleading look.
“He works the night shift every day, but he hasn’t clocked in yet.”
The moment Oliver’s words came out, Courtney suddenly felt as though something had exploded next to her ears. With that, the world around her seemed to be spinning while Oliver’s worried expression gradually became blurry in her eyes.
“I think I’m—”
Her words were cut off abruptly before she collapsed completely.
Immediately, Oliver carried her to the car. As they drove away, there was a photo of a middle-aged man wearing a face mask and uniform serving the customers some wine on the decorative wall of the restaurant. The man in the photo had a unique tattoo on his neck that was more eye-catching than his muscular body.
