Chapter 571 Interlaced
Seeing that Leslie was spacing out while looking at her coffee cup, Jasper lit another cigarette. “Leslie, did you even listen to what I just said?”
“Huh?” After getting her thoughts interrupted, Leslie finally snapped back to her senses. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hoffman. There was something on my mind earlier. What did you say?”
Jasper flicked his cigarette over the ashtray. “It’s nothing. I was just saying how it must be tiring for you to be running about to solve the missing person case.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s my duty as a police officer,” Leslie answered with a smile.
“No. Your job is to analyze and deduce. Now that the mastermind is known to be Ryan, it’s time to carry out the search operation. What I’m trying to say is that your job is done, so I would like to give you a long break. You deserve to rest.”
Although Jasper had spoken nonchalantly, Leslie noticed that something was off. As the person in charge of the criminal investigation division in Summerbank, Jasper had always cared for his subordinates.
Yet, Leslie showcased excellent deduction skills in the missing person case. It was for sure she could get an award for it for being able to pinpoint the true mastermind through bits and pieces of clues. Thus, it was weird that Jasper had ordered her to go on a holiday when they were so close to capturing the mastermind.
No matter how one looked at it, it seemed that Jasper was discarding Leslie once he had no use for her and trying to take credit for her hard work.
Back then, Jasper had even mentioned how he wished Leslie could work twenty-four hours to solve cases in the criminal investigation division.
However, Jasper was now taking the initiative to grant Leslie a leave. It was shocking how his attitude had changed over time. When Leslie saw the hint of a smile in Jasper’s eyes, thousands of thoughts flashed across her mind.
She sighed and asked, “Mr. Hoffman, there are only two of us now, so I’ll refer to you as Jasper instead. Did my father tell you to do this?”
“There’s no need for you to know why. Now, hand over your police ID card and gun. This is an order.”
After seeing the complicated expression in Jasper’s eyes, Leslie nodded and placed her gun, handcuffs, and police ID card on the table. Then she stood up and left.
Mr. Hoffman, Father, and I… None of us are to be blamed in this situation. However, who says I can only investigate with a gun and a police ID card?
At the Jensen family’s manor, Carmelo was resting in his room, facing the garden outside. Beside him, there was a dried corpse on the ground.
The corpse was the housekeeper whose blood essence had been sucked out. For the past two days, Carmelo could no longer control the decomposition of his body.
When he rolled up his sleeves and saw his blackened arm, Carmelo knew that the owner’s spirit and body could not last long. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Carmelo rolled down his sleeves and looked over.
“Mr. Jensen, Mr. Leiter wants to see you,” a housekeeper said respectfully in a low voice after the door was opened. “Bring him to the living room,” Carmelo answered, slightly panting.
“Understood.” When the housekeeper left, she glanced around the room subconsciously. She was taken aback upon noticing something.
One of her friends who had sent Carmelo food did not leave his room for many hours. The housekeeper had wanted to ask her friend about it, thinking Carmelo had slept with her.
However, when she spotted the corpse on the ground, she froze and felt as if she had been thrown into the darkest and coldest pit.
“Ah!” The scream was cut short as Carmelo zapped through thin air and emerged in front of her, choking her. “You’re to be blamed for being too curious,” Carmelo rasped, his eyes red. Lowering his head, Carmelo bit the housekeeper’s lips.
Immediately, a wave of red spiritual energy was released from his body and penetrated the housekeeper’s body. Then, the housekeeper’s face instantly became redder and redder.
However, her hands and legs were becoming paler with each second. Waves of blood flooded into Carmelo’s mouth. In just a few seconds, the initially curvy housekeeper became as dry and flat as a scarecrow as her life ebbed away.
Loosening his grip on the housekeeper’s neck, Carmelo flung the corpse across the room as if she was a piece of rubbish. He licked the blood on his lips and had a satisfied look, a rosy tint emerging on his gaunt cheeks.
Right then, two bodyguards dressed in black suits rushed up to him. “Mr. Jensen, we heard noises upstairs…”
“Don’t be nosy. Get Ryan to wait for me in the living room.”
“Of course.”
In the living room, Ryan was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed. He was stepping on an injured and unconscious woman like a pedal.
The woman was none other than Lynn from Summerbank. A series of footsteps could be heard as Carmelo walked into the living room with his walking stick.
It took some time before Carmelo sat across from Ryan. “Ryan, how’s the investigating going?” he asked after glancing at Lynn.
Immediately, Ryan stood up and replied respectfully, “Master, I’ve headed to Grafburg Village based on the information, but I didn’t manage to find the so-called cultivator. The only person who knows about his whereabouts is this woman. However, she isn’t willing to talk no matter what.” Here, he kicked Lynn’s body. “Plus, when I got back, I discovered Mirage Plaza had been closed down. Now that Blackey Carlson has seen me in action, I don’t have much time left in Summerbank.”
Upon hearing Ryan’s words, Carmelo nodded. “I’ll make her speak.”
With a tap of Carmelo’s walking stick, a wave of unlimited negative emotions pierced through Lynn’s mind.
Lynn was initially unconscious, but her eyes suddenly snapped open when the spiritual energy entered her body.
“Ah!” Lynn screamed while gripping her hair. From her reaction, she seemed as though she wanted to rip her head apart.
“Disperse.” Followed by Carmelo’s command was the end of Lynn’s struggle.
After that, Lynn lay on the floor and stared at the sky soullessly.
“I’ve dispersed all of her spiritual sense. You can start asking her questions when she still has some sense left in her,” Carmelo told Ryan while panting.
Ryan nodded. “Who’s the cultivator who appeared at your house?”
“Cultivator… I don’t know…”
“What do you mean by you don’t know?” Ryan furrowed his eyebrows. After that, he thought of something. “On the day of your father’s funeral, who was the one who helped you?”
“Jonathan Goldstein.”
Those two simple words left Ryan stunned. “Jonathan? Jonathan Goldstein? How could it be him? How could he be here?”
Carmelo asked the flustered Ryan, “Ryan, you know who this Jonathan Goldstein is?”
“Him? The Gomez family fell because of him! He murdered my grandfather and father.”
