Chapter 33 Unexpected Encounter

Although the investigation of the case had only just begun, from Feng Bujue's perspective, he had already deduced the general plot of the "John Herbert Murder Case."

The deceased was likely a hitman hired by Sam; the two had agreed on a time and were cooperating to carry out the assassination.

Last night (since it was past midnight, the crime should be considered yesterday) at eleven o'clock sharp, Sam made a call to the landline at the crime scene as planned, and his purpose was to lure John to a specific location at a specific time for the hitman to ambush him.

However, to Sam's surprise... John, who was suddenly attacked from behind, actually managed to kill the hitman in the struggle, and thus... the identities of "victim" and "murderer" were reversed.

Now that things had come to this, Sam could only play along, using the excuse that he "heard something was wrong on the phone" to rush to the scene.

After all... if you want to play an innocent person, you have to act like one; if he didn't come, it would seem strange.

Furthermore, based on the sounds coming from the phone, Sam couldn't determine what exactly had happened on the other end. In the end... he only heard the low groans of two men struggling with each other, panting heavily. Who knew what was actually happening behind those sounds...

Therefore, Sam had to come, he at least had to see what the situation was to make a proper response.

And when Sam saw the hitman's body, he breathed a sigh of relief.

If this man had been captured alive, or was still clinging to life, then Sam's crime of "hiring a murderer" would definitely be exposed.

Fortunately... now there was no proof left.

…

By half past two in the morning, the on-site investigation was still progressing in an orderly manner, and the crowd of onlookers outside the manor had begun to gradually disperse.

Most people who come to watch the excitement are like this... although there's no need to buy tickets, standing for too long gets boring. Everyone gathers together to gossip for a while, and then goes back to doing what they need to do.

However, at this point in time, another unusual thing happened...

"Sheriff, I have someone here who says they want to see you." These words were conveyed by a police officer guarding the gate of the manor via walkie-talkie.

"Who is it?" Doughty, who was busy directing the scene, immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and replied in an impatient tone.

"He says his name is Zuo Yan, and he says he has important information about the case that he must tell you in person," the officer replied.

"Huh?" Doughty pondered for a few seconds, "Alright... have someone bring him in, directly to the guest room on the second floor to wait for me."

The above conversation did not take place in front of Feng Bujue, so he was unable to intervene.

Thus, ten minutes later, in the guest room on the second floor, Brother Jue and Zuo Yan... "coincidentally" met again.

This room, not too far from the crime scene, had been temporarily used by the police as a place to collect testimonies. More than a dozen people, including John, Sam, and Feng Bujue (mostly staff), were being questioned here by police officers, and their firsthand testimonies would be recorded here.

"Oh? What a coincidence." The moment he saw Zuo Yan, Brother Jue was quite surprised, but he didn't show any of it. On the contrary... only half a second later, he nonchalantly reacted in this way.

"Uh..." Zuo Yan heard this, hesitated for a moment, and continued, "Brother Jue?" It was as if he had just remembered the other party's name, "What are you doing here?"

In fact, Zuo Yan wasn't taking time to think about "what's this person's name, what should I call him," but was thinking about "which response plan would be more appropriate if he greeted me like this."

Feng Bujue instantly saw through this and launched a series of deductions—

"Zuo Yan's reaction isn't slow, and his acting is decent. His current performance is enough to fool the average person.

"But... this is definitely not the level he could show with a 'temporary decision, immediate implementation.' Obviously... this reaction is one of his predetermined plans.

"His 'thinking time' also corroborates this point. With his ability, the 'hesitation' of one second isn't enough for him to complete a 'from zero to one,' 'creation from nothing' process, but it's enough for him to make a 'choice'; he... or rather... he and Vidocq, undoubtedly already knew about 'me being here,' and had anticipated several scenarios of meeting me, and had formulated corresponding 'reactions' for each possible 'greeting method' I might make, and what I'm seeing now... is one of them.

"Then... if there are no surprises..."

Thinking of this, Feng Bujue began to unobtrusively scan the corners and shadows of the room with his peripheral vision.

"That Vidocq guy... is one hundred percent already lurking in this building, maybe he's been in and out several times already...

"This time, I no longer have the advantage I had in the bar, because he's already become wary of me... The fact that I haven't noticed his presence at all until now is a good proof.

"Furthermore, now that Zuo Yan has appeared in the 'open,' it indicates that Vidocq's work in the 'dark' is basically complete. He must have already seen the crime scene and made inferences similar to mine, or even further...

"And the remaining part... is Zuo Yan's job, talking to the people involved, collecting testimonies and evidence, so as to substantiate Vidocq's reasoning, and then bring the murderer to justice.

"These things... won't take too long at all...

"Chapter Thirty-Three is only halfway done, I can't let you solve the case so quickly..."

He pondered a lot in his mind, but in reality, only a moment had passed.

The next second, Feng Bujue continued Zuo Yan's question, "Ah... it's a long story..."

Then, he used very concise language to explain why he was here, of course... according to the beginning and logic of "meeting Sam in the bar by chance"; from the perspective of Zuo Yan and Vidocq, this set of arguments was indeed flawless.

The two chatted for a few minutes, and then Doughty arrived.

When the Sheriff walked to Zuo Yan's side, he first sized the latter up from head to toe, and then developed a bit of disgust because of the fact that "this kid seems to know that Feng."

"Hey, young man, I heard you have 'important information about this case'?" Doughty's tone was very impolite as soon as he opened his mouth, "And it must be 'told to the Sheriff in person'?"

"Um... you are?" Zuo Yan actually already knew from Vidocq that this person was the Sheriff, but he still had to pretend not to know.

"I'm the Sheriff." Doughty said coldly, "Speak, what do you want to tell me?" He paused and added, "Let me state in advance... if this is a prank, or 'just saying something to see the crime scene', the police have the right to pursue your legal respons..."

He didn't finish his words, because while he was saying this, Zuo Yan was completely ignoring him, took out a cell phone from his pocket, and dialed a number.