Chapter 398: Chapter 398

It had been about three weeks or more since they had made that singular visit to the private clinic for their investigation, which had practically been stagnant. They had not been able to meet the victim again even though their first and only meeting had been unfruitful because the young woman remembered nothing!

The person in question was Aliya, and the two detectives assigned were trying their possible best to get to the root of the issue but that was proving to be complicated and challenging. A little more so than cases that had previously dealt with.

’Has it been three weeks or a month already?’ Leon asked himself as he briskly walked through the underground parking of his precinct and into the building. Since that fateful day a few months back when he had personally encountered Ian Thornston, his career had skyrocketed with almost all of the famous cases that could be thought of on the island.

Even though Leo had been one of the investigators on that park assault involving James Wendover as well, that had not made much impact till recent events. Leon could look back on his career and say ’a big thanks’ to Ian. Looking back, he could even afford to laugh and ridicule his foolish past self, who had thought that he could arrest Ian.

Leon ran his hands through his dishevelled hair, and his tired eyes scanned his surroundings. A little cringeworthy laughter escaped his tired form as he thought of the words that he had said to Geneva Thornston that day that he had first set foot on the Thornston’s estate. ’I’m glad that they cut me some slack then, or else...’

Holding a small plastic bag that contained a change of clothes, he stepped through the main revolving doors of the building and was met with the bustling of the day. Leon had no idea how long it was since he had felt the comfort of his bed at home or had a good shower.

’Why did I decide to become a detective out of all the jobs around?’ Of course, he had his fulfilling days, like when James Wendover was apprehended, when Avril was finally caught from that raid, and even when Prosecutor Presque and his wife were arraigned. Leon walked briskly through the desks.

The precinct was alive with chaos, as was with each typical day. Detective Leon navigated his way through the maze of desks; phones rang incessantly, the sharp clatter of keyboards mingled with hurried voices, and the occasional barked order cut through the place. Officers huddled over desks littered with files and coffee cups.

To the left, he saw one of the rookies trailing behind a veteran, jotting notes furiously.

’Huh! Those days seemed so far back!’ Leon thought. However, sometimes, he wished that he would still remain a rookie. At least, then, all he thought about was how to please his commanding officer and not the crap of an investigative puzzle that had no leads whatsoever and was giving him unnecessary headaches! To him, those days were the best, though...

Someone laughed loudly in a far corner, an inharmonious burst of flippancy in the midst of the controlled frenzy. Leon pushed past it all, his mind too cluttered to register, much beyond the fact that the noise seemed louder than usual today. He did not even slow down a notch as he briskly walked through. Even though he could feel the piercing gazes from all sides, Leon was just too tired to care.

He knew, even without them saying anything. He knew of the envy, the snide remarks and all the other comments that hinted at their jealousy, but Leon was overworked, stressed and really too tired to care about them. This was his career, and he needed no one’s encouragement to get the job done!

Finally, he reached his office, stepping inside and shutting the door firmly behind him. Leon leaned against the door and threw that plastic bag somewhere in there, not even caring where that landed.

’I should’ve gone to the bathroom first! Damn!’ He cussed; however, the thought of even stepping out again to the bathroom to freshen up and change sounded too arduous.

The sudden quiet was almost jarring, a small sanctuary away from the chaos outside. He let out a long sigh as he finally covered the few steps left and sank into his chair, running a hand over his face. His desk was a mess—case files stacked precariously, a half-empty coffee mug balanced on top—but for now, he simply leaned back, allowing himself a moment to breathe.

’I need five minutes! Just five....’

Unfortunately, the reprieve didn’t last. The door burst open, and with it came the noise of the precinct—the ringing phones, the voices, the clattering footsteps—all spilling into the room like a tidal wave. His Captain stood in the doorway, his expression impatient.

"LEON!, what’s the status on the Maybach case?" The captain demanded, his tone clipped.

Leon cursed under his breath. His boss might have seen him when he walked across the floor. He had been doing his best to avoid the man because he had nothing.... Absolutely nothing to report!

However, Leon could not tell his demanding boss that. The captain was looking for anything to use as a strike on Leon’s record. One might wonder why, especially since all of Leon’s accomplishments also went to the Captains’ records.

It was for the simple fact that the captain had begged for an audience with Ian, but Ian refused to work directly with anyone but Leon and, occasionally, Evans. This was a sore punch in the captain’s face. Since he could not take this out on Ian, obviously, Leon became his outlet.

"Alright, Captain, I would have come to you later in the day...."

They both knew that Leon was lying through his teeth, but they just played along,

"here’s where we are..."

Before Leon could even straighten in his chair and complete the sentence, his partner, Detective Evans, appeared behind the captain, slipping into the office with his usual calm efficiency. The man was calm, but he could never read a room. He shut the door behind him, muffling the noise once again.

"Hey, boss! Hey Leon? Did you make any progress yet? I have nothing yet on my end!"

"That idiot!" Leon hissed.

He sighed, sitting up and rubbing his temples. "Guess the quiet was too good to last," he muttered, reaching for the nearest file on his desk.

The captain raised an eyebrow as he could pin together the pieces of the unfinished sentence and notice the discrepancy. The captain leaned forward,

"So, Detective Leon, have you made any headway with that investigation so far? Surely you have at least something by now, right?"

Leon glared at Evans, who had belatedly realized his mistake. Leon shrugged in a casual mode, "We’ve got threads. Not all tied up yet, but they’re there...."

Leon tried to emphazise. His words made no sense to himself not to talk of his boss,

"We traced the victim’s last movements per her recount of what she could remember before the accident, as she has no recollection of that accident herself. We have other recounts of the accidents from the witness’ point of view that we have pulled together. We have no viable surveillance footage and are still reviewing others.... In short, everything is a work in progress-"

"So, you mean that you have nothing?"

"So typical!" The captain muttered,

"Guess you’re not so brilliant as much! The dazzling stars of the precinct have come out empty after all!"

Leon was already very used to this. Unfazed, he replied, "It’s only a matter of time befo-"

"Leon, what I care about is results, not connections! If you can’t handle this because the fame is getting to your head, then let me hand it to a more competent duo!"

Evans rolled his eyes but retained a respective stance. He walked up to one of the chairs and sat down. This was going to be a looooonnnnnngggggg talk. The two detectives shared a look.

They knew that this was a deep-seated notion about them. Even their direct boss was , so why won’t their other colleagues do the same? Evans was not so sure that he was on the winning side anymore. He even distinctly remembered how they had been subtly shunned when Avril had fled from their custody, even though they had gotten into an accident then.

Then, there were two sides to this, though, because Ian Thornston’s backing ensured that no one could do anything directly to them, except when the captain was being an asshole at this time.

"Captain, you should understand that this can be considered a cold case of a sort an-"

"Like I said, detectives.... There are other people lined up to take this on, so I’m gonna give you a wee- no... three more days to bring some concrete answers to my desk, or else, I’ll have to hand this to others. Do not force my hands, detectives!"

About five minutes later, the two detectives looked at the empty office and sighed.

"Three days! Are we supposed to conjure a miracle?"

Leon sighed at Evans’ words,

"Well, we have to pay a visit to Mr Thornston...."

Leon sighed and looked at his partner as if he had lost his brains, "Do I need to remind you of the fact that we have to give periodic updates in person?"

"...but we don’t have any updates yet...."

Leon closed his eyes at this response and took in a deep breath, ’control, Leon... you are used to this.... that’s right...continue taking deeeeeeppppp breaths.’

He opened his eyes and narrowed it at his partner, then counted in his head, ’one.... Two.... Three.... Four.....’

He opened his mouth and then, his phone rang just at that moment. He continued glaring at his partner and then picked it up,

"Detective Leon here...."

He listened for a while and then blanched,

"What is it?" Evans mouthed to him,

"OK, we’ll be there ASAP!"

At that moment, Leon’s phone rang again.

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