Chapter 583: Continuing the Interrogation
Chapter 583: Chapter 583: Continuing the Interrogation
The man replied, "Because according to our investigation, before Mr. Stone disappeared, he had been corresponding with Mr. Liam Grant. The contents of the letters showed that he needed Mr. Grant’s help to find a safe hiding place.
"We naturally suspected—could Mr. Grant have hidden our Mr. Stone?"
As the man finished speaking, a visible trace of panic flashed across Liam Grant’s face.
"Oh? We had no idea that Brother Grant was even in contact with the Kyston Base Commander," Adrian Shaw asked in surprise, raising an eyebrow. And it sounded like the two had a pretty good relationship, too?
"Mr. Stone is missing?" Aside from panic, Liam Grant’s tone carried a hint of disbelief.
"Stop pretending. Justin Stone left the base with Miss Rowan that day, and he’s been missing ever since. Other than you, Justin Stone didn’t contact anyone else before his disappearance!" the man demanded, staring intensely at Liam Grant.
Watching from the side, Nina Jacobs faintly felt that something was off.
"That still doesn’t prove my brother hid him," Hannah Grant chimed in.
Adrian Shaw looked at Liam Grant. "Brother Grant, I trust this matter has nothing to do with you?"
"Of course not. I had no idea he was missing," Liam Grant replied.
"Officer, I advise you to thoroughly investigate this guy. You can never truly know what’s in a person’s heart. He doesn’t just want to take advantage of your base—who knows, he might be in contact with several other bases," the man said, seemingly noticing the brewing suspicion between Adrian Shaw and Liam Grant.
"Don’t make baseless accusations! Justin Stone and I only had normal interactions as friends!" Liam Grant quickly retorted.
The man continued throwing out questions. "We also found out that you weren’t in the City D Base for the two days when Justin Stone went missing. So where exactly did you go? It’s so hard to guess!
"Officer, you can look into it yourselves. He really was gone from the base for two days."
"My brother took me out to scavenge for supplies for those few days. Is there a problem with that?" Hannah Grant suddenly spoke up.
"Hannah Grant! You don’t have the right to speak here! Get out!" Liam Grant angrily rebuked.
Hannah Grant’s answer inadvertently confirmed the fact that he was indeed absent from the base for a few days. "Brother..." She looked both anxious and upset.
"See? He confessed without even being pressed." The man threw his head back and laughed aloud.
Adrian Shaw didn’t follow the man’s line of questioning. Instead, he asked in return, "Finding Mr. Stone should be official base business. The Riventon Base could have easily asked our City D Base for joint investigation assistance. Yet, we haven’t received any relevant information. That means you’re investigating Justin Stone’s whereabouts on your own—or perhaps, you aren’t from the Riventon Base at all?"
It was an excellent question. Nina Jacobs really wanted to give Adrian Shaw a thumbs-up. From the very beginning, this man had been deliberately deflecting the issue. She strongly suspected that their target wasn’t Justin Stone at all.
The man wasn’t in a hurry. Shrugging nonchalantly, he said, "Honestly, our identities don’t matter. We’re only looking for Justin Stone because of the supplies and Holy Water he has on him. We just followed Mr. Grant and looked into him a bit, but we didn’t do anything heinous. You can easily just let us go, and we’ll drop the investigation."
Adrian Shaw smiled. "What you’re saying makes a lot of sense, but we can’t guarantee you’re telling the truth. After all, tailing someone for an entire month has already caused Mr. Grant a great deal of trouble. What if you’re actually after his life?"
Adrian Shaw’s words brought a look of confusion to the man’s face. "What do you mean, tailing him for a month? We did follow and investigate him, but only recently."
"According to Mr. Grant’s report, he has indeed been stalked for a month," Adrian Shaw said.
"Whatever you say. I just hope you wrap up your investigation as soon as possible. I promise that once we leave the City D Base, we won’t ever come back."
"You really want to leave?" Adrian Shaw glanced up at him.
"Of course. No one wants to be locked up indefinitely. There are plenty of people looking for Justin Stone; we only came here because we heard some rumors," the man replied. They hadn’t actually committed any crimes, and the charges wouldn’t stick. The City D Base personnel would have to release them soon.
"Brother Grant, what do you think?" Adrian Shaw asked.
"I think we still need to investigate carefully. We can’t let them leave so easily," Liam Grant replied.
"Agreed. We’ll continue interrogating their people one by one. Rest assured, we’ll definitely get to the bottom of this," Adrian Shaw said.
"Caspian is always so reliable. I haven’t dared to get a good night’s sleep for days," Hannah Grant said with a grateful face.
Liam Grant followed Adrian Shaw out into the hallway outside the interrogation room and stopped him. "Whether you believe me or not, Justin Stone’s disappearance has absolutely nothing to do with me," he said.
Adrian Shaw patted his shoulder and replied, "Of course I believe you. You’ll be heading to the command center in a few days. Before then, we won’t release these people, and the base will assign specialists to protect you in the meantime."
Liam Grant seemed hesitant, as if wanting to say something more, but he eventually nodded and walked outside with him.
Nina Jacobs fell into deep thought as she watched the man sitting quietly in the interrogation room.
Just then, Sherry Renner pushed the door open and walked in, looking somewhat disappointed. "What a pity. It wasn’t some juicy drama about a mistress stalking a scumbag. After all that, it was just about finding a missing person."
"That man—I want to interrogate him later as well. Can you arrange it?" Nina Jacobs asked, pointing at the man on the screen.
Sherry Renner was taken aback. "Him? Do you know him?"
"No."
"Then why do you want to interrogate him? Don’t tell me you’re still worried about that scumbag?" Sherry Renner looked as if the sky had fallen.
Nina Jacobs was rendered speechless. "What are you thinking? I just have a few questions about his statement."
"Oh, thank goodness. You scared me to death. With me here, of course it can be arranged. When do you want to do it?" Sherry Renner asked.
"Tonight."
***
As night fell, Orion Thorne didn’t expect to be brought in for interrogation again. This time, however, two women were sitting across from him in the room. He recognized one of them as a member of the Enforcement Bureau, but the other unfamiliar woman inexplicably caught his attention.
"Didn’t we already do this?" Orion Thorne asked.
"This is my... superior. She still has some questions about your statement," Sherry Renner introduced.
"What else could there possibly be to ask? Your efficiency here isn’t exactly high. Still, having the company of two beautiful ladies on a cold night isn’t a bad deal." Orion Thorne chuckled and sat down, completely relaxed. "Whatever you beauties want to ask, ask away."
Nina Jacobs nodded and got straight to the point. "You weren’t following Liam Grant to find Justin Stone, were you?"
Orion Thorne clearly hadn’t expected her to ask that. He frowned in confusion. "What exactly are you trying to ask?"
"Someone named Chloe Ainsworth also went missing along with Justin Stone. Were you looking for her?" Nina Jacobs observed Orion Thorne’s expression and, sure enough, saw a subtle shift in his eyes.
He quickly recovered, however, and said, "Finding Chloe Ainsworth works too. She was closest to Justin Stone. Maybe she knows his whereabouts."
"But you only mentioned that the missing person was Justin Stone. Does that mean you know Chloe Ainsworth is already dead?" Nina Jacobs pressed.
Hearing this, Orion Thorne’s expression instantly turned guarded.