Chapter 383: "What Animals Did the Deceased Keep at Home?
Chapter 383: Chapter 383: "What Animals Did the Deceased Keep at Home?
"What’s going on?" Renee asked as she buckled her seatbelt.
Sawyer, sitting in the passenger seat, turned back to look at her. "We got a report from a citizen. The deceased was bitten by an unknown creature. His family found him when they got home and rushed him to the hospital, but he wasn’t treated in time..."
"The doctor said the victim was already dead before he even got to the hospital."
"An unknown creature?" Renee frowned slightly.
Sawyer nodded. "Yeah. Kian Cole just sent a picture of the wound to the group chat."
Renee lowered her gaze and opened the group chat. The victim’s wound was on his hand. There were two deep bite marks, and his entire arm was swollen.
"Why didn’t he call for an ambulance after he was bitten?"
"I think it’s strange, too," said Levi Hollis, gripping the steering wheel. "Could he have not realized he’d been bitten?"
Sawyer frowned as well. "I can’t imagine what kind of creature could be that potent."
"This is too strange," Renee mused. "Did the victim have any pets?"
Sawyer replied, "No pets. The captain and the others are searching over there now."
Levi Hollis added, "We checked the security footage from around the victim’s home. No one entered or left his house on the day of the incident, and we didn’t see any suspicious animals."
It was a very strange case indeed.
Half an hour later, the police car came to a stop.
Renee and the other two walked through a narrow alley and arrived in front of an apartment building.
The deceased was Elias Yardley, a thirty-seven-year-old man who rented a ground-floor apartment in the building.
"Captain," Levi Hollis called out, "did you find anything?"
Henry Stark replied flatly, "Still looking."
Seeing this, Elias Yardley’s wife couldn’t help but ask, "Officers, what exactly are you looking for?"
"Clues," Kyle Morgan answered.
Elias Yardley’s wife asked, confused, "What kind of clues?"
"An animal."
"Are you looking for the unknown creature that bit my husband to death?"
"No," Kyle Morgan explained. "We’re looking for an animal witness. That’s how we’ll find out what bit your husband."
Elias Yardley’s wife was silent for a moment.
She wondered if she had heard him correctly.
’An animal witness? How ridiculous.’
She frowned and said, "Officer, since my husband was killed by an unknown creature, you can just close the case as an accident. We’re not looking to press charges against some ’unknown creature.’"
Hearing this, Zachary Conway asked directly, "Mrs. Yardley, did you by any chance take out a large life insurance policy on Mr. Yardley?"
Elias Yardley’s wife quickly explained, "I didn’t buy it, he did. He almost got into an accident while hiking once, so he bought an accident insurance policy for himself when he got back."
Her thinking was simply that the man was already dead, and he’d been bitten by an animal. Since there was an insurance policy, it didn’t matter whether they found out the truth or not, as long as she got the payout.
But from the way that officer was talking, it sounded like he was suspicious of her.
"Forget it, Officer. You all can take your time searching," Mrs. Yardley said. "I’ll be by the door. Just call me if you need anything."
She was afraid that saying anything more would only deepen the misunderstanding.
Henry Stark tilted his head, his deep, dark eyes flashing with a hint of scrutiny as he watched her.
"I found a cockroach!" Kyle Morgan’s excited voice suddenly rang out.
Everyone followed the sound and saw him crouched on the floor with his butt in the air, one hand cupped tightly against the ground.
Renee heard a grumpy, muttering voice coming from under his palm.
"Ahhh! Why’d it suddenly get so dark? Who turned off the lights without saying anything? Are you trying to scare me to death?"
’This cockroach is quite the coward.’
Renee squatted down next to Kyle Morgan and said softly, "The lights are still on. I just want to be your friend."
"Who’s talking?" the cockroach asked suspiciously.
"A human."
"A human wants to be friends with me? I don’t believe it! This must be some kind of scheme!"
Renee said, "...You even know idioms!"
"Of course. I’m the most cultured cockroach on this block."
"What’s your name?"
"My name is The Cultured Mantis."
"I’m Renee."
"Oh. I didn’t ask for your name."
Renee: "..."
’So, a cockroach with an attitude,’ she thought.
"Actually, there’s something I wanted to ask your opinion on," she explained.
The Cultured Mantis asked, "How did you know I was cultured?"
Renee: "..."
She sighed softly. "Yes, you radiate an aura of culture."
This praise clearly pleased The Cultured Mantis. "Oh, is it that obvious?"
"So, could you answer a few questions for me?" Renee asked.
The Cultured Mantis replied, "I suppose I could, but can you turn the light on? It’s so dark, I feel insecure."
Renee blinked, thinking, ’Don’t you cockroaches like to crawl around in the dark? Why would you be afraid of it?’
She told Kyle Morgan to lift his hand. Sure enough, there on the floor was a cockroach the size of a fingernail.
The Cultured Mantis wiggled its antennae. "Now that it’s bright, I’m not scared anymore. Okay, go ahead. What did you want to ask me?"
Renee asked, "A human died in this house. Did you know about that?"
The Cultured Mantis said, "I know. It was the male named Elias."
Renee raised an eyebrow slightly, sensing a lead. "Then do you know why he died?"
The Cultured Mantis wiggled its antennae again. "That I don’t know. I may be cultured, but I still have blind spots in my knowledge."
Renee: "...Then did you see any other animals in the house?"
The Cultured Mantis: "Nope, didn’t see any."
Renee frowned slightly and shook her head at the others. "It doesn’t know anything."
Kyle Morgan sighed in disappointment. "Aw, and after all the trouble I went through to find this cockroach!"
Renee glanced around and spotted a small figure perched on the security bars of the window.
"Wait for me a second." With that, she turned and walked out of the house.
Seeing this, Sawyer quickly followed her. "Renee, I’ll go with you."
Renee found some crows nearby, bought some grain to feed them, and got on their good side.
"Human, what do you wish to know?" a crow asked, taking the initiative.
Renee: "Do you come here often?"
The crow replied, "Yes. Why?"
Renee: "Have you seen any animals go into this house?"
"An animal?" The crow tilted its head, thinking. "Does a snake count?"
Renee immediately nodded. "Yes. Did you see it go into this house?"
She pointed to Elias Yardley’s apartment.
The crow followed her finger and nodded. "Yes, that’s where we saw it."
"You’re saying a snake appeared inside this house, is that right?" Renee asked.
"That’s right!" the crow chattered. "That snake is terrifying. All you humans are afraid of it."
Renee’s expression turned serious. "Do you know what kind of snake it was?"
The crow said, "I heard you humans call it something like... a ’Kiser’? It was a really big snake!"
"’Kiser’?" Renee murmured.
Hearing this, Sawyer immediately said, "He must mean Kaiser."
Renee quickly searched for a photo of a Kaiser on her phone and showed it to the crows. "Help me identify it. Does it look like this?"
Several crows gathered around the screen, stared intently for a while, and then bobbed their heads at Renee.
"Yes, yes! That’s the snake!"