Chapter 305: The Girl in the Mirror
Beep beep.
Just as Lisa pulled over to explain the massive changes in Peaceful Town to Professor Alicia Harper, another car drove up, honked, and pulled up alongside them.
The windows aligned.
Rolling down, a thin, middle-aged man's face appeared.
"Dr. Brennan,"
Lisa said, immediately recognizing him.
"Lisa, I saw your car, so I came over to say hello,"
Dr. Brennan explained with a smile, glancing at Professor Alicia Harper in the passenger seat. "And who's this?"
"This is my friend, Professor Alicia Harper,"
Lisa introduced. "Alicia, this is Dr. Dan Brennan, the guy I was just telling you about."
"Hello,"
Professor Alicia Harper nodded politely, her gaze sweeping across notable features before landing on the passenger seat of the opposite car.
There sat a beautiful, pale-faced young woman.
"This is my daughter, Maria."
Dr. Brennan, noticing Professor Alicia Harper's gaze, smiled and leaned back, making room to show off the young woman in the passenger seat.
"Hi."
The pale-faced Maria forced a smile and greeted the unfamiliar older women.
"Hi, Maria."
Compared to Professor Alicia Harper's reserve, Lisa was much more enthusiastic.
"Where does Professor Harper teach?"
Dr. Brennan's eyes kept returning to Professor Alicia Harper's face.
"Princeton University."
Lisa explained eagerly, "Alicia is a brilliant physicist."
"That's truly impressive."
Dr. Brennan studied Professor Alicia Harper's face and exclaimed, "My daughter Maria, if only she could be like Professor Harper…"
The three women present reacted with varying degrees of surprise.
The pale, beautiful Maria couldn't help but glance at her father, then lowered her head.
Lisa gave Dr. Brennan an odd look.
Professor Alicia Harper seemed lost in thought, her smile fading.
Dr. Brennan, sensing the awkward atmosphere, quickly tried to recover with a smile, "Her grades have always been quite good. I hope she can get into a world-class university like Princeton. It would be wonderful if she could become a professor like Professor Harper."
"Maria is great!"
Lisa tilted her head and sincerely praised the young woman in the passenger seat of the opposite car, who sat with her head down.
The girl responded with a weak smile.
"I won't keep you any longer. We'll catch up sometime,"
Dr. Brennan said, taking his leave and driving away.
"See? I told you, Alicia—you're the kind of person almost everyone aspires to be,"
Lisa sighed.
Professor Alicia Harper didn't react to the compliment, only saying thoughtfully, "Lisa, don't you think Maria's complexion is a bit too pale?"
"I don't know,"
Lisa thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Snow-white skin and rosy lips—she's very pretty."
"You mean she did it on purpose? It might look pretty, but it seems unhealthy..."
Professor Alicia Harper paused, then shook her head. "And I keep feeling there's something strange about her overall appearance, it's almost like..."
"Almost like what?"
Lisa, seeing Professor Alicia Harper hesitate, quickly pressed her.
"Esther,"
Professor Alicia Harper slowly said the name.
"Esther?"
Lisa paused, then her husky-like blue eyes widened in surprise. "Oh my God! She really does look a bit like her. Both have that pale, delicate look with those timid eyes.
Logically, with a father who's successful like hers, and with such natural advantages herself, she should be the type to be popular and confident at school. She should radiate confidence and charisma wherever she goes.
How could Maria be the complete opposite?"
She paused, then looked at Professor Alicia Harper with wide eyes. "Alicia, do you think she might actually have some kind of dark side like Esther? Could this just be a disguise, a cover for doing terrible things?"
"I don't know,"
Professor Alicia Harper shook her head. "Maybe only Chuck knows."
Meanwhile,
after Dr. Brennan's car drove away,
inside,
there was silence.
Dr. Brennan kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead, driving intently.
In the passenger seat, Maria occasionally glanced up at her father, but received no response.
"Dad,"
Maria couldn't help but call out.
"Hmm?"
Dr. Brennan finally turned to look at her.
"It's nothing,"
Maria hesitated, then stopped.
"Did you see that?"
Dr. Brennan didn't press further, simply continuing, "Professor Harper is the kind of person you should emulate. Look at those eyes, that nose, those ears, those lips…absolutely perfect."
Maria's eyes instantly dimmed. She couldn't help but glance at the visor mirror in front of her, meeting her own reflection.
A shadow crossed her face.
"Sweetheart, your birthday is in a few months. Would you like to receive a present early?"
Dr. Brennan, oblivious to everything, continued driving.
"Yes!"
Maria turned away from her reflection, her eyes filled with excitement as she looked at her father.
She was already in high school, and her most anticipated gift was a car.
After all, in a country built on highways and strip malls, a car represents a person's freedom and is another sanctuary besides home.
For a teenager, a car is definitely the ultimate gift.
Her only close friend already drove to and from school.
And yet, despite her family's comfortable financial situation, she still rode the school bus every day.
Now she thought her father was going to give her a car as an early birthday present.
So the unpleasantness from before vanished instantly.
"Come to my office after school tomorrow,"
Dr. Brennan said, glancing at his daughter.
"Okay,"
Maria nodded happily.
Police station.
Chief's office.
"Chuck, we investigated. Two weeks before Miles Horning was murdered, he received threatening phone calls every night,"
Randy said.
"The people at the nursing home didn't know?"
Chuck asked the crucial question.
"They knew,"
Randy replied, "but they didn't take it seriously. They thought it was just a prank, or maybe someone hired by the world's second-oldest person to scare him."
"Even after his sudden death,"
Chuck said expressionlessly.
"Even after he died."
Randy was speechless.
The man received threatening phone calls for two weeks straight, and then he actually died on his 115th birthday. So many reporters were waiting to cover the milestone, but everyone at the nursing home said it was natural causes.
Like there was absolutely nothing suspicious about it.
Even the police and doctors agreed.
This was the treatment given to the oldest person in the Guinness World Records.
For most elderly people in nursing homes, nobody really cares how they die.
And even if they suspected murder, they'd mostly pretend not to know, because that would damage the nursing home's reputation and their bottom line.
"Check this nursing home,"
Chuck reminded him. "See if there are any other elderly residents who died under 'natural' circumstances."
"Got it,"
Randy agreed. "We did find the suspect's fingerprints and DNA at the murdered security guard's house, but after running them through the crime database, there was no match—indicating the suspect hasn't been arrested before."
"He wasn't entered into the crime database,"
Chuck corrected.
"Right,"
Randy nodded. "Maybe he committed crimes, but for whatever reason, he was never entered into the system. We also got the footage from the reporters, showing a person in a security guard uniform going in and out.
His build is different from the murdered security guard; he's probably the killer.
But he was wearing a cap and kept his head down, so we can't see his face and can't confirm who he is."
"Play it,"
Chuck ordered.
Randy immediately turned the computer monitor toward Chuck and played the recorded footage.
A tall man in a security guard uniform walked into the nursing home with his head down.
"It's the mayor's chief of staff,"
Chuck said after watching.
"What?"
Randy was stunned. He wanted to ask Chuck how he figured it out, but meeting Chuck's gaze, he decided against pressing for now. He quickly pulled up a news article about the mayor's chief of staff and pointed to the tall, bald man in the photo, asking, "You mean him?"
"Yes."
Chuck nodded and stood up.
"Where are we going?"
Randy quickly grabbed his jacket and followed.
"City Hall,"
Chuck said.
"We don't have any hard evidence. Is this appropriate?"
Randy reminded him.
"Questioning will provide evidence,"
Chuck said calmly. "I believe the mayor will cooperate."
"..."
Randy was speechless.
He had almost forgotten.
If it were him, even as police chief, it would indeed be inappropriate to question the mayor's chief of staff based solely on body type.
But this was Chuck, and he didn't have those same concerns.
After all, it was always people like the mayor inviting Chuck to various galas and fundraisers, only to be politely declined by Chuck.
City Hall.
"Randy, what brings you here?"
As the two walked toward the mayor's office, a tall, bald man emerged and greeted them. He looked at Randy with surprise, but his eyes kept darting toward Chuck.
"Dennis?"
Randy addressed him somewhat awkwardly.
In fact, they had met before, but back then they addressed each other as 'Chief Tisher' and 'Chief of Staff Hamburger'.
"This must be Dr. Wolfe. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The bald chief of staff smiled at Chuck. "The mayor has invited you several times, but you haven't had the opportunity. Now that you've come on your own, I'm sure the mayor will be delighted."
"He won't be,"
Chuck said bluntly. "And neither will you."
"…"
The bald man's smile faltered, then he chuckled awkwardly. "Dr. Wolfe, you certainly have quite the dry sense of humor."
"Yeah,"
Randy nodded. "Chuck's dry humor has always been pretty sharp…"
Then he launched into a lengthy explanation of Chuck's dry humor, but it was clear that the bald chief of staff wasn't paying attention at all, his eyes darting around nervously.
"Oh, right, he just made another dry joke, saying that you, Dennis, disguised yourself as a security guard and murdered Miles Horning, the world's oldest living person."
Randy finally caught on after a moment, looking at the bald chief of staff with a grin, "And then he said you went and killed that security guard too."
"That's not funny!"
The bald man's face instantly flushed with anger, glaring at Randy.
"Right? That's what I thought too."
Randy couldn't handle the glare and could only look to Chuck for help.
"Your anger came on too quickly and is lasting too long."
Chuck looked at the bald chief of staff, "You should dial it back."
"What do you mean?"
The bald man didn't want to meet Chuck's gaze, but now he had no choice but to glare at him.
"Scientific research shows that emotions need time to build and release, and anger is no exception,"
Chuck said calmly. "Normal anger needs to accumulate, and once released, it cannot be sustained at this intensity unless it's being faked.
You're using anger to avoid answering the questions you should be answering.
The person who entered the nursing home disguised as a security guard and murdered Miles Horning—that was you!"
"I don't know what you're talking about,"
the bald chief of staff looked away, as if amused by the absurdity. "That's a completely baseless accusation. I could sue you!"
"You can try suing me,"
Chuck said bluntly. "But I guarantee you won't."
"What's all the commotion out here?"
The door to the mayor's office was pushed open, and the mayor walked out with a frown. Upon seeing Chuck, his expression immediately changed, and he smiled broadly, extending his hand to Chuck. "Dr. Wolfe, you actually came! Why didn't you call ahead? Please, come in!"
Everyone entered the mayor's office.
After brief pleasantries, the bald chief of staff began speaking defensively about Chuck's accusation: "Steven, don't you think this is ridiculous? Just because my build resembles that so-called murderer, they're accusing me of murdering the world's oldest person? Why? Because I took money from the second-oldest person?"
"Did you?"
Randy's eyes lit up at this, and seeing everyone staring at him in exasperation, he could only awkwardly explain, "That's one of the possible motives we came up with..."
"That's absurd! Go ahead and check my bank accounts! I didn't take money from anyone!"
the bald chief of staff shouted.
"Dr. Wolfe, are you certain it was Dennis?"
the mayor asked Chuck. "He has no motive."
"Do you have a motive?"
Chuck looked at the bald chief of staff.
"Of course not!"
The bald man seemed to be looking in Chuck's direction, but tried to avoid direct eye contact, and loudly protested, "I never even had any interaction with him—how could I possibly kill him?"
"That's a lie!"
Chuck said, "You did have interaction."
"Where?"
The bald chief of staff's eyes flickered.
"The school's groundbreaking ceremony!"
Randy suddenly exclaimed, "Five years ago, at the school's groundbreaking ceremony, you attended with the mayor, and you invited the oldest person in the area, who holds the Guinness World Record."
"Yes, I remember that."
The mayor also recalled.
"What kind of interaction is that?"
the bald chief of staff shouted, "We attend ceremonies like that almost every week—who remembers every single person we meet?
Besides, I was always with Steven, and we left right after the ceremony. I barely spoke to him.
Why would I kill him?"
"Does your reason for killing him have something to do with that ceremony?"
Chuck looked into his eyes.
"Steven!"
The bald chief of staff could only look to the mayor, hoping for his support.
The mayor was silent for a few seconds, glanced at Chuck, and said to his chief of staff, "Answer Dr. Wolfe's question."
"Look into his eyes,"
Randy added from the side. "He can read people like a book."
The bald chief of staff: "..."
(End of Chapter)
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