Chapter 14: Footprints, and Staying Behind

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Robert asked, “What size shoes do they wear?”

Selina replied, “Lorde’s size is 44, and Jessica’s size is 38.”

Robert narrowed his eyes, picked up a picture, and started studying it as he muttered, “Size 38?”

Both Selina and Luke could see that it was a picture of a footprint on a windowsill.

Selina asked, “Is this the footprint that was found in the first floor room?”

Robert nodded as he continued studying the picture.

Luke said, “Can I have a look?”

Robert glanced at him before passing him the picture.

Luke studied the picture for a bit before looking away, seemingly in deep thought. After a while, he inhaled and said, “I’ve seen this footprint before.”

Both Robert and Selina stared at him in stupefaction.

Luke continued, “This is probably a Nike Flex Essential TR. A while ago, the cheerleaders bought a bunch of them together as the team’s official shoes for team activities. I’ve seen Jimena wear them before.”

Selina whistled. “You sure are attentive to your girlfriend, even remembering a pair of her shoes so clearly.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Because they’re very expensive and Jimena didn’t have enough money for them. She even borrowed 100 dollars from me for them. That’s why after she got them, I took a good look and remembered the pattern on the soles.”

Robert interrupted, “Where did you get the 100 dollars?”

Luke: “…That’s a secret.”

Robert said, “Do you think I won’t cut your allowance?”

Luke replied, “Sure you will. But I’m officially employed from today onward. Do you want to cut my pay instead?”

Robert replied, “…Don’t forget to give Catherine some money for food expenses after getting your pay.”

Luke: …Bastard!

After some nonsensical talk, Robert finally returned to the topic. “So Jessica has the same pair of shoes?”

Luke shook his head. “I don’t know. Buying these shoes wasn’t compulsory. Only those who were interested had to buy them. They paid out of their own pockets anyway. This was only a suggestion that was made to take advantage of the bulk discount the store was offering. I have no idea how many pairs were bought and who bought them.”

Robert grunted, but wasn’t too disappointed.

Luke added, “Um, Jessica’s family is quite wealthy. I think her dad is an accountant in Knox City.”

Robert and Selina exchanged glances. Luke was clearly hinting that Jessica could afford that pair of shoes.

“What now, chief?” Selina asked.

In truth, what she wanted to ask was whether they should go look for Jessica now.

After all, she was the most suspicious of all the suspects.

Robert rapped on the table before he said, “I’ll make a call first.”

He didn’t use his cellphone. Rather, he used the office’s fixed line to make the call.

To the side, Luke blanked out when he heard the content of the conversation. He approached Selina and whispered, “Has Robert always been… such a brute when investigating cases?”

Selina giggled and glanced at him before saying, “That’s because he trusts you.”

Luke immediately had a bitter look. “But I was merely guessing. I’m not too sure myself. I only provided that information as another avenue of investigation. Why is he acting on it directly?”

Selina’s lips curled up. “Don’t worry. We’re only inviting that girl here to assist in the investigation, not arresting her with a warrant. Robert is not as stupid as you think.”

“You’re the one who said the word stupid, not me.” Luke suddenly changed the topic.

That caught Selina by surprise. Only then did she notice that Robert had already ended the call and was staring at her with a sullen face.

Selina realized that Luke had tricked her.

Robert merely glared at her before saying, “Selina, come with me to Knox City. We’ll bring Jessica back for questioning. Luke, stay here and go through these documents. See if you can find anything else that’s useful.”

Luke nodded. “Sure.”

Then, the two left the office while Luke stood there staring at the folder. Suddenly, he realized something. “Wait, where’s my desk? Shouldn’t you tell me that before leaving?”

Unfortunately, the two had probably left town by now. He could only shake his head helplessly as he walked to reception and said, “Hey, beautiful Mary, can you tell me where my desk is?”

He was talking to a Caucasion woman who was about 40 years old. She wasn’t dressed in a police uniform, merely in casual clothes.

Hearing his words, the woman seated in front of a computer raised her head. “Oh, it’s you. Little devil, you sure have a sweet mouth. Did Robert not arrange a desk for you? Go in. There are two desks in the left corner. The empty one is yours.”

Luke smiled and thanked her before asking, “So whose desk is the one beside mine?”

Mary answered, “Selina’s. Don’t you know? Hank resigned, and he used to be Selina’s partner. Naturally their desks are situated next to each other. The empty desk used to belong to Hank.”

Luke finally understood. “I see.”

Mary glanced at him. “Don’t tell me you don’t know that Selina will be your partner as well, right?”

Luke slapped his head. “Yes, I know that. I just hadn’t thought of it that way. Thank you for your reminder, Mary.”

Mary smiled. “Do you need my help to clean the desk? Hank’s a forgetful fool so he most likely left some stuff behind.”

Luke said, “No, it’s fine. You’re very busy too. I’ll do it myself. Do you have any empty boxes? I’ll just put all his stuff into an empty box.”

Mary replied, “Yes.” Her leg dug into the space below the reception counter before fishing out an empty box. She then picked the box up and handed it to Luke.

“Thank you for the help, Mary.” Luke smiled, waved, and entered the office again.

When he found the empty desk, he saw that Hank hadn’t left too many things behind anyway. There were only some tiny things that he had no use for or had been too lazy to move.

Luke placed the box under the desk. He felt that the current desk was already sufficient for him, so he wasn’t in a rush to clean it up and make more space.

After he was done with this case, he would probably have plenty of time to do something like clean his desk.

Thus, he opened the folder on the table and started going through the documents page by page.

In less than half an hour, he finished reading it.

There wasn’t much information in the folder. It only contained a summary of the initial findings, and for even more detailed information, they had to wait for the forensic results from Knox City.

He didn’t make any new discoveries either. After all, the information he provided earlier was only available due to his familiarity with the suspect and also because he had recognized Jessica when she slipped away.

He was no master detective. Although he had that completely unresponsive Super Detective System, he was still a thoroughly ordinary person.

After thinking about the case for a bit, he suddenly felt hungry. Thus, he went to Robert’s office and took out a lunch box which Catherine had prepared from the fridge.