Matthew had been anxiously waiting for Simone's report for days. He knew that sending him to investigate Nathaniel's death was the right decision. However, he was distraught, as he couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that had been gnawing at him since his son's passing.
As Simone walked into his office, Matthew tried to keep his emotions in check, but his hands trembled slightly as he observed the men coming inside for the report. However, he kept a stoic face.
"Hello, sir," Simone said. "I'm done with my preliminary investigation."
"I could guess from our last conversation. Tell me, Simone," Matthew said, his voice hoarse. "What did you find out?"
Simone took a deep breath before speaking. "I've been able to gather some information, Mr. McConnel. It seems Nathaniel was kicked out of the Red Palace the day before the attack on the city. Apparently, he tried to kill a fellow student during an official fight under the eyes of cameras and healers. According to what the institution said, he was delirious, aggressive, and wouldn't calm down. After some tests, it came out he suffered from ASPD, so they had no choice but to remove him from the premises and expel him."
Matthew felt his stomach churn. He had always known that Nathaniel had some problems, but he had hoped that he would be able to get over them eventually. Now, he realized that his son's behavior was not normal. Most of the time, since he himself did some despicable things, he didn't care much when Nathaniel did the same or had weird behavior; however, this changed everything.
He wondered what would have happened if he had learned sooner of this problem and what would have happened if he had managed to help him keep his emotions and rage in check. Would he still be alive?
"And what about Thornton High? I remember he had some beef with many students." Matthew asked, his voice shaking slightly. "Could there be someone with enough reasons to kill him? Did you find out anything about Nathaniel's altercations with people from the school?"
Simone nodded grimly. "Yes, sir. It seems that Nathaniel had gotten into several fights with other students. Some of them were just verbal altercations, but others were physical. I've talked to some of the witnesses, and they all said the same thing. Nathaniel was angry and aggressive and seemed to be looking for trouble. Most of these happened with the top students at school and probably went on as they went to the Red Palace with him."
Matthew closed his eyes, feeling a wave of grief wash over him. He was sure that someone had killed him, and he was enraged. The first reason was that they killed his only son, but the second was that, by killing him, they went directly against him, the Mambas' leader. That was clear disrespect.
"Thank you, Simone," he said quietly. "You've done a good job. I want you to find out who these top students are and investigate as much as you can about them. Now leave me alone; I'll need some time to process this information. Give me some privacy."
Simone nodded and left the room, leaving Matthew alone with his thoughts. He felt a sense of despair wash over him as he realized he had failed as a father. Nathaniel's death was a tragedy that could have been prevented, and he knew he would have to live with that guilt for the rest of his life.
***
At the same time, in a massive plaza inside New Alexandria, Private Investigator Hais sat on a bench, sipping coffee and staring blankly at the fountain in the center. He had been working on the case of Logan's, Conal's, and Orson's disappearance for months now, trying to uncover any leads that could help him find the kids who had all disappeared without a trace. Hais couldn't help but feel frustrated with the lack of progress in the case, and he wondered if he would ever be able to bring closure to the families of the missing children.
But no matter how much he searched, he always returned to a single path, leading him to Erik Romano, Frant's only awakener. The detective knew he had to dig deeper into Erik's story and investigate the possibility of his involvement in the disappearance of the three kids, and so he did.
During his investigation, he discovered that Erik went to the hospital the day before the three kids disappeared. From the police's reports, it appears the young man said a gang assaulted him.
He also checked his alibi for that day, but besides having been at school during the day and having returned around 18:00, no one knew what he did during that window of time. However, he was suspicious: what if the masked kid was Erik? He probably killed the three kids and then went to work, later going to school again.
If only he could talk to Erik's late employer, he could understand when Erik arrived at work and see if there was a window of time in which he could have committed the murders. Too bad he was dead. Hais had reached the conclusion that Erik, now a student at the Red Palace, definitely had something to do with their disappearance. The evidence was circumstantial, and most of it was only speculation, but it all seemed to point in his direction; besides, the kid didn't have an alibi yet.
Hais had decided that he needed to confront Erik and get some answers, but before doing this, he needed to get some information about him, and he planned on doing so. So, he was there, in a place very frequented by the Red Palace's students, searching for some of them to ask them questions.
Sitting there, he noticed a group of young men walking by. They were all dressed in uniform, which Hais recognized immediately as the Red Palace's; they had to be members of the institution. Their haughty behavior and the way they regarded everyone else served as additional evidence of that. They behaved like gods walking among ants.
He quickly got up and approached them, trying not to appear threatening or suspicious. The students were going to a local bar to drink something and pass the time, flaunting their uniform, which made the others pay a sort of respect to them.
Hais took a deep breath and approached them in the bar, trying to look confident and in control. As he made his way through the crowd, Hais approached the table and hoped he would get something from it.
"Hello, guys," he said, keeping his voice steady. "I'm Investigator Hais; I need to ask you some questions. Do you have five minutes?" He said this while pulling out his investigator ID and showing it to the group of Red Palace students standing near the entrance.
They looked at the ID suspiciously but eventually relaxed when they saw it was authentic. However, the students looked at each other nervously before nodding their heads in agreement. Hais asked them if they knew Erik, the student from the Red Palace. The young men nodded, and one of them spoke up.
"Yeah, we know him. He's the awakener," the student said, a note of admiration in his voice. "He's everyone's talk right now due to how he soared through the Red Palace's inner ranks and how he battled the thaids during the attack on the city."
Hais listened intently, trying to glean any helpful information from the student's words. "What can you tell me about him?" he asked.
The student hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Well, he's a bit of a mysterious guy, as he doesn't really mingle with many people and doesn't like to show off. However, he has some friends he is really attached to, especially a girl. But he's definitely respected and admired by many people there."
Another student chimed in. "Yeah, and he was the reason why Nathaniel was kicked out of the Red Palace," she said, her voice tinged with excitement. Hais raised an eyebrow at that statement.
<It seems like there might be some drama surrounding this guy and his relationships with others. I wonder what exactly happened with this guy Nathaniel,> he thought.
"Nathaniel? Who's that?" Hais naturally asked.
The students exchanged glances before one of them spoke up. "Nathaniel was a student at the Red Palace. He was one of the most talented fighters in the Red Palace's first year, at least in the peasant rank, and was on track to climb the ladder and reach the squire rank. But he got into some kind of problem with Erik; Nathaniel apparently tried to kill him during a fight, and he was kicked out consequently."
"You don't say?" Hais said, with surprise clearly evident in his voice. He made a mental note of this information. "Is there a way I can contact this Nathaniel?" Hais asked.
"You can't. Apparently, he got killed by some thaids during the attack on the city. That's all we know..."
That clearly, sparked something inside the investigator. That was too coincidental.
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