Knowing Councilor Brown, Chief Garcia was aware that he was just making up excuses just so he could make the case of his son the top priority of the police's investigation. With that as an excuse, Chief Garcia would not have any reason not to investigate this matter. It was apparent how important this matter to Councilor Brown was.
As the reigning number one in votes last election, Councilor Brown has a lot of say in Fore City. At this point, it could be said that he was even more influential than the actual mayor of Fore City.
With the election just around the corner, Chief Garcia was really not willing to offend this person at this kind of time at all.
Chief Garcia could only sigh.
"Prioritize the case of Councilor Brown's son over the arson for now. Also, bring me everything we know about this Sparkling Buds," he instructed a young police officer not far away from him.
"Right, contact Councilor Brown's men and coordinate with this matter. Resolve it as soon as possible." He added, in which the young officer followed strictly without question.
Chief Garcia then took out his personal phone and dialed a number, trying to search for Razor's whereabouts.
…
Back in the hospital, Councilor Brown comforted and assured Bryan that he would get to the bottom of this matter. He listened to Bryan's whining before he concluded that the newly established business, Sparkling Buds, might surely be the mastermind behind the beating of his son. And even if they werent, they could just forge some evidence and make it so that it was them who did it.
As a politician, he needs to maintain his image in public. If everyone knew that his own son was beaten up and he had no action towards it, the people might think that he was an easy person that can be bullied easily. The reporters of the opposite faction would surely use this incident to ruin his 'hard-earned' reputation. Something that Councilor Brown doesn't want to happen.
Hence, even if they would not be able to find the real culprit, the Sparkling Buds were already there to become the scapegoat.
'It's just a newly established business anyways,' he thought to himself.
"Right, dad, how about my friends? How are they doing?" Bryan suddenly asked, recalling that he was together with his friends when the incident happened. action
At that time, he was already in panic and his only thought was to call his dad.
"Oh them? They're in the room next door. Don't worry about them, they are fine. Their situation is just similar to yours. They have more or less have broken knees," Councilor Brown answered with a light scoff.
It was apparent from his tone that he was extremely disappointed towards Bryan's 'friends' and that he had no particular good impression about them except for them being the children of some of his business partners.
In his opinion, every friend should provide some benefit to each other. It was clear that Bryan was supporting all of them, so it should just be a given that they must protect Bryan with all their might.
However, not only did they fail to do so during last night's incident, each of them was even scared shitless that most of them no longer recalled what happened. Now, aside from providing him and Bryan with any help, they just added to the burden that they must take care of inside this hospital.
On the other hand, upon hearing Councilor Brown's response, a smile seemed to have surfaced in Bryan's lips.
"Good, as long as they have broken legs too…" Bryan muttered softly under his breath.
"What did you say?" Councilor Brown asked.
"N-nothing! But Dad, when will your men catch that bastard?" Bryan asked pitifully, trying to switch the topic away from his muttering.
Councilor Brown smiled, "Don't worry about it. Just focus on recovering, my men and the police are already investigating this matter thoroughly."
…
Tree Town, in a remote area thirty minutes walk away from the town center.
Roland and Janine stepped out of the Ronda and stared at the huge clearing in front of them.
With a frown on his face, Roland walked closer towards the clearing, observing everything around him with great scrutiny.
'What happened here?' He thought, seeing the clearing ahead that had once been the location of the orphanage that he grew up with.
Roland looked around, broken materials could still be seen at every corner of the clearing. The silhouette of the building seemed to have appeared in Roland's vision once again, however, it was also replaced by the reality at the next moment, forming the huge clearing in front of him with the bits of wreckage around it.
Roland never had any good experience inside the orphanage before. However, seeing that it no longer exists now still left a bitter aftertaste on his mouth.
He had once dreamed of returning to the orphanage and giving the 'caregivers' a taste of their own medicine for the treatment he and the other kids had back then.
Returning this time, Roland actually had some expectations. He wanted to see the reaction of the caregivers who had looked down on him before. He wanted to see their expression of disbelief and shock.
However, the great expectation of Roland seemed to have vanished the same way as how the orphanage had now become a clearing.
Roland felt a little empty.
Janine noticed the change in his expression. She came up towards him and finally held his arm after a little bit of hesitation.
"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.
Roland let out a deep sigh and answered with a melancholic and wry smile. "It's nothing. Not everything will go according to plan, I guess."
Janine nodded her head, agreeing to his words to the bottom of her heart. Even her 'plans' for this entire trip weren't able to keep up with the changes.
Janine had no idea why Roland suddenly became melancholic. However, she did not inquire any further as she was afraid of making Roland feel even more sad. At this point, she figured that the best thing to do was to stay by his side and just listen to his words.
"Oh right, if you're wondering why we are here. This is actually the location of the orphanage where I grew up. I don't know what happened during the few years that I was away, but it seems that the orphanage is no longer here."
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