Chapter 572: Chapter 572: Made the Newspapers Again_1
The next day, in the reception hall of the Heretic Inquisitor’s office.
"Senior, the Director said if you want to get the investigation report, you should go and get it yourself," said Senior Judge Rebecca to the visiting Aiden.
"The old man really has a lot of free time, does he want to know the reason I’m pulling the case files?" Aiden said.
"He also said that since you’re here, it’s a bit unreasonable not to come in and sit down," Rebecca shrugged, "I think so too, Senior. You rarely come here except for your regular registration. Say hello to everyone, they all miss you."
"Alright," Aiden smiled helplessly.
This time, his visit to the Heretic Inquisitor’s office was mainly to retrieve the specific case files of the doubles murder case that occurred in the autonomous state.
These days, he had been gathering relevant intelligence, but the information network he had built before wasn’t of much use in this matter.
The doubles killer came from the Northern Continent and had only been in the Southern Continent for three months. The number of lives taken here was only three, and although the method was peculiar, the overall impact was not that big.
The Gistas Empire’s royal secret police were not interested in ordinary murderers operating within the Empire; Sophie had been in Rose Iron Prison for two months and couldn’t provide the latest firsthand information about the Smiling Scales; as for the witch assembly, they had even less of an intersection with this matter.
In the end, Aiden could only leverage his personal connections, managing to get some information from the Heretic Inquisitor’s office, where he still had the authority to request documents.
He had thought that pulling a common case file would be a simple matter, but was unexpectedly entangled by his former boss, Harold.
He was somewhat reluctant to go in, especially to face Harold.
As he had previously mentioned to Tony, the power of Godspeak lies in a legal gray area under The Covenant’s legal system. He had been using the power of Godspeak to resolve incidents over the past half a year, and the Heretic Inquisitor’s office had also gotten wind of some of these events.
Harold was aware that Aiden had been getting involved in various incidents with personal motives and had sent a message through Rebecca.
But this time, the old man had actually invited him in for "tea."
Could it be that he was summoned to be reprimanded?
Aiden had just taken an extended leave not long ago and had smuggled himself into the Gistas Kingdom during his leave to take down an official military research base... Although he felt Harold was unlikely to know about this, he still couldn’t help feeling nervous.
However, this time investigating the doubles serial murders might require the power of the Heretic Inquisitor’s office.
After Deborah did her divination on the night of the full moon, to find the murderer in the city within a day, the most efficient method would be relying on the Heretic Inquisitor’s office and the police to patrol the city together.
After greeting each former colleague he encountered along the way, Aiden arrived at the Director’s office door.
Opening the door, Aiden saw Harold’s sharply defined older face.
"Come in, have a seat," Harold gestured for Aiden to sit on the sofa, "Pour yourself some tea if you want."
"It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, Director," Aiden walked into the office on his own, casually greeting, "Have you been busy lately?"
"I’m not busy, but you seem to be," Harold picked up the cigar box, "I heard you went on vacation before, how was it?"
"Not bad, I went to—" Aiden began to spin the lie he had prepared earlier, but Harold interjected, "Did you catch the remnants of the Blood Moon Cult?"
"Director?" Aiden froze in place.
"Hmph, judging by your reaction, it seems I guessed right," Harold took out a cigar.
"Just a probe? It seems my skills are still not up to par," Aiden, catching on, smiled wryly.
It seemed that Director Harold didn’t know what he did during his leave, he had simply used his own guess to test Aiden’s reaction.
"Five years ago when you suddenly requested a transfer, I thought you were scared out of your wits," Harold spoke slowly.
Actually, I was scared out of my wits... Aiden thought.
"But five years have passed, and you’ve unexpectedly become active on the front lines again," Harold continued, "At first, I couldn’t fathom your purpose. Upon reflection, I think the only thing you couldn’t let go of from your past was that one that got away from the cult. Didn’t you also catch that vampire from the Blood Moon Cult before?"
"It’s the sharp insight of the Director," Aiden quickly agreed; it wasn’t completely a lie.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t let go of the matter; rather, the matter hadn’t let go of him.
"Why didn’t you stay at the office if you wanted to finish this matter?" Harold asked.
"I have my own thoughts, I just hope you can trust me, Director," Aiden replied.
"So, does this investigation of the ’doubles’ also relate to this matter?" Harold probed further.
"Not directly related, but not entirely unrelated either," Aiden gave another vague response.
Fortunately, Harold tacitly refrained from asking further, instead taking out the prepared file bag, casually tossed it to Aiden as if throwing a dart.
Aiden opened the file and was surprised, "Three investigation reports?"
"I also had someone compile data from two cases on the Empire’s side for you, it’ll probably come in handy, better safe than sorry," Harold stated.
"This is really very considerate," Aiden sincerely smiled.
"Go ahead and investigate the way you want, if you need help, just let us know. After all, this also happened within the autonomous state," Harold struck a match, starting to light his cigar, "And judging from the locations of the previous three incidents, the next casualty might be right here, we’ve been quite tense about it. It’s a good thing you suddenly proposed to be part of the investigation."
"I really appreciate your support, Director," Aiden said, shaking the file bag in his hand.
"Having such determination is good, but still, one thing at a time, as a former Heretic Inquisitor, I would still prefer you to... keep a lower profile in your private life," Harold suddenly changed the subject.
"What?" Aiden didn’t understand.
"Hmm?" Harold lifted his face, looking somewhat surprised, "Don’t you know?"
"Ah?"
"Haven’t you seen the newspaper today?"
Finishing his sentence, Harold searched the desk and handed a newspaper to Aiden.
Aiden unfolded the paper and quickly found the reason for Harold’s remark.
An article related to him appeared on a relatively prominent page: "Empire’s once-in-a-millennium beauty Deborah Awen’s secret vacation date in the autonomous state, secret boyfriend revealed?"
In the gossip-filled news photo accompanying the article, Aiden saw through the shop window, the side profile of himself having coffee with Deborah.
