Chapter 5 Tea brewer (5)

'On it are pictures of a tall man and a small girl entwined with each other without a piece of cloth.'

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"Boss... Boss... Boss"

Lance was startled by Daisy's loud voice. Everyone was worried about boss Lance's recent state. Since yesterday, boss Lance had said he would investigate on his own. After that, when he returned, he had erratic expressions, sometimes sitting dully. Lance rubbed his forehead and tried to concentrate on the case. He picked up the teacup and took a sip. The taste of tea made him awake a lot. Back to yesterday, ...

"If I tell you I can see spirits, will you believe it?"

Lance was shocked to hear Joel's words. Once again, Lance felt the cold air oppress the room. He tried to smile jokingly but he knew, his face was contorted oddly. Lance was an atheist. He would rather believe in scientific explanations than in ghosts. Without waiting for Lance to regain his composure, Joel spread his arms wide with a ghastly smile on his face.

"They're here."

"Th... They? Who are they"

Joel took the hand of the first killed girl standing behind him and kissed it. However, in Lance's eyes, he could only see Joel acting alone out of nowhere like a psychopath. Joel looked excitedly at Lance's expression and said.

"Five girls, they're standing here. They are very welcoming to you because you are helping them."

The cold air and invisible ghostly eyes made Lance stammer. He seemed to have lost half of the aura of a senior inspector.

"Welcome? If they're here, can you ask them who killed them?" - Lance was half-joking, half-serious.

Joel clicked his tongue. In Lance's eyes, Joel was showing a teasing face that made him a little unable to control his anger. Joel shrugged and said.

"I already told you. I won't break my rules. I can only help you get more information to investigate. Finding the killer is the police's job, yours, not mine. So it's done. Please get out of here."

Joel waved his hand, and immediately the spirits of the five girls rushed toward Lance with scary faces. Lance was still about to say something more, but an invisible force pushed him straight out the door. The invisible effects until now still left a shock on him. The pain in the head and eyes still throbbed from time to time. The heaviness on his shoulders at that time was still vivid. Could Joel see souls?

"Boss, if you don't feel well, then you should rest for a while. You are the leader of the team. If something happens to you, we don't know what to do." - Magnus and Patrick stood on each side of Senior Inspector Lance to fan him. Daisy poured Boss Lance another cup of tea.

Lance sensed the good intentions of the whole team and cheered up. He got to work.

"What did people investigate?"

"Sir, according to you, we have investigated the Salva tea shop. The shop owner is Dave Waite. That Salva Tea house is the complete opposite of Joel's Salvation Tea house. It is decorated, bright, and crowded, especially for female guests. They say they like to go to Salva tea shop because the taste of tea there makes them unforgettable and the owner is also very handsome." - Magnus said.

"I've been investigating the profile of Dave Waite. He moved here from another place. As a child, he was a teenager with a very good academic record. A few years later, his parents died in a car accident. He was adopted by a distant relative. However, when he was nineteen years old, he kept moving house for some reason. After that, he developed a very popular tea, so he decided to come here to develop it." - Patrick continued.

At this moment, the door suddenly opened. Dai hastily entered with the report in hand.

"Boss..."

"Calm down, big brother." - Daisy saw Dai's urgent expression and said.

Daisy poured Dai a glass of water. After regaining his breath, Dai distributed a newspaper to each of them about a rape of a minor.

"What is this, big brother?" - Patrick turned the paper over and over and asked.

"This is a newspaper about the case of a stepfather raping his stepdaughter a few years ago. Everyone looks at the date and place of the crime. This was Dave's old hometown, and the day of the case's trial was also the day he leaves. Sir, I have investigated. That same night, the girl's mother reported that the girl was nowhere to be found until now. The people there said she used to be very close to Dave."

Lance had a thought in his mind, then turned to Dai and asked.

"Do you have a picture of that girl?"

"Here, sir."

Lance took the photo from Dai's hand. In the photo, the missing girl had a round face, big eyes, and a bright smile. Everyone who looked at her felt that she was extremely cute and lovely. However, Lance now found himself breathing harder because as expected, near the corner of her eye, there was a mole identical to the other five victims. Perhaps, this was the beginning of the perpetrator's crime.

"Any more information on that year's rape case?" - Lance immediately said.

"This case has been closed for a long time. I heard that year her mother was in a great hurry to send her stepfather to prison. Her mother is still in that house. Every month, her mother sends a message to the police station to ask about her daughter's whereabouts."

Lance looked at the address in the newspaper. A few hours later, he and Dai stood in front of the house where the rape case had taken place. Both of them were in a low mood because it seems that the truth was right in front of their eyes. Dai stepped forward and knocked on the door. The person who came out was a woman in her seventies.

"Who are you two?" - The woman asked.

"We are inspectors of the police department. We have come to learn about your daughter's disappearance."

Lance and Dai were invited into the house by the woman. She poured them two glasses of water and said with a tired voice mixed with disappointment.

"Until now, you still can't find her? I have already provided all the information. I don't know if I can wait for her to come back."

"Can you show me your daughter's room?" - Lance asked.

"Over there."

Lance followed the woman's hand and entered the room at a dead end. Dai stayed to ask for more information. Lance opened the door and walked in. In front of him, the room remained clean and airy. Perhaps her mother always cleaned this place waiting for her return. Lance paced the room. This room was similar to other young girls' rooms. However, it gave him a strange feeling that he should not have. The room was so clean, it was as if everything that belonged to her had been hidden away.

Lance looked at the rows of books on her dresser. Most were advanced books on school subjects. He took a book and opened it. Inside were all pencil notes. Lance recalled her grades were not good, or even near the bottom of the class. So how did she solve such difficult math problems?

Lance put the book back in its place on the shelf. He was walking around the room when suddenly the creaking of the floor made him stop. Lance tried pacing back and forth to test his guess. He looked outside, the woman was always focused on her conversation with Dai. Lance gently closed the door to the girl's room. He crouched down and tapped the floor by layer. Then, in a tile just below her desk, he pried it open with force. Inside that space was filled with drawings and a notebook. Lance did not say anything and quickly put all the papers in his vest.

After saying goodbye to the woman, Lance and Dai headed straight for the police headquarters. A meeting was immediately opened.

"According to the girl's mother, her second husband raped her daughter many times, just like what she said before. However, I still feel she is hiding something, sir." - Dai said.

Lance stuck the girl's drawings on the board and said.

"Your feeling is correct, Dai. Everyone looks away. These are drawings that I found in her room. Perhaps, the girl's mother did not find out that her daughter had such a secret hiding place."

Everyone looked at the picture together. On it were pictures of a tall man and a small girl entwined with each other without a piece of cloth covering their bodies. Both of them had bright smiles on their faces, surrounded by heart shapes.

"These don't look like drawings made by rape victims." - Daisy said.

Lance nodded and took out the notebook he had brought along with the drawing papers. He turned to the last pages.

"At first, I was half-believing and half-suspecting like everyone else until I read her diary. Indeed, the girl was initially raped by her stepfather. However, it seems that the imposition of achievements and times of disinterest comes from the girl's mother, that girl obeyed her stepfather and fell in love with him."

"It is impossible..."

Everyone was shocked by Lance's words. They all stared at the words in the diary. It was true that the girl had fallen in love with her stepfather's pampering and loving actions.

"We have to invite her mother over to talk for a moment." - Lance said.

Before Dai and Patrick had time to leave, a policeman quickly run into the conference room and delivered the news he had just received.

"Sir, a car out of control crashed directly into Salva tea shop, injuring 5 people, including the owner of the tea shop. Currently, they have been transferred directly to the hospital for monitoring."