Chapter 163
It was 2:00 pm in Nathan''s office at the police station.
"Ms. Youngworth, I have good news and bad news for you."
Nathan took a deep drag from his cigarette before snuffing the butt against the ashtray.
Hera waved the smoke away, a look of disgust apparent on her face. Before she could speak up,
Nathan''s voice cut her off.
"The good news is, we finally found Isabe and her mother."
His words elicited a frown from Hera immediately. If Nathan chose to start with the good news
instead of the bad news, that could only mean that the bad news carried more weight in this case.
"What''s the bad news?" she asked.
"We found their corpses." As Nathan spoke, he pulled out a case folder from his drawer and passed
it to Hera.
Hera lowered her gaze slightly, her long and thick eyshes fanning out from her eyelids, as she
gazed at the brown paper envelope.
Even though she was already mentally prepared for the bad news after receiving Nathan''s call this
morning, she was still saddened by the news.
Hera was only acquainted with Isabe briefly, so she didn''t care about Isabe. In fact, Isabe
was the daughter of the driver who had killed Daphne back then.
Still, Isabe was still a human being. To think that she''d die just like that.
Did she go missing just because she had mentioned Robin back then? Did that lead to her death?
"The authorities found the victims'' bodies in a dam located near Southburrow a week ago. By the
time the bodies were fished out of the water, they were already severely dposed.
"Back then, the forensic doctor had deduced that the victims were dead for over a dozen days, so
the authorities weren''t able to determine the victims'' identities.
"Three days ago, the local police department issued a notice for the other police departments to
help investigate the victims'' identities. After I received the news, I traveled to Southburrow right
away. After running tests on the bodies'' DNA, I was able to determine the victims as Isabe and
her mother."
Nathan took a sip out of his coffee mug before continuing, "The cause of death is the sudden influx
of liquid into the victims'' airways, which caused asphyxiation to ur. In other words, they drowned.
"The victims'' time of death had taken ce far too long ago, not to mention a few storms had
urred since their deaths. This resulted in the severe destruction of the crime scene.
"Of course, the public security camera installed near the road outside the dam was down during
those three days. The authorities aren''t able to deduce if murder, suicide, or an ident is on the
table here. But in the end, they wrapped up the case afterbeling it as an idental death."
"This is against the rules, right? You''re in charge of missing people''s cases. Now that they found the
missing victim''s body, shouldn''t you be the oneunching a thorough investigation before wrapping
it up?"
Hera raised her head to look at Nathan calmly.
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There were too many abnormalities surrounding Isabe''s disappearance back then. Typically
speaking, since Isabe''s case was lodged in Norburgh, the police in charge should be the ones
closing the case.
The fact that the authorities of Southburrow closed the case so haphazardly could only mean one
thing—something fishy was going on.
"That''s the reason why I invited you over to my office."
Nathan rose from his chair and moved to stand by the window. He cracked the window open slightly
before lighting another cigarette.
The reason why Isabe''s missing person case could be built was because she was a few days
away from reaching her 18th birthday. That meant she was a minor during her time of
disappearance, thus fitting the criteria of filing an underaged victim''s missing person case.
Once the case was built, Nathan took Queenie back to the station for questioning, seeing as she
was the biggest suspect then. But Queenie was able to prove her innocence, so she was released
after that.
Nathan had no choice but to lead his team on a search for Isabe. Unfortunately, all his efforts
were for naught.
A few dayster, Isabe officially turned 18 years old. Since the police couldn''t find any other clues
that suggested the possibility of abduction, Isabe''s case became a regr missing person case.
Hence, her case was no longerbeled as a case meant for the criminal investigation department.
This meant Nathan couldn''t use the force''s resources to aid his investigation regarding the case.
He could only use his spare time when he was off duty to continue looking for clues regarding
Isabe''s disappearance.
It wasn''t until Nathan saw the notice issued by Southburrow''s police department three days ago that
he found out the truth. But Isabe and her mother''s deaths resulted in a new case being built in
Southburrow instead.
"Southburrow is taking part in the Urban Utopia Competition as a contestant. The higher-ups of the
Southburrow police department doesn''t want to escte this incident, so they decided to close the
case prematurely."
After Nathan was done speaking, he inhaled another lungful of smoke silently.
Cold wind blew through the gap at that moment. Hera felt the wind pping her cheeks and toying
with her locks.
She understood the situation right away. Isabe and her mother were just two regr people
without prominent backgrounds. If the police chose tobel their deaths as idental deaths and
close the case just like that, no one in this world would demand the case to be reopened.
Even if someone did do that, there were still people powerful enough to override this decision.
Besides, it was hard for regr people to demand a case to be reopened anyway. That was unless
the person making the demands had strong connections and an influential background that allowed
them to fight back against the authorities and the government.
"Thank you, Captain Olson," Hera said while rising to her feet.
Isabe was the only clue that could lead to a breakthrough in Hera''s investigation of Daphne''s
ident. But now, this lead was gone.
All Hera knew was that she was heading in the right direction. Daphne''s death was no ident—it
was a premeditated murder.
The cause of Isabe and her mother''s deaths was definitely murder, too.
Hera''s role as an investigator was most likely revealed to the mastermind. The bad thing was that
the mastermind lurked in the dark while she remained unaware of their identity.
"If you want to keep investigating, you can start by investigating the Gaskell family," Nathan stated
all of a sudden.