The Devil’s Cage

The morning sunlight shone down diagonally at the wall of the alleyway, it cut the casted shadows cleanly in half that was shedding over Kieran and Teresa.

The chief officer was staring at Kieran.

Kieran replied with a smile.

The strong light and shadow created a contrasting scene, as though both of them were inside a painting. However, it was just what people saw them as from afar.

Hoskin who was standing beside both of them saw that both of them refused to give in and even smelled the dense fiery gunpowder.

Subconsciously, the young officer moved aside out of instinct, placing himself in range to clearly hear the conversation but wouldn’t get caught in the conflict if anything broke out between Kieran and Teresa.

Just when Hoskin was moving, Kieran and Teresa spoke at the same time.

”I want to know every detail about the explosion case!”

”I want to know every lead you found about the explosion case!”

Both of them exchanged gaze.

There was none of the awkwardness of a boy and girl whose hearts were connected, neither was there any courteous words like ”you go first”.

Both of them frowned simultaneously as they felt how persistence each other was.

”I think we can use the fair path. How about an exchange of what we have?” Keiran suggested.

”Who answers first then?” Teresa replied precisely.

”Since it is my suggestion, I’ll go first. I suppose as a chief officer, you will keep your promise, right? Especially before your subordinates.”

Kieran pretended to be generous and laughed before pointing at Hoskin.

Hoskin instantly felt a killer gaze from his superior. Obviously, Teresa was planning to act shamelessly from the start but after Kieran poked her right at the spot…

”Of course not!”

Teresa clenched her teeth, even a soft grinding noise could be heard from the seams.

”Well, then here I go?”

Kieran looked at Teresa and after she nodded, Kieran started his side of the case.

”I didn’t find much except for three obvious points.”

”First, the person who caused the explosion behind Winchester House did it to destroy the evidence. The guy must be an expert in explosives and skilled in wielding short sharp weapons, or maybe there were two people who were each skilled in different fields respectively.”

”Second, the professional assault squad that we’ve encountered before is also searching for something at the Winchester House. That thing wouldn’t be too big, almost the size half a brick or similar in size and appearance.”

”Third, the one who installed the bomb here might very well be connected to the professional assault squad from before,” Kieran said after a slight pause.

Hoskin was stunned, he unconsciously recalled the professional gear on the assault squad and the bomb that looked and was installed professionally.

But with that fact alone, Hoskin didn’t think it was from the same party but he didn’t dare to ask. All he did was look at his superior.

Teresa was eager to ask her questions.

”How did you know the killer of the Winchester explosion case is skilled with short weapons? You were there at Winchester before the explosion? Or did you see anything?”

Teresa’s question was like a series of interrogation question towards a convict.

Undoubtedly, Teresa still viewed Kieran as a suspicious person and Kieran had prepared himself for this.

”When I went to the Winchester House, a picture during the explosion flashed in my brain. I was supposed to be staying at that hotel but when I pushed opened the door, I smelled gasoline and blood. I think my instincts told me something was wrong and when I started to run, the explosion went off.”

Kieran was grateful for his amnesia patient title once more.

He used ”think” and ”suppose” in his words to conceal the details that he was already was staying at the hotel.

Kieran knew it would be the beginning of a long chain of trouble when he revealed that he was one of the guests of the Winchester House and the chief officer before him would bite him like a crazy dog without letting go.

”Oh and Chief Teresa, we are exchanging information now, so we could be considered as a collaborator, so please don’t ask questions like you are interrogating me. It made me feel like I still have cuffs on my hands. So can you tell me the details of the explosion case?”

Kieran reinstated his identity when he asked the question. He was reminding the chief officer and also testing her at the same time, just like how she was testing Kieran.

Kieran too hadn’t stopped his testing of Teresa.

Who could guarantee that Teresa wasn’t the killer behind the explosion case?

Despite showing attentiveness to her duties.

Kieran wouldn’t trust anyone in an unfamiliar dungeon world.

Under Kieran’s stare, a sense of rage flashed over Teresa’s face but a moment later, she spoke as she had promised.

”We’ve found a total of five bodies that were burnt beyond recognition inside the Winchester House. The burns and explosions even prevented the forensics from identifying any of them except for Symende Auggen. This V.I.P ’s car made him the first one to be found and identified but the killer is still roaming free outside.”

”Only these?” Kieran blinked his eyes.

”Only these! That bastard who caused the explosion is much more cautious and vigilant than we expected. There were no useable clues left behind at the scene and until now, forensics couldn’t identify who the other four bodies were! All we can do is send the news out and search for any missing individuals.”

Teresa felt ashamed for her helplessness when she was asked but when she looked at Keiran again, her shameful expression turned into a rage once again.

”What about the hotel’s owner and the workers? At least it would be easier to identify them isn’t it?”

As a rookie, Hoskin truly participated in the case for the first time. He asked with a face of confusion.

”A week ago, someone bought the Winchester House with a high price. The original owner took the money and his wife and daughter, who were also the workers there, to live their life but the three of them had an accident halfway. None of them survived and the people around didn’t even see the new owner… Goddamn motherf*cker!”

The hot-tempered chief officer couldn’t help but kick the trash can aside at the end of her words.

Hoskin, on the other hand, looked like he was frightened and opened his eyes wide in surprise.

The young officer who hadn’t encountered such case before was certainly shocked, he couldn’t understand what kind of case would cost the innocent lives of eight people.

Kieran, however, squinted his eyes out of habit, he wouldn’t think about who was innocent as he was drawing a conclusion from the leads of Teresa’s words.

The biggest suspect was the mysterious owner who bought Winchester House and the least would be the dead but identified mayor candidate Symende Augen.

The remaining four unidentified bodies reserved the same level of suspicion but Kieran’s attention was placed at that Symende Augen.

Not only because he was the first one to be found and only one to be identified and also because no one could guarantee whether he truly died!

After all, all the police knew was the big limo belonged to him.

What if his death was faked?

Kieran thought silently.

”Why are those bloody guys so late?”

Teresa was getting anxious aside and when her words faded, a squad of men appeared at the alleyway entrance.

Kieran, Teresa and Hoskin’s faces turned sour when they saw the sudden arrival.