Chapter 8

The moment Davion opened the car door and stepped out, a cloud of white breath escaped his lips.

In the meantime, a thin layer of snow had quietly accumulated on the road. Liam got out through the passenger-side door right after him.

An investigator who had been waiting for them at the entrance of the alley saluted.

“Captain.”

“Skip the formalities. The deceased?”

When the investigator stepped aside, two bodies covered with blankets were revealed in the corner. Their genders could be determined from the size of their feet.

About fifteen hours had passed since the incident.

Davion exchanged a silent glance with Liam. When Liam nodded, he took a deep breath, knelt beside the woman’s body, and carefully pulled back the blanket to check her face with trembling hands.

Just as the constable had said, someone had hacked at her with a knife.

But it was obvious at a glance that she was not Cecilia.

Ah…

A deep sense of relief washed over him. Davion let out a long breath and lowered his head.

Now that the tension had left his body, he suddenly craved the cigarette he had forgotten about. While searching through the inside pocket of his coat for his lighter, Davion gave an order to the investigator who had been talking with Liam.

“Once you identify them, notify their families.”

“Yes.”

Davion then lifted the blanket to check the man’s face as well.

And he was so shocked that he accidentally dropped the cigarette he had just lit onto the snow.

“Wait.”

Seeing Davion frozen stiff, Liam asked the investigator for permission and sat down beside him.

Without saying a word, Davion pointed at the dead man’s face.

Liam was equally shocked and froze in place.

“My lord, this is…”

“A snake.”

Davion covered the corpse with the blanket again and added,

“My wife was here.”

All kinds of incidents happened in Easthollow, but this was completely unexpected. Who would have thought Cecilia would become involved in something like this?

Still, judging by the state the man had been left in, it seemed Cecilia had managed to escape safely.

No, safely was not the right word.

She could have been injured while escaping.

What if she had broken a bone somewhere?

It had been a shooting. What if she had been hit by even one bullet…?

That woman, when she wasn’t even in good health…

The relief that had filled Davion’s heart turned into a pitch-black anxiety that slowly began eating away at him.

He remained silent for a long time with one hand pressed against his forehead. Liam carefully placed a hand on his shoulder and asked,

“My lord, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Davion answered calmly as he pushed away the lingering image of Cecilia.

There was no point in drowning himself in grief in this situation.

Davion stood up and took out another cigarette. Then he jerked his chin toward the house where the women had been imprisoned.

“Let’s check inside first.”

The kidnapping of women who were traveling alone and selling them abroad was a deep-rooted social problem in Lismere.

The dirty money made from this trade became a source of funding for black-market dealers, and tracing the beginning of this vicious cycle required going all the way back to just after the war.

The government had imported inexpensive painkillers for retired soldiers.

But when the drugs’ powerful addictive properties were discovered later, they became a profitable business in the back alleys and one of the causes of human trafficking.

Something had clearly happened here. The front door handle had been half torn off.

The moment they stepped inside, a terrible stench stabbed at their noses.

Before he could gag, Liam hurriedly covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

“Stay close behind me.”

Holding his revolver firmly, Davion carefully made his way inside.

The investigators had already searched the place several times, but there was no telling when or where something unexpected might happen.

Davion was a man who had spent years on battlefields and had become a captain at twenty-seven. And on the battlefield, things always went wrong the moment you let your guard down.

As Davion looked around, however, he soon frowned and tapped the floor with his boot.

It made a hollow sound.

Sure enough, when he lifted the carpet with his shoe, a small door leading to the basement appeared.

“This…”

Apparently, the investigators had not discovered the basement.

While Davion kept watch, Liam bent down and searched for the handle.

“There was a basement. But this building wasn’t built in a way that would allow someone to dig underground…”

“It was remodeled. To store something that shouldn’t be discovered.”

“Ah, found it.”

He pulled the door upward, and a narrow staircase appeared, sending clouds of dust into the air.

Davion went down first.

It was so dark that he could not see even an inch ahead, but he could not light his lighter because he had no idea what might be waiting below.

Relying solely on his senses, he continued forward until they eventually reached a cold underground storage room.

Fortunately, there was a light bulb in the basement.

The moment Davion turned it on, he held his breath and warned Liam, who was following behind him.

“Cover your nose. They’re piled up.”

Dozens of canned goods with sardine labels were stacked into enormous towers.

Of course, whatever was inside had absolutely nothing to do with sardines.

Its identity was obvious.

Holding his breath, Liam examined the white powder scattered around the cans and quietly said,

“It’s that stuff.”

The painkiller was known as Lampy, or White Candy.

It was called Candy because it had a sweetness like sugar.

Since it was a powerful painkiller originally intended for retired soldiers, taking more than the recommended amount did more than simply dull pain. It could actually paralyze the nervous system.

“To have this much stored here… If we hadn’t found it, this could have turned into a really serious problem.”

“Some of it has probably already been moved somewhere else. Only amateurs make the mistake of keeping everything in one place…”

Davion’s voice trailed off.

The moment a glint of light flashed from a nearby can, he suddenly shouted,

“Duck!”

Liam immediately lowered his head.

“You bastards!”

A metal rod swung with all the force from behind, slipped past the attacker’s hand, and slammed into the pile of cans.

The deafening crash of dozens of cans collapsing shook the entire basement.

Bang! Bang!

Davion quickly fired two shots at the man’s knees.

When the man screamed and collapsed, Davion pressed him down and bound both his hands.

The investigators who had heard the gunshots came running and shouted from above the basement.

“Captain! Are you all right?!”

“Bring handcuffs!”

The investigators hurried down shortly afterward, fastened metal cuffs around the man’s wrists, and dragged him out of the basement.

His face was covered in blood, probably because he had broken his nose when he fell.

Before he could spit at them, Davion punched him in the head first and then instructed the investigator,

“Once his identity is confirmed, lock him up in the basement of my mansion. I’ll interrogate him myself.”

“Yes.”

“And there’s a large quantity of drugs in the basement. Report it for now. I’ll come back tomorrow with an agent from the Ministry of Finance, so don’t let anyone near this area.”

In fact, this worked out rather well.

If the man was a member of the organization that had kidnapped Cecilia, he might know where she had gone.

Davion took off his coat, stained with blood and dust, and put it in the back seat of the car. Then he tossed the keys toward Liam.

Liam had been watching the captured man being taken away and finally let out a breath of relief, but he failed to catch the keys. He had to bend down to pick them up.

“Am I driving this time?”

“Go to the mansion first. It’s a new car, so don’t scratch it anywhere while you’re driving.”

“Aren’t you coming with me, my lord?”

“I feel like having a drink alone. I’ll take a taxi back. I’ll be there within an hour, so don’t nag me. Just let it go.”

Since this was a case involving Cecilia, Davion needed some time to sort out his thoughts.

Liam nodded and drove away first.

The area around Easthollow was lined with old inns that sold alcohol.

Gasoline-powered cars were driving along the roads, yet this place did not even use incandescent light bulbs.

The moment Davion entered one of the inns, he let out a hollow laugh.

Are places like this still around…?

He sat down at the bar, placed a banknote on the counter, and ordered the most popular drink.

Perhaps because he had not been able to sleep properly for so long, his eyelids grew heavy and his head began to ache as soon as he entered the dark place.

Then, while resting his elbow on the table and rubbing his forehead, he suddenly spotted a white-haired woman at the edge of his vision.

Startled, Davion shot to his feet.

…Cecilia?

The extra glass that had been sitting on the table fell to the floor and shattered with a loud crash.

Could this be an illusion?

Davion could not bring himself to believe what he was seeing.

It was a silhouette he knew far too well from behind.

The same build as Cecilia.

The same height.

Even the length of the hair swaying around her waist was identical.

She was climbing the stairs with a shopping basket in one hand.

Cecilia’s name surged all the way to the back of Davion’s throat.