Chapter 292

Things Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe could think of, Mei Lin naturally thought of as well.

Of the 24 officers who participated in this operation, only 16 were actually sent to prison for isolation and observation by special personnel and vehicles.

Of the 8 who didn't leave, 3 including Su Nake went missing, 1 including John died, Sheriff Ebnick and Officer Su Xi followed the investigation team to find the missing Su Nake and others. Officer Banuto, who was Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, secretly left the team and slipped back to Vanessa Castle.

The last remaining person was Carmack.

After leaving Vanessa Castle, Officer Carmack did not get on the bus with the main force to be sent to prison, but was taken by another group of people holding County Police Department credentials into an off-road vehicle equipped with thick bulletproof steel plates, parked outside the walls of Vanessa Castle to be questioned by them.

"Relax, sir, we just want to ask a few questions."

The man opposite poured a glass of whiskey, added ice water to dilute it, and pushed it to Carmack: "You need to relax a bit. This will be a pleasant conversation, not a serious interrogation. After all, you are not a criminal."

Officer Carmack took the glass somewhat cautiously and took a shallow sip. The cold and burning liquor slid down his throat into his esophagus. The whiskey, after being cut with water, still tasted spicy, with a hint of sweet apple-like flavor, miraculously calming the nervous emotions he had felt after witnessing his colleague being shot.

"Feeling better?" the man asked gently.

"Hmm." Carmack nodded.

The man took out a voice recorder, pressed the switch, placed it on the table, and at the same time picked up the paper and pen for taking notes, asking: "Then first of all, I want to know, after separating from Sheriff Ebnick and Officer Banuto in the pool behind the stables, where did you and Officer John go, and what did you do?"

Carmack picked up the whiskey and took another sip, saying:

"According to the sheriff's orders, John and I went one after the other into the drainage pipe behind the pool..."

"That is a pipe used by the castle to collect rainwater. There was a lot of scale accumulated on the pipe wall. The sheriff asked us to crawl into the pipe because he saw some messy black footprints and coal cinder on the ground of the pool. But after we turned on our flashlights and crawled into the pipe, we didn't find any coal ash or coal cinder inside; it was very clean."

The coal cinder that left the footprints seemed to exist only on the ground of the pool, not in the pipe.

"The diameter of the drainage pipe was very wide, so it wasn't cramped even for an adult to move inside. We quickly climbed to the height of the second floor by stepping on the pipe wall. The pipe turned a right angle inward and branched into the wall."

"We had all looked at the structural diagram of Vanessa Castle before we acted and knew this was the castle's rainwater collection system. Following the pipe all the way forward, we quickly arrived at the water inlet under the eaves of the second floor, but the drainage outlet was sealed by a stone manhole cover. We couldn't get out from there, so we had to return along the original path to the turn and take the other branch."

"The other branch leads to the interior of the castle. There are many water inlets for the drainage pipe, but only two water outlets: one in the pool next to the stables, and one in the boiler room below."

"Considering the footprints on the ground of the pool were stained with coal cinder, John and I discussed and agreed that the intruder should have crawled into the drainage pipe from the water outlet of the boiler room and finally came out from the water outlet of the pool, thus avoiding the search." "John and I crawled all the way forward in the pipe with flashlights. He spoke very little, and I didn't have the heart to chat. After a few minutes, we encountered another branch. Two branches, the left one going down, the right one going up. We didn't know which one to take."

"Although we had looked at the architectural structure diagram, we couldn't memorize every pipe branch. John and I discussed splitting up and taking one branch each. No matter whether we found anything or not, we would return to the branch point here to meet in half an hour. Finally, I went to the downward branch, and he went to the upward one."

"Just before setting off, he asked me if we could really find clues by searching aimlessly like this. I said, we always can, right? Otherwise, why would there be footprints at the pool? Maybe after you climb up, you'll find the intruder hiding in some corner. When that time comes, make sure to hold your gun well."

"I hadn't finished speaking when John suddenly patted me. I followed the direction of his finger and looked over. Deep in the pipe of the upward branch, far away, a fire suddenly lit up at some point, flickered twice in the darkness, and disappeared. We were very sure it wasn't an illusion because both of us saw it."

"I wanted to inform the sheriff of the situation via walkie-talkie, but John stopped me. He said: It's just a little light. Maybe it's the aging lighting equipment in the castle flickering above the water inlet. The sheriff has a bad temper. If we rush to tell him about uncertain clues and make him happy for nothing, we'll get scolded again."

"When John said this, there was another flash of fire in the upward branch. I said, I'm not going down anymore, let's go up together to see the situation. John still shook his head and insisted on following the original strategy of splitting up."

"I knew he wanted to find the clues by himself. He was a veteran police officer who had been in the bureau for 7 years and was just one reason away from a promotion. He felt this was his opportunity to take a step forward. I couldn't stop him, so I simply didn't stop him. After telling him to be careful, I crawled into the downward branch, and John crawled into the upward branch alone."

Carmack picked up the glass and drank the remaining whiskey in one gulp, then continued: "I crawled down for another distance when the walkie-talkie suddenly rang. It was Sheriff Ebnick urging us to leave the pipe and get out quickly. I didn't think much and immediately crawled back along the original path."

"I met John at the very first branch point. I asked him if he found anything upstairs. He said nothing at all. He guessed right just now; there was only an aging lamp at the end of the pipe. I laughed and said: Your promotion is gone, but fortunately we didn't tell the sheriff."

"The two of us crawled out of the pipe, covered in dust, and rushed to the reception hall on the first floor of the castle together."

No errors in the content, read it at a glance!

"As soon as we entered the door, John was shot and killed by that woman."

Speaking of this, Carmack's expression became visibly depressed. The man in charge of questioning him poured another glass of whiskey, this time without adding water: "Drink some, young man. Life is like this. You never know whether surprises or accidents will come first."

The man pushed the glass forward: "It will pass."

Carmack nodded and drank the wine in the glass in one gulp: "It will pass."

After the questioning ended, Carmack's transcript and conversation recording were sent to Housekeeper Mei Lin's mobile phone.

(End of chapter)