Chapter 269: Cannot Go to the Back Mountain, It’s Dangerous

Chapter 269: Chapter 269: Cannot Go to the Back Mountain, It’s Dangerous

"Okay! I’ll go file the application right now!" The man shot to his feet, trying to pull Beau away.

Zoe Sawyer quickly reached out and stopped him. "Beau is still a child at heart. You’ll scare her acting like that. We’ll make sure she goes with you."

The man holding Beau’s hand started to protest, but then he saw Heath Hale, who was standing next to Zoe Sawyer, point to his own head and then at Beau.

The man understood instantly. His expression was one of shock, but he quickly composed himself.

"How about this? I’ll go with you," Sean Hughes spoke up, looking at the man. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Seeing that someone familiar would be accompanying her, Beau was no longer as resistant as she’d been at first.

’Sean Hughes had thought it through. While Beau was mentally a child, she was physically an adult woman. Ideally, a female officer should go with her.’

The team on this trip was the original crew from the Varden West Precinct, but Hayden Shaw hadn’t come along.

Under these circumstances, Zoe Sawyer had to stay with Evan Keller and Heath Hale. If they found anything, she needed to be there to ’open the door’ and solve the problem.

’Thinking it through, that left only him to go.’

The tasks were quickly assigned. Zoe Sawyer, Heath Hale, and the others would canvass the surrounding towns, while Sean Hughes would take Beau to the provincial bureau to see if they could get a composite sketch drawn.

"Do we have any crime scene photos? Or the coordinates? I want to see if I can try a backtrack," Zoe Sawyer asked, rubbing her temples as she looked at the worried expressions on their faces.

’She’d never tried using coordinates before, but it was worth a shot. It might just lead to a clue.’

"Let’s hold off on that for now. Come with me. I have an idea I need to test out," Evan Keller said, shaking his head and rejecting Zoe’s suggestion.

’He needed to see for himself what was going on with the man who’d supposedly been insane for over a decade!’

As they headed out, Evan Keller filled Zoe Sawyer and the others in on the intelligence he’d gathered from Gia Lowell and Director Lennox.

"If he’s faking it, to keep it up for over a decade... that level of patience is terrifying," Zoe Sawyer marveled, clicking her tongue.

As the group headed toward the main street, they were stopped by a gaunt old man.

"Officer, I’d like to ask... did you police find a body? Have you identified who it is?" The old man’s voice was laced with a mix of hope and anxiety.

When the people nearby saw the old man stop Evan Keller’s group, they also paused, pointing and murmuring in their direction.

"There goes Old Man Lawson asking again. He really just doesn’t give up, does he?"

"Didn’t his daughter run off ages ago? No way she’d still be around here. I even saw her leave in a taxi with a bunch of luggage."

"He just won’t let it go. He’s hoping to marry her off again to another family who can pay a high bride price."

"It’s a good thing his daughter ran away. Otherwise, Old Man Lawson would just keep bleeding her dry. Her life would have been ruined!"

Evan Keller and his team listened to the gossip, their expressions unchanging, but they mentally filed the information away to investigate later.

For now, however, they had to deal with the man in front of them. Evan Keller took out his notebook. "Sir, what’s your daughter’s name? Do you have a photo? When did she leave? And why?"

"Old Man Lawson’s expression faltered, but he gritted his teeth and told them everything. ’My daughter’s name is Daisy Lawson. I have a photo on my phone. Her husband passed away six months ago, and I wanted to introduce her to someone new. I couldn’t let her waste her life honoring a dead man.

’The moment I brought it up, she refused. The very next day, she was gone. I haven’t been able to contact her since. The local police won’t help me. They just keep fobbing me off, saying they’ll ’keep an eye out’.’"

After taking down the information, Evan Keller closed his notebook and nodded to Old Man Lawson. "Alright, we have it. We’ll let you know if we hear anything.

"Sir, we have other work to attend to, so we have to go now."

Old Man Lawson reluctantly stepped aside. Watching their retreating backs, he didn’t forget to shout after them, "Don’t forget!"

Once they were well out of Old Man Lawson’s sight, Zoe Sawyer and the others stopped, doubled back, and found a few of the bystanders from before to ask some questions.

"That Old Man Lawson has a gambling-addict for a son. When his daughter’s husband died, he decided to sell her off again for another bride price to cover his son’s debts.

"Lucky for the girl she ran away, otherwise she would’ve been sold off all over again," the woman said, shaking her head with a tone of relief.

Another woman who clearly knew the details nodded frantically. "I know all about it! The day after Old Man Lawson said he was going to introduce someone to his daughter, Daisy Lawson packed her bags and ran."

After gathering a bit more information about Daisy Lawson, Zoe Sawyer’s group continued on their way to find the so-called madman.

"Do you think it could be Daisy Lawson?" Zoe Sawyer asked, looking at Evan Keller.

Evan Keller shook his head. "Hard to say. The height, age, and childbirth history match, though. Let’s check on this madman first, then we can investigate Daisy Lawson."

Soon, the group reached the street corner and saw a middle-aged man wandering aimlessly. He would randomly grab a passerby and repeat his theory about not entering the mountain.

"Looking at him, you wouldn’t think he has mental issues," Zoe Sawyer commented from a distance, sizing up the man’s attire.

His clothes were a bit old but still clean and neat. His hair wasn’t long, and his face was clean-shaven.

You could tell he was being well cared for.

"Director Lennox mentioned he was being looked after by his brother and sister-in-law.

"I have experience with this sort of thing. I’ll go check him out." Heath Hale held up a hand to stop Evan Keller and started walking toward the man.

The man was like an NPC. After finishing his repeated lines, he lowered his head and resumed his aimless wandering.

Until a pair of long legs stopped in front of him.

His path blocked, the man looked up in confusion, only to see a stranger.

Heath Hale stared at the man, trying to spot anything unusual in his expression.

Unfortunately, there was nothing.

"Hello. Excuse me, do you know if there are any trails leading into the mountains back there?" Heath Hale asked gently, a friendly smile on his face.

It was as if a switch had been flipped. The man suddenly grabbed Heath Hale’s arm. "You can’t go into the mountains! There’s a Mountain God in there, and the Mountain God doesn’t welcome outsiders who haven’t been invited. Go in without permission, and you’ll only be met with misfortune!"

Heath Hale’s expression didn’t change. He pried the man’s hand from his arm and said again, "We’re police officers. The Mountain God won’t punish public servants. You can rest easy."

A series of expressions flickered across the man’s face.

He wrenched his arm from Heath’s grip, only to grab it again.

The man shook his head at Heath Hale, his tone firm.

"Don’t go to the back mountain. It’s dangerous."