Chapter 355: Seeking Outside Help

Chapter 355: Chapter 355: Seeking Outside Help

The senior officer gripped the thermos in his hand, lost in thought.

With so many people at the factory, they hadn’t been able to account for everyone in a single day.

If the police had to do it all themselves, it would take even longer. That wasn’t an option.

But now, things were different...

The senior officer looked at Arthur Sullivan, who was sitting across from him, and an idea quickly formed in his mind.

"I have a general grasp of the situation, but you don’t need to worry too much. There’s a chance for you to redeem yourself right now. It’s up to you whether you take it." The senior officer folded his hands, his sharp gaze fixed on Arthur Sullivan before him.

Hearing he had a chance to redeem himself, Arthur Sullivan nodded frantically. "I’ll do it!"

As it happened, one of Arthur’s colleagues had come by and overheard the entire conversation.

So, the new assignment was given to both of them.

They were to keep an eye on the factory workers and see if anyone suddenly resigned or skipped work.

It would take the police ages to do this on their own, so Arthur Sullivan and his colleague accepted without hesitation.

Watching the two of them leave, Lynn couldn’t help but run a hand through his hair in frustration.

Now that they knew Mason Walker was a non-existent employee, suspicion fell squarely on the factory manager and the supervisor of the second workshop.

"Alright, don’t sweat it. Broaden the search of the surrounding surveillance footage. See if any suspicious individuals have been coming or going, and find that head as soon as possible." The senior officer patted his protégé’s shoulder, giving him his orders.

But as luck would have it, many of the factory’s surveillance cameras had either broken down or been recently replaced just two days prior, leaving them with no footage at all.

Over the next few days, police openly conducted investigations throughout the factory, while behind the scenes, Arthur Sullivan and his colleague monitored the company’s system for any unusual staff changes.

But after several days, aside from the deceased "Mason Walker," they hadn’t seen anyone else miss work.

It was as if Mason Walker really had been the one who died.

Arthur Sullivan’s eyes fell on a name on the attendance sheet, and a flicker of doubt crossed his mind.

Walter Newton. He was the factory’s resident slacker; calling his work ethic "inconsistent" would have been a compliment.

For a guy who was usually either late or absent, he had been clocking in on time lately?

’Isn’t that a little too strange?’

Arthur Sullivan felt something was off, and his hand instinctively reached for the phone on his desk.

Just as he unlocked it, he heard Ben’s voice from behind him. "Arthur, do you have a minute? I wanted to ask you something."

Arthur Sullivan’s heart skipped a beat, but he kept his expression neutral as he replied, "Oh, Ben, is it urgent? If not, let me just give Lacey a call. It’s time for her to take her medicine.

"Her mom’s been busy with work lately, so I’m the one who has to remind her."

"It’s not urgent. You go ahead and make the call, Arthur. Lacey’s health is more important." A hint of doubt flickered in Ben’s eyes. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Arthur Sullivan was just trying to brush him off.

But for the moment, he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.

Arthur Sullivan made no attempt to hide it, dialing Lacey’s watch phone right in front of Ben.

At the entrance to the second workshop, the factory manager pulled Lynn aside to talk, drawing the attention of many employees.

A crowd gathered, pointing and murmuring in the direction of the workshop.

"Officer, when do you think you’ll crack this case? We can’t keep the workshop sealed off for too long. This order is extremely urgent."

"If we can’t complete this order, hundreds of people won’t get paid next month." The factory manager stood beside Lynn with a sycophantic smile, his eyes constantly darting around the area.

Exhaustion was written all over Lynn’s face. They wanted to solve the case quickly too, but the reality was that they still hadn’t found the victim’s head.

The factory was huge, with far too many places to hide something.

On top of that, the surveillance system was faulty, and the footage they did have was of little value.

The daily police presence was also putting a great deal of pressure on the other employees.

"The police want to solve this quickly as well. We’ll notify you as soon as there’s any progress," Lynn said, nodding to the manager before hurrying away.

Seeing he couldn’t pry any information out of the officer, the manager shrugged nonchalantly.

For him, no news was the best news.

’There hasn’t been a peep out of Arthur Sullivan, either. He must have finally learned to be afraid.’

’If I wait a little longer, I can demand the police pull out of my factory. If this keeps up, how much money am I going to lose?!’

"Sir, the factory manager showed up again today," Lynn said, returning to the senior officer’s side with a hint of frustration in his voice.

Since the day before yesterday, the manager had been showing up at the same time every day, like clockwork.

And he always picked a time when there were a lot of people around.

"He’s putting on a show," the senior officer said, rubbing his face wearily. "He wants all the employees to see that it’s not the factory that’s dropping the ball, but us—the useless police who can’t even find all the body parts."

Even though he knew the factory manager was a prime suspect, they currently had no evidence.

They couldn’t even arrest him!

"Forget it. I’m calling for backup on this one." The senior officer sighed, telling his protégé to keep an eye on the scene while he stepped aside to call the chief.

They had to solve this quickly. The nature of this case was just too vile.

About ten minutes later, after getting a definite answer, the senior officer finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lynn, head back and compile all the case files. Send them to a specific email address."

"It’s for the backup the chief found for us." A rare smile appeared on the senior officer’s face.

He didn’t know how capable this backup was, but the chief had said they’d cracked numerous major cases. A case like the one they were currently struggling with would probably be no challenge for them at all.

This was the best news he’d heard in days!

As he spoke, the senior officer sent the email address to Lynn’s phone.

"Yes, sir!"

Lynn acknowledged the order and rushed back toward the station as fast as he could.

From a distance, the factory manager watched Lynn hurry away, and an inexplicable sense of foreboding washed over him.

’No, it’s impossible,’ the manager thought, shaking his head to dismiss the uneasy feeling. ’I destroyed most of the cameras in the factory. They’ll never guess where I tossed it.’

Meanwhile, Officer Lee was waiting by the computer. The moment the files came in, he printed them out.

"Captain Sawyer, here are the files on that case," Officer Lee said, handing the printouts to Zoe Sawyer, who was standing beside him.

Half an hour earlier, the chief had called unexpectedly to report a murder at a factory with ten thousand employees in Gremore.

The surveillance footage was damaged, the victim’s head was missing, and the rest of the body had been mixed with other ingredients in a meat grinder, making it impossible to distinguish.