Chapter 432: Pitch-Black Space

Chapter 432: Chapter 432: Pitch-Black Space

’We were looking in the wrong direction from the start?’

Zoe Sawyer looked at Evan Keller, confused. ’What direction was wrong?’

"The girl who was being humiliated is named Amanda Hawthorne. I initially assumed she was from over there, so I focused the investigation in that direction." Evan Keller placed the file he was gripping tightly in front of Zoe Sawyer, then pointed to the first profile card and said, "In reality, Amanda Hawthorne is from our side! Customs has no record of her leaving the country—she was smuggled out!"

He had made this discovery when he logged into the internal police network and saw her on the missing persons page.

At first, he thought he was mistaken. But after carefully comparing the portrait Beau had provided with the photo on the site, he finally confirmed Amanda Hawthorne’s identity.

"Why do you say she was smuggled out? Could she have been trafficked?" Zoe Sawyer asked with a confused frown.

Evan Keller shook his head. "That’s a nationwide police information network. It’s used to track fugitives who suddenly disappear while we’re trying to apprehend them, not ordinary missing persons.

Now I also get why that boss lady was humiliating her so much and Amanda Hawthorne didn’t even fight back. The crime she committed back home was a major one. Five years ago, in the middle of the night, she murdered her adoptive family—all four of them—then stole all their valuables and fled.

During the attempt to capture her, she injured several innocent bystanders to create chaos. The worst case was someone she knocked into the road who was then hit by an oncoming car. They didn’t make it."

Amanda Hawthorne had correctly assumed they’d be hesitant to act due to the innocent civilians around her. Taking advantage of her slender build, she squeezed into all sorts of tight spots and would occasionally cause some destruction to slow down their pursuit.

They didn’t have time to set up a proper cordon when they found her, so they ended up missing the perfect opportunity to catch her.

By the time they surrounded her hiding place and were ready to move in for the arrest, she was long gone.

"During the stakeout, we had eyes on her hiding spot the entire time, but she still managed to get away." After discovering this, Evan Keller had read through Amanda Hawthorne’s entire case file, so he was familiar with all the details.

Most importantly, none of the surrounding surveillance cameras captured her leaving.

They intensified the search afterward but never found her. In the end, they had no choice but to classify her as a missing person.

The police department in that jurisdiction would pull out the case whenever they had a spare moment and review it from top to bottom.

Only recently did they have a breakthrough. Reviewing old surveillance footage, they identified several suspicious individuals who might have been accomplices in her escape.

But before they could act on it, I came across her file.

"I get it," Zoe Sawyer said, nodding in sudden understanding. "Someone with a criminal record and no official exit logs suddenly appearing in a foreign country... The only possibility is that she was smuggled out."

’It’s close to the border over there. If you really want to, there are plenty of ways to sneak across.’

"Then what about Amanda Hawthorne’s sister? Are there any records of her leaving the country?" Zoe Sawyer asked, the thought having just occurred to her.

Evan Keller shook his head. "None for her either. The file says Amanda Hawthorne’s sister went missing while she was in the orphanage. That’s precisely why her adoptive parents took her in—they felt sorry that she’d lost her only family.

They probably never imagined that the child they adopted would one day grow up and take all their lives."

"For Amanda Hawthorne to endure such humiliation from that boss lady... besides being unable to escape, it’s more importantly because she has nowhere else to go, right?" Zoe Sawyer said thoughtfully, tapping her finger on Amanda Hawthorne’s file.

’She’s a wanted fugitive back home, and an illegal immigrant. If she tried to return, she’d be arrested for sure.’

’Stay and be humiliated, or go back to be arrested and thrown in prison. Amanda Hawthorne chose the former.’

"Now that we have her specific details, the investigation should be much easier from here on out.

If we start with her, we might be able to dig up some valuable leads." Evan Keller’s voice held a trace of excitement. He then continued, "I’ll do some more digging. Once I’m ready, Zoe Sawyer, you can help me pinpoint her location."

’If she’s a citizen, and a wanted fugitive at that, this just got a lot simpler.’

’We can just knock her out, bring her back through the door, and then interrogate her for everything she knows about the boss lady!’

"Alright! No problem. Just give me a call when you’re ready!" Zoe Sawyer agreed to Evan Keller’s proposal without the slightest hesitation.

’Catching the boss lady and her subordinates and dismantling her operations is the most important thing right now.’

With that, Evan Keller left with the file. He still needed to get more information about Amanda Hawthorne from the other jurisdiction.

Zoe Sawyer had just sat down when Sean Hughes, Heath Hale, and the others arrived. The group immediately started discussing Gary Dawson’s case again, along with how to write up the report.

Zoe Sawyer, meanwhile, sat off to the side, watching them. Pen in hand, she idly drew a door on a blank sheet of paper out of boredom.

She was just doodling, but a few seconds after she finished, her hand, which was resting on the paper, suddenly pushed the door open.

’Huh?’

Zoe Sawyer shot upright, her eyes glued to the white paper on her desk.

Sean Hughes and the others, who had been in the middle of a heated discussion, noticed her sudden movement and fell silent. All eyes turned to Zoe Sawyer.

"Something wrong?" Heath Hale asked, walking over to Zoe Sawyer’s side with a frown.

Zoe Sawyer nodded with a hint of hesitation. "I think so. I was just idly drawing a door on this paper, and I didn’t expect it to actually open."

But unlike before, she didn’t feel that sense of urgency that usually meant something bad was happening. The other side was pitch-black, and she couldn’t hear a single sound. For a moment, Zoe Sawyer couldn’t tell if this was a live feed or a vision of the past.

To be on the safe side, though, Zoe Sawyer made sure the door wouldn’t reveal any information about their presence.

"There’s no breathing, no talking, no light... I can’t even hear wind. Could it be a sealed space?" Zoe Sawyer said, her voice tinged with confusion.

Sean Hughes and the others crowded around, standing beside Zoe Sawyer and craning their necks to look down at the desk.

Just as Zoe Sawyer had said, on the other side of the palm-sized door was nothing but pitch-black darkness. They couldn’t see anything else.

Zoe Sawyer leaned closer to the door and sniffed gently. "There’s no smell of blood. Instead, there’s a strong, fragrant aroma."

Hearing this, Sean Hughes and Heath Hale each leaned in to take a whiff, but because of the door’s protective mechanism, neither of them could smell a thing.

"We can’t just keep waiting like this. I need to determine the location as soon as possible.

Don’t worry, the door will protect me. I won’t get hurt!" Staring at the dark space and the rich aroma wafting from it, Zoe Sawyer felt she couldn’t just sit back and wait. She spoke with a firm tone, ignoring the disapproving and worried looks from the others.

Then, she carefully reached her hand through.