Chapter 459

Chapter 459

Sienna rubbed her chin and said in a low voice, "To maintain air quality and temperature in the exhibition halls, the museum has installed forced ventilation ducts in every gallery. They're wide enough for an adult to pass through."

"Have you had your people verify this?"

As those words fell, Kelvin slowly straightened up and nodded at the officers who wished they could just disappear.

The police quickly sprang into action.

The grate in front of the ventilation duct was opened. And as several people worked together to remove it, the officers also discovered some very obvious problems.

"Dr. Taylor, and Mr. Brown!"

The officer quickly saved his own skin, "There are clear signs of damage here."

The museum's forced ventilation ducts were regularly maintained by staff, but on the clean grate, the screws showed an abnormal twisted state.

Of the four fixing screws, at least three had come loose, and at the positions where the screws had fallen off, there were obvious paint chip marks.

Sienna nodded, "This must be connected to the killer. I'll go in and take a look."

The ventilation duct had been opened, but looking in from the outside, you couldn't see very clearly.

Kelvin unusually didn't make any sarcastic remarks or try to stop her. After all, while the ventilation duct could indeed accommodate an adult male, the passage through it would definitely not be comfortable.

Among all the people present, only Sienna was petite enough to move in and out of the duct quite easily.

Several people helped Sienna secure her safety rope, and she stepped on an officer's shoulder, easily braced herself against the edge of the duct, and slipped into it like a nimble cat.

Soon, the safety rope was tugged by Sienna from the other end, and several officers carefully pulled Sienna out of the duct.

"Someone definitely went through here."

Sienna had hardly any dust on her. When she came down, Kelvin extended his arm, and she jumped directly into his embrace, still clutching two transparent evidence bags in her hand.

"Found these in the duct."

Sienna waved the evidence bags, and Kelvin, as if no one else was around, ruffled her hair.

People were watching all around, so Sienna quickly pushed him away.

The two bags contained respectively an ordinary-looking key and a piece of bandage that looked worn and corroded to a yellowish color.

The staff member who had been staying in the exhibition hall finally found his purpose, "That piece of bandage should be from the mummy."

The staff member quickly walked over and leaned in close to Sienna to examine it carefully, "The bandages on the mummy already showed signs of corrosion. If they rubbed against the duct, there's definitely a good chance they could fall off."

"Then that's it."

Sienna's tone was certain, "This thing must have been dropped unconsciously by the killer. It should give us quite a few clues."

The two items were sent back to the forensics lab, and they soon received related information.

"Sienna, the bandage does come from the museum's mummy. As for that key, we collected a fingerprint from it."

Sienna breathed a sigh of relief, "Did you run a comparison?"

"We did. The fingerprint belongs to a middle-aged man named Kimball Church, age thirty-two. But he's not in this city, and he has no registered permanent address. Overall, he should be classified as a homeless vagrant."

No registered address meant a huge obstacle for the police investigation.

The voice on Sienna's phone had just finished when, before she could even furrow her brow, Kelvin's phone rang at the same time.

Kelvin pressed the speakerphone button.

"Mr. Brown, we checked Marlon's hometown. He had a son before, but he was abandoned, and there's been no news since."

An abandoned son?

Sienna's eyes suddenly widened.

A dead elderly security guard, plus a thirty-year-old man who suddenly appeared—it was impossible to control one's train of thought.

Based on past experience, Kelvin and Sienna almost instinctively thought of the same possibility.

Sienna's tone was urgent, "Do a DNA comparison. Marlon and this Kimball must be connected!"

The forensics officers had already heard the news through the phone. Without Sienna having to give specific orders, they had already filed for DNA comparison authorization.

"We checked. Father and son relationship."

This "father and son relationship" basically sealed the case.

This Kimball perfectly fit all the original assumptions about the killer. Sienna couldn't be bothered to bicker with Kelvin and quickly said, "Apart from getting revenge on Marlon, Kimball's purpose in stealing the mummy must also be for its economic value."

Sienna looked at Kelvin, "If he wants to sell the mummy, he can only go to the antique street in the east part of the city."

Kelvin pressed the car keys at his waist, "Let's go, antique street!"

Soon, at the antique street.

The arriving police were somewhat stunned by the situation, causing even their salutes to reveal a bit of confusion.

An officer from behind quickly stepped forward, "What's the situation now?"

The patrol officer's gaze circled between Sienna and Kelvin twice before explaining, "According to our investigation, this Kimball was living in that courtyard at the west end of the antique street."

As he spoke, the officer pointed toward the end of the antique street, "That courtyard over there. But it's an old residential complex, surveillance isn't complete."

Sienna looked in the direction the officer pointed and couldn't help but frown slightly.

That was more than just an old residential complex—the courtyard walls were dilapidated, covered layer upon layer with all kinds of small advertisements, and several antique dealers of questionable legitimacy squatted by the entrance, their eyes scanning around for customers.

As if reading Sienna's expression, the officer cleared his throat, "We've also checked the key. That Kimball is in the furthest building back there."

Since the location had been confirmed, Sienna frowned, "Has he come back today?"

Hearing Sienna's question, the officer quickly nodded, "We checked the surveillance. He entered the courtyard this afternoon and hasn't come out since."

At these words, Kelvin's cold voice immediately followed, "Let's go."

Everyone followed along.

The antique street had many vendors setting up stalls selling fakes. Seeing a team of police striding purposefully forward, they all wished they could squeeze themselves into the cracks in the ground.

In this oppressive atmosphere, they finally reached the room the officer had indicated.

Following standard police procedure, Kelvin stepped back two paces, letting an officer from behind call out.

"Kimball!"

The old stairwell shook loose quite a bit of dust from that shout. There was no response from inside the door. Just as the officer was about to call out again, Sienna raised her hand to stop him.

She frowned and moved closer to that old iron door, then suddenly her eyes widened, "Break it down!"