Chapter 256 The Windsor Family's Relationships Are Really Good!
The crew was hesitant.
The male and female leads disappeared together during filming. If this news got out, the entire crew including the investors would be finished!
The crew leader said, "So we've been keeping it under wraps until now, not daring to call the police. Thank goodness you're here, otherwise we wouldn't know how to handle this!"
Catherine frowned, her tone somewhat stern.
"Something this serious, where did you get the nerve to keep it quiet and not call the police? If something happens to Richard and Sophia, who's going to take responsibility?"
She was neither a police officer nor trained in investigation.
The crew couldn't possibly expect her to find them, could they?
Seeing the faint anger on Catherine's face, the leader explained while sweating profusely, "No, no, we wanted to call the police, but Richard and Sophia's agents said to wait for you first!"
Sophia's management contract was with Galactic Aurora Collective's own entertainment company, Harmony Enterprises.
The agent was also an internal staff member, and temporarily holding off on calling the police was because they weren't sure what had actually happened.
Catherine walked into the room, "If there's no news in two hours, call the police. You've already delayed the best rescue time."
The crew had huge investments and was counting on this production to win major awards. If news broke now that the leads were missing, several hundred million dollars in investment would be wasted!
The leader didn't dare be careless and quickly agreed.
Catherine's gaze fell on the two agents waiting nearby.
"What fans have been harassing Richard lately?"
"Just those ones. Richard reported them but most are minors, so they're hard to deal with."
On the first day of filming, they encountered several fans staking out the location, but since they were only twelve years old, the crew had to arrange vehicles to send them home.
Back and forth like this, it actually made those fans think Richard was tolerating and welcoming them!
The agent took out a phone, "This is Richard's phone. I don't know the password, but you can take a look."
The lock screen background was still a photo of Richard and Catherine together, with a few members of the Windsor family visible in the corner that Richard had cropped out.
Catherine paused for a moment, then tried entering her own birthday. It unlocked successfully.
She remembered Richard saying that all his devices, including his bank card passwords, had been changed to Catherine's birthday!
The text message list was filled with disgusting messages.
"Why didn't Richard just contact the carrier to disable the messaging function?"
The agent explained, "Richard didn't used to check texts, but after you went home, you'd sometimes send messages, so Richard would open them to check, afraid of missing your messages."
In reality, Catherine sent text messages very rarely. When she had something to discuss, she would usually choose to call.
Richard did this simply because he was worried about missing any of Catherine's messages!
For a moment, Catherine didn't know whether to blame herself for sending Richard texts in the first place, or regret that she'd sent him too few!
Those few messages she'd sent, Richard had actually saved them all as favorites!
Alexander could see Catherine felt somewhat guilty and consoled her softly.
"Even if he disabled the messaging function, once those people found they couldn't send messages, they'd just call instead, which would be even more troublesome. This isn't your fault. Besides, you can't rely on restricting yourself to avoid these things. Dealing with those relentless crazy fans is what's most important."
Catherine quickly processed her emotions, "Let's find them first. Where was Sophia's tracker last located?"
Venus: "A small drainage ditch to the north."
The small mountain village wasn't large, but it was surrounded by mountains on all sides. Another hundred miles beyond was the border.
Catherine put away Richard's phone, "Take me to see it."
The door of a nearby courtyard creaked open, and Neil walked out wearing a military overcoat.
"You and Alexander are back? Why didn't you let me know!"
"Neil, did you hear anything unusual the past few days?"
Neil lived in a courtyard not far from Cloudscape Villa. If Richard and Sophia had disappeared, Neil would definitely have heard something!
Everyone looked at Neil expectantly!
Neil thought for a moment, "Let me think. A couple nights ago, Brent came by, and some people from the Brown family, asking me for Catherine's contact information. I didn't give it to them!"
Thinking of the expressions on Brent's family's faces made Neil angry.
They clearly had bad intentions!
"I didn't hear any commotion in the middle of the night. Richard said their filming here was a bit noisy, so I didn't stay here at night."
Neil lived nearby mainly to watch the house for Catherine and guard Elodie's grave.
Last time when the Windsor family came in force and moved Elodie's grave, saying they'd buried her in the Windsor family cemetery, Neil felt much more at ease.
He'd been worried that when he passed away someday, Elodie would have no one with her!
With Richard staying at Cloudscape Villa, Neil simply stayed at his distant nephew's house at night, outside the crew's area.
Neil was very satisfied with those obviously excellent children from the Windsor family, and Richard even cared about his rest. He was so thoughtful!
Now hearing that Richard was actually missing, Neil was getting anxious too!
Catherine nodded, "Got it. I'll go check out the north side."
"The north side? The Brown family's old house seems to be on the north side!"
The Brown family's old house had been abandoned for years without repairs. It was run-down inside, but it was indeed on the north side!
"Take me to see it!"
"Okay!"
Neil didn't hesitate and led Catherine and the crew toward the northern slope.
The roads in the small mountain village were difficult to traverse. Wild grass grew taller than people, and many places had no passable paths.
The crew members complained bitterly but didn't dare grumble out loud.
Didn't they see Catherine walking at the very front, striding along briskly?
Not only wasn't she complaining, Catherine was walking quite fast!
She and Alexander followed Neil, leaving the crew far behind. You could tell she was really worried about Richard!
The Windsor family's bond was so strong!
Alexander stepped up the slope first and reached back toward Catherine, "Come!"
He showed no complaints whatsoever in this environment.
One moment he was the gold-plated group president handling cross-border contracts worth tens of billions of dollars, the next moment he stood on a treacherous village slope, stepping through thorns and reaching out to Catherine.
Placing her hand in Alexander's palm, Catherine easily climbed up the slope with his help, then turned to Neil: "Neil, the crew probably can't make it up here. Wait for them here and take them another way."
Catherine and Alexander were both top-tier assassins who operated along the border. Climbing this kind of slope was easy for them.
For those crew members to climb this nearly vertical slope wouldn't be so easy!
Catherine and Alexander chose the shortcut to save time.
Neil couldn't climb up either, so he stayed behind to wait for the crew.
"Okay! Just go over this ridge and you'll be there!"