Chapter 66 : Unfolding Conspiracy Part 1

***—Back to the Present—***

To say that the atmosphere in the living room today was intense would be an understatement. A few minutes ago, John had knocked on the front door in the middle of the night, bringing news for her and her husband. Soon the three of them were gathered in the main room of the penthouse - John sitting restlessly on the middle sofa with both hands clenched on his thighs and his eyes staring blankly at the space in front of him with furrowed brows, while Aishleen sat directly opposite him with her trembling hands on her lap and Keenan, who had just returned with a tray containing several cups of coffee for the two of them, took a seat next to her before carefully placing the still steaming cup into her hands.

"Please take this," he whispered softly to Aishleen, stroking her hair with one hand to get her attention. Meanwhile, Aishleen could not even react to his touch or words. Everything was so surreal that she didn't know how to react to anything or anyone. All she could think of was what John had said when she had opened the door for him earlier. John Smith.

Aishleen lifted her eyes to look at the man sitting before her, the man who had come in the middle of the night to bring her news. Bad news.

Herman was dead.

The words had been ringing in her head ever since she heard them. Her body shook violently each time she repeated the words in her head as she slowly let it all sink in.

"How is that possible? He... I just saw him yesterday," she finally spoke up after being silent for too long.

Her soft voice was filled with emotion, but she managed to keep the two men's attention on her, unable to control her feelings as she recalled her last encounter with Herman, which had happened just the day before. Aishleen still remembered talking to him, and still remembered all the words he had said during their secret meeting, along with the satisfied grin he kept showing on his face the last time he spoke to her.

She silently looked back at the events of her last meeting with him, remembering how his eyes kept looking around at her, carefully scanning her surroundings to ensure her own safety. He was always cautious, always alert and quick in his movements, so why...

"He was with me, John. And we were just talking on the phone-" her body began to shake again as she remembered the last phone call she had had with Herman and his last message—

*"Don't worry, I'll be back before anyone notices I'm gone."*

"What the hell's going on?" Keenan spoke up after putting down the cup he had been holding on the table and turning to John for an answer.

It took him a moment to raise his eyes to look at them. At first, Aishleen expected to see something in his gaze, something that represented his emotions, for he had been silent, his jaw clenched and his hands in his lap since the moment he had entered the penthouse earlier. But when her eyes met his, all she saw was nothing. She was not entirely surprised by the sight, as she was used to seeing him hold back his emotions.

Until he turned his eyes to her husband. And as he looked at Keenan, his eyes suddenly began to glow with anger. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself, clenching his jaw tightly and closing his eyes for a few moments before finally letting it all out with a deep sigh.

As he began to calm down, he was finally able to explain everything more calmly, "Herman left town about 24 hours ago with the excuse that he had to follow a lead. He's been trying to gather as much information as he can to solve everything about this case and to—" he nodded to her, "—to help us, and there's nothing that can lead us to find anything about them anywhere, nothing that can be found no matter how much we've tried to dig through the sources we currently have.

Until he found a place, an address. He decided to go there and find this place to see if he could get inside information. I tried to stop him, I tried to make him wait until I got back because we still didn't know if the information about this place was wrong or if it was safe enough to go in without any preparation. But he went anyway and said he had some backup and it was the right time for him to go. He was supposed to come back this morning and report to me immediately, but—"

"He's not back yet," Keenan replied when John fell silent and clenched his jaw again. "How do you know he's dead? How can you be so sure?"

"Herman is an old prisoner who has important information and useful skills, everything I need. Ever since I arrested him, we had an agreement between us that he would provide his expertise and any information he had that would help me solve the case I was working on and any case he had ever worked on. In exchange for a witness protection program that will be given to him when all is said and done," John explained carefully, occasionally running his fingers through his hair.

"As part of the punishment for his crimes, as well as the deal he made with me, I installed a tracker on him to make sure he didn't fly out of the country before completing his sentence, while also allowing me to keep track of him while he was in hiding. I was the only one who had access to his location through the device, as well as the ability to disable the tracker and change its settings periodically for security reasons. Not only does the tracker allow me to track him wherever he goes, but it also sends me an emergency alert if he is out of town, if he is within a dangerous distance of where I am for more than 12 hours, or if his heart stops." She could see his jaw clench again before he continued, "The distress alert I received showed me the last one before the 12 hour time limit expired."

"Are you sure he didn't do it on purpose?" Keenan asked curiously. "You said yourself that if this guy had any skills, he would have found a way to deactivate it and disappeared somewhere."

John replied with sarcastic mockery. "No, I know him. I know his weaknesses. He needs the deal and the protection I promised him, and he needs to help me catch the people we're after together. He has a reason not to betray me. He has a reason to make sure they get caught."

"Are you sure about that?" Keenan kept pushing.

She simply sat there, saying nothing to either, watching their conversation, even as she felt the tension grow as Keenan's suspicions grew.

Meanwhile, all John did was sneer and chuckle. "Why don't you ask yourself, Mr. Seymour?" he taunted her husband with a smirk on his face, "Why do you think I came here to tell you about this? I had my own reasons for meeting Aishleen in person, but you know I have other reasons for sitting here with you now."