Chapter 162 An Anonymous Letter
After leaving Whispering Pines Manor, Emily drove straight to Leo's adoptive parents' home in the countryside.
According to information from Ivan, the village where Leo's adoptive parents lived was dozens of miles of mountain roads away from Emerald City. Cut off by several mountains, the transportation was extremely inconvenient - a truly remote and poor area.
Although Emily had mentally prepared herself, she was still shocked when she first arrived at the village.
This place was even poorer than the village where Verity had lived before.
The small village had only about twenty households, all living in bare concrete houses. The villagers were mostly elderly people and children, all thin and sallow-faced, watching Emily, the outsider, with wary eyes.
Emily paused for a moment. She ignored those direct, suspicious gazes and walked purposefully toward one of the concrete houses.
At the doorway, a hunched old man with gray hair was feeding chickens.
Hearing light footsteps approaching, the old man looked up at the strikingly beautiful woman before him, who seemed completely out of place in this impoverished setting. A flash of surprise and wariness crossed his cloudy eyes.
"Sir, is this Doyle's home?"
Emily tried to make her voice as gentle as possible to reduce the old man's wariness.
"Who are you? What do you want with him?"
At the mention of Doyle's name, the old man's eyes widened.
"Actually, I'm from the Emerald City police department, here to investigate Doyle's disappearance."
Emily pulled out a police document she had prepared and handed it over.
Ivan had prepared this document for her before she came.
Although her police identity was fake, the credentials were genuine.
The old man naturally couldn't tell if the document was real or fake. He didn't think much of it. Hearing that Emily was there to investigate Doyle's disappearance, he warmly welcomed her into the house.
"Sir, you've finally come. My son has been missing for a week. Do you have news about him?"
The old man's voice trembled as he spoke.
Emily followed the old man, bending to enter the house. Inside the bare-walled room, she noticed an old woman standing in the center, staring at her intently.
"What are you standing there for? Quickly get the Sir some water."
The old man urged the old woman.
The old woman snapped out of it and hurried to get a cup to pour water for Emily.
"Don't trouble yourself. I'm just here to understand the situation of Doyle's disappearance. I'll leave soon."
Emily said softly.
The two elderly people exchanged glances and sat down across from Emily, looking somewhat uneasy.
"Sir, we already explained everything clearly when we filed the report. Is there something else?"
Doyle's mother asked with some anxiety.
"Don't be nervous, this is just routine questioning."
Emily smiled reassuringly, then took out her notebook and asked the two elderly people several questions in a professional manner.
From Doyle's parents, Emily learned that they had bought Leo, so they didn't actually know who Leo's biological parents were.
The name Doyle was one they had given the child later.
All these years, Leo had lived here under the name and identity of Doyle. Because the family was poor and he hadn't gone to school, Leo didn't have a proper job and made a living doing odd jobs, barely enough to support the family of three.
A week ago, Leo went out to do odd jobs as usual and never came back.
Since Leo had sometimes stayed away for two or three days before, the adoptive parents didn't pay much attention at first.
It wasn't until three days later, when Leo still hadn't returned and his phone was unreachable, that the adoptive parents panicked.
Initially, they only reported it to the village police station. After the search turned up nothing, the case was transferred to the Emerald City police department.
After understanding the basic information, Emily asked to see Leo's room.
After thinking for a moment, Doyle's parents agreed.
The adoptive parents' home was very poor, and Leo's room was small with very simple furniture - just a desk, a chair, and a bed, nothing more.
Emily walked into the room and looked around. She didn't randomly touch anything but walked straight to the desk.
Although the desk was old with many damaged edges, judging from how clean the surface was, Leo seemed to be someone who liked things neat and tidy.
This was somewhat different from what she had imagined.
Emily lowered her eyes in thought, then slowly pulled open the drawer. Inside lay an opened letter.
The sender of this letter wasn't named, but the content made Emily take notice.
Because this was a letter informing Leo about his background.
Before seeing this letter, Emily had some doubts about whether Leo knew about his origins.
But the appearance of this letter directly dispelled Emily's doubts.
It seemed Leo did know about his background.
From the date on the letter, it had been sent to Leo a week ago. So, had Leo left home a week ago to find his biological mother?
Emily's heart sank. She mentally calculated the timeline and discovered that Celestia's car accident death occurred three days after Leo's disappearance.
So, before her death, had Celestia seen Leo?
And what had Leo encountered after leaving home? Had he successfully found his biological mother Celestia?
If Leo had found her before Celestia's death, what would they have said to each other? Did Celestia's death have anything to do with Leo?
If he hadn't found her, where had Leo gone? Why hadn't he returned home? Was he safe now?
All sorts of questions swirled in Emily's mind, making her feel extremely troubled.
Emily collected the letter, said goodbye to Leo's adoptive parents, and left the almost isolated village.
After leaving the village, Emily called Nicholas and asked him to provide some assistance to Leo's adoptive parents in the name of "Horizon Foundation."
Horizon Foundation was an angel fund Emily had established that regularly helped people in difficulty through charity sales, auctions, donations, and other means.
......
Emily had just driven back to Emerald City when she received a call from Faye.
"Mrs. Emily Thomas, something happened to Mr. Mason Thomas!"
"What happened?"
Emily's eyes turned cold.
It was currently school vacation. Emily had been quite busy these past few days, and James was often away from home, so Jasper was frequently left alone at the Thomas Villa.
Initially, Emily thought that since Qiana, who had the most say in the Thomas family, was still in the hospital, she worried that Jasper might be bullied if left alone at home, so she wanted to bring the child to Elysian Residences for a few days.
But Jasper had refused.
"Mommy, I'm playing Mason right now. If I'm always out and not staying at home, it'll be easy to blow my cover. Don't worry, I can protect myself."
Jasper, acting like a little adult, patted his chest and promised Emily.
Emily had no choice but to reluctantly agree, though with some anxiety.
But now something had happened after all.