Chapter 402: There is no evidence

Chapter 402: There is no evidence

Emily and James hurried to the police station, where Ivan was already waiting in the conference room.

He handed James a copy of a test report.

"James, this is a copy of that DNA report. Take a look."

After James took the report, Ivan pulled out another document and placed it on the table.

"Also, we found a list of everyone from the orphanage inside the doll's body. Both Marc and Bethany are on it, so there's no question they were children at that orphanage. Besides that, I also found a very old ring inside. These items have all been logged as evidence, so I can't hand them over to you. All I could do was photograph the ring and give you copies of the documents."

"Ivan, you don't need to apologize. You have no obligation to give us the evidence in the first place."

Emily said, then shifted her gaze to the photograph.

The ring in the photo looked ancient, its age indeterminate. The edges were blackened—apparently scorched by fire—and the small diamond on top was covered in gray film.

It appeared to be a diamond wedding ring.

Emily stared at the ring in the photo. Something about it seemed oddly familiar.

"Ivan, do you know who owned this ring?"

"I'm sorry, we haven't found any relevant information yet."

"I see."

Emily lowered her eyes, studying the ring in the photo thoughtfully.

Ivan watched Emily for a moment, then said softly, "It seems Emily is very interested in the ring's owner. I understand—I'll keep investigating this ring and see if I can dig up anything more useful."

"Thank you."

Emily smiled at Ivan, and Ivan smiled back.

James watched the two of them exchanging smiles, and inexplicably felt irritated.

He was standing right here! How dare these two ignore him!

James cleared his throat lightly, then forcefully grasped Emily's hand hanging at her side, brazenly asserting his claim.

"Ivan, forget about the ring's owner for now. Let's talk about those remains first."

Emily frowned and turned to look at James. She tugged at her hand, realized she couldn't break free, and gave up.

Ivan was lost in thought and naturally didn't notice the increasingly strange atmosphere between James and Emily.

"Are you certain those remains really belong to Kian?"

James asked.

"I'm certain, Mr. Thomas. It's all clearly stated in the documents."

Ivan paused for a moment, then added, "As for the person who's supposedly still alive and on a business trip abroad, I honestly don't know what's going on there. I'm sorry."

"That's enough."

James let out a cold laugh. Still holding Emily's hand, he turned and headed toward the police station exit.

After a few steps, James stopped.

"Thank you."

Ivan watched in surprise as James and Emily walked out of the police station, unable to hide the shock in his eyes.

This was the first time he'd seen the proud and arrogant James thank someone so earnestly.

It seemed Emily's influence on James was considerable.

...

Emily walked silently, letting James lead her by the hand. She looked at his solitary, proud figure ahead and couldn't help asking, "What do we do now?"

"What do you mean, what do we do?"

"We originally went to the orphanage ruins to investigate Bethany's whereabouts and Marc's past. We didn't expect it would lead to something involving your father."

"He's not my father!"

James stopped abruptly, turned around, and locked his shadowed gaze on Emily.

Emily said nothing more.

They stood face to face, staring at each other. The air around them seemed to freeze for a moment.

After a long while, James finally spoke again, practically through gritted teeth.

"I suspected before that Kian was fake, but when I tested him, I found that his habits and preferences were identical to the person I knew. I quickly abandoned the idea that he was an imposter. But now these unidentified remains show up, and they belong to Kian!"

"So, if Ivan's investigation is correct, the Kian currently on a business trip abroad is fake."

Emily calmly stated the conclusion.

James laughed bitterly.

"And I was truly stupid, having a fake around me for all these years without noticing."

Emily fell silent.

After a moment, Emily spoke again.

"Those remains—who knows how many years they've been buried in the orphanage ruins. And who was the killer?"

"About that..."

James handed Emily the document copy in his hand. "Ivan's report says those remains were killed three years ago. The orphanage ruins probably wasn't the primary crime scene. The killer murdered the real Kian, waited for the body to decompose into bones, then transferred them to the orphanage ruins."

"But if we follow that logic, the real Kian should have been killed earlier than three years ago, not three years ago..."

Emily suddenly trailed off, because she suddenly remembered that Mason's trauma also dated back three years.

Because he'd seen something he shouldn't have, Indigo locked him in a dark room and tortured him until he lost his memory.

And just earlier, stimulated by the thunderstorm, Mason had remembered what he'd forgotten for three years.

He said he saw Xanthe arguing with someone, and then that person fell...

No, the timeline doesn't match!

If Kian was killed by Xanthe three years ago, and Mason just happened to witness the crime scene... the timeline doesn't match!

Kian was clearly murdered earlier than three years ago. Three years ago, the murdered Kian had already turned into white bones. For some reason and purpose, the killer transferred the bones to the abandoned orphanage ruins where no one visited.

But if the killer who murdered the real Kian wasn't Xanthe, then who could it be?

Emily felt like the clues were plentiful, yet they were like tangled yarn—the more there were, the more impossible to untangle.

She looked up at James, seeing his face dark and stormy, his features filled with murderous intent.

James must have thought of the same thing she had, which was why he looked so terrifying and full of killing intent.

"Xanthe!"

James ground out the name through clenched teeth.

"There's no evidence."

Emily shook her head.

"Who needs evidence."

James laughed coldly. "The person who killed the real Kian—besides Xanthe, I can't think of anyone else."

"Can you produce evidence?"

"I have intuition!"

"Getting the police to arrest someone can't rely on intuition alone. You need evidence."