Chapter 256
Arabella didn't hesitate long. She quickly unfolded the letter, snapped a few photos with her camera, then carefully refolded it and returned it to the envelope.
"Mr. Hensley, I'm finished. I've put the box back where it was. Thank you," Arabella called toward the back room.
Without lingering, she turned and walked briskly back to the shop entrance. When Theron saw her emerge, he glanced up. "Got everything?"
"Yes, thank you. Sorry for taking up half your day."
"Don't mention it." Theron waved dismissively. Arabella smiled without saying more, picked up her canvas bag, and left the shop.
She didn't return to the inn in town. Instead, she flagged down a passing bus and left the small town that very evening.
Arabella arrived back in Imperial City in the early hours of the next morning.
After getting home, Arabella sent the photos to Audrey. Audrey sat at her desk, enlarging each image one by one for closer inspection.
Her gaze finally settled on the picture of the letter.
She forwarded the photo to Ethan, asking him to authenticate the handwriting and date the paper.
Before long, Ethan replied. "The paper is definitely Eagle Eye's internal specialty stock, no question. But the handwriting comparison came back strange—every letter is extremely neat, but the stroke patterns vary completely from word to word. It's like one person deliberately altered their style throughout, or possibly different people each wrote individual letters to form the words."
Audrey stared at the screen without following up.
She knew Ethan was right. The handwriting in this letter had obviously been deliberately manipulated.
There was only one reason for that: to prevent anyone from identifying the writer. If this had truly been a direct order from Eagle Eye's core members, there would be no need to obscure the handwriting so carefully.
That left only one possibility—the person who wrote the letter actually knew Stefan, but didn't want Stefan to be able to identify them through their handwriting if things went wrong later.
In other words, this person might not have been from Eagle Eye at all. They'd simply borrowed Eagle Eye's name and exploited Stefan's position to orchestrate that fire.
A bold theory suddenly formed in Audrey's mind. Eagle Eye had wanted to strike at the Turner family, yes—but there had also been conflict brewing within the Turner family itself.
This person had acted before Eagle Eye's people could, and on the same day. That way, everyone would assume Eagle Eye was responsible.
Bronte had survived, and everyone believed Bronte was the Turner family's only survivor.
But if the arsonist had been from the Turner family, then he might have survived too.
Bronte had been picked up by the Langley family when they passed by. So where had the arsonist gone?
Audrey dialed White Dove's encrypted line. "I need you to search for everyone who left Suncrest City after the fire—their travel records."
"Understood."
White Dove's processing speed was impressive, but the volume of data exceeded her expectations. Two evenings later, White Dove's response arrived.
A heavily filtered list appeared on Audrey's screen. Seven people met the criteria: left Suncrest City within a month of the fire, re-registered their residence in another city within five years, and showed a clear gap between their old and new identities.
Audrey examined them one by one.
The first six were ordinary workers or small merchants who'd moved to different places after leaving Suncrest City. Their subsequent life trajectories were clearly traceable, showing no signs of anything unusual.
Until she reached the seventh.
This man had originally been named Delbert Loomis. Before the fire, he'd worked as a carpenter in Suncrest City, occasionally taking odd jobs repairing estates.
He'd left Suncrest City ten days after the fire, then three years later re-registered in a small southern city under the name Geraldo Loomis, listing his occupation as timber merchant.
Geraldo's photo was attached to the file—a yellowed old ID picture.
The man in the photo was around thirty, with unremarkable features that would blend into any crowd.
But Audrey stared at that face for a long time. She had the nagging feeling she'd seen it somewhere before.
Suddenly it hit her—perhaps even the name Delbert was false, and he was actually from the Turner family.
She immediately pulled up the electronic scan of the Turner family genealogy and began flipping through page by page.
The Turner family heritage spanned generations, each meticulously documented.
She quickly skipped past the first few pages, finally finding a name in the collateral branch section: Zander Turner. Showed exceptional carpentry talent from childhood, capable of independently crafting complex pieces by age twelve. At seventeen, recorded as the Turner family's dedicated craftsman, responsible for estate repairs and custom furniture.
A single line of small text appeared in the notes section: Reclusive personality, dislikes social interaction, lived alone year-round in a side room in the back courtyard.
Audrey's gaze lingered on that note for a long moment.
A theory formed in her mind: Perhaps Zander had harbored resentment toward the Turner family for some reason. Then Eagle Eye's people had approached him, promising him something.
Maybe he'd thought that once the Turner family was destroyed, he could escape his marginalized position and get what he wanted.
What he hadn't anticipated was how thoroughly that fire would burn—so completely that he himself barely escaped. Afterward, he'd discovered he'd been deceived. Eagle Eye had never honored their promises, and now he carried the debt of his entire family's massacre with no way back.
So he'd changed his name and fled far away.
Though there was another possibility—he'd had no connection to Eagle Eye, but upon learning of their planned action, he'd started the fire first.
That way, everything could be blamed on Eagle Eye.
Audrey picked up her phone and dialed White Dove's encrypted line. "I need you to look into someone. Geraldo Loomis, former name Delbert Loomis. If he's dead, find his descendants."