Chapter 42
When Bonner arrived at the textile factory, Winmeru was already handcuffed and about to get into the police car.
She lifted her skirt and rushed over, tears welling in her eyes, but was stopped by the police officers and could only keep her distance from Winmeru. "Darling, I'll get you a lawyer, the best lawyer in London!"
Wenmeru didn't say anything. He looked back at Rina reluctantly before being shoved into the police car.
Rina gave him a subtle smile, and after the police car drove away, she took out the button in her hand and threw it to Sato.
Sato's phone kept ringing, including from the British Embassy, until it finally drained his battery. Now that he had a chance to catch his breath, he asked, "What is this?"
Lina said slowly, "It was found in the lotus pond, direct evidence proving the connection between Winmeru and Vanilla."
The police car had already driven away. Bonner wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, walked towards Rina in her red high heels, and explained, "I can vouch for that."
Sato gave him an incredulous look.
Although the case has been solved, there are still many difficulties in convicting the suspect and implementing punishment measures.
Winmeru did not kill anyone, and there is currently no evidence of assault against Bella. Child molestation carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison. He is still somewhat uncertain about the final outcome of the case if lawyers and embassy personnel are involved.
Bonner said calmly, "Don't mind me, I need some dignity to deceive the company's board of directors. I am also filled with shame and sorrow for what my husband did."
After she finished speaking, she suddenly received a phone call and went elsewhere.
Rina paid a little attention and continued, "Wimmer won't easily admit to his crimes, so we'll have to put in a lot of effort during the interrogation."
Sato suddenly remembered why she had asked Winmeru if he had been to the orphanage.
The fact that his things were found in a place he had never been to could be used as a breakthrough point for interrogation.
Sato's tangled thoughts gradually found a thread, but he was still a little confused, "How exactly did Durand die?"
Rina: "Laura asked Durand to stay in the office to wait for her that night under the pretext of discussing countermeasures. It was after the children had gone to bed that Laura began to take action."
Sato thought for a moment, carefully choosing his words: "The body was disguised as a locked room, but who destroyed it?"
That's what he couldn't understand.
"This question is a bit too difficult for me," Rina sighed helplessly. "I haven't thought of it yet."
“It was probably two or three people who hated Durand so much for the crimes he committed that they hung his body outside,” Sato frowned, puzzled. “How did they know the person inside was dead?”
Rina: "The smell of blood."
There was a large pool of blood in the office.
Sato nodded and said succinctly, "So this matter is most likely related to someone from the orphanage."
"..." Rina hesitated slightly. "Officer Sato, working is really tiring, like being an ox plowing a field. I need to go back and rest now."
A thought popped into Sato's mind, and he said to himself, "What if we get it from the reporters who are brought here—"
Kurosawa Shiran walked to Rina's side, leaned down and said, "Officer Sato, you can investigate the rest yourself. I'm taking my sister back now."
“…” Sato frowned. “Are you sure you want him to come along? I have a very bad feeling about this guy.”
When someone speaks ill of you to your face, Rina pauses for two seconds, then says, "Little brother."
Sato: "What genes do you have in your family?"
Kurosawa Toki's height and appearance make her look like a foreigner no matter how you look at it.
Rina explained, "My grandmother was British."
"Is that so?" Sato was still very concerned, looking the two of them up and down until they heard the sound of footsteps. The two of them looked at the person walking not far away.
Bonner walked with a striking elegance. She gave Sato a brief greeting, then turned to Rina and asked, "Can we talk alone?"
Kurosawa Shiran gave her a disapproving look, then gently placed her hand on Rina's shoulder, drawing Rina's attention.
Rina glanced at him, then at her watch: "Five minutes."
Sato still had many things to take care of, so he didn't linger any longer.
Then, Bonner looked at Rina with great interest and asked, "How did you know I was planning to get a divorce and fight for company shares?"
Rina: "..."
Kurosawa Shiran took a piece of candy out of her pocket, a candy wrapped in colorful transparent candy paper, and handed it to Rina.
"Don't you dislike sweets?" Rina hesitated for a moment, unwrapped the candy, picked up the candy, put it in her mouth, and chewed it in less than five seconds.
Bonner recalled the scene of her mother quitting smoking, how she would chew something whenever she had a craving. She was somewhat shocked by this, as her mother had a gentle and delicate face like a ragdoll cat. "I didn't expect you to have a smoking addiction."
Rina swallowed the crumbs of candy in her mouth and said, "You've been married to Winmeru for five years, and suddenly in recent months, the newspapers have repeatedly reported on your contributions to the textile factory. It's obvious that you're increasing your social influence and using public opinion to gain leverage. This proves that you're a smart and ambitious woman, but you've overlooked one issue. You came to me, spending money to find evidence of your cheating husband. You acted very sad, but I couldn't see any anger. A competitive person, even without deep love, would feel angry about her husband's infidelity and betrayal. But you only showed sadness, which means there was a lot of acting involved. I guess at that time, there were probably people from the textile factory's board of directors watching you, and you were trying to gain their sympathy."
“That’s really interesting. I certainly didn’t think of that. There was indeed a man standing outside the shop at the time; he was Winmeru’s special assistant, and I bribed him.” Bonner paused, then chuckled slowly. “So why did you help me?”
Rina: "I'm just worried that he'll get out of prison and then live a life of endless glory."
Bonner gave a confident smile: "I'll make him leave with nothing."
Rina: "I hope so."
Bonner continued, "What happened when you picked up that case before? You're still capable, so why couldn't you solve it?"
Rina looked away, clearly unwilling to discuss the matter.
Bonner didn't press further, and pulled a business card from her bag, handing it to her. "This is my contact information. Hmm, your boyfriend is really good-looking."
Rina instantly looked at her with obvious displeasure: "This is my younger brother."
"Don't be shy, I also like energetic young people." Bonner smiled at her, then turned and left in her high heels.
Kurosawa Shiran snorted sarcastically, "Some people misunderstood the relationship between you and Takizawa Nanase before, why didn't you explain?"
Rina: "You're annoying."
Kurosawa Shiran: "My older sister is mean to me."
The two had just left the textile factory and returned to their car when they saw Annie standing under a tree nearby.
Needless to say, they must have come to see her. Rina unscrewed the pink thermos, took a sip of hot tea, glanced around, and waved to Annie.
The area was overgrown with weeds, and there were many mosquitoes in the grass. Annie sat in the back seat, closed the car door, and asked directly, "You didn't tell the police about what happened between us?"
“Not yet,” Rina said, turning her eyes and taking another sip of hot tea. “There are conditions for me to keep quiet.”
Anne: "A cunning woman."
Rina put down her cup and gave a harmless smile: "What's with the number on your clothes?"
Kurosawa Shiran raised an eyebrow without changing his expression, and Annie subconsciously retorted, "What?"
Rina turned her head and looked at Annie: "I looked at your file, and you have a row of numbers with # on your shoulder."
Anne bit her lower lip, a hesitant expression on her face. "When I was a child, I had a strange illness and was taken in by a research institute. I received treatment there for three years and stayed at that institute."
Rina: "What strange illness?"
Anne lowered her head, nervously tugging at the hem of her clothes. "I don't know. The nurses at the institute said they didn't tell us to protect us, but I still find it strange because of the seven or eight children who came in with me, only two or three remained. The nurses said they all recovered and were sent back."
Rina clenched her fingers but did not interrupt her.
Anne continued, “But that’s not true at all. I’m perfectly healthy. I went to the hospital before I came here, and the doctor said there was nothing wrong with me. I don’t have some kind of strange disease. It’s just that my adoptive parents are pregnant again, so they sent me away.”
Rina asked, "Where is that research institute?"
“It’s ruined,” Anne took a deep breath. “I suspect it wasn’t a legitimate research institute at all. It was probably a prison where horrific experiments were conducted on children. I didn’t see the sun during the three years I spent there.”
Rina could probably guess that the research institute must be related to the Blue Whale organization.
Anne: "The nurses said that the disease we had was contagious and that we couldn't be in contact with people for long periods of time. We had to be isolated. The only time we could gather together was during mealtimes. All the other time, we stayed in a white room with some dolls, fairy tales, and occasionally animated short films. I met a girl in the cafeteria in Block B."
She was very bold. Over the course of half a month, we gradually became familiar with each other, and she began to tell me about her condition. The nurse had been giving her a yellow granule medication, which made her feel unwell every time she took it, so she secretly hid it. She told me that even if she didn't take the medication, she wouldn't experience any symptoms and would actually feel much less pain than before. I was very scared at the time, worried that her illness might relapse, so I would secretly observe her condition every time she ate.
Her behavior was discovered by the caregivers, who said her condition had worsened, so they sent her to Zone A. I had no concept of Zone A; I had always thought that this research institute only had Zones B and C because there was an iron window in the stairwell between the two zones when we went downstairs to eat, allowing us to see each other. I observed carefully, and the children in Zone B seemed to be healthy in all aspects, but the children in Zone C were much worse off. Some of them couldn't even run or jump. Most of them were pale and thin, looking like they were suffering from illness. Only the people in Zone A remained mysterious from beginning to end. No one had ever contacted them, and no one knew anything about them.
About ten days later, the girl returned, and I learned about what happened in Area A. However, I didn't get any information from her because she died a few days after returning. Her mental state was terrible; her eyes were vacant, and she had become very thin, as if she had suffered a great shock. She said she had to receive intravenous fluids every day there, which was very painful, and sometimes she also had to endure electric shocks and surgery. Performing surgery in that state made me think those doctors were incredibly cruel.
However, she also told me something: there was only one boy in Area A, very thin and quiet, but you could vaguely sense that he had been at the research institute for a long time, and the doctors seemed used to whatever they did to him.
Rina glanced at Kurosawa Shiran unintentionally, and their eyes met. He seemed to be pulling away from his distant thoughts, revealing a hint of unspoken emotion.
Kurosawa Shiran's eyelashes trembled slightly, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. "Why are you looking at me, sister?"
Rina didn't answer, but continued to ask, "Are there any other clues?"
Anne: "Once I secretly ran out of my room and in that stairwell, I overheard our attending physician's code name, Bai Ou. She seemed to be the head of the research institute."
Rina was taken aback. "You came out of the research institute after you recovered?"
Anne leaned back in her chair and looked up at her. "No, it was the boy in Area A who set fire to the research institute. He killed the nurses and doctors there, but by then there weren't many children left in the institute. Some children escaped, but they died because they didn't have the necessary medication. The survivors, however, had their genes altered because they had been injected with various drugs, which strengthened their muscles and bones. At least among the few people I know, I'm the only one who survived."
Rina fell silent. Kurosawa Shiran's expression suddenly became mysterious, and she said, "Sister, should we send her back to the orphanage first?"
“Send it back,” Rina said, finishing the tea in her thermos. “Go back and tell those three that this kind of thing shouldn’t happen again.”
“I know,” Anne said. “For the sake of you finding the killer, I advise you not to investigate this matter. Those people all have code names, which clearly indicate that they belong to some organization, and they are very dangerous.”
Rina glanced at her indifferently and said disdainfully, "Little brat."
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