Chapter 25
Zoey awkwardly twitched the corner of her mouth.
They'd already found that car, but Charles and Dennis just got a lead?
She forced a smile and returned to her seat.
Alexander told Charles about the discovery he and Zoey made last night.
Charles looked sympathetically at the pitiful Zoey and Alexander. "Officer Davis is really not considerate, You guys are still in your internship period, and he made you stay out all night? What if this workload scares you off?"
Alexander chuckled and replied, "It's nothing. We got used to it back in the police academy."
After he finished speaking, he glanced at Zoey.
He seemed to waiting for her response. However, Zoey didn't even lift her head, focused on the task at hand.
She inserted the copied surveillance footage into her laptop and started playing it.
As the footage played frame by frame, she began calculating in her mind the time it would take from Pleasantville Apartments to the abandoned factory, noting that the distance from the factory to the neighborhood they discovered was approximately 1,640 feet.
For an adult man, 1640 feet would take about five to six minutes to walk.
To prevent any accidents, she adjusted the calculated time by half an hour in the surveillance footage.
Then, Zoey clicked the mouse, and the footage continued to play.
After just a few seconds of playback, Zoey sensed another presence beside her.
Even without turning around, she recognized it was Alexander's scent.
Zoey didn't play the footage too fast, setting it to 1.5x speed.
After about half an hour, she had reviewed all the adjusted time, but the footage still showed no anomalies.
Alexander was already prepared to spend hours or even the whole night studying the surveillance footage.
But the next second, Zoey clicked pause.
Alexander asked in surprise, "Did you find something?"
Zoey stood up and called Robert on her phone. After the call connected, Zoey said, " "Officer Davis, it's me. Can you help me check how many tire tracks are on the ground?"
At this moment, Alexander realized and asked, "You suspect Lawrence had a backup plan at the factory?"
Zoey said, "Just a suspicion. I don't want to spend all my time watching surveillance footage."
Within a minute, Robert called her back. He said, "Two sets of tire tracks! Perfectly preserved."
"Thank you, Officer Davis." Zoey hung up the phone, feeling a bit relieved.
She no longer needed to watch the surveillance footage.
She patiently rewound the footage and divided the work with Alexander.
They started recording all the vehicles entering the neighborhood, and then Alexander contacted the DMV.
Once Zoey finished her tasks, she returned to her dormitory. She had been staying up late for several nights and felt overwhelmed.
When Alexander returned, Zoey was already gone.
He searched around the police station but couldn't find her-he asked Dennis, who was still working on the files, "Dennis, have you seen Zoey?"
Dennis replied, "She seems to have gone to rest."
Alexander thought, 'She went to rest without eating? That's so unlike her.'
The next morning, Zoey woke up early again, feeling just like she did the day before.
Her stomach was growling with hunger.
She looked at her alarm clock in frustration; she had woken up ten minutes earlier than last time.
Zoey bought some snacks from a nearby convenience store and returned to the office.
Alexander saw her holding a piece of bread and greeted her, "Awake?"
Zoey was too hungry to waste any energy talking to him.
She just gave him a cold glance and ignored him.
Alexander had no idea what Zoey meant.
Why was she suddenly giving him the cold shoulder again? Had he offended her somehow in the past few days? He thought for a while but couldn't figure it out.
Zoey returned to her desk and quickly finished the bread. But it didn't seem to satisfy her. She kept stuffing snacks into her mouth.
Alexander was once again shocked by Zoey's appetite, but he really didn't recommend her constantly eating these unhealthy snacks.
Alexander took out the breakfast he had prepared and carefully placed it in front of her.
When he opened the insulated container, it looked delicious and smelled great.
"I made an extra portion for you this morning." This was actually Alexander's own breakfast, but he lied, fearing Zoey wouldn't eat it otherwise.
Zoey looked up. She stared at him for a while before looking away.
Zoey said, "Although I personally find you not very likable, I have to admit you're a good guy."
Alexander was silent. Why couldn't eating shut her up?
"Thanks." Zoey threw away the snacks in her hand and started devouring the breakfast.
Then Zoey finally felt full. As long as she wasn't hungry, she felt very comfortable.
After a busy morning, Zoey accidentally fell asleep on her desk.
Alexander knew she was exhausted lately and didn't wake her.
When Zoey woke up, Alexander had already copied the forms from the DMV and sent her a copy.
"When did they come by?" Zoey actually wanted to ask the DMV some questions about areas she wasn't familiar with.
"They just left," Alexander replied.
Zoey was silent. Why didn't he wake her for something so important?
Seeing Alexander's busy figure and considering the effort he made to bring her a meal, she decided not to hold it against him.
Zoey held the forms and returned to her seat to review them one by one.
After a while, her finger stopped on a familiar name, and she quickly asked, "By the way, can you give me the records we made at Lawrence's store last time?"
Alexander had organized the files very clearly. He accurately pulled out a folder from the desk and handed it to Zoey.
Zoey quickly flipped through it and pulled out the notes. "So it was him."
Alexander leaned over to take a look. "What's up?"
They were so engrossed in what they were reading that they didn't notice their heads were almost touching. Now, they looked like an intimate couple !
Robert asked, "What are you two doing?"
Hearing a voice, they turned their heads in unison.
Robert looked at the file in their hands, curious. How did these two, who used to argue all the time, suddenly become so close?