Chapter 28

From Sun Street No. 11 to Sun Street No. 108, she flipped through the pages in no time.

Alexander had thrown in a bunch of notes to make things clearer for her, showing he really put in the work.

Zoey wasn't planning to go through each street one by one but decided to start with this road first.

In under five minutes, the result came back at a whopping 34 mph.

Zoey pulled out her hand-drawn map and compared it with Google Maps.

According to Google Maps, there were no tall buildings at the end of Sun Street! Instead, there were unplanted farmlands taking up two-thirds of the area.

When they got there, the farmland was completely deserted.

The only clue? Just two abandoned, rundown mud houses, covering about 500-600 square feet. Judging by the dust outside, they'd been left alone for ages.

Especially at night, this place looked straight out of a horror movie. Tree shadows were scattered all over the ground, and you could occasionally hear owls hooting, sounding like a kid.

"Officer Davis, we're back again," Zoey said, feeling a bit emotional.

They had passed by several times without searching because it was too remote.

They finally saw those two mud houses! "Let's go!" Robert took the first step into the dirt.

Zoey followed right behind him.

The soil was soft and overgrown with dead grass, making it tough to walk through.

After struggling through the land, they finally reached the small mud house. They exchanged a glance, thrilled to be getting close to the truth!

"Here, take this." Robert, being a seasoned officer, had plenty of emergency gear. He pulled out a flashlight and handed it to Zoey.

Zoey had planned to use her phone's flashlight, but seeing this, she silently turned off her phone.

The flashlight was way brighter than her phone's light, lighting up a larger area.

Robert shone the flashlight through the broken door and windows, trying to see if anyone was inside. But the windows were filthy, covered with dirt from wind and rain, making it impossible to see through.

The surroundings were completely barren, with not even a single streetlight in sight. For convenience, Robert asked Zoey to wait where she was. He then trudged back through the tough terrain to the car, turned on the headlights, and aimed them at the old house they needed to enter. The car headlights weren't super bright, probably because of the distance. But at least there was some light.

Robert quickly returned to the front of the old house and reunited with Zoey.

"Zoey, let me see if this door can still hold. Step back a bit," Robert said, wearing disposable gloves and gripping the door handle.

Zoey covered her nose and took a few steps back.

With a gentle push, the rickety door made a sharp noise in the quiet night.

Then the door opened.

The old house wasn't big, and you could almost see everything inside at a glance.

The two of them searched around but came up empty-handed.

"Damn it, there's nothing here either!" Officer Davis muttered, pinching his nose as he walked out of the room.

The old house had been abandoned for so long that even breathing inside felt like a workout for the lungs.

Zoey let out a heavy sigh, her brows furrowing.

She couldn't figure out where the problem was. If it wasn't here, where did Lawrence dump the body?

While she was lost in thought, Robert was bending over, trying to clear the weeds beside the house. When he couldn't pull them out, he kicked them directly and said, "Usually, old houses that haven't been demolished are used for storing random stuff. I need to check if there's a cellar!"

Zoey bent over to help, but Robert stopped her.

"I got this. It's dirty here, no need for you to get involved." After a while of cleaning, Robert didn't find any sign of a cellar.

"No cellar and no smell of a corpse either," he said, clearly frustrated.

Robert took off his disposable gloves, yawned, and glanced at the time. "It's already 11:30." He hadn't realized it had gotten so late. He turned and asked, "Where are you staying? I'll take you back first."

Zoey said, "I stay at the female staff dormitory at the precinct."

"You've been staying there all this time?" Robert was momentarily surprised. The dormitory was notorious for being hard to sleep in.

Since it was a dormitory, no matter what time the casework was completed, there was always the possibility that someone might unexpectedly open the dormitory door. People staying there couldn't sleep well at all.

Zoey was also a bit surprised to see Robert so shocked. She said, "What's wrong, Officer Davis?"

"How can you rest well with the conditions in the dormitory?" Robert looked at Zoey, who was about the same age as his son, with some pity. He said, "Come on, my son is away at college, and his room is empty. You can sleep there."

Zoey felt helpless. Robert didn't even ask if she agreed or not.

"I..." She hadn't even had a chance to refuse.

Robert enthusiastically introduced, "Don't worry, my house is about the same distance from the precinct as the dormitory. You can sleep in, and you won't be disturbed. Plus, my wife is a great cook."

He mentioned his wife with a happy smile on his face.

The flashlight in Zoey's hand precariously slipped and tumbled to the floor. In that very moment, its light cast upon the ground, astonishingly revealing two distinct patches of differing materials.

Robert was standing on a manhole cover. She shone the flashlight closer and saw that it was very clean, contrasting sharply with the surrounding dust.

"Hold on, I know you're a foodie. I'll call my wife now and ask her to prepare some good food for us!" Robert took out his phone to dial, then turned to ask, "Zoey, what do you want to eat?"

Zoey didn't respond to Robert's question. She took a big step forward and stood beside him.

Then she gently tapped his arm and said, "Officer Davis, it looks like we won't be having that midnight snack."