"So, what's in those?" Cora asked, staring the boxes on the table.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?".
She nodded.
Kristian carefully lifts the lid of the first one, showing printed files from the incident in the train. "I asked Phoenix to send me these the moment we got here. Just like any cases that needs to be covered up, they physically released them instead of keeping digital files."
"Your brother? He's been helping you out?"
"Behind Dad's back, of course," he smirks then turns to her. "And if you don't mind, he's looking into you too."
"Into me?"
"Yes. It seems like you've made some impression at the Paramount already." Distributing the files on the table.
"Me? How?"
"Your sister stayed there for quite a while, under Nicholas Madden's care."
"Stella! Oh I'm glad she's safe! How is she? Where is she now? Can we visit her?" she hastily asked, almost teary from the excitement.
"Hmm... Phoenix didn't mention much about it but I think Nicholas took her away from the Paramount." Creasing his brows as he stare closely at the pictures from the crime scenes.
"What do you mean? What happened?" And just like that, worry took over her. "Did something bad happen?"
"I'm not sure. Whatever it is, Dad's already handling it. Don't worry. She'll be safe."
"Can we really trust your dad?"
He chuckles. "As long as it doesn't involve me, he's very trustworthy." He shows her a particular picture that is from the surveillance cameras. "Seems like they're not afraid to be seen. Not even trying to hide from the cameras."
Cora immediately shook off the sudden flashback in her thoughts. Keeping a straight face as she observes the man with red hair in the picture. "Are they in the database?"
He shook his head. "It says here that none of them do. That explains the bold move."
"And what about us? We must be in the cams too, right?"
"Dad's team already took care of that." Pulling another picture then shows her.
"Oh! They replaced our faces!"
Chuckling. "Of course! Dad wouldn't want me to be involved in this. I may be a black sheep but I still carry his name. It would be one hell of an issue to him again. He's just covering his ass." Shrugging his shoulders.
But for some reason Cora is starting to see what Kameron Pope has been doing for Kristian. At least the good and caring part that Kristian doesn't seem to see.
Toto may have left a lot of bad impression on her already. And for now, she she doesn't see that point where their father did all of those things for good reasons. But when it comes to Kristian's case, she sees an angle of kindness in it. She's not sure how and she doesn't want to meddle with it. But she feels like Kameron is doing all of these to keep his son safe.
She doesn't want to take a side but Kameron sounds like a good man despite making Kristian feel like he has been neglected.
"Hey. Earth to Cora." Kristian waves his hand in front of Cora.
"Ah!" She shook her head. "What is it?"
"You've been staring at the wall for quite a while now. Are you alright?" He slightly leans down to check on her. "Something hurt?"
Giggles. "No. Not at all." She smiles. "Let's get back on the case. The sooner we plan this out, the sooner we start our journey too."
"Right." He rustles her hair.
"Hey!" Grabbing his arm to pull down. "What's that for?" Stubbornly pouts.
"Loosening you up."
Kristian approaches the blank wall then touches it to turn on the monitor. He then starts scanning them on it.
Cora hands him over the other pictures. "I thought they're not supposed to be digitized."
"Nah, Bella Donna's servers are private and secure. Only you, me, and my grandfather can access this." Grabbing Cora's hand then lets her palm touch the screen. "For biometrics. Like I said, it's just between us."
They managed to almost fill up the wall with the crime scene photos. Among the pictures are close up pictures of the red head vampire, the accomplice who escaped with him, the accomplice Cora killed, and France.
"And this is where we'll start," the vampire said, moving back to take a clear view of the what seemed to be a digitized deduction board.
"Ah! Can you acess my phone even if it's broken?" she asked Kristian.
"Maybe. Why?"
"Stella took some pictures from Papa's office. Maybe they can help." She hands over her phone. Its screen cracked and dead.
"Of course. They're the reason why we're here in the first place anyway." He grabs the phone then presses it on the monitor, letting it scan and clone the device. He then puts down the phone as soon as the process is completed. All the files popped on the monitor, including the wallpaper which is their family picture.
"You guys seemed close," he muttered as he flips through the files, still staring at the wallpaper.
"Yes. We used to."
"Hey. Keep the good memories, remember?"
"Right." She looks down then back at the files from her phone. "There!" She taps the folder created a few days ago, opening pictures they took from their father's board.
"Hmm… Some of these look kinda old."
"I thought so too. But I still don't get how Papa got these and who has been giving him."
"Whoever that is, the person must know well that this case is personal to your father."
"Personal?"
"See how your father took his time compiling these?" He points out the pictures. "It's not just a hobby. It's an obsession. Something is fueling him to keep on looking into these."
"Something that is worth risking his own family," she sarcastically said.
Raising his brow. "Like I said, he must have a good reason."
With Kristian only willing to see the good sides of Toto, that is when Cora concluded that they are both just being clouded by their negative feelings towards their fathers. The feelings that they only prefer to accept.
She looks back at the wallpaper then smiles. "You know… You're right. This is what fuels me. To rescue my family. They're the reason why I'm here. They're the reason why I'm willing to die and willing to kill if I have to. It doesn't matter if Papa is the reason why we're in this situation in the first place. I just need to take back my family."
Staring at her, Kristian smiles, feeling proud of her for realizing the most important thing that she has to remind herself.
Now focused, she turns back on the case. "Let's isolate the evidences. I think we should know what we're up against, right?"
"And you're back on track!" he complimented.
"Of course!" She drags her finger across the pictures. "The first time we looked into these files, we suspected that vampires did these things due to the bite marks." She raises her finger. "And we're right."
"But he's not a typical vampire," he points at France's picture. "I wasn't able to sense him. Not even his presence or scent. Something is definitely off about him."
"He's like a rabid animal."
"Vampires go crazy but never rabid."
"Exactly. They must have done something to him. Maybe gave him some sort of drug?"
"That's a possibility. But I don't think such drug exists to cause this effect yet. See those fangs?" He zooms the picture. "Those are way too big for vampire fangs."
"More of like a beast's fangs."
"Exactly. Look at his eyes."
"Is he...in pain?"
"I thought so too."
"This isn't just a typical transformation. They altered something. I don't get it though..." She looks back at the pictures from her father's office. "These body parts have the dagger marks on them. That means that they're part of the cult, right? Let's start calling them a cult for a while."
He nods.
"If they're the ones who created and released these beasts who caused these murders, why did they attack them?"
"Hmm... Good point. Maybe an experiment gone wrong?"
"Maybe. Or someone who was turned as a beast was on the good side."
"Isn't that kinda contradicting? Someone so beastly rabit yet sane enough to be a good guy?"
"Maybe. Unless it's not rabid. Maybe it managed to control itself at some point. That's just a theory though." She chuckles, scratching the back of her head.
"No, you got a point there. We have these two cases, both linked yet totally opposite."
"For the meantime, we have to keep an eye on those two." She points out the two suspects. "I have a feeling that they'll pull another stunt soon. Committing a massacre is something big. Kinda like making a statement." Creasing her brows. "What if it's their intention to actually get the Highborns' attention?"
"But why?"
"I don't know. But imagine creating maybe soldiers of beasts just like France. All rabid and out of control. Can the Highborns handle that? That's gonna take down almost the whole population of Wisteria! Worse, they're taking people from Oblivia and turn them into beasts! This also means that they can go out as they please." She looks down, confused. "Am I too selfish to say that we have to stop whatever this is?"
"No. We first handedly encountered them. We have at least enough details about them. Probably even more than what Dad and his team knows despite the secret files. We're the only ones who can get to the bottom of this."
All of a sudden, the monitor's screen started glitching.
"Oh shoot!" Kristian tries to backup the files, to transfer in his phone.
"What's going on?"
"Someone's accessing our files--damn it!" he frustratingly yelled out.
A message that says 'ACCESS DENIED' flashes on the screen.
"Is it just me or your grandfather just...blocked you?"
Forming a fist, he stops himself from hitting the monitor. "Something's going on in this case that they don't want me to find out."
"Hey..." She lightly pats his shoulder. "Maybe your dad has some good intentions too, just like mine."
He forced a chuckle as he keeps his head down. "I hope so. I really hope so."