~~Carson's POV~~
Our investigation board was getting rich. I filled it with pictures of the Smirnovs I could lay my hands on. I could not sit back idly, waiting for Knox to contact me again. I was going to snoop on various approaches I could use to corner the rat in my trap.
Daniil Smirnov.
Haisley Smirnov.
Vladimir Smirnov.
All of these names now had pictures except Haisley's with a red 'question mark' instead. Not like I didn't have a picture, I did that to drive a point home.
"Where's this?" Sawyer asked, tapping his fingers against the question mark.
"Off the radar," I muttered loud enough to be heard with eyes fixed on the board.
"Huh?"
"For the past few months, she's been off the radar." I turned to him.
"Like they're intentionally shoving her behind their shadows?" Griffin chirped.
I nodded slowly. "It's like they are keeping her hidden for some reason. There are no recent articles, blogs, posts, or pictures that include her," I stretched. The more I dug into this family, the shadier they were on the inside. Daniil's sudden coming into the state, and Haisley's sudden disappearance. There was no record of her being dead and yet I could hardly find anything concerning her on the internet. Mr. Vladimir on the other hand never ceased to hork all the attention he could get from the media, his philanthropic acts still very much ongoing. Just yesterday he donated handsomely to a research facility in Switzerland.
"Any news from Knox yet?" My heart skipped a beat when Sawyer mentioned Knox. It'd been days and no word from him yet. Was his infiltration a success? Or had his cover been blown?
I heaved a sigh, low-spirited. "Nothing yet."
Just then my phone rang.
We looked at each other first before rushing to my desk where the sound came from.
My eyelids stretched when I saw the caller. It was Knox. Hastily, I picked up the phone.
"Hey, Knox. What's good? You got us all worried!" I gabbled anxiously.
"Speaker. Speaker," Sawyer standing by my left whispered.
I put the phone on speaker and lay it on my desk to include them in our conversation.
"It's a good thing you called. We were just talking about you." Griffin said.
"Talk to us. What happened? Was the infiltration a success?"
"Yes, it was."
I heaved a sigh of relief.
He went on to relate to us how normal the house looked on the outside, in contrast to its original nature on the inside. Although the interiors were exquisite and pricey, the overall structure didn't seem like a residential building. The fact that there were servants' quarters made it sound like an excerpt from a royal historical movie. That led him to deduce the possibility that it was either made specially or converted to suit Daniil's needs. The servants were well taken care of but had to live by absurd rules that the consequences of not following them were dire. Apparently, their full potential was bought with the comfort they enjoyed in exchange for their freedom. They acted like robots when on duty, and lived a normal life somewhat when off duty. The rules although didn't apply to a certain Jason who had a loose personality.
After he finished speaking, the room went hushed. I could tell what my other teammates were thinking. This wasn't going to be easy, especially after hearing no worker could leave once they had the job. That made me ever so curious. There was something shady lurking behind the curtains and I was so going to unravel it.
"Will you be okay?" I broke the silence.
"What? Sure! You would not even believe what I had for breakfast. Is this an undercover mission or a vacation?" he rambled in a bid to dispel my fears.
"Don't fail to abort the mission and get back here if you sense you're in danger," I strictly warned.
He waved it off. "What are you saying, captain? I'm only just getting started. And have just been assigned my first mission. I will see to the end of this and return to you safe and sound."
"First mission?" I creased my brows.
"Yes. Earlier this morning I accompanied Jason to the master floor. I'd be driving our boss to a special event tonight."
"A special event tonight?" Sawyer reechoed.
"Yes."
"What event?" I questioned.
"I don't really know but he was asking Jason whether some clothes have been delivered to his date."
"'His date?'" I mused.
"Speaking of Jason," he continued. "He says to consider myself lucky. A couple of workers have not seen him eye-to-eye."
"And why is that?" Griffin posed.
"The boss spends most of his time upstairs and only ever comes down when he has to leave for a function. The whole house belongs to him yet he lives mostly on one floor. Does that make sense?"
"It doesn't," I mumbled incoherently.
"So what is your plan now?" asked Griffin.
"Luckily, I get to drive him tonight."
"Don't you think this is going way too easy? You don't think he caught on yet, right?" Sawyer stated with skepticism painting his tone.
"I doubt he's caught on."
I heaved a sigh, delving into my thoughts. What Sawyer mentioned wasn't entirely out of place. It'd only been days and he got to drive the boss some servants were yet to lay eyes on. Was he bringing him closer on purpose? The more I engaged the thought, the more nervy I became.
"That reminds me!" Knox snapped me fully back to reality when he exclaimed out of the blue. He had been whispering the whole time.
"Something strange happened when I went to him earlier," he whispered.
We stared at ourselves and crouched lower with heightened interest now.
"There was a girl who ran out of Daniil's room in tears. I tried asking her what was wrong, innocently acting on impulse after seeing someone who was hurt. But what happened after that gave me the chills. They all moped at me like some crazy guy; including the lady I was trying to help. And that was when I remembered the rules we all had to live by. No one was allowed to discuss the boss within themselves," he narrated.
"What do you think he did to…" Griffin paused as something struck him. "Did he rape her?!!!" he exclaimed moon-eyed. I veered sharply to him and then down to my phone again.
"I really am not sure about that."
"Alright, Knox. Listen carefully to what I'm another to tell you."
Silence…
"I know catching Daniil with substantial evidence is important. But your life is more valuable than anything. If you sense you're in danger, abort the mission and pull out immediately." I was appealing but the last part escaped as an order instead.
He remained quiet, only breathing into the speaker. I knew what his silence meant – he was going to stay back and see the end of it. He clearly wasn't buying the idea of aborting the mission halfway through. But this wasn't the time to be stubborn. I didn't think I'd be able to forgive myself if anything bad happened to him. I get he was being diligent and all that but the story would definitely not remain the same if Daniil was a renowned psychopath; the serial killer we've all been searching for.
"I'll make sure to be careful," he finally said. He still didn't promise to abort. I grazed my fingers against the wooden table, clenching my fists. If only he understood how jittery I was becoming. It was a good thing he was chivalrous but I needed to make him see reasons with me. I heaved a silent sigh and tilted my head up to the phone again.
"Don't forget to use what I gave you. Whenever you have the chance like today, send me clips. We have to bring him to justice."
"You bet. I have to go now." He hung up.
I hurriedly grabbed my phone and stuffed it in my pocket, then began speeding off on my own.
"Where are you off to?!!" they asked high-pitched.
If I couldn't get through to Knox, might as well step up my game. "To the murder scene!"