Chapter 377 This is Her Second Step Plan
When Elizabeth spoke up, Ryan didn't argue; he was actually pretty happy about it.
"Sure thing," he said. "How about we meet up?"
Elizabeth grinned, "Absolutely!"
Half an hour later, Elizabeth hopped into Ryan's car. Percy was already in the back seat.
Ryan turned to Elizabeth. "Let's head straight to the scene and take another look. We can also check out the surveillance footage again." He was thinking they might stumble upon some new clues.
Elizabeth nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
On the way there, Ryan threw out another idea. "Elizabeth, our boss really thinks highly of you and wants you to join our special department. Now that you're out of the Divination Association, why not consider it? If you join, you can keep working on Darlene's case."
Elizabeth had already been thinking about joining while she was checking out the special department. It was part of her plan to use them to fight against the Divination Association and expose any moles within the department.
She didn't hesitate. "Do you have a way for me to join as external personnel?"
Becoming a full member would take too much time for her plans.
Ryan saw his chance and smiled. "Yeah, we do. External personnel are part of our department but have more freedom. If there's an important task, we'll ask for your help first. You can choose to join or not. No pressure.
"But, external personnel only get rewards for completed tasks and some annual resources. Full-time staff get salaries, task rewards, and monthly benefits. Of course, we don't have the freedom to choose; we have to go on missions when assigned. Each has its pros and cons," Ryan added.
Elizabeth smiled. "Then I'll join as external personnel."
Ryan knew Elizabeth wasn't hurting for money, and the benefits like Spellscrolls weren't a big deal for her since she could make her own.
"Awesome. Welcome aboard!" Ryan exclaimed, noting that with Elizabeth on the team, their faction would significantly strengthen.
He then offered, "After we get back to the department today, I'll help you with the paperwork. Once that's done, I'll introduce you to our boss."
"Sounds good!" Elizabeth nodded then looked at Percy. "Are you two working together on Darlene's case this time?"
She knew from her time abroad that Ryan was the captain of Team One and Percy led Team Two.
Percy smiled. "Yep, our teams are collaborating on this one. After Ryan got your call, he started digging into Darlene's case. I was interested, so I joined in. We have the same boss, so we team up a lot."
Elizabeth asked, "So, who's your boss?"
Percy replied, "The deputy director of the special department. He oversees Teams One to Three. There's another deputy director who manages the other three teams."
He made sure to point out, "We don't really get along with the other three teams, and we rarely work together. The two deputy directors often clash on ideas."
Elizabeth got the gist. The other deputy director and those teams were probably siding with Ethan.
She nodded. "Got it. How many leaders are there in the special department?"
Percy explained, "One director and two deputy directors. Then there are the six team captains. The director is mostly a figurehead, rarely involved in daily stuff, and is about to retire. So, the two deputy directors handle most of the responsibilities and management."
Elizabeth said, "So it's basically split into two factions. Is there a lot of competition and conflict?"
Percy nodded. "Yeah, quite a bit. But since you're joining as external personnel, it won't affect you much. External personnel have a lot of freedom. Even if the other deputy director assigns you a task, you can refuse. And with our boss around, he can't target you."
He added, "Originally, the place where Darlene had the incident was under the jurisdiction of one of their teams. They thought Darlene committed suicide, so when Ryan wanted to investigate, he faced strong opposition. The team captain even scolded him for overstepping.
"Our boss had to negotiate with the other deputy director to allow the investigation." He was clearly hinting that the other faction had issues.
Ryan chimed in, "Yeah, so we need to find the real culprit behind this. Otherwise, they'll definitely mock us."
Elizabeth nodded. "Then let's catch them."
They needed to catch someone significant; otherwise, her efforts would be wasted.
When they arrived at the scene, they first checked Darlene's place. But they found nothing unusual.
Elizabeth said, "There's nothing wrong in her room, not even a trace of evil energy. She must have been taken away before she died. Let's check the surveillance footage."
Ryan nodded and led her to the surveillance room.
After showing their credentials, the staff let them review the footage. Elizabeth brought her laptop and copied the video for a closer look. She said, "The surveillance footage definitely has issues. Look, there are gaps in these two time periods."
She pulled up two videos and showed them the specific times.
Ryan was surprised. "Yeah, I see; there's a gap of more than two minutes in both videos. The first video shows 35 minutes, and the next frame jumps to 37 minutes. So where did those two minutes go? Could someone have edited them out?"
He was puzzled. "But when we got the footage, we had professionals check it, and they found no signs of editing."
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
