Many companies in the building were closed then, but the surveillance system was still operating normally. The three suspects swaggered their way in and blatantly committed the crime; they even made a copy of the surveillance footage for some unknown reason before leaving.
However, Derekâor his remainsâwas missing. The surveillance footage showed that he had been pushed off the building, but his remains were never found. No remains were found even after the search area was widened to a few kilometers within the radius.
This incident wasnât as simple as it seemed.
Michael kept watching the surveillance videos. As expected, he couldnât spot Quinton, who was very mindful of surveillance cameras. The first thing he did upon entering a room was always to look for surveillance blind spots.
Suddenly, someone could be heard coming in hurriedly wearing high heels. âOh, Derek, my brother!
What has happened to my brother?â
Sophia looked back to see Sandra, who looked incredibly anxious as she came in and grabbed the arm of one of the police officers. She said, âIâm Sandra Mitchell, and Derek is my younger brother. I received a call from him last night, and he said someone wanted to kill him. Where is my brother? Has anyone seen my brother?â
The police officer replied regretfully, âYour brother, Derek, has gone missing after falling off the building last night. Weâre still searching for him right now.â
Sandra seemed devastated by the police officerâs words. She slumped back against the wall and was in a daze for a moment before suddenly bursting into floods of tears. She wailed so pitifully that even the police officer couldnât stand seeing her like this and gave her a few words of comfort. As the victimâs sister, she reluctantly started to have her testimony recorded.
âMy brother and I were very close. He was more of a low-key person, so he never made his identity public. He started working from the bottom and was a very down-to-earth and hardworking kid. He was always busy, but we still kept in touch, and we often traveled together. I have no idea what on earth has happened. He usually treated people very nicely, and he never incurred anyoneâs hatred. Why would someone want to kill himâ¦â
Sophia breathed out through her nostrils as she watched from the sidelines. What she says is so full of high-sounding words, she thought to herself.
Wanting to see what Sandra wanted to do, she continued listening patiently.
Suddenly, Sandra seemed to have recalled something; she jumped and pointed at Sophia, shouting, âShe must have been the one who killed my brother!â She seemed to have figured everything out at once, for she spoke sternly. âMy brother told me that this woman had designs on him, for she wanted to make him her kept man. After he refused her, she even threatened him, saying that she would give him a hard time if he didnât submit to her. It must be her!â
The assistant quickly grabbed her, but she yelled, as if being possessed, âSophia, you must have been the one who killed my brother! Youâre so cruel! Just you wait; Iâll definitely avenge my brother! I want you to pay with your life!â
Sophia retorted in a poised manner, âMiss Mitchell, your brotherâs remains havenât been found yet! How could you assert categorically that heâs dead?â
Sandra let out a few sobs while crying with grief. âYou all must have hidden my brotherâs remains away!
You all are so cruel! My brother was also a Mitchell, so why would you harm him like this?â She was devastated. âJust you wait; I must make you all pay the price! Iâll definitely avenge Derek!â she growled viciously.
With that, she wiped her tears and left in a hurry.
Sophia let out another sneer.
The sun rose late in winter, so it was just 9.00AM when Sophia came downstairs after she hurried to Dragon Technology Corporation and finished dealing with the matters. It seemed that nothing had happened at Dragon Technologyâs premises as the office workers hurried in and out of the company.
Even though there was a suspected homicide, only the floor where the incident happened was sealed off for rectification. Merely a few people worked on that floor, anyway.
It was labeled a homicide, but the victim was never found, which was truly strange.
It was cold in winter, so Michael and Sophia walked downstairs with their face masks put on to maintain a low profile and keep themselves warm.
Still, Sophia smelled the savory aroma of steamed buns through the face mask.
Seeing that her little nose wiggled, Michael immediately bought a few steamed meat buns and walked over. âCome; have some buns.â
Sophia took off her face mask and was about to eat the bun when Michael sank his teeth into it and bit off a huge chunk of it before she did so.
He ate a mouthful of the bun with relish before saying, âIâve tested it for poison. Itâs very tasty.â
Sophia smiled shyly and pounded his chest with her small fists. The two then got into the car affectionately. Sophia had been working at the JNS Group these days, so she drove there straight away.
Cooper, who was behind them, looked lonely; it was as if he was transparent. My daughter has grown up, and she doesnât need me anymoreâ¦
Sophia then went to the JNS Group. She had her hands full with the approaching fashion week, so she was under a lot of stress. She had drawn several big names in the fashion world to her side, and Ivan, whom she had trained herself, could now take care of things by himself. Even so, she still felt that she was at her witsâ end. After all, this was the first time she held a fashion week event, so everybody was looking forward to it.
Her goal wasnât for Bayside Fashion Week to influence the global fashion world like the four major fashion week events when it debuted on Monday. At the very least, though, she didnât want the event to turn out to be too unsightly.
She had to worry about everything, including the venue, guests, and funds. The fashion week event cost a huge amount of money and would be held on an unprecedented scale. As the founder of this fashion week event, she often felt as if she was going to be out of breath.
When she went home exhausted after a busy day, she saw that everyone was watching TV in the living room.
Alex was shown bursting into tears in front of the interview camera on TV. âDerek was my son even though I never disclosed his existence to the public. He had been rebellious since childhood, so he was unwilling to accept everything that I had arranged for him. He had always been working and living alone outside independently, but I never expected my son toâ¦â
A surveillance video was inserted in the newscast, and it was none other than the one that showed Derek being forced to jump off the window. The video showed him being hemmed in by three burly men before they pushed him off the building.
The video was the surveillance footage of his office. Due to the cameraâs limited angle of view, he could only be seen jumping out of the window. It couldnât be seen whether he had fallen off the building, but in general, he would undoubtedly die under such circumstances.
Sandra was then shown weeping pitifully. âMy brother and I were on the best terms with each other. We even planned to go to the seaside for a holiday a few days ago, but I never expected him to⦠Oh, my poor brother! Iâll certainly find out who your murderer was!â
This clip was included in every news channel, so Sandra and Alexâs faces were shown everywhere during prime time.
The Mitchells made a big fuss by pressuring the police to determine Derekâs cause of death as soon as possible.
The police soon found out Derekâs cause of death. Unfortunately, the three murderers got into a car crash while escaping in their car after committing the crime, causing them to be burned to death together.
The video of Derek falling off the building was circulated all over the Internet. The three murderersâ faces appeared in the video, so it wasnât difficult to find out who they were.
The police issued the announcement and closed the case within two days. The only questionable thing about this case was that Derekâs remains were never found.
The Mitchells seized upon this questionable point and played it up, demanding an explanation.