Chapter 390

Gwendolyn felt slightly annoyed. “Is this your problem or mine? If you don’t actively participate in this, I’ll turn you over to the Zipper family tonight!”

“Please don’t do that. I was wrong.”

Joaquin cleaned the water stains from his body with tissues and tidied his hair, before standing up reluctantly.

Gwendolyn chided him further, “Hurry over and open the door for me.”

“Okay, I’m coming right now.”

Soon, the three of them arrived at the surveillance room.

Based on Joaquin’s recollection, they had asked the surveillance room staff to play all the footage from the moment Joaquin entered the VIP room at ten times the speed, looking for any unusual sightings within them.

As long as it wasn’t Joaquin’s fault, then he must have been transported out of the bar to take pictures.

Thus, it was impossible for him to have left no trace behind.

Since he had too much to drink, Joaquin felt dizzy and drowsy not long after seeing the surveillance footage playing at high speed and dozens of camera angles filming countless people moving around.

As he was afraid that he might get beaten up, he forced himself to stay awake and continue to view the footage.

Occasionally, Joaquin would tilt his head toward Cedrick, who was sitting next to him, and observe him quietly.

He noticed that Cedrick’s gaze was sharp and steely as he monitored dozens of camera footage simultaneously, without showing any sign of tiredness.

Joaquin could not believe it.

Is it possible for him to spot even the tiniest evidence if dozens of surveillance footage are playing at ten times the speed simultaneously?

While Joaquin was still deep in his thoughts, Cedrick had already instructed the staff to pause the footage.

Narrowing his eyes, he then ordered the staff, “Rewind.”

Unsatisfied with the paused footage, he added, “Rewind the video a bit more.”

Both the surveillance camera in Room 3805 as well as the one in the corridor around the corner, were missing half an hour of footage from seven until half past seven in the evening.

The time displayed on the screen abruptly changed from 7:00 p.m. to 7:31 p.m.

In contrast, the other monitors showed a normal time display, but nothing abnormal was observed at the entrance between seven and half past seven in the evening.

Having figured out Cedrick’s suspicion, Gwendolyn suggested, “They might have taken the staff passage because there would be no surveillance cameras over there.”

Cedrick nodded and made a phone call to Nico. “I need you to check the surveillance cameras in the nearby hotels starting at seven in the morning today.”

As soon as he hung up the phone, he looked at the bar staff again. “The surveillance cameras have been tampered with. Did anyone else visit this surveillance room today besides us?”

The supervisor of the surveillance room, Sabino Cross, appeared perplexed as he replied, “Mr. Jenson, our visitor log is confidential, just as we have kept your visitation a secret from everyone else.”

Cedrick wasted no more time on Sabino as he pulled out the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s identification card, flashing an icy, cold glare at the latter.

“I am collecting evidence on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If you don’t tell me the truth, I can only suspect that you have received benefits and are deliberately concealing evidence. I will bring you back to the bureau for further investigation.”

“Uh… Mr. Jenson…” Sabino began to panic.

“Have you ever spent the night at the Federal Bureau of Investigation? If you’re interested, I can arrange a private room with special treatment for you.”

As Cedrick delivered his threats calmly, Sabino felt chills running down his spine, causing his entire body to tremble in fear.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Jenson! It is true that I have received some money!”

Sabino’s hands trembled as he pulled out a bank card from his pocket, and placed it on the table obediently.

“This card has two hundred thousand worth of hush money in here, but I haven’t touched a single penny of it. Since I won’t have the chance to spend them anyway, I am willing to hand it over to the police.”

Exuding a strong hostile aura, Cedrick shot him an icy glare and asked, “Who’s behind this?”

“I-It’s Mr. Jeffrey Haynes from the Haynes family. He’s the only person who visited the room this morning, claiming to have lost a valuable item and requesting to see the surveillance footage.”

Joaquin blew up in anger as soon as he heard Sabino’s answer.

“F*ck! What a b*stard Jeffrey is! I’ve been good to him all along, and yet he set me up! Is he forcing me to die by putting me in that situation?”

He was so furious that he had the urge to smash the chairs in the room and knock over the tables.

However, Cedrick managed to grab his wrist to stop him from doing so.

With just two moves, Cedrick had successfully locked Joaquin’s arms behind his back, preventing him from causing a disastrous mess.

“I’m not related to the Zipper family in any way. Not only will I not pay for the damages you caused here, but I am also going to bring you to the bureau to calm you down. Would you like to try that?”

It was impossible for Joaquin to vent his rage while Cedrick was present.

Immediately, he slumped his shoulders in defeat and replied, “No.”

“Behave yourself, then.”

After letting Joaquin go, Cedrick then turned around to hug Gwendolyn, who was seated on the chair, and gently explained to her, “Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly. We’ll wait for the outcome of Nico’s investigation.”

She gave him a quick kiss and remarked, “I was just sitting here for a while, and yet you’ve helped me thoroughly investigate this matter.”

Unsatisfied with the kiss, Cedrick scoffed, “So you realize how wonderful it is to have me as your fiancé, huh?”

Gwendolyn corrected him, “You mean future husband.”

“That’s right, I’m your husband! So, do you think your future husband is awesome?” His dark eyes flickered as he gazed at Gwendolyn, his tone of voice had a hint of coyness, hoping to garner some compliments from her.

“Yes, you’re awesome.”

“Well, there’s more to me than you can ever imagine. I’ll show you what I’ve in store in the future!”

“How shameless you are!” Gwendolyn scoffed.

Cedrick whispered in a seductive, low voice, “Be a good girl and call me Hubby, will you? If you do, my life will be yours.”

Gwendolyn was rendered speechless upon hearing his words.

The two of them continued to flirt with each other as they walked.

Meanwhile, Joaquin was listening in on their conversation as he trailed behind them. He was so furious that he punched the air instead.

Hey, I’m the third-wheeler here! What kind of person would even talk like that? Can’t they show any consideration for a third-wheeler who has been smothered by cheesy and affectionate conversations?

Feeling utterly dissatisfied, Joaquin sped up so that he could walk alongside Cedrick. “You are indeed an amazing person, Mr. Jenson. In particular, your volatile personality is exceptionally outstanding as well. What do you think?”

Faced with Joaquin’s mockery, Cedrick merely replied in a calm voice, “I only have two different attitudes when dealing with people. One is for Gwenny, and the other is for everyone else.”

He then added, “Joaquin, I know that you were interested in Gwenny before. However, I advise that you keep those thoughts to yourself because you are definitely no match for me. You’re still young and reckless, and I was once like you in the past. Even so, it’s best that you mellow down for a few years and become a mature person. Your life will undoubtedly be a waste if you keep slacking off and avoiding your obligations.”

Joaquin was dumbfounded after getting lectured by Cedrick.

Even though he wanted to refute Cedrick’s words, Joaquin couldn’t utter a word at all.

Despite being a famous and trendy young idol, Joaquin’s acting chops were mediocre. In fact, he relied entirely on his good looks to thrive in the entertainment industry. So far, there weren’t any representative work under his belt.

Noticing Joaquin’s defeated expression and how he was unable to refute Cedrick’s words, Gwendolyn said teasingly, “Are you conceding defeat this time, little brat?”

Joaquin didn’t respond to her question.

Even if Cedrick’s remarks weren’t quite as stinging this time, they were extremely humiliating, causing Joaquin to feel as if his defenses were about to crumble.

Meanwhile, Nico’s call came as soon as they exited the staff passageway at Quinary Bar.

“Boss, we’ve made some progress in the investigation. Max Clemons, the heir to the Clemons family, booked a room at the Bronze Bliss Hotel last night and checked out the next day. However, after talking with the hotel’s staff, and we’ve also viewed the surveillance footage, there was nothing unusual about it. During that period, he never returned to the hotel, and there wasn’t any hotel booking requested by the other two men. Nothing out of the usual happened in this case.”

They would have hit a dead end with their clues if that were the case.

Cedrick’s brows furrowed heavily as his expression became stern all of a sudden.

He felt as if that they had overlooked a crucial detail.