Chapter 223: President's orders

Without further delay, Valarie and the two men rushed to the murder site. But there was a huge crowd outside Simon's house, making it impossible for them to go any closer. A lot of reporters were trying to barge inside so that they could get a close up of the murder site. But the police were doing a good job trying to stop them. Nobody except the concerned officials were allowed to go in. 

The site was yet to be investigated completely. Fingerprint analysts were doing their job were the police were inspecting the house in and out. The body had already been sent to the forensic department for further tests. The entire house was sealed and the unconcerned people were not allowed to go in lest they should tamper with the probable evidence.

Even the people from the Intelligence were not allowed to intervene. They had to get permission from the government to intervene. So, Valarie, Ryder and Preston were not allowed to go in. They tried peeking in to see what was going on, but the police force was too many in number and they obstructed their views. After trying for some time, they gave up eventually.

"What shall we do Deputy?" Ryder said in dejection. This case was too exciting for them and they wanted to solve it. Since this case was similar to the other murders, it would automatically be handled by the Intelligence. But it had been taken away from them and given to somebody else and it was bugging him since then. Even if they wanted to try to investigate it, they would not get permission from Frederick. Only the department which was handling the case would get access to the reports. But what was surprising was none of the members from the Intelligence other than the these three had come to inspect the site.

"Val, is anything the matter?" Preston had observed her go into deep thinking and he couldn't help voice the question.

"Yes. Why are the people who are handling this case in the Intelligence not here? Ain't it weird?"

"Now that you brought it up, it does seem weird. Where are they?" Ryder looked around and just as Valarie had said he could find nobody from their team.

"Let's wait and watch for some time," Preston suggested. "Maybe, they might come here shortly."

"Oh, I doubt that. Anyway, let's wait. We will lose nothing in doing so."

The trio waited for a long time until the crowd dispersed and the police too left the site after locking Simon's house. The area around his house was sealed and nobody was allowed to go in without permission.

During the entire time they had waited, none of their colleagues from the Intelligence had come to investigate. Suspicions arose in their minds. Something was wrong. They did not know that there was a loophole somewhere and it was right in front of them. But they were not able to see it as it was thoroughly hidden.

Having no other work, they returned to the office and directly went to Frederick's cabin. But they could not find him anywhere. On enquiring about it with a colleague who was passing by them, they found out that he was on leave for a few days as he was sick.

"Why do I feel there is something wrong here? How did that old man fall sick all of a sudden when he was alright just yesterday?" Ryder said, his brows furrowing a little. He could remember the man's mocking gaze when he had asked the three to arrange the reports in the record room. He looked fit and fine with his huge belly of his and the nightmare of a face.

"Yes. Something is wrong. Let me try calling him." Valarie made a call to Frederick. But how many ever times she called, nobody picked it up. "No response."

"Let's meet the team who was responsible for this case," Preston suggested and the trio went to the department. But they were told that the team had gone to the murder site early in the morning and had not yet returned. Not speaking another word, they returned to Valarie's cabin.

"What the hell is happening?" Ryder almost yelled as soon as they went inside.

"I have no idea." Valarie put her head in between her heads in frustration. Why was everything so mysterious? Her Chief was on leave and was not answering her calls. The team which had gone to investigate the murder had actually not reached the site at all and were missing and above all, there were traitors in the army. Tough luck.

Valarie groaned in frustration. She threw the pen stand in anger while Ryder and Preston looked on, a little startled. They had never seen her lose her cool. In any situation, she would be the calmest while Preston would and Ryder would be the ones to get agitated. However, this time she had shown her anger in front of them for the first time.

The room became silent at once. They could hear the footsteps of people outside the cabin and the small wall clock inside the room ticking. This went on until the silence was broken by the ringing of a phone. It was Valarie's. She picked it up without seeing who had called and stood up immediately when she heard the man's voice.

"Miss Evans. This is Luis Truman."

"Yes, Sir. Just one second." Valarie put it on loudspeaker so that her friends too could listen to the conversation.

"Miss Evans, I tried calling Frederick. But nobody picked up the call. Is he anywhere nearby?"

"No Sir. Chief has taken a sick leave. Do you have any message to convey?"

"Actually I did. But, it's okay. I'll talk to him later. I called you for something else."

"Yes, Sir?"

"I want you and your team to handle Simon Moore's death case. I am going to transfer it to you from the police. Please take a look at it and start working on it right away."

"But Sir, this case has already been allocated to another department. Without the Chief's orders, we cannot get involved in this matter."

"Don't worry about it, Miss Evans. I am giving you exclusive rights and nobody other than you three are allowed to work on this case. Is this fine? And yes, you can take anybody's help you want while you are investigating it."

The three people's eyes widened in surprise.

"Sure Sir. We will start working on it right away."

"Also, please keep me informed on what you find."

"Yes Sir. Definitely."

Now that they had the President's orders nobody could stop them from doing their work, not even Frederick.