Chapter 318 - The Press Conference

Oliver looked at the photos as Steven lay them out on his coffee table. "See here? This man has been following Avaleigh for a while and he was at her hotel last night as well! I heard someone was murdered at Royal Sunset Hotel last night and it has something to do with Macaron. I couldn't find any information on who was murdered, but I'm worried it may have been Avaleigh. If it was, then this man might be her murderer!" Steven said as he pointed to a mysterious man that appeared in the background of several photos and finally pointed to a photo he took at the hotel the previous night. It was a photo of Avaleigh returning to the hotel and the man was seen sitting suspiciously in the lobby.

"You do realize that you're equally suspicious since you were there too, right? What if this man is just an obsessive fan?" Oliver asked.

Steven nodded. "That's why I need your advice. Am I being overly paranoid? Am I getting myself involved for nothing?"

Oliver looked carefully at the photos again and picked one up. "Were some of these taken in Korea?" he asked. The photo in his hand had signage in the background that was clearly written in Korean.

"Yes, these photos date as far back as 8 months. This is Macaron's first visit to Hong Kong, so most of these photos are from Korea. That's what makes this man even more suspicious. Why did he follow her to Hong Kong when he already has plenty of opportunities to see her in Korea?"

"And, look at this particular photo, this was taken in the backstage of the concert yesterday! How did he get back there?" Steven said as he pointed to one photo.

He then picked up another two and said, "He's even appeared outside Macaron's apartment in Seoul a few times."

Oliver nodded. The man did seem suspicious, but they had another issue: if the man had been following Avaleigh for 8 months and the majority of that time was in Korea, then was he Korean?

"I think your suspicions are reasonable and I think you should take them straight to the police station. If you didn't do anything wrong, then you don't have to worry about getting involved. The most important thing is to bring him in for questioning as soon as possible. Judging by the location of most of your photos, I'm worried he may be Korean. If the police don't arrest him in time, he may escape back to Korea, or worse, if they don't arrest him quickly, he may murder again..."

Steven immediately opened his eyes wide in shock and nodded his head in agreement as he picked up the photos, "I'll go right away."

But, just as he left, Oliver picked up one particular photo and asked, "Can I keep this one photo and show it to Trisha?"

Steven looked at the photo. It was a photo of Avaleigh at the press conference a couple of days ago with Emerson and the suspicious man was seen standing at the front of the stage with a cap and a camera pretending to be a reporter.

Steven nodded his head. If Oliver was right about the man being Korean, then there was a possibility that Interpol would have to get involved.

After leaving behind the photo, Steven immediately ran out of the apartment and headed back to the police headquarters.

Meanwhile, Oliver gave Trisha a phone call. "An acquaintance of your idol's brother may have been murdered and the murderer might be a foreign national. Do you want to take a look into it?"

With the mention of her idol, Trisha immediately sat up straight in her seat, "My idol's brother? Are you talking about Emerson?"

"Yes, I'll forward you a photo of him with the suspected victim and murderer. You can confirm this information and see if you can help and decide whether Jackson should be contacted."

Trisha immediately agreed.

Soon, Steven arrived back at the police headquarters. Bypassing the paparazzi standing outside, he walked straight up to the entrance.

There were security guards standing outside and they recognized him from earlier so they did not let him in at first, but when he said he had important information that could help with the murder case, they decided to let him in.

Of course, they did not let him wander around on his own. Instead, they called Officer Liang to speak to meet him.

"Follow me," Officer Liang said to Steven as she looked at him with suspicion. Did this man really have something useful or was he lying to get into the building? The paparazzi could be quite ruthless and immoral in Hong Kong, so she was cautious.

As they walked towards her office, they passed by a television in the corridor that was playing a live broadcast. Steven subconsciously glanced at it as they walked past and saw a familiar man and woman appear on the screen. It was Emerson and Sue!

He immediately stopped in his tracks and looked at the screen with curiosity. 

There was writing across the bottom of the screen that read, 'Breaking News: Macaron member found dead in her hotel room'. It seemed, they were finally holding a press conference to publicly announce the incident, but only a few news sources were invited to be at the scene so Steven did not know about it.

Sue leaned over nervously, took a deep breath and said with a shaky voice in Korean, "It is with great sadness that I am standing in front of you today to announce the loss of one of our beloved members."

Emerson then leaned over and repeated the same words in Cantonese and English.

"This morning, at approximately 1am, Macaron member, Mimi Chan, was discovered dead in her hotel room. Her death is currently being investigated and the details surrounding her death will not be publicly disclosed until the case is closed."

Steven listened to this announcement and opened his eyes wide in shock, "Mimi Chan?"

All along, he thought Avaleigh was the victim...

In that case, was his evidence still useful?