Chapter 792 WITH THE CORPSE

Chapter 792 WITH THE CORPSE　　THE corpse was burnt to a crisp. From the clothes to the skin, everything was scorched black. But this was very strange. Could a body really be burned to such a degree in such a short period of time? It’s definitely impossible. 

He had been observing the outside of this room for two hours. And no smoke appeared in that duration of time. It only did right after that explosion outside. There’s no way this body would turn like this in such a short period of time. Which only meant one thing – this body was already burned before putting it here.

If he wasn’t here, staking the place, it might take a long while before anyone found out about the corpse. Maybe it would only be so once the fire spread enough for people to notice. But with the explosion outside, everyone’s attention was focused there. Who knew when they would notice this fire?

But that was not the only suspicious thing here. The most suspicious thing was the identity of this corpse. At one glance, one would think that this was William Harcourt. But Luo Yan didn’t think so. If one couldn’t ascertain when this corpse was burned, who could tell whether it belonged to William Harcourt or not?

[Ding! Your detective talent has found something suspicious with the burned corpse.]

Luo Yan raised one of his brows. With this notification, it was basically confirmed that this was most likely not William Harcourt. Or if it was, then, it could be talking about his guess regarding the time this corpse was burned. 

But if it was the latter, then, the old man should have been killed and burned the moment he left the dining room. Then, after being burned, his corpse was put back his room. Whoever was responsible for this, they planned to set fire to the corpse once again after the explosion outside. Which meant that this was quite an elaborate plan.

It was certainly viable. Especially since no one had seen William after he left the dining room. Except for Gilmore. But that butler would probably just say that he accompanied William to his room. 

Of course, this didn’t mean that the butler would be lying. He might have indeed brought William to the master’s bedroom. But the culprit could have then entered the room, took the old man, killed him somewhere, and then burned him.

Luo Yan pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt like his going in circles with all these speculation inside his head. If he could feel a headache, he might have already.

Then, he suddenly remembered that there was still someone with him in the room. He glanced at Sofia and was slightly surprised when he saw that emotionless expression on the other’s pretty face once again. She was observing the corpse with an almost cold analytical glint in her eyes.

But that expression only lasted for a second. She might have noticed that he was looking at her, because she quickly changed her expression to a frightened one. 

But Luo Yan’s attention was already caught by the other. Because for that briefest of second, Sofia reminded him of someone. He gazed down, the corner of his lips turning up. When he raised his head again, the smile was gone and replaced by a serious expression.

”Miss Deveraux, although I still have to question you for skulking around the room of Mr. Harcourt, we have a more pressing matter right now, as you can see,” he said. “Could you please go and call everyone here?”

”O-of course.”

The other was about to turn around when Luo Yan noticed that some parts of Sofia’s nightgown were wet, probably due to the water. Because of that, he could almost see the outline of her body. Any normal man who would see her right now would probably have that kind of reaction.

Well, we couldn’t have that now, could we?

”Wait,” he called. He took a thick robe from the closet and wrapped it around Sofia’s shoulder. “We couldn’t have you contract a cold now, could we?”

After doing that, he put a stray curl behind her ear. He immediately felt the other’s body stiffened the moment he did. But that quickly changed to a shy expression. Luo Yan had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling.

”I- I will go now,” Sofia said before running outside of the room.

Now that he’s finally alone with the corpse, he could observe it more properly. 

He walked around the bed. Observing every detail around. The bed was not completely burned, the mattress was still intact and even the bed sheet and comforter weren’t totally burned. This supported his assumption that just right after the series of explosions, the already burned corpse was lit in fire by someone. 

He looked at the face of the corpse that was now barely unrecognizable. To the point that he couldn’t even tell any of its features. Because of the degree of burn, he couldn’t even tell the build of the corpse and its height. 

If this corpse was William Harcourt, then a doctor could probably identify him. The old man was an invalid. Surely, even if it’s just a burned corpse, a doctor could tell if his leg bones were broken or not. 

Of course, it would be better if they could clearly ascertain whether this corpse was William or not. But the technique to do that was not yet available in this time period. So, everything would now depend on the doctor.

If this doctor was in cahoots with the culprit, then his investigation would be fucked up from the very beginning. In the first place, he wasn’t even sure who’s the victim and who’s the culprit. Because William Harcourt could be easily one of those two. And to properly distinguish between the two, he first needed to identify this corpse.

Luo Yan soon heard footsteps from outside. He glanced at the corpse once again before turning his gaze to the door.

[Let the drama ensues, I guess.]