"Who?"


    "Elsie! It must be Elsie!" Alexia gritted her teeth. "She was always around Avery, so she must have heard things about me. She even came with him to Country M to see you several times. Now that I''m back, she must have suspected something and has been following me! That encounter at the orphanage was a warning!"


    Chad''s smile was unreadable.


    A vicious light entered Alexia''s eyes. "Sir, we can''t let Elsie run loose! I don''t care if she suspects me, but I''m afraid she''ll start suspecting you and run to Evadne with her stories. That would be a problem."


    Chad looked weary. "Your concern is valid. But right now, I have no time to waste on irrelevant people."


    "Sir, please don''t worry!" Alexia knelt before him again, taking his hand in hers. "Leave that bitch to me. Whatever it takes, I will protect you and help you reim what is rightfully yours."


    *


    The next evening, in the wine cer at Silveke Harbor.


    "What do you mean, a bait and switch?!" Aaron shot up, nearly crushing his wine ss. "Are they treating the Elmsworth prison system like a joke? This isn''t *The Shawshank Redemption*!"


    Evadne swirled the red wine in her ss, her other hand propping up her chin. "More like the Shawshank Switcheroo." Just as she was about to take a sip, Cassius appeared and ced a hand over her ss. "Sweetheart, the doctor said no alcohol for a month, remember?"


    "Oh,e on, I was just setting the mood," Evadne pouted.


    "Damn it, they smuggled a prisoner out and reced him with a stand-in? That''s worse than a prison break! The police department will be aughingstock if this gets out Aaron mmed his hand on the table. That''s I''m reporting this first thing tomorrow!"


    Evadne''s expression turned serious. "No! If Mason had the means to get out, it means there''s a mole in the Elmsworth palice.If you report this the whole world will know, and we''ll lose our only lead. You won''t catch Mason, and we may never uncover the conspiracy behind Chad. We can''t risk it."


    Cassius, his handsome face grim, reced Evadne''s wine with a ss of warm


    water. "I agree with Evadne. If we act now, we lose everything."


    Aaron ran his hands through his hair


    in frustration. As a cop with a strong<fn384b> Th?s chapter is updated by Find_Novel(.</fn384b>


    sense of justice, being forced to


    stand


    wh a criminal roamed


    free was torture.


    Cassius sat beside Evadne. "Aaron, has anyone at the precinct been acting suspiciouslytely?"


    "A colleague?"


    Evadne''s eyes grew thoughtful as she took a sip of water. "I think someone with that much power would have to be high-ranking. A chief, at least."


    Aaron stared at her, shocked. "Evadne, are you suspecting Chief Roderick?"


    "For now, Aaron, you have to keep this a secret. Act like nothing''s happened, but quietly look into Mason''s prison records to confirm my theory."