<b>Chapter </b><b>136 </b>
Briar stared at the surveince footage expressionlessly. Although much of the important information had been tampered <b>with </b>or destroyed, ther still clues to be found if one was determined enough.
The footage ying on herptop was from road surveince near the entrance of Shoneport University the evening before.
Briar had specifically marked two female figures in the footage. They were Vivian Koch and Aneesa Ortega, the two victims who mysteriously vanished after leaving the school gate and wereter found brutally murdered.
Her visit to the police station earlier hadn’t been in vain. She’d learned that those behind the incident were targeting her and Ashton. And these <b>two </b>innocent girls had lost their lives simply because they got caught in the crossfire.
As her eyes caught a fleeting image in the footage, Briar quickly hit the pause button. Then she zoomed in… and zoomed in again…
Her once emotionless face was reced with a wild, defiant smirk. “Found you.”
The video revealed a barely visible figure shing across the surveince frame.
The person had received professional training. They were quick and deliberate in avoiding cameras. Had Briar not reyed the footage a dozen times and examined it frame by frame, she might’ve missed it too.
Even though the figure moved fast and the video had been blurred and edited, thanks to her top–tier hacking skills, Briar still managed to recognize who
it was.
It was Sawyer, the campus doctor they’d coincidentally encountered jogging outside the university gates that night.
Briar dug into his background using herputer. But oddly enough, the data on this seemingly ordinary Shoneport University doctor waspletely inessible.
She was just about to tap into her underground hackerwork when she paused. After a beat, she picked up her phone and called Ashton.
He picked up immediately. “Briar, what’s wrong?”
“Mr. Wade, are you free toe to my ce?” she asked, hesitating slightly.
He didn’t even ask why. “I’ll be right there.”
Surprised by how fast he agreed, Briar grabbed herptop and went downstairs to wait.
Ashton arrived almost as soon as she sat down. “Briar, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Not just him. Hamish and Frank had followed along too.
Seeing them all rush into her house<i>, </i>Briar was momentarily speechless.
“For real? Briar, did <i>you </i>find new evidence?” Frank was visibly excited when he saw theptop on herp. “You’re watching surveince footage too?”
So, Briar yed the suspicious frame she had found and zoomed in to show everyone. “Here. See this blurry figure? Mr. Wade, does he look familiar to you?”
Ashton had sharp eyes. As soon as Briar highlighted the frame<i>, </i>he recognized the man. “That’s Sawyer, the campus doctor <b>we </b>saw <b>jogging </b><b>outside </b><b>the </b>gates the other night.”
“Exactly. I looked into his usual jogging route. It doesn’t match where he appeared that night,” Briar said.
Ashton and Hamish both looked thoughtful.
<b>Chapter </b><b>136 </b>
<b>Only </b>Frank fixated on something else entirely. “Wait, hold <b>on</b>! Briar<b>, </b><b>your </bputer skills are this good? <b>You </b>restored that blurryfostage
Briar just stared at him. “Is that really the point right now?”
Ashton dragged Frank away by the cor and reyed the video several times himself. After studying it carefully, he nodded<b>, </b><b>“</b><b>Yeah</b><b>, </b>it’s him.”
Hamish was equally impressed. “Nice job, Briar. I’ll have my people dig into Sawyer right away.”
Ashton nced over. “If Sawyer is involved, surface–level info won’t get us far.”
Hamish wasn’t ready to give up. “I’ll have them look into it anyway.”
And as expected, his people quickly responded that parts of Sawyer’s file were ssified and couldn’t be a
“Damn it!” Hamish muttered.
essed with regr clearance.
Ashton pulled out his phone and called Xavion in the Spoivania, asking him to dig into Sawyer’s full background, especially the sealed parts.
“Ashton, when do you think your Uncle Thiago will realize Sawyer doesn’t belong at <i>Shoneport </i>University?” Hamish smirked, not missing <b>a </b>beat.
“Not anytime soon,” Ashton replied, eyes fixed I on the video. “He’s well–disguised. If Briar hadn’t caught him frame by frame, we wouldn’t have noticed
either.”
Xavion got back in under ten minutes, delivering a full dossier on Sawyer. The most critical part was his movementsst night.
“The timing of the victims‘ deaths oveps with Sawyer’s jogging window,” Hamish said, ncing through the report. He didn’t even have time to be shocked that this man was a returning medical prodigy from overseas. There was an obvious red g here.
Ashton also focused on the final part of the report.
The report was pretty detailed, but it still couldn’t say for sure that there was something off about Sawyer.
Though not enough to convict, the data was suspicious. A man with a consistent jogging routine suddenly changed course, managed <b>to </b>evade all surveince cameras, and during that time, two girls from Shoneport University were murdered nearby…
Frank jumped off the sofa. “Ashton, this guy is definitely shady! Let’s cuff him now!”
Hamish smacked Frank on the back of the head. “Idiot! You can’t cuff someone without evidence.”
“Come on! Since when are we that ‘by the book‘? Arrest him and interrogate him until he talks!” Frank rubbed his head, grumbling.
Briar raised a brow, looking at Ashton. “So you’re the real dangerous elements here.”
Ashton cleared his throat awkwardly. “Just some old scare tactics, that’s all.”
He shot Frank a re so fierce it nearly brought the guy to tears.
Frank thought to himself, ‘I… I didn’t mean to blurt that out. It just slipped.’
ees
“So what now? Do we turn the footage over to Thiago, or investigate ourselves?<b>” </b>Hamish asked.
Technically, the proper move would be handing it to the authorities, clean, official, and justified.
But Hamish noticed Ashton looking thoughtful..
Sure enough, he muttered, “I’ll investigate first. If I find proof Sawyer is the killer, I’ll tell Uncle Thiago.”
“Figured as much.” Frank and Hamish exchanged a look, both seeing the exasperation in each other’s eyes.
14:1 Sat, 10 <b>Aug </b>
After all that talk, he just wanted to nab the guy and interrogate him personally.