Dr. Silas Vance was left waiting for quite a while before Detective Captain Hayes arrived. He still maintained his polite smile, but Detective Captain Hayes‘ first sentence shattered it: “Your Dean has confessed everything. Now, let’s talk about your part.”
Dr. Silas Vance’s smile froze, neither up nor down. After a moment, he spoke, “My part in what?”
2:14 pm PPP.
<
“Are you still not confessing? Do you really think we know nothing?” The impatient young officer beside him slammed the table in a furious outburst. “Why did you frame Audrey Hayes? Was it to steal
her project?”
“The Dean told you that?” He stared at the officer with a sarcastic smile. “Why would I want her project? What project could an ungraduated PhD student possibly have that would interest me?”
“I was brought back by the university at a high price to teach. I wouldn’t stoop to coveting a student’s project.”
He looked up arrogantly, enjoying the sight of the others fuming, a satisfied smile on his face.
“Then why did you frame Audrey Hayes?” Detective Captain Hayes tossed out lightly.
He choked for a moment, then calmly explained, “I didn’t frame her.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Seeing him flat–out deny everything, Detective Captain Hayes didn’t get angry. Instead, he started laying out items from an evidence bag, one by one.
“The Dean said you told him to pin the blame on Audrey Hayes. His phone has a call recording feature. This is your conversation.”
“Here’s the original video from yesterday. You were the last person to enter and leave the lab. How do you explain that?”
As the evidence was laid out, one by one, Dr. Silas Vance’s face grew increasingly dark, eventually breaking out in visible cold sweat.
1
It wasn’t until the last piece of evidence was displayed – an empty evidence bag – that Dr. Silas Vance fell silent for a moment. His expression softened somewhat, and he confessed candidly: “I was the last one to leave the lab, but I didn’t do anything. I don’t know how the fire started.”
“You can investigate. It was absolutely an accidental fire caused by faulty wiring or machine overload.”
He raised an eyebrow, earnestly explaining, “I know I bear responsibility for the lapse in oversight, so I am willing to compensate the university for its losses. Millions, tens of millions–I’ll accept it all.”
“He’s truly confident, isn’t he?” Captain Miller remarked, a hint of mockery in his voice.
2:14 pm P P P
<
“This isn’t that simple. We’ve already requested the National Security Agency’s assistance.”
Detective Captain Hayes walked in, deep dark circles under his eyes showing his fatigue. He gulped down some strong tea before speaking. “Professor Davies‘ death will also be reinvestigated.”
“At the time, we investigated the identities of the punks involved. It seemed like a spontaneous brawl, so we didn’t suspect murder.”
“Now, cross–referencing with National Security, we’ve found that many high–tech talents have died under suspicious circumstances over the past ten years. Some were even individuals who had just graduated with PhDs from abroad and returned to work here. So we didn’t connect these incidents.”
“Now it seems the situation is far more serious than we imagined.”
“We should be thanking you for your ingenuity,” he said, joking with me with a hint of weariness.
Ingenuity? It was bought with a life.
