"And?" Noah tilted his brown head.
"Since it's still in development, we don't have a large database of people to compare it against just yet..."
Noah's nose wrinkled, "So nothing?"
"On the contrary," Fynn's mouth curled up, "Since we didn't have a database, I pulled up some footage of the last city council meeting for testing purposes. Who would have thought we'd actually manage to get a match." Fynn's smile disappeared, replaced by a frown, "Too bad that the technology is still experimental, and its results aren't yet considered reliable enough to be used in court."
Noah leaned forward towards the light screen, his little butt nearly slipping off the sofa, "Heh, for testing purposes, you say? Weren't you trying to check whether this person is councilor Desmond?"
Fynn's frown was once again replaced by a guilty-as-charged look, and he scratched his head sheepishly, "He is one of the shareholders of Druxa, and the main advocate for the monitoring and limiting the freedom of high ranked power users. I'm rightfully suspicious."
"So, it IS him?"
Fynn nodded, "The match rate is pretty high, but like I said, it can't be used as evidence. In fact, with just this, I might not even be able to get him to visit the station for questioning."
Noah tapped his chin thoughtfully, "A lot of things would make sense if he was indeed involved. As a shareholder, it wouldn't be hard for him to get access to the lab. And he would probably also be privy to the information about what is being researched inside. Also, councilor Desmond has been trying to make power registration mandatory for years now, claiming that high-ranked power users who hide their powers are a danger to society. Having the mentioned high-ranked power users go on a power rampage would only serve to promote his cause."
"I've been thinking along these lines as well," Fynn nodded, "He has the means and the motive. And he also happens to be an unscrupulous old bastard who has been opposing your father at every turn for decades." Fynn glanced towards Levi's scrunched-up face and added, "He's not a big fan of the union of the two cities either. He has been trying to stop the marriage ever since it was announce–"
Fynn's words were interrupted by Levi slamming his fist down on the coffee table with fire in his eyes. 'Guilty or not, this old fart has to go down!!!' (ꐦ °Д°)
Noah instinctively wrapped his soothing around Levi and patted the other's thigh for good measure. After finishing these well-practiced series of actions, Noah was just about to take his little hand away when this fiancé of his covered it with his own, intertwining their fingers together intimately.
Noah's ears instantly heated up, and he tried hard to ignore the sharp stare directed at them by his father, who was peeking at them from the dining room.
It–it was just holding hands! It's not like it was something inappropriate... it–it should be fine if it was just holding hands, ah! (⁄ ⁄> ﹏ <⁄ ⁄)
"That–that... if–if councilor Desmond was indeed guilty...then–then if you managed to have a word with him...would–would that be enough to make an arrest?" Noah desperately tried to distract his wandering mind back to the important matters at hand. "It is highly likely that he would refuse to answer any of your questions..."
Fynn stared at him with dead-fish eyes. He couldn't see the two men touching each other, and he couldn't even feel the sugary intents over the call, but... he was a professional law enforcement investigator! He still knew what was happening even if he couldn't see or feel it just by hearing that stutter and seeing those pink ears!!! ಥ‿ಥ
"No, it wouldn't be enough to put him behind bars, but..." Fynn's voice seemed a bit dry, "He doesn't need to say anything. As long as I can feel his intents, I'll be able to pick up whether he is involved or not. And a testimony of an Intenter investigator is enough to get a search warrant and bring him in for questioning. With official approval to fully dig into him, we are bound to discover something incriminating."
Noah rubbed his chin and then nonchalantly asked, "Fynn... you are coming to our wedding, right?"
The sudden change in topic sent Fynn's mind for a spin. "Uh... yes? You did send me an invitation, after all..."
"That's good," Noah's eyes suddenly curved, "Because I just remembered that my father sent the wedding invitations to most of the influential Concordians – councilor Desmond included..."
Fynn's befuddled mind cleared up instantly. If councilor Desmond would be at the wedding, then he would be able to mingle with the other guests to approach him! Councilor Desmond could avoid meeting him, claiming to be far too busy for such nonsense, but how would he dodge him at the wedding?
Fynn's look towards Noah turned profound, "Aren't you worried I would stir up trouble at your wedding?"
"On the contrary," Noah smiled very innocently, "Wouldn't catching those that are after my life be the best wedding gift?" Noah glanced towards Levi, "What do you think? Are you afraid of Fynn causing trouble?"
Levi squeezed his hand, "Afraid? I'm looking forward to it. There can only be trouble if Desmond is guilty. Innocent men would not make trouble by just having a word with the law enforcement. And I too think that catching the culprits would be the best possible wedding gift."
Only if the terrorists were safely behind bars would he be able to fully relax and enjoy his honeymoon. ❤ (⺣◡⺣)
"Then that's that," Noah put the lid on the matter, "We'll know whether he is the one behind the terrorist attacks in two days. In the meantime, we need to rule out everyone else who had access to the lab. Did you question the rest of the people yet?"
"Yes, we finished all the questionings this morning, just before you showed up at the station. Judging by their intents, we ruled out everyone's connection to the terrorists, leaving us with just three suspects. 1) Asan, whom we have not found yet, 2) the man we suspect to be councilor Desmond, and lastly, the Ghost."
"The Ghost?" Noah's eyebrows shot up.
Fynn's expression turned helpless, "That's how we are calling the second unidentified communicator number." Before Noah could question why, Fynn pulled up a ground plan of the lab on his communicator and shared the view with the duo, "It's like this... every lab on this floor is a closed room with just one entrance and no windows. The door leading into the lab is locked electronically, and people who are allowed entry into the lab can unlock it with their communicators. Every time those electronic doors open, whether it be from the inside or the outside, the time and the communicator number used to unlock them is registered in the access logs."
Fynn pointed to the lab entrance on the ground plan and then slid his finger down the hallway leading to it. It was a long and straight corridor that led not just to the lab where the mental power drug was developed but to four other labs as well. It was like a hallway of an apartment building that led to all of the apartments on that floor.
Out of six doors in and out of that hallway, five of them were the electronic doors leading to labs, and the sixth was used to access the hallway from the entrance hall. Fynn pointed to the entrance hall on the other side of that door, "We have surveillance footage of the entrance hall, so we can tell who entered the hallway and when. Checking that against the records of entry into the labs themselves, we were able to deduce that one of the unknown communicator numbers belongs to the person suspected to be councilor Desmond. As for the other unknown number..."
Chapter 173 - Invisible?
"... The owner of the other unknown number is not on our footage." Fynn scratched his head helplessly, "But as you can see, the only way into the lab is through this hallway, and the only way into the hallway is through these doors that are under surveillance. Thus, everyone entering the hallway should be captured on camera. And yet, here we are..." Fynn sighed before continuing, "At first, we thought that the footage had been tampered with, but there are no missing periods of time nor any other signs it had been messed with. Besides for the Ghost, the times reported by the footage and the access logs match up for everyone else."
Fynn shook his head, "Under the assumption that it wasn't an issue with the footage, we went back and turned the entire place upside down again. But we still did not manage to find another way into the lab. We even considered the possibility of this person being invisible, but there was no footage of the doors opening by themselves. And if an invisible person had sneaked in after someone else had opened the doors, the camera would capture the irregularities with the natural motion of the doors."
Fynn rubbed his bloodshot eyes, "As things stand now, we are still looking for an explanation for this anomaly. And meanwhile, since this person clearly exists, yet we can't see them, we are temporarily referring to them as the Ghost."
A flicker of amusement passed through Noah's eyes, "Can I see the access logs and the security footage?"
"Sure," with a few taps, Fynn sent the files over, "But why? Do you have an idea of how the Ghost got in?"
Noah nodded, "Yeah." He spoke in a tone that was as nonchalant as if he was talking about the weather. "So basically, the problem you ran into is that according to the camera footage, 10 people went inside, yet according to the entry log, there were 11. Correct?"
After a brief pause, Fynn nodded, "That... indeed sums up the issue..."
Noah let out a melodious hum that tickled the ears, then drawled, "If the footage was not tampered with..."
"...Then the access log was tampered with?" Fynn guessed at the other's thoughts. "Putting aside the technical difficulty of altering the log.... It would make sense if someone removed a number from the access log, but what meaning is there in adding it? To confuse us?"
"No, no, no," Noah shook his head, "That's not what I wanted to say. Both the footage and the access logs may be right."
"Then, you think there is another way into the lab?"
Noah shook his head again, "Not likely, no."
Fynn looked at Noah strangely, "Then how did the Ghost enter the hallway?"
Noah smiled sweetly, but his words made Fynn feel lightheaded, "Of course, he used the same door as everyone else."
Fynn clutched at his forehead, "We just went over this. If he had entered through the door, he would have been caught on camera. So why didn't the camera capture his entry?"
Noah's eyes curved, "The camera DID capture his entry."
Levi could no longer stand seeing Fynn directing a dubious look towards his baby, so he helped his darling explain, "He is among the 10 people you ruled out."
Noah shot Levi a brilliant smile of approval (which fired a Cupid arrow straight through Levi's heart). Then, he turned back to Fynn to explain, "Think about it, you don't have one extra person, you have one extra communicator number! The camera footage shows you the people, but the access log shows you not people but numbers."
Seeing that his baby was about to finish the explanation, Levi, as if injected by a stimulant, jumped out to do it in his stead. "One of the people has two communicator numbers!" Ah, he had to show his baby that though he remained quiet through the majority of these discussions, he was totally paying attention and totally understood him! Unlike this Fynn fellow. Hmph! To think he had the nerve to covet his baby with meager skills like these!
"My father's communicator has two numbers, too – one for private matters and one for business." Levi proudly stated. If one didn't hear his words, just judging by his facial expression, one would think he wasn't talking about communicators but declaring his sovereignty!
Fynn barely suppressed an eye roll. '...Just look at this idiot wagging his tail!' (–_ლ) He directly ignored the taller man and concentrated on the smaller one. "So you are saying that the Ghost is one of the employees we have on footage, and they are using a number not on the employee records to access our lab because they don't want others to know they had anything to do with the mental power drug?"
Noah shook the hand that was still intertwined with Levi's to thank him for the assist, and then he docilely nodded his head, "Very clever of him. Truly the mindset of a proper terrorist! o(￣▽￣)ｄ Even if we found the source of the drug later on, there would be nothing connecting him to this project. Well, that is, unless we capture the other terrorists, and they rat him out..." ╮(╯∀╰)╭
"An interesting hypothesis," Fynn stroked the stubble on his chin in thought, then he shook his head, "But something is still not right. We have matched the entry and exit times recorded in the log to the footage. There is no one unaccounted for. This person couldn't have had the time to go and pretend to be someone else with another number."
Noah heh-hehed and leaned back into the sofa, "Levi and I watched you guys when you raided the lab yesterday."
"Yeah?" The little one abruptly changed the topic again; Fynn didn't know whether to laugh or cry. His tired brain really couldn't keep up with his pace right now!
Luckily, Noah didn't keep him in suspense this time, "You made the CEO open the electronic doors for you, and then you held it open and let your men in and out at will."
Fynn's half-closed bloodshot eyes snapped open, "You are saying that this person could have taken advantage of someone else unlocking the doors to enter or exit? In which case, their own communicator number wouldn't have been recorded in the access log!" Fynn slapped his own forehead, "According to the contracts that the employees of Druxa are forced to sign, it is a serious violation to let someone inside who doesn't have the right to access the lab. But if the situation with two numbers is true, then it wouldn't even BE a violation because that person DID have the right to access the lab! To their colleagues, it might even look silly to let the other wait until the door shut so that they can open it up again with their own communicator!"
Noah nodded, feeling pleased that Fynn was, as always, quick to catch on. "Right, so the situation of 10 people and 11 communicator numbers could have been played out like this... The Ghost entered the hallway and unlocked the doors to one of the labs. However, instead of entering inside, he could have chosen to wait in the hallway for a bit and then unlock and enter our lab using his second number. In the access log, we would see that that person had entered lab 4, and then a while later, the Ghost had entered lab 3."
The now enlightened Fynn continued his words, "Then when he was done doing whatever he wanted in our lab, he would exit into the hallway and just wait for someone else to exit or enter the other lab, so he could enter alongside them, without checking-in! Later, he'd unlock the door with his communicator on his way out, and to us, it would look like he had been inside lab 4 the entire time!"