Chapter 13

After leaving the café, it was already around 1 PM.

Howard gave me a quick rundown of Frank's situation, which pretty much matched what he had just said.

Frank had been abroad for years and only came back to the country in the last two years because of some business changes. Since returning, he hadn't stayed put in Silverlight City but had been traveling all over for business deals.

The guy was a total workaholic with a crazy drive. Even though his illness was serious, he had a strong will to live and had bounced back from the brink of death multiple times, which was a well-known story in the business world.

Howard had other stuff to do, so I grabbed lunch on my own, mulling over our conversation from earlier.

At the end of our meeting, Frank mentioned that apart from Alan's wedding, he hadn't seen Laura again. Then he went off on a rant, cursing Laura and saying she could never make up for her sins. I just sat there, listening, knowing these outbursts were pointless.

Since the day before yesterday, I had questioned all three of Alan's college buddies. They really hadn't been in touch recently, and there was no college reunion. From what Frank said, he didn't know about Alan and Laura meeting either.

The weird thing was, Frank described their group dynamic as being centered around Alan. But I clearly remembered Alan always saying Mike was the main guy. This stuck with me because Mike was the vice president of the student council back then and was a big deal in college.

I thought, 'Why did Frank change their story? Maybe he's closest to Alan? But it doesn't make sense for him to say Alan is the central figure to me; it seems too ordinary for someone like him. The only reason could be that he's trying to distance himself from the other two.'

All deductions pointed in one direction: they must have been in contact over the years, perhaps multiple times!

I had a hunch that Alan's accident might be tied to some coincidence involving these people. But I had no clue what their purpose or the content of their contact was.

Questioning the three of them further seemed pointless since Bob and Mike were out of town, and I wouldn't get any useful info.

It made more sense to start with the case itself and look into the witnesses from the trial.

Thinking this, I pulled out my phone and quickly sent a message to Howard: [Help me check Tom's personal info. He's one of the witnesses in this trial. From his appearance, he seems to be from your business circle. I suspect there's something off about him. Zoey also saw him at the trial.]

Howard replied soon: [I'm not very familiar with him. I'm just a magazine owner, not an info hub. You should ask your friends at the prosecutor's office. Aren't you tight with them?]

Nancy: [Leonard just gave me a copy of the case file yesterday. It's not cool to bug him again.]

Howard: [You're so impressive. I told you, Leonard isn't as bad as you said. Never mind. I won't say more, or you'll be persuaded back, and I'll lose out. Leave it to me. Do you want me to check the other witnesses too?]

I thought about it. Lally and Tammy worked at the Entertainment Club, and I needed to check the scene myself, so it was better if I did it. I replied: [No need. I'll check the rest myself.]

With that, I drove to the True Love Entertainment Club, not far from the city center.

Even though the city center was the busiest part of Silverlight City, it was also an old district. The city had gotten a facelift over the years, but the road layout still followed the old plan. The café and the Entertainment Club weren't far apart, but there were so many traffic lights along the way that it took me half an hour to get there, which made me a bit anxious.

When I finally arrived, I was blown away by what I saw.

This Entertainment Club wasn't super fancy. I wasn't into all that glitz and glamour anyway. What really surprised me was that while the city center was packed with buildings over twenty stories high, the Entertainment Club was a standalone six-story building. It didn't look old, probably built within the last ten years.

The Silverlight City government had put out a rule in the early 2000s that buildings in the city center below fifteen stories couldn't be built.

The location was pretty clever too. It was on the edge of the city center, not accessible by a main road but by a single-lane road after leaving the main road. Most people wouldn't even find this place. But if one followed this single-lane road, it took less than five minutes to drive back to the main road of the city center. The only explanation was that this road was specially built for this building.

I'd been around Silverlight City for years, driving back and forth in the city center many times, but this was the first time I came here, and I had never noticed this road. This place seemed to be hidden in plain sight in the city center.

No wonder the True Love Entertainment Club was so famous in the city. True luxury wasn't about the decor but about having an entire building and road built specifically for the club.

I frowned, thinking, 'Doesn't the municipal department manage this place? There must be some serious corruption behind this.'

My prosecutor's instinct kicked in, and I shook my head.

I parked by the roadside and walked towards the Entertainment Club building.

Entertainment Clubs usually operated at night, so there weren't many people around during the day. As I got closer, I noticed that the entrance of the Entertainment Club was sealed.

I had been thinking too much these past few days and had forgotten that these entertainment venues must be closed for rectification after the arson and murder case.

I looked around. Besides this Entertainment Club building, there were no other buildings. I thought carefully and realized that there might be two reasons why no one had reported it over the years.

First, this Entertainment Club was high-end, and ordinary people couldn't afford it; second, there were no other buildings around, so there was little foot traffic, and those who came here wouldn't report it.

At that moment, a food truck drove towards the small road and stopped not far from me.

A man in his fifties got out of the truck and quickly set up his stall, displaying his sign, Ronald Food Truck.

I checked the time; it was 1:30 PM. Lunch hour was over. What was he doing setting up a stall now?

I walked over, and he glanced at me, chuckling, "What would you like? It's all written up there."

I looked at the menu next to the sign, which had all the usual snacks. I randomly ordered a burger and found a stool to sit down.

The owner skillfully started the fire and added ingredients to the pan while asking, "Do you prefer a stronger or lighter taste? You look new here. Is this your first time? Want to add an egg?"

I didn't answer his question but asked, "Hello, sir. Do you usually have many customers here?"

The owner, who was making the burger, suddenly stopped.