Chapter 55

Perhaps because my thoughts were becoming clearer and I was getting closer to the truth, that night, I didn't dream about Alan. Instead, I had another weird dream. I was surrounded by thick fog and found myself among a group of kids.

These kids looked so pitiful, dressed in rags, skinny from hunger, and shivering in the cold winter wind.

They stared at me with tearful eyes, their lips trembling like they had a lot to say.

"What happened?" I asked, squatting down and touching a little boy's head.

The little boy just shook his head, not saying a word.

"Where are your parents?" I asked again.

The kids lowered their heads and started crying, their sobs getting louder. I panicked, not knowing how to handle kids, and tried to comfort them. "Don't be scared, I'm here."

A gust of wind blew, clearing the thick fog and revealing that I was in the ruins left by a massive fire.

It wasn't fog earlier, but thick smoke from the fire.

The kids seemed to hear something calling them and soon ran off, leaving me anxious. How could these kids run around like that? It was so dangerous out there.

I stumbled along a path, calling out to the kids, but no one answered.

At the end of the path, I saw a boy holding a girl's hand, arguing about something. In the end, the girl left the boy, leaving him alone, crying.

Was it Lally and Duke? Something suddenly clicked in my mind.

The boy had his back to me, squatting at the intersection, sobbing softly, his shoulders shaking. Such a small child, why was he crying so sadly?

"Alan?" I said.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. Why was I crying again? This name seemed to have some kind of magic. If I heard it during the day, it would always mix with the information from these days; if I said it in my dreams, tears would fall like rain. All my tears were shed dry in my dreams.

"Alan, if it's you, just look back at me. Alan, I don't blame you for hiding it from me. Tell me, what happened back then? Why did you leave so suddenly?" I said.

He heard my voice and stopped crying. Just as he was about to turn around, the phone rang.

I woke up groggily on the couch, reaching for my phone on the table. It was a call from Howard.

"Hello? Howard," I said.

"Hey, Nancy, were you sleeping?" Howard asked.

I groggily and grumpily responded, "Yes."

"Yeah, you've been tired lately. Get some rest," Howard continued.

I realized something was off and looked at the time. It was already eleven in the morning. Last night, when I found out about Frank and Tom's connection, it was already past 3 AM.

Right, Howard was planning to meet Tom today!

I struggled to get up from the couch and gathered my thoughts. "Did you get in touch with Tom?"

"That guy didn't answer my call, so I called his secretary directly. I know his schedule for today. We're going to intercept him on the way!" Howard said.

"Howard, isn't that a bit too much?" I hesitated.

From what Howard had said before, his relationship with Tom wasn't that close. They had only worked together on a project before, and a couple of years ago, during the Sand Village demolition and brawl incident, Howard had gotten some information from Tom for the Silverlight City Legal Journal. Other than that, they had no contact.

If we intercepted him on the way, wouldn't that be too aggressive?

"What's wrong with that? Besides, I'm bringing the editor-in-chief of Silverlight City's biggest legal weekly to personally invite him to dinner and thank him. Don't worry about Tom's attitude. Get ready, and we'll meet at the company entrance at 1," Howard said.

Howard was trying to reassure me. Tom was his business partner, and I was just a partner in the company, essentially an employee. Howard was risking offending a business partner to help me, which really touched me.

"Howard, thank you..." I said.

"Don't thank me, Nancy. Remember, in just three years, Silverlight City Legal Journal has achieved what it has today because of you, not me. I couldn't have done it without you. You've done your part, now it's my turn. Oh, and don't go upstairs when you get to the company. I'll wait for you at the entrance," Howard said.

Then Howard hung up the phone.

I was momentarily stunned by his sudden praise. Then I quickly tidied up the bedding, took a shower to wake up, changed clothes, grabbed a bite to eat downstairs, and drove to the company.

Today, I didn't want to ask about any clues regarding the Entertainment Club murder case. I was sure Tom's testimony was false and that he was closely connected to Tony and Frank.

I had just received a Facebook message from Ruben. Lally was still missing, and his friend had checked all the orphanages in Silverlight City over the past few decades. Strangely, there was no record of any orphanage near Sand Village.

According to Lally, the orphanage should be no more than 7 miles from Sand Village, but Ruben said they had expanded the search to 14 miles and still found no orphanage.

Silverlight City had only one orphanage or similar institution, located in the eastern suburbs, the Silverlight City Orphanage, while Sand Village was in the west, completely opposite directions.

The orphanage they had mentioned seemed to have disappeared from history, as if it had never existed.

Lally was missing, Tony didn't want to mention the orphanage, and Frank, even more so, had lied to me, saying he knew Alan from college. He wanted to hide this matter too.

That left Tom. He must know something, either from Zack or Frank, otherwise, he wouldn't have come forward to give false testimony.

When I arrived at the company entrance, Howard, dressed in a suit, was already waving at me from a distance. He ran over to help me park my car and get into his.

"Why are you dressed so formally today?" I asked.

Howard usually wore casual clothes, rarely dressing so formally.

"Meeting Tom, I have to dress formally." Howard chuckled, touching his nose. "That guy is more than ten years younger than me, but his ability is undeniable. It's better to be formal."

"True," I nodded. After all, we were visiting someone. "By the way, why didn't you want me to go upstairs?"

"What do you think?" Howard glared at me. "There are only two people in this company I'm afraid of, you and your precious apprentice Zoey. If you go upstairs, she'll definitely follow you in the afternoon. I heard this case has issues at the state level, involving a lot. Is that true?"