From now on, he would refer to his team mates as that, ‘the four’. That way, he could avoid the possibility of the game system acknowledging his guess. Since this game system could recognize whenever he made a right conclusion, as evidence of that notification sound, then it’s also possible that it could consider his thoughts as valid indicator that he unmasked his team mates’ identities. Which in turn would lead to the failure of their mission.
It’s actually quite the mystery how this game system could recognize his thoughts. It’s almost a bit, well, god-like. But then again, everything that’s happening in this game was technically happening inside the players’ minds. So, this shouldn’t really be that much of a surprise.
Because of that, Luo Yan decided to not be too straightforward with his thinking when it came to guessing who’s who. For now, let’s just say he had two candidates for being one of the four – Sofia and Daphne. He had a clear guess on who was the former, but the latter was still hard to guess.
But his interview was still ongoing and he should continue on with it. Maybe he could add another two candidates on his list of ‘the four’.
Luo Yan ended his interview with Daphne. There’s really nothing he could ask more. Considering how she hadn’t been born yet 20 years ago, she probably knew nothing about what happened then. And he doubted her parents would actually tell her anything about that.
He stood up and told the servant waiting outside the study to call on the next person he planned to interview – Sorcha Harcourt.
It didn’t take that long for the tall woman to walk to the study. He didn’t notice it earlier because of too much things that were happening, but the other was dressed rather oddly. Not in that weird kind of way. Just in how she was covered layers upon layers of clothes.
Since the incident happened in the middle of the night, everyone was in their night wear. With a robe over, of course. But Miss Sorcha here was probably wearing three robes over one another. Not only that, she was also clutching at her neckline as if her life depended on it.
Or as if she was covering her throat.
”Miss, Sorcha, please,” he said, gesturing for the other to sit down. The other sat down without saying anything. “Are you perhaps prone to chills?”
”I don’t think my body temperature is of any relevance to this case, detective,” Sorcha said in that low toned voice of hers. “But if you insist on knowing, then, yes, I do.”
Luo Yan only smiled at that. The other was obviously being sarcastic, but because of her lazy tone, it’s hardly noticeable at all. “Where were you between the time of 12 and 1 AM?”
”At my bedroom, sleeping. Then, I was woken up by the explosion.”
Luo Yan wrote that down. “Where did you go after dinner?”
”I went straight to my bedroom, washed up, and read a book,” Sorcha answered without any hesitation.
”Could anyone corroborate any of that?”
”Sadly, no. If this manor had more servants, someone would have probably seen me entered my room.”
Luo Yan observed the other’s expression. She was too calm. As if she was… disconnected. It’s either because she was innocent and therefore didn’t have any guilt. Or she was a cold-blooded killer.
He’s leaning more to the former.
”How long had it been since you last saw your father-in-law?” he asked, segueing to another subject.
”Last night was the first after 20 years.”
Luo Yan was a bit surprised hearing that. “That long? You and your Mr. Harcourt had never met for the past 20 years?”
”I believe that’s what I just said.”
”From the way Mr. Harcourt acted yesterday and by the fact that he’s planning to leave all his fortunes to you, one would think that the two of you are, well, close. But based on what you just said, that didn’t seem to be the case.”
”Yes. After what happened with my… my husband and our son, I refuse to have any connection to this family. Mr. Harcourt tried to contact me a couple of times throughout the years, but I always declined. If not for that telephone call he made, telling me that what happened to my husband and son might not be an accident, I would not probably come here.
”I had no idea that he would announce to everyone that he would leave his wealth to me. Frankly speaking, if you asked me, I think Mr. Harcourt is simply trying to make a rise out of his children. And he got it. Just look at what happened to him.”
”Are you implying that one of his children had done this?” Luo Yan asked with interest.
”I’m just saying that if Mr. Harcourt had gone to the trouble of recreating what happened before that fire 20 years ago, doesn’t that mean that he was expecting like this to happen?” Sorcha said with a careless shrug. “And look, didn’t someone die right after? Don’t tell me you don’t find that suspicious?”
”It was indeed suspicious. But it’s just one of the many suspicious things surrounding this incident. And if we add what happened 20 years ago, everything just starts to become convoluted,” Luo Yan said. “So, Ms. Sorcha, what can you tell me about what happened 20 years ago?”
For the first time, the woman turned her gaze away. When she spoke, even her voice broke a little. “I- I don’t want to talk about it.”
This was the first time since Luo Yan saw this woman that she showed such a weak side. Was what he’s seeing really the other’s show of weakness or was it just that, a show?