CHAPTER 416: LEAVES NO TRACE.

Dante had underestimated the difference between sleeping in his own bed and in a random one in the eerily quiet Hollowstreet. Well, there was the fact that he took a RED pill just before passing out cold, but the fact that he had a much more comfortable sleep can’t be ignored.

Though he made sure to fill his belly before taking the medicine, Dante felt its protest soon after getting up. He showered, shaved, then put on a new outfit before heading out to get some food.

Dante happened to arrive just in time to join his usual group for dinner. Glen and Ross were there, and Jonah came by soon after, having received a much-needed break. Once Nobara was done serving their food, the five of them sat down and chatted for a long while.

The old officer complained about his job for the first time in a while. Glenn talked about how relieved he was now that he had survived his company downsizing, but the biggest surprise of all came from Ross. Apparently, his date had turned out better than he had ever anticipated, and now he was on route to forming a solid relationship.

That called for a celebration, so they all raised a toast.

"By the way, you told her about lil’ Ellie, right?" Asked Jonah.

Dating as a single parent was tough, and few were willing to keep a relationship going once they learned that their partner had children from another relationship. It was always better to bring up such things early on to avoid any problems.

"Well, actually..." Ross pursed his lips, pausing as if to choose his words. "She has a baby on the way."

The shop went entirely silent, and all eyes turned to the maintenance worker.

"I know what you’re thinking, but-"

"Boy," Nobara cut him off and puffed a cloud of smoke. "You have been played."

"C’mon, man," Dante grimaced. "You should know better than this."

"I told you it’s not like that!" Ross snapped. "She’s a widow! Her husband was killed a few months ago and-"

"That just makes things worse, man."

"Hey now, aren’t you being harsh on him?" Glenn chimed in. "He’s the only guy here who got married and raised a family. Surely he has a better eye for women than most of us."

Left speechless, everyone stared at him for a moment. Gesturing with his glass, Dante let the corners of his mouth rise a little.

"Touché."

Nobara followed with a more teasing smile.

"If that’s the case, why not ask him to teach you how to get a date?"

"That won’t work." Ross chuckled. "The first lesson would be ’don’t be stingy. ’"

The others burst into laughter, though one of them didn’t find the joke too funny.

"I don’t think you are qualified to give financial advice." Said Glenn. "Not when your job isn’t, might not be there tomorrow."

"Alright, that’s enough alcohol for the day."

Sensing a bomb, Jonah moved quickly to defuse it. Soon enough, they were back to laughing, and the atmosphere remained that way until everyone went their way.

Once he was alone, Dante didn’t really know what to do. After what happened with the Daggers, he didn’t really feel like continuing with his stealing spree. What he heard in that underground vault had been weighing on his mind, too. Something was happening out of his sight, and he couldn’t stand that.

’Volcan, mind seeing if you can find anything?’

[I will try.] His resident AI replied.

Guessing it would take some time, Dante opened his messenger app and sent a message, then got on the Raven and drove off.

~[ ]~

"Let me get this right." Viktor, having had his head in his hands until a second ago, lifted his gaze and looked Dante in the eye. "You went and sneaked deep into enemy territory, and when they found out about you, you chose to stay instead of getting out?"

"Well, I couldn’t just go back empty-handed."

When looking for information that’s hard to come by, there was one person who’s likely to have something about it. Sadly, before he could ask for it, Dante was struck by the question of whether he was involved in what happened in the Dagger’s territory the previous night. Viktor wasn’t too happy about his little adventure, of course. After taking a few minutes to process what he heard, he decided he was too tired to get worked up over it.

"You’re being way too careless... again."

"And how was I supposed to know they had a trap ready for me?"

"By using your brain." Viktor sighed again. "They know there is a good Diver messing with them, and you already stole from them before."

"It... sounded like there was a lot more to it than just that." Said Dante. "One of them said something about a... Ghost. He called me that, in fact. Do you know anything about it?"

Viktor’s expression darkened the instant he heard the word. He didn’t offer an answer, continuing to stare at Dante, elbows resting on his desk, fingers interlocked in front of his face. Just when it seemed like he was going to take much longer, a hint of resignation flashed on his face, and he heaved another tired sigh.

"It’s... what the police call you these days." He said. "Well, their higher ups, at least."

"... what?"

"The mess in Factory Town, the heist from a while back." Pursing his lips, the broker added. "Aegis’s murder."

All of a sudden, Dante understood the true gravity of the situation.

"Those incidents didn’t seem like they had anything to do with each other, but the people in charge of the investigation noticed the one thing they had in common." Pausing as if to add some dramatic effect, Viktor continued, "The perpetrator leaves no trace."

"Isn’t that..."

Insane, was the word Dante wanted to say. Perfect crimes weren’t the ones where the criminal leaves no trace behind—that title belonged to the crimes that never get discovered by anyone to begin with. One could say that a crime can’t be considered perfect if the police knew about it, but even if they had someone investigating the case, it wasn’t that rare for them to end up with no leads on the perpetrator, let alone evidence to convict them with.

It was hard, but not unheard of.