Cleo grinned, shing her white teeth. “Hamlin, rx. I’m not here for a house tour this time. We suspect you might be involved in Ms. Maxine Hudson’s

    kidnapping.”

    A muscle in Hamlin’s face twitched involuntarily for a split second. Still, as a seasoned old fox in the business world, there was no way he’d lose hisposure in front of these junior upstarts.

    Hamlin squinted his eyes menacingly and said, “Kid, what solid evidence do you have to back that up?”

    Just then, the officer behind Cleo stepped forward and said, “We just found Ms. Hudson’s car ion /ithe mountain road. With no buildings nearby, we believe she might be here.”

    Hamlin didn’t bat an eye. Turning to the officer, he retorted, “By your logic, isn’t it Maxine who trespassed on my property? So why are you bringing people here to search my ce instead?”

    Cleo smiled and said, “Whether it’s trespassing or not, we’ll let the police figure that out after their investigation. Once we find the person, there’s still plenty of time to press charges.”

    Hamlin snorted coldly. “This isn’t some public park you can just waltz into. If you’re looking for someone, just call them. I’m not running a free–for–all service here, iyou /iknow.”

    Cleo stared him down, unfazed, and raised her voice. “With the snow still falling in the mountains, our top priority bis /bbto /bfind Maxine. If she’s not here, we’ll have ito /iexplore other leads immediately.”

    The officer beside her also said, “We need your full cooperation with the investigation as well.”

    Cleo would be easy enough to handle, but the cops backing her were a different story. Hamlin stood there for a long moment before finally relenting. “Fine, you can search. But if iyou /ie up empty–handed, you’d better have a damn good exnation for me.”

    With that, he motioned for his men to open the vi’s main gate.

    Eager to save Maxine, Cleo led the way inside.

    Hamlin watched them coldly, thinking to himself, ‘She’s already gotten away. If they actually manage to find her now, I’ll eat my hat.‘

    The vi was vast. Cleo walked straight into the central hall, where a man sat on the sofa with a fierce scowl. As soon as he saw her, he scowled and opened his mouth to speak, but the instant he noticed the police behind her, his expression froze.

    Quick to notice his odd expression, Cleo narrowed her eyes, pulled up Maxine’s photo on her phone, and held it iout /ito the man. “Have you seen this

    woman?”

    The man’s expression flickered unnaturally for a split second before he shook his head. “No,” he said.

    Cleo registered the hoarseness in his voice and pushed her phone closer toward him. “Take a good look,” she said, “This is very important to our investigation.”

    The man reluctantly reached out to take the phone, and Cleo noticed distinct ligature marks around his wrist.

    Noticing her gaze, the man instinctively jerked his arm backb, /bconcealing the marks on his wrist.

    “Never seen her,” he said hoarsely.

    Cleo scanned the room’syout. “Mind if I take a look around?” she asked.

    A flicker of panic crossed the man’s face. He had just freed himself after being tied up by Maxine. After being rescued, he’d locked London in ba /broom bin /ba fit of rage. Upstairs was still inplete chaos. He hadn’t had time to cover his tracks.

    b09:09 /bFri, b27 /bJun bB /b

    bB /b

    They were bound to run right into London if they went upstairs now.

    AD