Red Moon Returns

Another female reporter Maya's office was not far from the deceased Donnie's office, and the two were also missing in the newspaper office.

Only then did Lynch realize that the state of missing was very common in this era, especially for these investigative reporters.

There were no telegraphs or telephones in this era, and information could only be obtained through letters. Once an in-depth investigation began, it was necessary to temporarily hide one's identity, and then one would often "disappear" until the investigation was over.

So the colleagues at the door of the city hall just now didn't care that the two had been missing for five days, and Donald didn't tell Walker of the Rangers about Maya's disappearance.

Because no one took it seriously.

It wasn't until Walker brought the news of Donnie's death that Donald cooperated with the police to open Donnie's office and provided all the relevant information about Donnie.

"So what news was Donnie investigating before he disappeared?"

While waiting for Donald to ask the staff to get the key, Officer Natalie couldn't help asking and tried to make amends.

"Donnie didn't actually disappear."

"Huh?" Lynch frowned.

"He showed up a few days ago and told me that he needed to take a few days off because of some family matters. He looked a little dazed. I don't know what a single man can have a family, but I still approved it."

"Do you remember the specific date?"

"May 13th, I remember it very clearly. He came here to review a manuscript about the Best Tunnel. This is a necessary procedure."

Sure enough, he guessed it right.

However, the two of them became nervous at the same time. They both realized that they had touched the core of a strange death incident. In the deep darkness, there seemed to be an invisible behemoth hidden. The so-called core they touched was just the tip of the iceberg of the giant.

Lynch exhaled a breath of cold air and asked, "Is that the manuscript he wrote?"

"No, in fact, it was Maya's manuscript, but Maya really disappeared. She reported to me and wanted to continue to follow up on the tunnel incident. But Donny and her occasionally work together to investigate. They have a close relationship and often help each other review manuscripts."

So Maya is the core figure? Donny was just involved?

Lynch couldn't be sure now, but he had confirmed one thing.

There is a reason why the Rangers are called salary thieves. What on earth did they search for and bring back?

"Have you told Walker and the others about this information?"

"No, I thought it was all Maya's business and had nothing to do with Donnie. Uh, should I keep it secret from those police officers later? After all, your relationship seems... um."

Officer Natalie hesitated for a moment with a gloomy face, but still shook her head: "To be honest, I am not interested in creating obstacles for them. That will only make the situation develop in the most dangerous direction."

"I know, but if they don't come back to ask more questions, I have no obligation to go to their door to make up for it."

Editor Donald smiled and opened Maya's office for the two. Lynch had his hand on the pistol in his arms, and Officer Natalie stood in front of him, ready to rush into the office at any time.

The moment the door opened, the two saw the scene inside clearly, and their hearts sank immediately.

It was like a disaster scene inside.

In addition to the bookcases, desks and chairs, there were also a lot of paper documents. There were several piles of documents more than one person high against the wall, and large bundles of paper were piled everywhere, as if they had just experienced a hurricane.

Was someone else ahead of them again?

However, when the two saw it, Donald was calm and not panicked at all. Instead, he smiled at them and said, "Don't be surprised. Maya Seth's work habits are a bit special. Everyone is used to it."

Huh?

Lynch was just surprised, while Natalie looked at the room full of documents and had foreseen the difficulty of the work in the future, but she could only sigh deeply and walked into the office first.

However, as soon as she entered the door, her hand was already on the hilt of the sword.

A foul smell hit her in the face.

The smell was not too strong, but it kept hovering in the room and did not dissipate for a long time.

"Don't come in yet."

The policewoman moved half a step sideways and blocked Lynch, looking around and twitching her nose, and only made way after a while.

"The window is not open, and the room is not ventilated. If there is a corpse, even if it is a mouse, the smell will not be as light as it is now. It feels more like..."

While organizing his words, Lynch asked: "The smell remains but the source has left?"

"Yes, that's the feeling."

The police officer asked the editor-in-chief Donald, who had long been thinking about resigning, to leave, and asked him not to leave the newspaper office in case he needed to inquire, and then whispered: "Are there any strange reactions?"

"No, not even obvious mysterious filth."

Lynch had walked around the room, and the only feeling he had was - it was so messy.

"The project is too large, do you need to check everything, Lynch?"

"It's hard to say, let me take a look first."

Lynch grabbed the documents on the table, glanced at them briefly, squinted his eyes and thought about it, then opened the drawer and pulled out the paper inside to read it again.

The policewoman sat on the table, holding her chin and looking at Lynch with a frown in thought. She didn't look away until Lynch suddenly raised his head: "What's wrong?"

"There's something wrong with these documents."

Lynch didn't notice the policewoman's distraction. He looked at the documents for a few seconds and threw them aside. He strode to the bookcase, opened the cabinet and flipped through them again. Then he returned to the desk and stared at the things on the table in silence for a long time.

The policewoman curiously opened a few handwritten documents and read them carefully, but finally shook her head.

Lynch reminded: "There is no content about the Best Tunnel."

"Huh?"

Lynch pointed his finger around the room: "Ms. Maya's work habits are actually very good. She always makes a pile of work notes every day, and then adds new ones every few days. I just flipped through a few of them and basically confirmed that she works this way."

Officer Natalie nodded, and heard Lynch continue to speak quickly: "Just now Donald said that Ms. Maya's last job was the Best Tunnel incident. With her work habits, the records of these work contents should be on the surface, but now there are none, not a single one."

"Huh, it's true, so when she left on May 11, she took all the relevant documents away?"

"It is also possible that someone sneaked into her office later and took everything away or destroyed it. Let me see..."

As he said, Lynch ran to the door and looked at the padlock.

There was no sign of being pried, but the spare keys here were not strictly managed and anyone could get them, which did not mean anything.

Thinking about it, Lynch turned around and found that the policewoman was lying on the chair he had just sat on, breathing hard with her nose twitching.

"Hmm? How about I find a piece of Ms. Maya's clothes for you to smell first, and then you can find it?"

How dare you call me a hound! The policewoman glared at Lynch fiercely and took note of this account. She hooked her finger and pointed at the chair: "When you passed by me just now, I smelled something wrong. It seemed to have a rancid smell. It was very faint, but it was still there. It might be because you sat here just now."

Lynch smelled his arm and couldn't feel it himself.

"Ransom is a highly recognizable smell, and it has a strong adhesion, so it is easy to stick to the body. But the smell here is originally very faint. If it sticks to the body, it is difficult to notice if the nose is not sensitive enough. How about you smell the documents she touched first and try again?"

This woman actually joked? And why is she so vindictive? The days to come must be very difficult. Lynch muttered, and also moved to the side of the chair. The two of them lay on the side of the chair like two perverts and sniffed wildly.

There was indeed a faint smell on the chair, and once it was identified, it felt very strong. The two simply crawled around the office separately and smelled every corner.

"No."

After sniffing around, the two returned to the chair. The smell was still the strongest here, but this time, due to their posture, they realized that the strongest stench was not from the chair, but from the space under the chair, or under the desk.

There was nothing there, but once the chair was moved away, the smell was obviously stronger.

Has anyone stayed there for a while?

Lin Qi thought about it, leaned over and crawled in. Officer Natalie pulled him before entering, but finally let him go, just holding the hilt of the sword ready for battle at any time.

The space below was very small, just enough for a person to curl up with his knees hugged, so Lin Qi took the same posture and carefully observed the small space.

Everything seemed normal, but when Officer Natalie opened the drawer under his command, the back of the table blocked by the drawer was exposed.

A note was nailed to the table, and it was impossible to see it from any angle unless you got in.

That's it, the treasure was found.

Suppressing his nervousness and excitement, Lynch took off the note and crawled out. He looked at the police officer, put his heads together, held his breath and unfolded the note.

Save me, Donnie.

The handwriting was extremely messy, and some strokes even scratched the paper, revealing a sense of fear and madness.

There was also a long string of equally messy numbers and letters behind it, and there was no pattern to follow.

"Hiss, this is... left by Maya? Why did she hide the note here?"

"It seems to be her." Lynch frowned, "I'm afraid she already knew that she was involved in some very dangerous incident, so she hid and took away all the records. Judging from the handwriting on the note, her mental state is probably not very good. Wait..."

"Huh?"

"She left the note for Donnie here, and Donnie couldn't have seen it, unless..."

Officer Natalie's eyes lit up: "Unless this is the way they agreed to send a message, a secret message in danger."

Before she finished speaking, the two rushed out the door at the same time. If it was the agreed method, there would be a message under Maya's desk, and what about Donnie's?

Did he also leave a message for Maya before he died? Don't let the group of rangers destroy it.

Donnie's office was not locked yet, and the two rushed in. Lynch went straight under the table, and Officer Natalie consciously opened the drawer.

A piece of paper was quietly nailed behind the table.

With a slight sigh, Lynch took it off and opened it, and another string of letters and numbers appeared in front of him.

What's this?