Old And Strong

After tidying himself up, Justin returned to his room. Seeing that Catherine was no longer crying and making a scene, Justin slowly let out a sigh of relief.

He placed the glass filled with water on the bedside table and turned the light of the table lamp to a low level so that she wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

"Drink," Justin said, knowing that Catherine could not hear him.

Unexpectedly, he received a soft moan from Catherine.

At first, he thought that he must have heard wrongly, but looking at Catherine sleeping soundly in his bed, Justin thought that the response was just a dream.

After making preparations, Justin left his home and prepared to go to Forest Park.

Five minutes later, Justin arrived at Forest Park. The place had already been cordoned off, and there were already police officers evacuating the crowd outside.

Justin showed his badge. "Justin Fars, Homicide." After getting his identity verified, Justin crossed the line of police tape and walked straight to Drake.

"Shouldn't we call the forensics department?" Justin asked in confusion.

"Well, they're busy, apparently."

Drake glanced at Justin, who was hurriedly wearing gloves, and said, "Don't worry, young man. The forensics work here is over."

Justin raised his eyebrows when he heard that. This old man was his senior, and he taught him how to use all kinds of weapons and equipment in the police force.

"I've taught you before, haven't I? You can't pay attention to superficial things when you're collecting evidence." Although Drake was Justin's senior, he was not condescending when he spoke.

"Of course, I still remember. Don't you have paperwork to do? Why are you out on patrol again?"

"It's not easy to be a good person, my friend." Drake took off the white gloves on his hands, revealing his dry, old hands. "It's even harder to be a widower."

"Sorry, I'm not –"

"It's okay, I'm used to it anyway."

"Do you want to talk about the case?" Justin felt that Drake was a legend in the police force.

At the age of sixty, he became a widower whose wife had passed away, which was a great blow to him at that time.

However, he soon started working again, and he volunteered to work in the field, which was more dangerous, instead of hiding behind a desk. 

"Of course. The victims' identities are still being confirmed, but their daily work and living places should be nearby, not too far away. The time of death is tonight, and their bodies are still warm. They were probably being killed as you called me."

Old Drake licked his lips and looked around. "From the looks of it, there had to be some kind of event going on. Something then happened during the event, and it turned into a bloodbath. The only thing I don't understand is why Forest Park was sprayed with graffiti."

"Maybe the trial that ended the day before yesterday made those fanatics excited."

"Trial? Those people? What are you talking about?" Old Drake obviously did not pay much attention to current events – after all, he did not know how to use a smartphone.

Until now, he was still using the old flip phone, which looked like a product from the last century.

Justin kindly used his phone to search for the front-page headline of yesterday's edition of Wellings Magazine and then handed it to Drake.

Written in bold font on the front page was "Prosecution lost due to lack of evidence. Defendants acquitted, of another victory of the witch gathering."

"During the second trial, these strange yellow patterns also appeared. They were on the wall of Salavir's own bedroom. And this 'innocent' defendant said that the yellow patterns on his wall were only drawn when he was drunk."

"How do I download this magazine?" Drake said with a straight face.

Justin was obviously amused by the rambling old man. "Please, that phone of yours can only be scrapped or thrown into the evidence room. It doesn't have the ability to chat on the Internet."

"Don't worry, Old Drake always uses his own methods to turn something rotten into something magical. By the way, you missed a very crucial clue."

"What clue?"