A Shocking Confession

"What are you doing here?"

When Cannon opened the door, his expression was exactly as Jorgen and Elin had expected, full of surprise and anger rarely seen. If it were anywhere else, he would not face the two of them like this. Only at home was an exception.

"Investigation." Jorgen said. "What else did you think it could be?"

"But this is my home!"

"Yes, your beautiful big house with a garden. No, I should say your father's. Anyway, we're looking for your father, not you. Are you ready to get out of the door now?" Elin pushed Cannon in the chest, "Forget it, we'll do it ourselves."

"You can't just come in like this, your shoe soles are dirty as hell... Also, my father is resting. You can't disturb him."

"Are there any guests? Who is it?" A hoarse, aged voice suddenly came from the inner room. "Whoever it is, I need to see them."

"It looks like our senior ex-chief of security is feeling very well," Elin said. "Master Cannon, you might as well go find your maid to play. In any case, please do not disturb us."

"Cannon." The old man's voice again. "I need to talk to the guests. Let them in."

"Do not disturb us." Jorgen said to Cannon, then entered the inner room with Elin.

The spacious room was filled with the smell of medicine. Although there were several large windows, the lighting was still very poor; the dim light shone in parallel lines on the bed, revealing the figure of an old man. "Jorgen, Elin," the old man stretched out his shaking right hand from under the quilt, "come here, sit down."

He was the former chief security officer of the human area of Auberdine, Cannon's father, Moshay Modertane. Although his son was only in his twenties, he had already passed his eightieth birthday. It was he who recommended Dores to Jorgen and Elin as an informant. Retired for many years now, he still retained the identity of a landowner in the southwestern region of Auberdine, but compared to the southern region controlled by Jacobson, the southwestern region was in ruins.

"How are you feeling?" Jorgen said.

"I won't die yet." It was not easy for Moshay to speak. Although he had spent a lot of money on treatment, his body was deteriorating day by day. Cannon inherited his estate and became the owner of the southwestern region, it was only a matter of time.

"You may not know what happened recently..."

"No, I know, I know." Moshay pointed to his earlobes. "I can still hear. Dores died. Causing you trouble?"

"That's why we came to see you today." Jorgen said. "We need to know this man's history. When you retired, you introduced him to us as an informant, but until now, we still don't know enough about him."

Moshay exhaled as if sleepy, but immediately opened his mouth with effort and said: "At that time, I didn't think I needed to tell you too much. To be honest, I thought you two were just greenhorns from Stormwind City - look how ignorant I was?"

"It's nothing." Jorgen said. "As people from Military Intelligence Section 7, no matter where we go, we will never fantasize about being welcomed with applause and a red carpet. I fully understand."

Moshay laughed dryly twice, sounding like a saw was rubbing back and forth under his tongue.

"Would you like some water? I can pour you a glass of water." Elin said.

"It sounds like this is your bedroom, not mine." Moshay said. "Elin, I've always hated the way you speak. You're an annoying little bastard."

"Well, it looks like you won't hate me for long."

Moshay laughed unpleasantly a few more times, then said, "Yes, that's right. I'm dying. When you're about to die, you'll speak differently too... Do you think my useless son can inherit everything I have?"

"I don't know, Moshay."

"No one knows. Some things I'm taking to my grave. But Dores's past doesn't belong to me, so if you need it, I'll give it to you."

"Very good." Jorgen said. "In fact, what has always puzzled me is the reason why he was determined to turn from a Twilight Cultist into an informant. You know, people who believe in this kind of thing and then get converted, there is only one in ten thousand. Without any strong stimulation..."

"He killed his own children." Moshay said.

"He what..."

"He killed his own children, a son and a daughter, just like that. The sister was fifteen years old, the brother was six years old. At that large Twilight Cult gathEling fifteen years ago...to express his piety, he had the cultists tie the brother and sister to a pile of firewood and light a fire. Nothing strange. Publicly killing relatives has always been the best way for the Twilight Cult to establish prestige among believers. To express their feelings in this way has been forbidden to humans."

"What about his wife?"

"She left home after finding out that her husband was a Twilight Cultist. Before that rally."

Jorgen and Elin were silent for a moment.

"What? Will you be shocked too? Or don't believe that someone cruel enough to kill his own family will turn back?" Let me tell you Dores's own words. He said that the moment he saw his children tied up, looking into the children's eyes, he regretted it immediately. But it was too late. He couldn't stop the fire from being lit - then I arrived on the scene with my men. All I remember is seeing the raging flames and the Twilight Cultists fleeing in all directions. It was a terrible night."

"A son and a daughter? Did they both die?"

"Oh, unrecognizable charred corpses we found a lot. And children's too. But that night, obviously Dores's children were not the only victims. I've never seen such a terrible fire in my life."

"He claimed that he started regretting it at that moment, and you just believed his words?" Elin said.

"That doesn't matter. What I care about is what he could do for me. As an informant, he was very dedicated, and I believe you know that better than me. In this regard, I can believe his words."

Jorgen had to admit that Moshay was right. Dores's remorse for his Twilight Cult identity was undoubted.

A thought prompted him to ask the following question.

"Did he have any mementos of his children, like...belongings of his children?"

"What kind of question is this? ... No, I don't know. When your children are all dead, perhaps everything in the world is a memento..."

"For example," Jorgen said, "a necklace. A necklace with a ruby ​​pendant."

"A ruby necklace? Come to think of it, I remember him mentioning a necklace or something...but I can't be sure. Many unimportant memories have long died from my mind. Did you get any evidence? ... Forget it, I shouldn't ask these questions. I don't want to take an unsolved case to my grave."

"Well, I hope you can remember again." Jorgen said. "Fifteen years ago at that rally. As far as I know, your arrest operation was a complete failure, and most of the Twilight Cultists escaped."

"That was my mistake. But..."

"Okay. I came to see you today, actually to discuss two things. The first thing is about Dores. Now I want to talk about the second thing."

"Is there a problem...?"

"Fifteen years ago, that was the main stage of human expansion into Auberdine. The population gradually increased, and it was impossible to continue living with the night elves. Humans urgently needed their own place of residence. If necessary, they would spend a lot of money to buy land from Sandis Windweaver. In the end, two people bought land from him, one was Jacobson, he bought what is now the southern region; one was you, you bought what is now the southwestern region. "

"I don't know what you mean, these are not secrets, Jorgen. We legally bought the land and legally rented it out to other humans."

"The buying and selling were of course legal, in black and white. I have seen all the documents from that time. It's just that - you got insider information about that big rally in advance, so you organized the arrest operation, right?"

"So what?"

"I have checked all the relevant archives." Jorgen said. "What a terrible operation, Moshay. Although detailed information was obtained three days in advance, it was not until fifteen minutes before the start of the rally that people were hastily assembled. In the end, only a dozen or so Twilight Cultists were arrested. You let over four hundred people escape."

"Perhaps the biggest mistake of my life was..."

Jorgen interrupted Moshay. "From my later cooperation with you, this doesn't seem like a mistake you would make. Over four hundred hidden Twilight Cultists in Auberdine, holding a rally that leaked information, but they all swaggered away unscathed. After this happened, you and Jacobson bought land from Sandis - at a very low price. I'm sure Sandis was very unhappy, but he couldn't help it. Who made his land full of Twilight Cultists? If they had been lurking, it would have been fine - if they had been caught, it would have been fine too - but it was proved that they existed, but they were not caught one by one. If I were him, I would be very frustrated too."

"Although the outcome for you and Jacobson was quite different." Elin said. "He managed well, now rich as oil! Even some Stormwind nobles come to his southern region for vacation. As for your southwestern region, open the window, look outside. And smell that smell, tsk."

"Do you intend to take this to your grave? Deliberately messing up the operation to get a piece of land at a low price. The Twilight Cultists usually try to dress up as ordinary people as much as possible, so they won't refuse to rent your territory either. They pay you rent, but in terms of survival, you are their food and shelter. "

"You two...why are you saying this...humiliating me?" Moshay tried to sit up from the bed, but it was difficult.

"Hey, hey, be careful, don't knock over the cup." Elin said. "Didn't you say you didn't want to take the case to your grave? Then we can report this discovery now. You'd better live longer to deal with endless investigations and evidence collection. If you're already dead by then - they'll really dig up your tombstone."

Moshay wanted to say something else, but coughed violently instead. Cannon rushed in, shouting loudly "Father, what's wrong with you", and saw Moshay spit out a thread of pus and blood. He pushed Jorgen and Elin frantically, shouting, "Get out! Get out of my house! Stay away from my father!"

Once outside the door, Elin's right elbow rested on Jorgen's shoulder, and he laughed loudly: "God, this is so satisfying. Do you think we went a little too far? No, definitely not. I've been wanting to explain things clearly with that hypocritical old man for a long time. We must drink to celebrate today!"

"At least we clarified it to him after getting information from Dores." Jorgen said. "What do you think of what he said?"

"Dores killing his children...guess what I'm thinking, Jorgen." Elin paused for a moment, suppressing his smile and said. "Is there a possibility like this: his children, or one of them, did not actually die? This sounds very absurd, but..."

"To make this assumption, what is the connection with the current case, you have to explain that."

"Okay. First, according to what Moshay said, Dores's children were indeed tied to the pile of firewood. Then the fire was lit, and the security team came, and there was a big chaos. If someone survived from such a big fire, they might have burns, right? Let's assume that this burned person did not survive as Dores's son - maybe he went into an orphanage or something. Out of remorse, Dores has been anonymously providing financial assistance to his son. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

"Of course."