Chapter 101: Under the Silence of the Night (1)
Arriving at his house, Christian didn't find his sister at first. He thought she would be in her room, but apparently, she wasn't.
In the end, feeling a bit worried since it was already quite late, he called her.
Only after finding out that she was with her "female" friend and would be back soon did he finally feel like he could relax.
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Now finally heading to his room, Christian didn't bother changing into his comfortable indoor clothes; instead, he sat directly in his seat, facing the computer screen.
He had many things to do, many things to look over.
And because there were so many, he didn't start with the important ones right away; instead, he thought about tackling the less important matter first.
He thought about Clayton, the math teacher, and although his curiosity about what had happened to him wasn't particularly strong even now, he still wanted to know how his case had been handled in the end, especially since it was the one Eva had mentioned.
And he thought that she should have found some kind of clue from this case.
Without waiting any longer, he got straight to work and hacked into the police database. Since he was already familiar with their security system, had better skills, and didn't need access to much, given that Clayton was a trivial figure, it didn't take him long.
Opening the report on his case, Christian felt a strange sensation. It was just a long, normal report, unlike the other weird ones, which had more confidential details, and he became used to see.
But as he read the first and second charges he was accused of, he was astonished.
"Wow!"
And couldn't help but exclaim, as he finally understood why Eva had such a distaste in her tone when she said his name, and why, with her graceful lips, she used such a vulgar term as calling him trash.
At the time, he hadn't had the chance to care much, but now, seeing the charges, "Blackmail and Rape," it couldn't be more obvious.
"He was actually even more of a trash than I thought."
That was the conclusion Christian arrived at, and he couldn't help but start regretting what he had done.
He should have at least made sure he broke all his bones. Maybe killing him was out of the question, but he should have at least brought him to the brink of death.
It wasn't actually out of a sense of justice that he was thinking like this, but the rape charge still made him feel disgusted. Especially, considering how he had presented himself, that level of hypocrisy only made Christian want to punish him even more.
Someone like that, daring to even embellish his parents' image, was not accepted.
While, feeling a little irritated, Christian still continued reading. The other charges were just as he expected, and there was nothing more.
As for the victims, they were actually two female graduates from his school, but their names were not mentioned.
Shaking his head slightly, Christian decided to move on to the part that was more important to him. As while he felt sorry for the victims, at least they were free now, since he had revealed some of Clayton's crimes, leading to an investigation.
Christian read the report, searching for something related to him.
In the end, he didn't find anything directly related to him. It was clear, however, that the police had received help in their investigation, and the verdict Clayton faced was the harshest possible, so it had to be related to Eva.
He also tried searching for his name outside of this report, but he didn't find anything.
Looking at how things had turned out in the end, and knowing it would be difficult to find anything in the short term, he decided to leave things for the future.
"Hoo!"
Standing up and stretching, Christian looked at the wall clock. Seeing how late it was, nearing his usual bedtime, he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should really go through everything now.
But thinking how finding Eva's marital status couldn't be hard and wouldn't take much time made him realize it was impossible for him to sleep tonight without finding out.
So, sitting in front of his computer screen again, he resumed his work.
This time, it was the government's civil registry, as it was the fastest way to find out.
Finishing his hacking quickly, as it wasn't difficult, Christian finally searched for Eva's name.
But as he looked at the result in front of him, he felt joy start building inside him. At the same time, a complicated feeling grew, as he increasingly felt like everything he was looking at recently seemed off, somehow always not normal.
He found that she was single, at least officially, and that made him naturally happy, sighing in relief at the discovery. However, as he looked at the other details related to her, he noticed the confidentiality level was also present here, adding to his unease.
In the end, he couldn't help but frown.
It wasn't a problem of accessing information about her, for he had access to everything now. The problem was that Eva hadn't been registered as an American citizen until she was eighteen, along with her daughter, Olivia.
Information about her family? There was nothing.
Information about Olivia's father? There was also nothing.
Their information couldn't be more blank, as they were seemingly not registered in the system altogether, which also meant that he couldn't find anything more about her, which had made him frown.
He felt like they had come out of thin air somehow.
There was just her current residence, which now seemed to be in Harrisburg since she had given birth to Olivia, and her age, which was thirty-six.
He didn't find anything useful other than these two details.
"Could I even say these two details were useful? After all, even Eva wouldn't hide them," Christian thought, as he wasn't sure if he should be satisfied with the information he had for now and continue looking tomorrow, or try searching for more right away.
Feeling a headache as things started to get more complicated, Christian considered his other options if he decided to continue.
And he actually remembered that she was very wealthy.
This kind of wealth should at least be connected to her family, right?
Is what he thought, as he decided to give things another try.
A last one for today!
But since there were many authorities responsible for these kinds of things, he decided to look for a more generalized one for now, and finally started his work again, thinking that while it might not have everything, there should still be something, at least some clue.
Once again, he was proved wrong, and Christian couldn't help but exclaim internally as he looked at the information in front of him.
All the wealth Eva had was actually something she earned herself. She started a business shortly after arriving in Harrisburg, developing it until it became what it was now.
"She's really a genius," he thought, his admiration for her growing.
But as he looked further, the nagging question was: where did the initial sum she started her business with come from? However, in the end he didn't find anything.
Christian felt a little helpless, his mind filled with all kind of theories because of what he had found. But he decided to delay his judgment for later, knowing that things would require much more digging and effort before he could get the whole picture.
Finally, looking at the hour again, he saw that it was 2 AM, long past the time he was supposed to sleep.
He felt like time had flown by, as he hadn't noticed it passing, and while things seemed easy, they actually still took some time. So, he decided to look into things more tomorrow.
As looking at the current situation, he knew he was in for a long ride.
So, he finally stood up, changed his clothes, and went to bed, with the window open to let some air in, and lying under a very thin blanket since it was pretty warm.
Like always, lying in bed, many thoughts occurred to him, especially today, with everything that had happened, like the things involving Eva and what he had discovered about her.
And even though it was already late and he was a little tired, it still took some time for him to fall asleep.
With the sound of the keyboard ticking fading away, the room was enveloped in silence. The wall clock being digital only added to the silence, as Christian didn't like the ticking noise at night when everything else was so still. Unlike some people who found it relaxing, he was not one of them.
Fwoosh.
Huff.
The room was filled with the sound of Christian's breathing, the soft sound of exhaling and inhaling, still a little irregular as he had just drifted to sleep.
Thud.
But suddenly, in this tranquil atmosphere, another sound mixed in, a faint noise of something hitting the floor.