Chapter 19: Where the Trail Ends

When David heard Phil mention Olivia, he cursed inwardly, 'Fuck! Don't tell me she's gone missing too?' Before, he had thought that only people he went out with would go missing. But as it turned out, the person behind the disappearances would kidnap any woman he came close to.

David still couldn't understand the motive of the person behind it; why were they targeting him? Instead of directly facing him, why were they going after all the women around him? But the more questions he asked, the more questions arose instead of answers.

He looked at Phil, who seemed to be very affected by the disappearance of Olivia, and couldn't help but think, 'This bastard is unstable….'

David looked into his eyes and solemnly replied, "I've done nothing to her. Detective Greyson, you must believe me. I'm being framed."

"LIES!" Phil roared as he stepped closer to David. "Less than a week after we met you, she went missing. Are you telling me it's just a fucking coincidence?"

"Do you really think I'm so stupid as to kidnap her right after we met for the first time? That would just make me a target. Detective, think about—" David began.

"Shut your fucking mouth," Phil's eyes turned bloodshot as the hand holding his gun began trembling. "That's exactly what you'd have me believe. Tell me, where is she!?"

David heaved a heavy sigh. He looked at Phil and coldly muttered, "So no matter what I say, you won't believe me, eh?"

"WHERE IS SHE!?" Phil roared, almost pressing the trigger.

Earlier, even he had thought that someone was trying to frame the kid. But Olivia always thought that was exactly David's plan. In her words, the kid was playing a double bluff.

Everything would be laid open and obvious at first glance, pointing to the kid. However, a smart person would assume that was just what the real perpetrator wanted: to remove suspicion from himself and frame an innocent—in this case, David.

However, after Olivia had gone missing, Phil began thinking that perhaps her speculations might have been true. Perhaps David was indeed playing a double bluff. Another reason he believed that was because Olivia was very close to him and he wanted to find her immediately.

Olivia was the daughter of his former partner, who had died in the line of duty. Phil had practically raised her since she was young and treated her like his own daughter. Thus, when she suddenly disappeared, he completely lost it.

Seeing that the detective wouldn't listen to reason, David's heart turned cold. He slowly raised his hand and pointed his finger at the center of his eyebrows. "Here, point your gun here and pull the trigger."

Phil was taken aback and the shaking of his hand grew worse. He gnashed his teeth and growled, "B-Bastard, don't play games with me."

David slowly walked toward him, his finger still pointed at his forehead. "Pointing your gun at someone means you're prepared to kill. And if you're prepared to kill, you must also be prepared to die."

Phil felt cold sweat dripping down his spine as he shivered in fear. Once again, he was feeling a terrifying aura emanating from David. The closer the youth came to him, the bigger he appeared in his vision. Phil felt like he was looking straight at a giant.

He screamed, "S-Stop right there, or I'll fucking k-kill you!" He was growing truly frightened of the kid's bloodthirsty aura.

David continued his slow walk, one step after another, and coldly muttered, "Do it! Pull the trigger!"

Overcome by terror and panic, Phil couldn't take it anymore. He closed his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs, "FUCKING DIE!!"

Then he pulled the trigger.

BANG!

But right before he pulled the trigger, David had already dashed toward him at his fastest speed. He crouched down and executed a textbook-perfect double-leg takedown on the detective, which changed the bullet's trajectory.

The bullet brushed past the top of David's head. The next moment, he slipped his hands inside the collar of the detective's shirt and executed a cross-collar choke, cutting off the blood supply to Phil's brain.

He had to control his strength in order to not kill the detective, so a jiujutsu blood choke was safer. Thus, the result was Phil passing out soon after the chokehold was applied.

David wasn't stupid enough to outright kill a cop. If there was something that was even worse than involving innocent bystanders in the mafia's business, that would be killing cops. The higher-ups of the family had strictly warned everyone to never kill a cop in cold blood.

Phil didn't know what had just transpired, as everything had happened all too quickly. One moment he had been pulling the trigger, aiming to kill David. But the next, he felt his scalp tingling and his vision narrowing to a point, like he was looking at the world through a very long tunnel.

Just as he was on the verge of passing out, David coldly looked at him and muttered, "Idiot."

That was the last thing he heard before he fainted. After looking around the alley to make sure there weren't any witnesses around, he dumped the detective in the trunk of his own car and drove off.

The gunshot would definitely have alarmed the nearby people and the police were very likely to already be on their way. And David didn't have time to deal with all that right now, so he would first head to a secluded place by the Hudson River and talk it out with the detective.

…...

Phil opened his groggy eyes and caressed his neck. As his vision focused, he found that he was lying in the trunk of a car. He looked around and saw that a boy wearing a black suit was sitting on the railing by the river drinking a bottle of beer.

Soon, the memory of what had transpired came to his mind and his eyes widened. He quickly got out of the trunk and approached the boy, who was none other than David. He couldn't believe that he had actually tried to kill the kid.

In his state of anger, he had actually pulled the trigger. But what was even more unbelievable was that David had dodged the bullet—that was simply inhuman! He walked over and stood right beside the kid, then asked in shock, "W-What the hell just happened!?"

David looked at him and mocked, "An unstable detective tried to kill a juvenile, kekk."

Phil's lips twitched and he felt guilty about his actions. He hadn't wanted to kill the boy in the first place. It was just that he'd been severely frightened by David's murderous aura and had ended up pulling the trigger in a panic.

"No, how'd you dodge the bullet!?" he asked, dumbfounded.

David chugged the remainder of his beer and threw the empty bottle into the river. "That isn't what's important." He looked into Phil's eyes and solemnly continued, "Detective, I'm really not the one behind all the disappearances."

Phil looked into David's brown eyes, which didn't waver even one bit for a long time, his intuition telling him that the kid was indeed telling the truth. In the end, he sighed and rubbed his temple. "I don't know what to believe anymore."

He looked at the setting sun on the horizon and his eyes moistened as he thought of Olivia. "I'm so…lost."

David remained silent. A few moments later he asked, "How about we work together? That way you can find Olivia, along with the rest of the girls, and I can find the bastard that's after me. How about it?"

Phil's lips quivered. "What if… what if Olivia's… dead?"

"And what if she isn't?" David instantly replied.

Phil looked at him and thought for a few moments. In the end, he nodded and stretched his hand for a handshake. David shook his hand and faintly smiled. "Thanks for trusting me."

Thus began a peculiar partnership between a criminal and a cop.

…...

A week later, after having completed most of his investigation regarding the mysterious group that, according to David's speculations, had used magic in their fight in the alley, he'd finally crossed out most of the places their trail could have ended.

Now only one remained, and David was sure that this place would definitely lead him to gather more clues about the mysterious party. He found himself a few blocks away from Central Park, standing right across from a skyscraper of more than fifty stories.

He looked at the sign above the entrance of the building and muttered, "Cosmopolitan…."

[Countdown: 285 days…]