Chapter 27: Photographs

Water dripped from the tip of his hair and streamed down on his torso as he stepped out of the shower. Neil Mo grabbed the towel from the rack on the rack and wrapped his lower half with the towel and stepped out of the bathroom.

He went over to the wardrobe and picked up lazy pants and a t-shirt.

Just in time, his phone on the bedside table started to ring.

Neil walked over to the bed and glanced at the screen. A light flashed in his eyes as he saw the name on the caller ID. He combed his wet hair with a hand and reached to pick up the phone.

"Neil Mo speaking."

"Open up," Henry Wu's voice could be heard from the other line. "I'm at your door."

Neil pulled his phone away and stared at it for a few seconds before he pressed it back to his ear. "Are you drunk?"

Henry Wu scoffed at the other line. "No. I'm very sober. Didn't I tell you that I'm coming over?"

"Then, why didn't you press the doorbell?"

He was very sure that his doorbell was fully functioning, but he had not heard any sound even after he had left the bathroom a few minutes ago.

"You live with your niece now. It's late and I did not want to accidentally wake her from sleep." Henry said. "My sister would have this murderous look on her face whenever the delivery guy showed up at her doorstep and pressed the doorbell when her kids are asleep."

An image of Henry's elder sister appeared on his mind and Neil tried not to shudder. He seemed to remember that Henry's sister could turn into a lioness whenever she was angry.

With a sigh, Neil walked over to the door. He pressed at a button and soon, an image of his friend dressed in his usual black pants and black shirt appeared on the small screen. Then, he pressed the other button and spoke through the intercom, "Come in. The door's unlocked."

Neil walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. When he turned around, his friend stood in front of him. His face was slightly haggard and there was an obvious black rim under his eyes.

Henry Wu examined his surroundings and raised a brow to his friend. "You still haven't employed any helpers?"

"I don't need too many people around when I'm here," Neil replied lazily.

"Where's that kid?"

"Sleeping," Neil answered. "You want anything to drink?"

Henry sat down on the kitchen bar stool and heaved a sigh. "Just water. I still need to head over to the office later."

Neil turned around to pick up a clean glass and took out the bottle from the refrigerator. Once the glass was full, Neil slid it across the counter and the glass stopped right before his friend. "You're more workaholic than I am."

"This is what happened when you're in this line of business. Non-fixed working hours." Henry took a sip and shrugged.

Neil leaned on the walls behind him and crossed his arms on his chest. "Why are you here?"

Henry drained the water from the glass and shrugged off the backpack from his shoulder. He unzipped the bag and took out a large brown envelope. Then, he slid it on the marbled table and stopped just at the edge of it. A sigh of relief escaped him upon seeing that the envelope did not drop to the floor.

"What is that?" Neil raised a brow.

"You should look at it yourself."

Neil Mo groaned in dissatisfaction, but he stepped forward to pick up the envelope. Once he had scattered the contents on the marbled table, a deep frown appeared on his face and his heartbeat escalated.

Reports and black and white photographs were displayed.

Neil picked up one of the photographs and recognized the man on it. It was his brother, Adam Mo, and a woman in a restaurant.

"I know you said to drop the investigation for a while," Henry spoke cautiously as he watched his friend's expression. "But I found a few footages of your brother and this woman having a meal at a restaurant by coincidence."

"Coincidence?" He looked up and met Henry's gaze. "What do you mean?"

"My company provided our service to Lobster Palace, a restaurant in the neighboring A City," Henry said. "Two days ago there was some trouble at the restaurant. They asked me to come and look at their system. Somehow, my guy clicked at some random past footage from three months ago and I saw this."

Three months ago.

Neil Mo repeated the words in his mind a few times as he continued to stare at the photograph. His gaze moved towards the woman in the photograph. A thought crossed his mind and Neil quickly dismissed it.

His brother, Adam Mo, loved this wife dearly. They were a childhood sweetheart and his brother had never strayed once he was committed to his wife.

But why was Adam having a meal with this woman?

Neil picked up another photo, and another. There were a few of them. His gaze paused for a few seconds on each photo as he studied everything.

In one of the photograph was a photo of his brother and his younger sister-in-law with that same woman. Looking at their expression in each photograph, he knew that the pictures were not evidence of brother acting stupid.

But, judging from the way they were dressed differently in each photograph, Neil Mo could summarized that the woman frequently met with his brother.

"You should know what kind of place is Lobster Palace," Henry continued. "It's a high-end restaurant where they regards their customer's privacy the most important. If my company was not in business with them, there's no way we could find these footage. Once I saw that first photograph, I looked at whatever recording that they still kept in their archives and found the others. Those pictures were taken from three to six months ago."

Neil went back to the first photograph. He took a closer look at the woman and felt his heart beat furiously.

This woman… Why did he felt like he had seen her before?

"Who is she?" Neil Mo spoke after a long silence.

"Jennifer Jiang. A prosecutor."

Neil Mo narrowed his eyes at the introduction. "Why is my brother meeting with a prosecutor? What is this all about? Why haven't he said anything to me?"

Henry shook his head. "I don't know why your brother met that prosecutor. But I can tell you that she usually involved in corporate crimes."

Something flashed in Neil's eyes as he recalled how his brother meeting with Manager Wang from accounting.

A whistle blower... A prosecutor... Could they be related?

"Do you know how long they have been meeting?"

"The earliest footage we have was from six months ago." Henry said. "But they probably met earlier than that."

Neil Mo shoved the photograph back into the brown envelop. "Can you find this prosecutor for me?"

"Already made my move without your instruction." Henry stared at him with a serious expression. "But the prosecutor has been missing for weeks. According to co-workers, she stopped showing up to work without any notices and her family believe that she was on a holiday in Paris. But none of them had contacted her yet." Henry said. "I have sent my men to investigate. I will tell you if there's any news."