Thompson shrugged off the immediate hostility shown by the young miss. He had seen worse, especially with his way of doing things. You can’t expect smile and welcoming arms all the time if you want to solve a crime. The only response he had done was snuffing out his cigarette using the tip of his zippo lighter. Some of its ashes fell down to the expensive carpet lining the floor.

“Pardon me, Miss Billionaire. I can’t calm myself without a smoke or two, especially when dealing with such tough case. True, I don’t have a warrant. Probably never will anyway. This is just a quick visit as a sign of my goodwill,”

Without waiting for approval, he put an envelope on her desk. It was mostly documents. Some were adorned with close-up photographs.

“It’s just a list of missing person in this area. Some were not just missing, but found dead. The manner of death, which is interesting, is that they were wrinkled so much as if their very life was sucked from their body. Scary, eh? I’m here to ask your assistance about these people. Surely someone as influential as you would be able to recognize one or two of these people. Now, I’m not suspecting you of anything, not at all, although your arrival to this city was coincidentally the same as when these cases started to pop up, but…”

Thompson’s words were cut off by Summerfield’s sudden entrance. His face was beet red from embarrassment. The sight of Lacey and Thompson confronting each other nearly made him faint. Not only his superior barged illegally into others’ place, it was the third richest person in the world’s to boot. He wanted to cry now; his career was finished at that instant.

“Excuse me, detective!” he pulled Thompson away as hard as he could. Strangely the senior detective didn’t struggle at all. “I’m sorry, Miss Dune! This is a mistake, a horrible mistake! I…”

“Enough, greenhorn,” Thompson stopped his frantic rambling with a chop to his head. “I’m done here. Let’s go.”

“Oh thank God! Err, I mean…okay, detective.”

The young detective rushed out with relief washing his entire body. It was too nerve-wracking for him. Yet Thompson remained behind, glancing toward Lacey before turning away completely.

“Oh yeah, I’m here to warn you. There is a killer on the loose. Someone had spotted a person, apparently a guy, killing a bunch of people with what they’ve identified as sword or some sharp weapon. Tell this to your employees. Don’t wander alone at night. We’re chasing this maniac right now. Stay safe. That is all.”