Infinite Evolution: The Strongest Demon Hunter is a Vengeful Wraith?-Chapter 48—Demon hunt [8]

Noah’s question made Lin chuckle. Madeleine took a reluctant sip of her drink and watched silently as the two of them stared at each other.

"I don’t know if I have anything special for you," Lin said. "The story’s been dragged through the papers for the last three months, and the police haven’t said much recently."

Noah sighed, rolling his eyes. "It’s a tough case for sure, but I wanna hear your experience. What time did you spot Mrs. Gladis on your camera?"

"Well, some kids threw a party here, so I put up a camera for the night." Lin pointed at one of the palm trees. "Just there, it caught the entire party and some of the road. I left it out even after the party ended. At 11:03—"

"Exactly 11:03?" Noah cut in, eyebrows scrunched together.

"Yes, I’ve told the story a couple of times, so I always go with that time," Lin explained. "Anyway, Gladis passed the road looking like she was dragged out of bed. Barefoot, walking around like she was lost."

Noah nodded, eyes locked with Lin’s. The man rarely blinked and always maintained eye contact.

"You went to the police two weeks after seeing the news, right?" Noah put forward. "Did you feel afraid to come forward with the truth?"

"Oh, no," Lin clarified with a chuckle. "I just barely understood what I was holding onto, and I was busy trying to get back my beach umbrellas from one of the kids that had their party here."

Noah leaned back, scoffing. "It wasn’t dragged out, but I still remember how many news stations ran that footage. I still don’t understand why Gladis was never arrested. She killed her own kid, maybe even her husband."

Madeleine glanced sideways at him, eyes wide in disbelief, but she bit her tongue. Lin seemed even more uncomfortable with this than she was.

"Well, it was never confirmed what she was doing that night," Lin said nervously.

Noah pressed forward. "You don’t believe she did it?"

Lin was silent for a while, then he shook his head, eyes still locked with Noah’s. "I feel that it slowed down the investigation once the police became adamant that Gladis did it."

"But they did have evidence."

"Yes, like the dirt, but I don’t think that was damning enough," Lin insisted. He suddenly stopped, turning away.

Then he sighed. "They don’t understand the despair Gladis must feel. The guilt, pain, and fear. Losing her child not long after her husband, its—"

Noah stared into Lin’s eyes, and for a moment they seemed distant, alight with something strange.

"The pain would be maddening," Lin whispered.

"But not enough to kill herself," Noah threw back, ignoring Madeleine, who turned to face him. "Don’t you think it’s strange?"

Lin visibly swallowed, then let out a nervous chuckle. "There’s nothing we humans fear more than the end. We’ll do anything to avoid a conclusion."

Noah smiled slightly; it was an interesting sentiment. But ultimately a wrong one. When suffering became all you knew, death was an escape. A transition to something new and possibly better.

"I still think she did," Noah shrugged, reclining into his seat under Lin’s unrelenting gaze. "But why don’t you? That’s what I’m interested in. Why do you think she’s innocent?"

Lin’s smile faltered. "I told you already. I feel it blinded the police from seeking the truth."

"What truth? What else do you think happened? And why does it give you so much confidence that Gladis is innocent?"

It was a harmless question, but Noah felt it was the right one. What reasons did Lin have to believe the police were blindsided, especially if he didn’t know the extent of their evidence?

For the second time since they got here, Lin looked away from Noah, his eyes turned upward slightly for a brief moment.

"I just..." Lin started, waving his hand. "I saw the interview she did, pleading for the return of her daughter. The pain hollowed her out, it weighed so heavy on her spirit she just became a bystander in her own life. Seeing all that, I couldn’t even fathom the possibility."

"Yeah," Madeleine said suddenly, after almost an hour of not speaking. "It’s just not right."

Lin turned to her, a smile tugging at his lips. For a somber moment, he just stared at her while she picked at the table.

Noah’s voice cut through the silence. "But I do feel for Tammy. I wish the police would give some closure to the case."

Lin’s brow furrowed in confusion.

"Gladis’ daughter," Noah clarified.

"Oh, it’s been a while since I heard of the, um, case," Lin hurriedly said. "Yes, I do hope she’s found."

Noah turned to Madeleine with a smile. "Well, I think I know what I want to write for our next release. It was a pleasure speaking with you, but we must be on our way."

Lin shook hands with them both and watched them walk till they got in their car. Then he watched them drive away. Noah saw the man just standing there in the rearview mirror.

With a huff, he looked away. Madeleine was still silent, so he had to clear the air.

"You know all the things I said back there were just tests," Noah said candidly. "I wanted to gauge his reactions to something."

"Learn anything interesting?" Madeleine said, expressionlessly staring forward at the road.

He shrugged, tapping his thumb against the wheel, thinking quietly of everything that had happened.

A couple of minutes into their drive, Madeleine spoke again. "Hey, drop me off here. I have a meeting with my mentor. You go pick up your sister, we’ll meet up later to try something else."

Noah pulled over, but before unlocking the car, he paused. Madeleine glanced at him, frowning.

"What?"

Noah faced her, nervously asking, "Are you okay? I guess I’m supposed to ask, and I feel bad for making you angry."

Madeleine looked away. "I’m not angry with you. I’m more pissed with myself... and other things. Don’t worry, I’ll fix my attitude before we meet up again."

Noah stared blankly at her, slowly nodding. "No problem, see you later."

He opened the door and watched her walk down the street for a while. Then he checked his rearview mirror once again.

"How should I do this?" he muttered to himself before driving off.

Fara was very angry with him when he finally got back to the campus to pick her up.

She stood there, hands crossed, staring at him for a while before she entered the car.

"Where the hell were you?" Fara grumbled. "I texted you like an hour ago."

Noah forced a smile. "Just around, you know. I was a bit busy, sorry."

She sniffed the air slightly, then turned to him with a look of disbelief. "Sure."

I should have seen that one coming. I just never really noticed how Madeleine smelled.

Should I clear things up before Fara gets the wrong idea?

Meh, it doesn’t matter.

Fara’s voice cut through his thoughts. "How did you change so much overnight? It’s like I blinked and you grew up."

"... I’m older than you," Noah mumbled. Then he shook his head. "I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t change much. Maybe I’m just less scared now of expressing myself."

"That’s bullshit, you hide even more now." Fara scoffed. "You don’t even speak the same."

Frankly, he thought he was doing a good job impersonating the old Noah’s speech patterns. He just stopped second-guessing everything he wanted to say.

But maybe she was right. He did a lot more pretending these days, wearing a different face with each new person, pretending to understand them.

"I’m trying to act like a good person, I guess," he replied.

Fara wore a confused look. "You don’t think you’re a good person? Does it really matter if you’re not? ’Good person’ is another word for ’useful person’ in my book."

That’s kind of funny.

"Yeah... but our actions do change depending on who we’re interacting with," Noah shrugged. "Sometimes you want to seem like a better person than you are." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"I don’t think you’re pretending to be a good person," Fara clarified. "I just think something is off with you. Something you don’t want to speak about. Did something happen to you? There’s this distance in your eyes, like you’re not even here sometimes."

Noah grew silent, surprised by her accuracy. But it wasn’t the right time. "I’m okay, just a bit tired sometimes."