23 What Lurks

"One!" Anton shouted as he disengaged the safety on his automatic pistol.

"Two!"

Anton was about to pull the trigger, but at that moment, a female voice from the bushes said, "Wait, don't shoot!"

Rafael was surprised, looked at Anton, and both silently came to a conclusion. "Fine, come out with your hands where we can see them."

Anton's eyes soon focused on a quite young girl; she seemed aware of her surroundings and showed no signs that would give them the possibility to think she was the culprit of these murders, at least not in that way.

Anton, who pointed his gun at her, diverted his attention to the girl's hip, where she herself had a weapon, so he reached a somewhat quick conclusion: that girl should be a detective. "I have two questions, but I hope you can answer one of them without even asking."

"I'm Detective Emma Karppi; who are you guys?" The girl named Emma pulled out her identification card. She thought the two men in front of her were detectives, so she didn't panic; after all, not everyone could have a weapon.

Rafael looked at Anton and, after sighing, took a fake identification from his pocket. "I'm Detective Rafael from the violent crimes unit. My partner, who is actually my superior, is Anton ShadowBane. We're on an undercover mission, so we can't act as real detectives until we catch the culprit in this murder case."

"Oh, do you really need to be undercover? That's very strange. What do you need something like that for?" Emma seemed naive, but her suspicions about the two men in front of her were really suspicious.

Anton could notice some doubt in Emma's face; he didn't want to increase her suspicions, so he pointed, "This is my identification; you can contact the central and ask anything about me."

"This is..." Emma was surprised to receive Anton's identification; she didn't want to refuse, so immediately after, she took out her cell phone and made a call.

Anton smiled seeing these movements from the young detective; she should have been transferred to this place from a very distant one to work as a detective.

"Is it okay to involve her?" Rafael asked, genuinely confused about why Anton would offer his identification to an unknown girl.

"There's nothing to worry about. It would increase the girl's doubts if, instead, we made her doubt our own words." Anton knew from the beginning that Emma is a very observant girl; he could see her doubts a moment ago, so he wanted to leave her with some doubts about it.

Emma, who was on the call, gave Anton's details; the next moment, she was impressed to learn that, in simple terms, she was talking to a chief detective of a private department—something she, in simple terms, shouldn't know—strictly told her to return immediately.

Ending the call, Emma smiled a bit and said, "It seems you're telling the truth. I'm sorry for my doubts. Have you discovered anything about this case that you can share?"

Anton looked at Emma expressionlessly and said, "That question should be the other way around, don't you think, Miss Emma Karppi?"

"This idiot..."

"Did she say something? Speak louder; she's still far from us," Anton said, becoming increasingly cheeky.

Emma smiled, but her smile became more forced, and she said, "Not at all. I wanted to see if I could find the son of a bitch who did all this in the middle of the night; at least that's what the forensic team said."

"Then you should try harder. What makes you think these crimes are committed by a man and not a woman?" Anton walked toward Emma and took back the identification she had returned.

Emma, staring at Anton, was surprised to find that he was too young and said, "A woman lacks strength, and even if her wit is better than a man's on average, cutting off a woman's head lacks not only intelligence but also common sense."

"Hmm, can you cut a watermelon in half?" Anton stared at Emma while studying her expression. She was quite attractive; Anton could appreciate her features more closely, and he was a bit impressed. With her reddish hair, blue eyes, and very fair skin, her serious expression deducted many attractiveness points. With that appearance, Anton thinks she's in the wrong profession.

Emma, hearing Anton's question, frowned, looked at his emotionless expression, and said, "I can cut more than a watermelon."

"Then imagine what someone with a weapon in their hands could do; a baby with a knife can stab an adult and kill them. Imagine what an adult with a big machete and proper ways could do, like cutting off someone's head." Anton sighed and, after saying nonsensical things, pointed, "Please go back and don't come to this place alone again... You should have a partner, so try to always be with him, especially in places like these."

Rafael, who was observing the surroundings, said, "Sir, we won't find anything here. Do you want to continue investigating the surroundings?"

Anton nodded and said, "We'll patrol this area until nightfall. We'll start from the south and finish in the north."

Watching the truck leave, Emma frowned and muttered, "What a damn idiot..."