Chapter 380 Declaration of Death
‘Julian, you have to tell me the truth. Jason wants to go to the hospital to see Old Mr. Burton, but I stopped him. He can’t show his face unless he really has to.’
Looking at the texts from Sue, Julian was about to reply when a hand held him on the shoulder. Janice’s voice sounded from beside him. “Don’t reply.”
A moment later, the office phone suddenly rang.
Janice glanced at it and motioned to her subordinates to pick it up. A female staff member next to her immediately pressed the answer button. “Hello, this is Tran-Q, Director Peters’ office.”
The phone was on speaker, and Sue’s anxious voice came from the other end. “I need to talk to Dr. Peters, please. I’m his mother and I have some urgent business with him.”
“Ma’am, Dr. Peters is currently in an operation, so he can’t come to the phone at the moment.”
“Operation? May I know what kind of operation it is?”
“It’s an emergency operation for a patient with cerebral infarction. After Dr. Peters is done, I will immediately tell him that you have called.”
The other end was silent for a long time before she hung up.
As soon as the call ended, the female staff looked at Janice. “Officer Hawkins.”
Janice nodded slightly, and dropped her hand from Julian’s shoulder. “You are in an operation now, so you can’t return your mother’s call.”
“I understand.” Julian breathed in deeply before he slowly said, “Janice, can I ask you for a favor?”
“Go ahead.”
“Once everything is over, please don’t tell Rachel about him and my mother. I don’t want too many people to know.”
“I understand. We’ll keep it strictly confidential.” Janice agreed, “Thank you for telling us about this. It will be really helpful for our search operation.”
Before that, Robin was the only person that the investigation bureau could confirm was able to contact Jason, but even he could not pinpoint Jason’s location accurately. Julian cooperated with her actively and let her know the relationship between Sue and Jason, which made things much easier.
Janice said into the intercom, “Everyone, be on high alert. Focus on monitoring the hospital and all surrounding networks. We will capture Jason tonight.”
In the middle of the night, darkness completely enveloped Riverdale, but Rachel was still in the office and hadn’t left. She stood in front of the window and looked out quietly. Once she felt that the time was almost up, she took her car keys and went downstairs. With a roar of the engine, she drove onto the streets and toward the direction of the hospital.
As it was autumn, the night wind was strong, blowing the fallen leaves wildly. Right after she had parked her car, a familiar voice suddenly sounded.
“President Hudson?”
Rachel jolted in surprise and looked back, only to see Frankie. Immediately afterward, she saw Justin who had just got out of the car. Why did he come back?
When he saw Rachel, Justin was taken aback as well, his expression turning astonished.
“Weren’t you away on a business trip? Is everything settled?” Rachel blurted.
Frankie replied, “Of course not. We still have to continue negotiations early tomorrow morning, but we suddenly got a notice of critical illness from the hospital, so President Burton rushed back. President Hudson, you’re also here because of this, right? See, President Burton? I told you that she’s also concerned about Old Mr. Burton’s illness.”
Justin’s expression was tense right now, and he wasted no time talking. “We can talk about this later. I have to go to the hospital first.”
“Wait—” Rachel couldn’t stop him, and she watched as his figure rushed past her hurriedly.
Frankie hurriedly said, “President Hudson, please forgive President Burton. He was raised by Old Mr. Burton, so he feels the same as you do to your grandmother. He had been in pain for a long time when Old Mr. Burton fell ill, and he hasn’t been well recently. He just had to see Old Mr. Burton one last time… Anyway, I’ll be taking my leave now.”
Saying that, Frankie hurriedly caught up with Justin’s figure, leaving Rachel standing alone. Her hands that were dangling by her sides tightened slightly as her mind was inundated with mixed feelings.
She wanted to hold Justin back and tell him the truth, but it was too late to say anything now. After the night ended and all the dust settled, what would happen when Justin found out the truth? Rachel pinched her palm fiercely.
As soon as Justin arrived at the hospital, he ran in the direction of the operating room. His tall figure was particularly eye-catching in the hospital’s hallway. Time did not wait for anyone, and four hours had already passed since the notice of critical illness had been sent out. Just as he was about to reach the operating room, he was suddenly stopped by several men.
“What are you all doing?”
“You can’t go over there.”
The two men were wearing headsets on their ears.
Before Justin could react, he suddenly heard a shout from a distance. “At the stairway! Stop him!”
Suddenly, the two men who were blocking Justin let go of him, and turned around to block the stairwell next to him. They tackled a figure running out, pressing the person to the ground. The man struggled in their grasp, but when he saw Justin, his pupils suddenly shrank and his movements stopped.
Half of his face was pressed against the ground, but the moment his face mask was torn off, half of his wrinkled face was exposed. He glared at Justin with bloodshot eyes and gritted his teeth, blood splattering out as he spoke. “Was it you who set me up?”
Justin’s expression changed. “Jason?”
One of the men holding Jason glanced at Justin in surprise, then took out his walkie-talkie and said, “Boss, we’ve caught him.”
As Jason was handcuffed and dragged up, he was furious and wanted to rush up to Justin when he looked at him. “What the hell happened to the old man? You b*stard!”
“Stop moving!”
“Officer Hawkins.”
At that moment, Janice rushed over, followed by Julian.
Janice glanced at Jason and showed her ID. “Jason Burton, you are suspected of smuggling drugs, so we need you to come with us and cooperate with the investigation.”
Jason gave Julian a death stare, and his clenched fists made a cracking sound. “Even you had a part in this?”
Julian stared at him coldly, not saying a word.
“Great, how great.” Jason scoffed coldly, his gaze stormy. “You better keep this in mind: some things just can’t be changed.”
Julian’s expression stiffened, and his hands that were dangling by his sides slowly clenched into fists.
“Take him away.” As Justin was present, Janice knew what Julian was worried about and immediately asked the men to take Jason away.
However, Jason didn’t seem to have any intention of talking much and only asked before leaving, “Where is my dad?”
Hearing that, Justin came back to his senses all at once and echoed, “Where is my grandfather?”
Since it was a setup by the investigation bureau for Jason, Arthur should be fine.
However, Janice’s brows furrowed and she glanced at Julian.
Dressed in a white coat, Julian had the calmness of a doctor as he announced, “Two days ago in the afternoon, Arthur Burton died of cerebral infarction at the age of 82. The time of death was 18:00 sharp on the 21st.”
Justin’s face immediately paled in disbelief.
“What did you say?”
Jason was about to rush up again, but he was held down by the investigation bureau’s officers who were dressed in civilian clothes and directly marched into the police car.
After the people in the hallway gradually dispersed, a flurry of footsteps came from the stairwell. Rachel had arrived just in time to hear Julian announce the time of Arthur’s death.
With Julian in between them, she and Justin met eyes. Although he didn’t say anything, she saw a wretched pain in Justin’s eyes that was like a whirlpool, fiercely pulling people into it. Yes, she had already known two days ago in the afternoon that Arthur had a cerebral infarction and needed to see Justin one last time, but she chose to be silent.
