Chapter 176 Waiting For You to Come and Find Me Yourself
“How much I know depends on how much you are willing to admit. As for the outcome of the lawsuit… As you can see, I was just the officer on duty during the fire. I, too, had to quit my job and take on a new position,” Courtney made her words rather ambiguous as she looked at Mrs. Gideon.
It was obvious that Mrs. Gideon had been building up her resentment for some time now. As soon as she heard those words, she couldn’t help imagining the worst. Thus, she immediately came clean about everything.
It was true that Mr. Gideon liked to smoke. That was common knowledge among all those who knew him. Moreover, he couldn’t quit his cigarette addiction. Therefore, he deliberately damaged the fire suppression system at the storeroom behind the kitchen to prevent the smoke detector from alerting the police whenever he smoked. Naturally, he was very cautious too. He would bring the cigarette butts away with him after he finished smoking, every single time. So, there could not have been any residual fire from the cigarette butts to spark a fire.
Initially, the situation that day was no different from usual. The only exception was that Louie was also in the storeroom when he took his smoke break. Moreover, he discovered that Louie was deliberately trying to start a fire. As a result, they quarreled over it. A cigarette butt fell on a flammable object during their fight, and the situation ultimately got out of hand.
After the incident, Louie begged Mr. Gideon for forgiveness. Mr. Gideon became soft-hearted, so he decided to take responsibility for the incident, resign from his position, and return to his hometown.
The Gideon couple had always regarded Louie as their son, hoping that somebody would take care of them in their old age. However, many people in this world did not know the meaning of gratitude. After Louie became a permanent staff at the hotel, he seemed to be worried that his relationship with Mr. Gideon would cause him to also be held responsible for the incident. Hence, he made a call home which broke the hearts of the Gideon couple.
“That ungrateful little b*stard! He threatened Max by saying that he would reveal that Max was the one to damage the fire suppression system if Max dared to expose the truth about the incident. If that happens, wouldn’t we be forced to bear all the financial losses?!”
Courtney frowned deeply. If Louie’s character was so terrible, then it was not strange for him to deliberately start a fire if someone paid him generously enough. A scene immediately jumped to the forefront of her mind. It was something she saw when she came out of the fire—Mikayla among the crowd. After much deliberation, she is the biggest beneficiary of this incident that I can think of. Besides, only she has enough motivation to do it.
The next afternoon, Courtney flew back to Melrose City by plane. I have pretty much figured out the truth behind the fire. However, I don’t think it will be easy to find out who instigated the incident.
In the plane, an air stewardess was leading the passengers to their seats. “Are you Miss Hunter?”
The air stewardess’ sweet voice floated into Courtney’s ears, bringing her back from her musings outside the window. “Yes, I am.”
“Um, you see… We’ve upgraded you to business class.”
She was taken aback. “Why?”
“I don’t know the details either. But, this seat belongs to someone else now. Can you please follow me to your new seat?”
Feeling utterly confused, she followed behind the air stewardess to the business class section.
“Miss Hunter, this is your seat. Please call for me if you need anything.”
“Sure,” she answered. After getting into her seat, she turned back and saw a man whose face was being blocked by a newspaper. She was startled by the sight. “Mr. Lewis?!”
Casey’s face appeared from behind the newspaper. A pair of eyes that did not reveal his emotions easily were hidden behind his gold-rimmed glasses. “Miss Hunter, we meet again.”
His attitude indicated that everything was within his expectations. It unconsciously roused a sense of vigilance in her. “Were you the one who upgraded me to business class?”
He pushed his glasses up his nose. The unique temperament that only business elites had was vividly reflected in him—so much so that even the words he said were impeccable. “I just happened to hear that we were taking the same flight.
So, I decided to arrange for an upgrade for you. I hope it will make your journey slightly more comfortable. After all, I still owe you for the favor from before. If I wait for you to find me yourself… Well, let’s just say that it doesn’t seem very likely to happen.”
“There are no coincidences in this world.” She stared him straight in the eye without concealing her suspicions. Who will believe that Casey coincidentally learned that I am taking the same flight as him? What a poor explanation. It’s obvious that he’s not hiding his purpose.
“Whether it is a coincidence or an intentional act, it can still be considered a fated meeting, right?”
Putting on her seatbelt, she smiled faintly. “I have a fiancé, Mr. Lewis.”
Most men usually approached women with only one reason in mind. Besides, it was easy enough to tell at a glance. It all depended on how the women reacted to it.
He didn’t seem to be bothered by her statement. Smiling in a gentlemanly manner, he said, “Congratulations.”
The two of them did not communicate again after he said that.
Once the plane took off, Courtney quickly fell asleep. Casey put down his newspaper and turned sideways to look at her. Then, he did something unexpected—he took out his camera and snapped a selfie with the sleeping Courtney.
His assistant was separated from him by the aisle. He watched wide-eyed as the scene unfolded before him. It was a long time before he could get over what he saw—so much so that his eyeballs nearly fell to the ground in shock.
On the other hand, Casey acted like nothing strange had occurred. He even casually beckoned the air stewardess over and indicated for her to cover Courtney with a blanket.
Courtney was sleeping deeply. Thus, she was unaware of what had happened. It was a long while later before she learned about what impacts the photo would bring in the future. Even so, she still fell asleep despite knowing that Casey had ulterior motives for upgrading her to business class. This d*mn sleepiness!
At the headquarters of the Sunhill Enterprise, Josh placed a stack of documents in front of Alexander. He had conducted a thorough investigation of the fire per Alexander’s instructions and finally compiled the results of his investigation after a week of investigating.
“This incident has little to do with Mr. Gideon. It is hypothesized that he deliberately damaged the smoke detector system so that he could smoke. But, the fire in the storeroom was not caused by cigarette butts. Moreover, there were multiple locations where the fire started. The ground also revealed traces of a diesel fire. Somebody intentionally started the fire.”
Alexander stared at the surveillance footage in front of him. His gaze was gloomy. “Who did it?”
“It’s one of our staff.” Josh looked confident. “Mr. Gideon’s apprentice is involved in this somehow. But, there is somebody else behind him. A large amount of money was transferred into his bank account.”
“A competitor?”
“That was what I thought initially. But… I saw something suspicious in the surveillance footage.” As he spoke, he adjusted the surveillance footage to one night before the incident. A truckload of fresh ingredients was being unloaded at the back door of the hotel to be used the next morning.
“Here.” He paused the video and enlarged it. Then, he pointed at a man in a black jacket, who was unloading the goods. “I’ve seen this man before in the surveillance footage of the gate at Louis’ house located in Oreus.”
Alexander’s gaze deepened, revealing a chill in them. The man was wearing a baseball cap in the video, and a long scar running down the right side of his face could vaguely be seen. It gave one a negative impression. Alexander uttered only two simple words: “His identity?”
Josh understood the meaning behind those words and immediately answered, “I’ve investigated it. That man is known as Joe Stone, and his nickname is Scar Joe. He has a long list of criminal records for deliberately causing harm to others. He was released from prison half a year ago. At present, he is active in the black market and specializes in collecting debts.
A man who specializes in collecting debts… Why would he suddenly work as a laborer under a food supplier? It’s suspicious no matter how I think about it.
