Chapter 42: The Blue Enchantress
Excitement surged through me as I opened the Bluetooth and exported all the contacts and phone information from this phone. I then imported them into my new phone and deleted the export records.
The gallery on this phone was surprisingly clean, devoid of any pictures.
In WhatsApp, there were only a few friends, most with no chat history. There was one friend named “Blue Enchantress,” placed at the top of the list.
From the chat records, it seemed they contacted each other frequently. Strangely, the conversations only contained messages like “the usual place” or “I’ll be late,” suggesting they mostly arranged meeting times and places rather than engaging in chat.
I checked the meeting times, and they seemed to meet almost every week, though the timings were not very consistent.
Opening the profile of this friend revealed no information.
I took a snapshot of her profile picture and saved it to my phone. Enlarging the image, I saw a beautifully drawn blue Higanbana, captivatingly detailed and smooth in its lines.
Although it was challenging to determine the gender of this friend, I speculated that it must be a woman.
There was an active group in WhatsApp with an intriguing name, “Gathering of the New Aristocrats.”
This group stood out in the directory with over a thousand messages, indicating its high activity.
I initially thought it might be a group for newly promoted business owners in Newport, but upon reading the chat records, it seemed quite different. The conversations were a mishmash of various topics, often with vulgar humor and low-level interests, perfectly aligning with Robert’s preferences. I could easily imagine him being an active participant in this group.
There were over three hundred people in this group. Surprisingly, in the member directory, I found the Blue Enchantress, who turned out to be the group owner.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I took a quick snapshot of the member list.
The chat records were continuously piling up, but I lacked the patience to read through them. I glanced at a couple of messages and promptly exited.
I couldn’t help but sneer at the bunch of misfits!
I absentmindedly opened the text message records, only to be stunned by what I found. The messages were filled with icons from various banks, each representing a transaction.
Several transactions were significant amounts, and I couldn’t comprehend where the funds were being transferred. The receiving addresses were even in a foreign language, so I hurriedly took pictures of them.
It felt strange; why were there so many overseas banks involved?
Oddly, there were very few messages about funds being received. Most were transfer notifications, and looking at the timestamps, the funds were immediately transferred out after being received.
Could these be company transactions? It didn’t seem likely, as accounts from various banks were involved, and the remaining balances were consistently low, indicating these transactions were for the purpose of transferring funds.
His frequent and substantial outflows without corresponding inflows seemed highly irrational.
A sense of unease washed over me, and my heart raced. A foreboding feeling began to take hold.
I further examined other applications, but found nothing valuable. I hastily closed the phone and returned it to its original place.
I then meticulously searched the car once again, even checking under the car seats, but I still couldn’t find the documents Paul had given him. It seemed they weren’t in the car. Could he have taken them back to the study?
I quickly opened the car door and got off, then made my way back upstairs, heading straight for the study.
The desk had no new files on it.
I decided to look for his keys; I believed that if the documents were important to him, he would have locked them away.
The hidden compartment of the horse statue was empty, and the keys were nowhere to be found. I felt a pang of regret; during the power outage, I had been too careless and failed to check what was inside these drawers.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and carefully reviewed in my mind all the possible places where he might have put the keys.
To no avail.
Had he left them somewhere else? No, if he brought something back, it must be in the study, and the keys should be at home.
But I had searched everywhere. Where could the keys be?
A sudden flash of insight hit me. A large bunch of keys… No, maybe not a bunch..
I rushed to the desk, grabbed the pen holder, turned it upside down, and emptied its contents onto the table. With a clatter, a small golden key fell out.
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I picked up the key, walked around the desk, and headed to the second drawer on the right. I inserted the key, turned it, and the drawer opened.