Chapter 129: The Last One
Chapter 129: Chapter 129: The Last One
Dennis Donovan had just finished speaking when Chester Donovan immediately plastered a smile on his face and stood up. "We’re all family here, and this is an emergency, so I’ll skip the pleasantries. After Beatrice attended your birthday party, she immediately canceled her leave, returned to the bureau, and shared everything you told her with her colleagues."
"After that, we launched an emergency investigation into all the major shopping centers in Brynn. The problem is, there are quite a few qualifying centers in the city, and we have very little information to go on. After a week of hard work, we’ve narrowed it down to nine possible locations. That’s why I wanted to come in person, to ask this child to take a look for me. Perhaps she can provide some more specific information to help us confirm the exact mall."
Arabella Donovan was a little surprised to hear him say this.
’Wait, you just believed a story this huge? Aren’t you afraid I’m just some charlatan?’
Arabella Donovan’s expression was incredibly easy to read. Even though Chester Donovan couldn’t hear her thoughts, he could still tell what was on her mind.
"You don’t have to be nervous. I don’t mean anything by it. In our line of work, we meet all sorts of people. We know there are many gifted individuals with real abilities in this world. We don’t hold any prejudice against people like you, and we know who to believe and who not to."
"Besides, for something this major, even if it turns out to be false, we have to be fully prepared. We’d rather be tricked and waste some effort than for a real incident to occur and innocent people to lose their lives."
Chester Donovan spoke with such righteous conviction that at first, Arabella Donovan thought she was being too cynical, judging a noble man by her own petty standards.
But her intuition told her he wasn’t as righteous as he appeared. Plus, his name sounded familiar. So, after hearing him out, Arabella Donovan decisively checked the plot, and then she discovered...
’Fuck, it’s him. The Chester Donovan who was plotted against and quickly kicked out of the game early in the story, but somehow miraculously managed to hang on until the very end, successfully getting a piece of the inheritance before being burned to death with everyone else?’
Once this assessment was out, the expressions of everyone present turned subtle as they looked at him.
Chester Donovan: "???"
It wasn’t that this Chester Donovan was truly evil. He was greedy and cunning, slick and worldly, and adept at pleasing everyone. He seemed easygoing, willing to help anyone, but in reality, he never truly opened up to anyone. To put it bluntly, he was a weathervane, swaying whichever way the wind blew. As long as it benefited him, anyone could be his friend.
’This guy may be unscrupulous, but he can always read the winds and jump ship right before it sinks. His judgment is incredibly sharp. No wonder he managed to scrape by until the finale. Speaking of which, why was he kicked out at the beginning again? I think it was because...’
Arabella Donovan’s inner voice came to an abrupt halt, causing everyone to subconsciously turn and glance at her.
When they looked, they saw that her face was deathly pale, and her eyes were wide with shock and terror.
"Serena, what’s wrong? Why do you look so pale?"
Arabella Donovan struggled to compose herself and said in a raspy voice, "I do see something from this..."
"Uncle. I’m a few years younger than your father, so you can consider me your uncle, Serena."
"I do see some things in my uncle’s face that I didn’t see before. Mom, what’s today’s date?"
"It’s the first. December first."
’AHHHH, that’s right, that’s right, it’s today! The sensational major criminal bombing in Brynn happened in Chester Donovan’s jurisdiction. The casualties were catastrophic, and as the person in charge, he naturally couldn’t escape responsibility. He was dismissed from his post after the incident, and his competitors subsequently saw him as a pawn to be sacrificed, temporarily kicking him out of the game.’
The event was only mentioned in passing in the plot, so it was no wonder Arabella Donovan hadn’t realized it before.
But now, knowing that the man before her was Beatrice Donovan’s superior, and recalling that when the author described Chester Donovan’s downfall, they had deliberately arranged for a rival to kick him while he was down, taunting him mercilessly. To rub salt in the wound, the rival had callously mentioned the victims who had died during the rescue efforts.
The most striking line was: "I heard one of the victims shared your last name. Quite young, not even thirty. Perhaps even from your own clan. Such a pity."
Arabella Donovan hadn’t thought much of it when she first read it, but connecting the dots now, she realized it had to be talking about Beatrice Donovan!
The members of the Donovan Family were also shocked to learn that today was the day of the explosion that Arabella Donovan had predicted at her birthday party.
Especially since Arabella Donovan had specifically mentioned that the explosion would happen at around 2:39 in the afternoon, and now...
Everyone simultaneously turned to look at a nearby clock. It was already... almost one o’clock!
In other words, the explosion would happen in just over an hour!
Realizing this, Arabella Donovan shot to her feet, and the others subconsciously stood up with her.
"This is an emergency. I need to call my cousin first." As she spoke, Arabella Donovan turned to Chester Donovan. "My cousin is in Brynn right now, isn’t she?"
"Yes, yes, she’s with the investigation team right now."
"Good." Getting a clear answer, Arabella Donovan quickly dialed Beatrice Donovan’s number.
Beatrice Donovan rarely answered personal calls at work, but she’d been worried about Arabella Donovan’s situation and keeping an eye out, which was why she was able to pick up Arabella’s call immediately.
"Serena?"
"Beatrice, this is urgent. Listen carefully and write this down. It’s Jennings Plaza. The explosion is going to happen at Jennings Plaza."
"Jennings Plaza?!" Beatrice Donovan was stunned.
Although Jennings Plaza had been on their initial list, it was one of the first locations they’d ruled out. This was because the plaza catered to a high-income clientele, used a members-only entry system, and had the most thorough security of all the malls.
In such a place, bringing in dangerous materials would be much more difficult than at other malls. Who would have thought that the most unlikely candidate was the target they’d been looking for all along?
"It’s really Jennings Plaza?!" Beatrice Donovan took a deep breath. "Okay, I’ll dispatch a team right away."
"Beatrice, you have to hurry. He’s making his move today."
"Today?" Beatrice Donovan was shocked again. "Doesn’t that mean..."
"Yes, there isn’t much time. I suspect he’s already planted the bombs inside the mall and is hiding somewhere, looking for the right moment to take a hostage, so you have to move fast. There are seven time bombs in total inside the mall. Two at the main entrance, one in the basement supermarket, one in the fifth-floor movie theater, one at the second-floor emergency exit, and one in a third-floor restroom—I’m not sure if it’s the men’s or women’s, you’ll have to check that yourselves."
Beatrice Donovan tried to memorize every word Arabella Donovan said, realizing that the locations for these bombs were all critical spots—either escape routes or crowded areas. But when she tallied them up...
"It seems like there’s one more."
"Right. The last bomb..." Arabella Donovan took a deep breath. "Is on him."