Chapter 163 - Inspiration and Clues

Luke nodded his head and slowly stepped in.

The air in the room was stale, probably because the room had been shut for days.

Sheerah seemed uncomfortable. Luke looked at her and said, “You can stay by the door.” Then, he slowly circled the room.

Sheerah looked at the young man curiously. She noticed that Luke didn’t bump into anything in the room even though he had his eyes closed.

Elsa glanced at Luke and then simply focused on her own inspection.

Ten minutes later, Elsa left the room and shook her head. “I didn’t notice anything unusual.”

Sheerah was slightly disappointed, but noticed that Luke was still inside, and asked, “Where’s your partner?”

Elsa replied lightly, “He usually takes longer.”

Sheerah asked, “Why does he keep his eyes closed when he’s searching the room?”

Elsa chuckled. “It’s a habit. He claims that it helps him build a model of the room in his head as a first impression, and he analyzes it until he finds something suspicious…”

Seeing Sheerah’s bewildered expression, Elsa could only switch tactics. “He’s looking for inspiration! And keeping his eyes closed helps.”

Although Elsa wasn’t really convinced herself, Luke had found clues in many cases after using this method, so Elsa could only believe him.

Around ten minutes later, they saw Luke take a mysterious route through the room with his head raised, until he entered the bathroom.

Sheerah gave an exclamation.

Elsa looked at her, and Sheerah explained in a low voice, “My clothes from the other day are still there…”

Elsa chuckled. “Relax, he doesn’t have any sort of weird hobbies.”

A moment later, Luke left the bathroom, deep in thought.

“Did you find something?” asked Elsa.

Luke nodded his head slightly. “I think I know what happened, but we should check the outside of the house for more evidence. Well, keep this room locked. It’s a crime scene.”

Sheerah looked at Elsa, who nodded her head. She quickly closed the door.

They exited the house soon after.

Luke asked, “Ms. Sheerah, do you know where the exit for the ventilation duct in your bathroom is?”

Sheerah shook her head, baffled.

It was already a miracle for a big star like her to know where the washing machine was. How would she know anything about the ventilation system?

However, she had many advantages, including wealth.

She simply called a security guard over and had him answer Luke’s question.

The security guard was clearly a professional. From what he said, the duct ended under a shed outside the house.

Luke told them to stop. He carefully observed the ground and slowly walked toward the shed, where he kept his eyes closed for a moment.

Then, he returned using the same route. Pointing to a location near the shed, he said, “Don’t let anyone go near there. The forensics department will have a lot of work to do.”

Then, he said to Elsa and Sheerah in a low voice, “It’s clear what happened. Ms. Sheerah, this doesn’t involve the supernatural; someone used tricky means to steal your pendant.”

Sheerah exclaimed, “Really?”

Luke nodded his head. “If you had called the police and gotten a checkup, you might have found certain psychedelic drugs or sedatives in your system. You aren’t haunted by a ghost; you were drugged.”

Sheerah found that hard to believe. “How is that possible? How did they drug me in my room?”

Luke thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Forget it. Not bringing the police in was the right call, or they might’ve thought that you were hallucinating because you were high.”

Both Elsa and Sheerah were lost for words.

Elsa asked impatiently, “Exactly what happened?”

As Luke walked, he said in a low voice, “It’s very simple. Nobody entered Ms. Sheerah’s room, but a well-trained animal can do many things that a human can’t, like entering the room through the ventilation duct, drugging you, opening your safe, and stealing your jewelry.”

Sheerah found that hard to believe. “Is there an animal as smart as that in this world?”

Luke chuckled. “You may be surprised.” This certainly wasn’t an ordinary world.

He stopped and looked at the fence.

Glancing around for a moment, he pointed at something and said, “Look at the top of the fence; what’s that?”.

Elsa narrowed her eyes. “It seems like… some sort of animal hair?”

Luke nodded. “I saw the same hair at the duct exit. There are also vague fingerprints on the ground, but I don’t know exactly what the creature is. The hair is also in your room, Ms. Sheerah.”

He had barely noticed the hair, even with his Sharp Nose; it was natural that Elsa would have missed it.

Luke asked casually, “Ms. Sheerah, you don’t have any cats or dogs in your house, do you?”

Sheerah shook her head quickly. “I’m not a pet person. I’m allergic to their fur. So, nobody in my house, including Meryl, has any contact with cats or dogs.”

Luke was well aware of the fact, thanks to his Sharp Nose. He had only asked the question for Elsa’s benefit.

Elsa thus officially accepted the case from Sheerah, and the forensics department soon arrived. They were confused by Luke’s instructions, but followed them anyway, mostly because Luke was now quite famous.

Word of Luke’s feat had gone round the forensics department. After all, thirty bodies had been delivered to the department after the attempted robbery at Nakatomi Plaza.

There was an expert on the forensics team.

He was a handsome, middle-aged man. After examining the black hair from the ventilation duct in the bathroom for a moment, he said, “It’s not an ordinary monkey; more likely, it’s a chimpanzee.”

He searched the bed with a flashlight, and found similar hair. “I’m positive now. This little creature was on the bed. Well, is it really smart enough to open the safe?”

Luke couldn’t help but ask, “You can tell what animal it is based on that tiny bit of hair?”

The middle-aged man raised his head and said solemnly, “Yes, I’m very interested in wildlife, including gorillas and chimpanzees.”

Luke’s interest was piqued. “May I know your name?”