The Devil's Cage

Chapter 39: The First Case

"Please, I'll give you anything you want! I will fulfill any request within my power!" Hunter promised him.

"Sir, please calm down. I have to know what's going before I can be of aid," Kieran tried to speak in a manner that matched his identity.

In real life, Kieran had not come across the detective genre.

The memories he had gained through the key did not include investigating skills either.

Therefore, at the time Kieran could only imitate books and movies inspired from Sherlock Holmes.

He had to imitate almost everything. The way he spoke, the way he moved, everything. It seemed to work on the businessman though.

The man calmed down and continued, "Oh my, excuse my manners. I'm too anxious over this! Please understand that my daughter is missing, and as a father, I'm extremely worried," he apologized before he elaborated on the incident, "It was just yesterday morning that we discovered that Tilly was missing from this very manor. I was with my wife here, and we asked the maid to call Tilly for breakfast, but her bedroom was locked from the inside. My wife knocked on the door, but she got no answer. I had my men knock down the door, but the room was empty! I've sent my men out looking for Tilly, but there's been no news yet. There's no trace of Tilly inside or outside the manor!"

Hunter explained the incident in an orderly manner from beginning till end.

His wife had remained silent throughout the whole narration. She looked even gloomier when Hunter was finished.

"May I have a look at Miss Altilly's room?" Kieran asked.

"Of course!" Hunter and his wife answered, escorting him to the top floor of the manor.

"This floor is only occupied by me and my wife, and of course Tilly. This is her room!"

While Hunter explained, he opened a door to his left.

It was a typical girl's room, filled with pink and decorated with all kinds of puppets and dolls.

Kieran entered the room and started his inspection.

He turned on his [Tracking] skill.

If anything could assist him in acting as a detective, it was that particular skill.

It was also the very reason that Kieran had accepted the detective title right from the beginning without question.

With his [Tracking] turned on, everything before his eyes became more clear.

There were white messy footprints all over the floor.

After a short comparison, Kieran confirmed that the set of footprints belonged to Hunter himself.

It seemed like Hunter had indeed sent his men to look for his daughter while he had searched the room himself.

However, they were not searching at the right direction.

Kieran let his eyes wander a little. Other than Hunter's footprints, there were two more sets of footprints in the room, both smaller than Hunter's.

After a second comparison, he decided that one of them was Hunter's wife's while the second one belonged to Altilly.

Altilly's footprints were orderly, unlike her parents' messy ones. They were frequently circulating between the window and the bed, and less around other places.

Following the footprints, there were two spots that Kieran was suddenly aware of.

The first one was the spot by the wooden frame of the window, where he could see three claw marks on inside the room.