Being Lucky Can Be A Curse (Jack x Zhao Li An)

Chapter 8 - First Case : Phantom Thief Pt. 5

Jack was the first one to approach and examine the dead old man, who seemed to be in his 70s, in the bed. Meanwhile, Zhao Li An was momentarily stuck of what to do. He never dealt with dead people in a crime scene before. Again, he was mostly stuck on his computer working on different files in the police department before. He never had experience working outside the office.

As he was about to call for backup from the S.I.D, Jack spoke.

"It seems that he died of a natural cause. Quite recent death."

Zhao Li An stepped closer next to Jack by the bed and asked, "Natural cause?"

Jack faced the smaller policeman and smiled. "Do you notice the expression on his face?"

Zhao Li An examined the old man and noticed that he was smiling. At the same time, he also noticed a picture frame that the old man was hugging.

"No forced entry in this house except for us, of course," Jack winked at Zhao Li An as he continued, "No visible marks to suggest that he was harmed."

He then reached for the medicine that was on the small table next to the bed of the old man, "Medicine for treating heart disease."

The medicine bottle was already empty.

After reading the label, Jack handed the bottle to Zhao Li An. "He could've died from heart failure from his sleep."

Still, it looked like the old man was actually happy even in his death. He probably had a great life or could it be that he was happy to die?

When he slowly removed the picture frame that was being hugged by the old man, Jack's eyebrows slightly raised due to amusement.

Seeing the amused expression of Jack, Zhao Li An also looked at the picture.

"That must be his wife," Zhao Li An said.

In the colored picture, there was the much younger old man, an old lady, and a piglet being carried by the old lady. Behind them was a red barn. The old man and the old lady were smiling widely to the point they looked like they were giggling as the piglet seemed to be trying to get away from the old lady's grasp.

"That's the teleporting pig!" Zhao Li An said exclaimed. The piglet in the picture was black, but it had a white spot on its forehead.

"It looks like they give this particular pig a special treatment," he continued.

"Still, I wonder why he would steal things from people," Zhao Li An whispered as he started pondering. While doing so, his eyes wandered around the room. He suddenly noticed something. There were different items that he had never seen in his entire life, but only in pictures. Aside from the old wheelchair, wooden cane and simple furniture, there were Chinese antique vases, old European paintings, colorful Moroccan carpet, and many other things that were unique in different countries. By quickly looking at the other pictures of the old man in the room, Zhao Li An concluded that he was a collector and a traveler. In those pictures, the teleporting pig was also included. The old man happily held the pig and the item that he collected in the picture. None of the pictures that he observed had the old lady. Most likely she died earlier.

"Could it be that he was collecting items for the old man?" Zhao Li An suggested.

Jack smiled, "It could be the reason."

Zhao Li An faced Jack and continued to explain to him his reason, "We know that based on these pictures that the old man treats the teleporting pig quite well. They looked quite happy in these pictures," Zhao Li An then quickly paused as he took one of the pictures of the old man and the pig from another table, "Since it's hard for the old man to move and due to his condition, he could not go outside and travel. My guess is that the teleporting pig was the one that did the traveling and collecting after it gained powers."