Ch.145Rather, If We Had Never Met! (2)

#145

Dexter, dressed in casual clothes, and Himena, still in her formal attire, headed to the last known location of the missing alien.

Though slightly removed from the main Strip, it was a bustling area with many tourists, befitting its proximity to the Strip, and home to numerous famous hotels.

“The footage that pervert took… was of a woman’s back who was standing here, and the man who was talking with the missing alien was over there.”

Himena pointed to an alley between two hotels as she spoke.

“CCTV?”

“Over there.”

An old-looking CCTV camera hung at the top of the alley.

“The camera angle… hmm. I’m not sure if it would capture anything.”

“I think we’ll need to check all the CCTV cameras along this street. There might be issues with retention periods, but with luck, something might still be available.”

Following Himena’s suggestion, Dexter joined her in posing as FBI agents to visit the surrounding hotels, inquiring about CCTV footage and retention periods.

Some places still had footage available, while others said it had been deleted due to how old it was.

“For the rest, we’ll need to request help from the FBI and Las Vegas Major Crimes Unit. The OSA headquarters staff alone won’t be enough time-wise…”

“Will the footage we’ve collected go straight to OSA?”

“Yes. Oh, by the way, a separate office has been set up for the special investigation team. Haven’t you seen it yet?”

Himena said with a bright smile.

“So we’ve finally left the Residence Management Department office?”

“Oh, it’s so great. Really. When we were in Residence Management, I had to be careful even when requesting supplies, but now that we’re directly under the Secretariat, the support is amazing. And by the way, you have your own desk.”

“My desk?”

“You’re part of the special investigation team, right? Of course you have one.”

Himena grinned, then gestured with her eyes toward where her car was parked.

“Let’s go quickly! I’ll show you the office.”

With that, the two got into the car and soon arrived at OSA headquarters, heading straight for the newly established special investigation team’s office.

The underground area housing OSA headquarters was quite spacious, with some areas still unused.

The special investigation team’s office, also converted from previously unused space, was somewhat distant from other offices but noticeably larger than other departments’ spaces.

Dexter was amazed at the view of the office visible through the glass windows.

“I remember the prison being pretty nice, but OSA is really something else.”

The office was predominantly white-toned and contained everything Dexter had expected when he first joined OSA.

Cutting-edge computers and various work support devices on desks, and beyond the partitions, a wall filled with monitors, a conference room, and whiteboards.

After entering the office, Dexter looked around and said with a smile:

“This is excessively nice.”

“The Director said the case we solved together was the best one this year. He told us to ask anytime if we need personnel or support.”

“Well, even I have to admit it was pretty impressive.”

As Dexter smiled at Himena, she pulled a small remote control from her pocket.

“What’s that?”

“Watch.”

With a mischievous expression, Himena pressed the remote, and the wall monitors turned on, displaying CCTV footage.

“We can do this too.”

Himena pressed the remote a few more times, and different CCTV footage began to appear.

All the videos focused on two men, but the image quality was too blurry to see clearly.

“Can you see it well?”

“No. It looks like something’s being handed over… can’t we enhance the quality?”

“I’m planning to ask the Science and Technology Department. If it’s evidence related to an alien abducted from their department, they’ll work harder, don’t you think?”

“That’s not wrong, but isn’t that a bit harsh?”

At Dexter’s comment, Himena made an embarrassed face and laughed awkwardly.

“So, is this case being handled by the special investigation team? Not by another investigation team?”

“Call it a woman’s intuition tingling? That’s why I said our team would take it.”

“Oh boy.”

It was clearly a complex case at first glance.

Dexter flopped down on a bean bag in the corner of the office, exasperated by Himena’s reckless decision to take on such a complicated case.

“What did the agents who were already investigating say?”

“About what?”

“About the difficulty of the investigation.”

“Oh, that. They were really dismissive of me.”

Himena put her hands on her hips, looking incredulous.

“They said you and I solving that case was just luck. They claimed I must have used my family’s influence, and that they could have solved it too if they had that kind of money.”

“Cute little bastards.”

Dexter chuckled at Himena’s indignation.

“So what did you say back?”

“I told them we’d settle it with this case.”

“So it’s not your woman’s intuition tingling, but your temper being provoked that made you take the case.”

“Same difference.”

Himena looked at Dexter with a pouty face in response to his playful comment.

“Anyway, this case is quite complicated. Even the professional investigation team was struggling until this evidence was found.”

“Why?”

“The alien went missing from the morning, but family members said he left normally by car for work. They tracked him leaving for work, but at some point, he disappeared from CCTV.”

“With the car?”

“Yes. They said he disappeared right after passing through a CCTV blind spot.”

“That is suspicious.”

Dexter, still sitting on the bean bag, stroked his chin thoughtfully.

‘If he disappeared right after leaving a CCTV blind spot… it doesn’t seem like a wormhole, maybe optical camouflage?’

The reason Dexter’s spaceship isn’t visible to civilians when in stealth mode is because it has optical camouflage applied.

Blending with the surrounding landscape is similar to the perception-inhibiting fabric Professor Chris used, but with a difference.

Optical camouflage requires a constant energy supply, while perception-inhibiting fabric doesn’t.

‘A car with optical camouflage? That doesn’t make sense. The car battery wouldn’t last.’

Himena, who had been quietly watching Dexter lost in thought, sat on the bean bag next to him and stared at his face.

‘What is he thinking?’

“Where is the missing engineer’s house?”

“I believe it was in Henderson.”

“Where was the last CCTV location he was spotted?”

“Interstate 515 near Henderson Hospital.”

After thinking deeply, Dexter pointed to the wall monitor and said:

“Can you bring up a map from headquarters to Henderson?”

Himena turned on the wall monitor as Dexter requested and displayed the map. Dexter looked at it and asked:

“Where exactly is the engineer’s house?”

“Probably around here.”

Henderson isn’t like Beverly Hills, but it’s an area with many middle-class residential neighborhoods.

Himena pointed directly to an area with many single-family homes, and Dexter shook his head in confusion.

“Route 582 is right next to it. It’s a road that goes straight to North Las Vegas where OSA headquarters is. There’s no reason to take Interstate 515, which requires a detour. It doesn’t seem like his usual commute route.”

“Right. But there were reports that he occasionally took Interstate 515.”

“Occasionally? Who testified to that?”

“Probably his wife. She’s also an alien, so she sometimes comes to OSA for regular check-ups.”

“Hmm.”

Dexter sat on the bean bag, deep in thought, then nodded.

“Since it’ll take a few days for the CCTV footage to arrive anyway, how about we go investigate with Jesse tomorrow?”

“Where to?”

“Where else? We should visit the engineer’s wife. It would be good to know why he took Interstate 515, or… there might be something along Interstate 515.”

“Alright. Let’s go tomorrow. Will you be at work?”

“Yes. It’ll be hard for me to skip work tomorrow.”

Usually, Dexter would kiss Himena’s forehead, but this time, Himena lightly kissed Dexter’s cheek and said:

“Then let me help you write the report today, and we’ll leave together. Just need one review.”

“Sounds good.”

With that, Himena sat at her desk and began writing the report, while Dexter got up from the bean bag and carefully examined the map displayed on the monitor.

‘There must be a reason he took Interstate 515.’

Dexter fell into deep thought as he looked at the map.

* * *

One week later.

Raymond, the chief correctional officer of Honeygood Prison, wore an uncomfortable expression as he faced Dexter.

“…I’ve heard you’ve been getting very friendly with a certain inmate lately. Is that true?”

“Which inmate are you referring to?”

“I heard you frequently visit Bell’s cell in Medium Security Facility 2.”

“Hmm, I suppose it could appear that way.”

When Dexter acknowledged this with a casual smile, Raymond took a sip of coffee from the cup on his desk.

“Is there something you want to say but are holding back?”

“I should probably explain the situation.”

Dexter continued, still smiling:

“In my personal opinion, inmate Emily Bell seems… to be close to a sociopath.”

“A sociopath… Are you a psychological counselor?”

“Of course not. It’s just my impression based on observing the inmate so far.”

At Honeygood Prison, Dexter was known as an experienced correctional officer.

Raymond believed this as well, so he didn’t question Dexter’s assessment.

“Especially in Bell’s case, how should I put it? She’s caused various problems since her initial incarceration.”

Raymond nodded at Dexter’s words.

“So you’re claiming it was a measure to manage a problematic inmate?”

“Yes, that’s correct. After all, she’s been causing problems since she first arrived.”

At Dexter’s explanation, Raymond nodded and began writing something on the paper in front of him.

“I hear Bell has expressed willingness to pay bail for this trial. Is that true?”

“It is. She’s hired quite a capable lawyer.”

The reason Emily was arrested was solely for her most recent car theft charge.

Even this charge would allow her to be successfully released in about a month.

The problem was the other car theft charges that the police and FBI had cooperatively pinned on her.

They had attributed all the car theft cases suspected to be the work of “Old Folks” to Emily.

‘The problem is that the most important piece of evidence, the car, is supposedly in Emily’s secret garage, right?’

Because the crucial car was missing, the court granted bail, pointing out the police and FBI’s failure to produce physical evidence.

For Emily to be released from custody, she needed bail money.

The issue was that Emily had invested most of her earnings in cars, so despite being apprenticed to a master thief, she didn’t have much money.

As a result, she had hired a third-rate lawyer who couldn’t even properly defend her in this trial, and she couldn’t pay the bail amount of tens of thousands of dollars.

This is where Himena came in.

‘She said it would be much faster to apply for bail and pay it than to use the quarterly parole authority.’

Himena had hired a famous Nevada lawyer on Emily’s behalf and informed him last week that she had applied for bail.

“The warden says a bail hearing will be held within next week. Even though she’s accused of theft, the problem is they don’t know where the stolen cars are.”

“Is that so? Well, that’s unfortunate.”

As Dexter gave a bitter smile, Raymond also showed slight anger.

“Well, at least the warden thinks it’s fortunate that he can make money from bail.”

“Does the warden get incentives when more people pay bail?”

“Not exactly, but since the director has more extra money, he can give a bit more in performance bonuses.”

Raymond nodded as he spoke.

“Anyway, be careful. There’s a lot of talk about you providing favors to a specific inmate.”

“I’ll be cautious.”

“Good, you may go now.”

As soon as Dexter left Raymond’s office, he let out a deep sigh.

“Criminals have annoyingly good instincts.”

Still, he had learned that Emily would be released soon.

‘The special investigation team is coming together.’

Though he found it a bit strange that he was forming an investigation team through physical relationships, he was still quite pleased.

‘Still better than a team full of men, I suppose.’

As Dexter took out his phone to share the good news with Himena, he noticed an unread notification.

[Himena: Call me when you see this.]