Chapter 87: Accepting the Case

“It’s just a possibility.”
Rohan rubbed his temples. The folder in his hands contained only a general overview of the bank robbery case—there were no witness statements from the crime scene.

In the files Virenice had previously given him, there was merely a rough outline of Bronson’s investigation into the bank robbery, also lacking in detail.

So Rohan’s assessment of the case was only a reasonable deduction.

“All right, Rohan.”
Seeing him frowning in thought, Mona turned back around, her fingers flying over the keyboard once more.
“This case isn’t even ours to handle. Didn’t Virenice just tell you she wouldn’t be taking it?”

On their way back to the Jacob Federal Building earlier, Rohan had called Virenice to report that their investigation had revealed the laundromat owner was not, in fact, the bank robber.

Virenice hadn’t said much upon hearing this, only commended Rohan for his hard work and told him to return to the federal building to rest. She then mentioned she was about to attend a team leader meeting and would discuss the matter with him in detail afterwards.

This meeting Virenice was attending had been called by Bronson, one of the team supervisors, to discuss arrangements after the failure to apprehend the bank robber within the designated time.

“No, Mona.”
Seated in his chair, Rohan propped his chin in his hand, lost in thought as he reviewed the events of the past few days. After a moment, he broke into a grin.
“Virenice will probably take the case.”

“What?”
Mona’s face changed instantly at this. Because of William, she knew a little about the punishments Bronson faced after failing to solve cases. For Virenice to take this case under such circumstances…

“It’s fine, Mona.”
Seeing the worry on her face, Rohan chuckled and reassured her,
“We’re not like Bronson.”

Mona was taken aback.
“What do you mean?”

“Because our Investigation Unit Five has never stooped to undermining others behind their backs.”
Rohan pressed his lips together, the corners of his mouth lifting as he sorted out the situation in his mind.

Normally, a bank robbery—even in the law-abiding streets of New York—isn’t rare, and there are plenty of such cases that go unsolved.

Yet Bronson, this time, had been required to set a deadline for solving the case. Something about that didn’t sit right.

But remembering how, during the previous kidnapping case that escalated into a serial dismemberment murder, Bronson had covertly contacted reporters behind his back, everything suddenly made sense.

Their fourteen investigation teams were the front-line action units. This kind of blatant sabotage couldn’t escape the eyes of those higher up.

The superiors were furious, and the consequences would be severe.

Virenice had once told Rohan that Bronson belonged to another foundation, which made it inconvenient for the higher-ups to simply fire him.

But it was easy enough to assign him to the newly established Fourteenth Investigation Team as its supervisor.

The next step: find a case with ambiguous potential repercussions, hand it to Team Fourteen, then use some clever wording to force Bronson into pledging a solve-by date…

At this thought, Rohan laughed quietly.

If Rohan hadn’t solved the previous case, and Bronson had volunteered to take this one, then the higher-ups—under pressure from the media—would have had to tolerate Bronson for the moment, punishing Virenice and splitting her team, giving Bronson some of her resources.

Then they would look for another way to deal with Bronson.

But Rohan had successfully cracked that kidnapping-turned-serial murder case… That was the real knife in Bronson’s chest, and the excuse the higher-ups needed to act.

That was also why Bronson hated Rohan so much—without Rohan, he would have succeeded.

With this line of thought, Rohan saw it all clearly.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Bronson would be punished at the meeting—this had already been decided.

But once the case was reassigned, the consequences of failure for the next team would be much less severe.

Sure enough, half an hour later, Rohan’s phone rang.

He pressed the answer button, and Virenice’s cool voice came through:
“Come to my office. Immediately.”

“Yes, ma’am.”
The corners of Rohan’s lips curled up as he agreed promptly.

Though Virenice’s tone hadn’t changed, he could detect a suppressed excitement beneath the surface.

—

“Sit.”
When Rohan knocked and entered Virenice’s office, she wasted no words. After gesturing for him to sit, she crossed one leg over the other, leaned back in her chair, and spoke in a cold voice:
“Rohan, I’ve accepted the serial bank robbery case.”

“Yes, ma’am.”
Rohan nodded with a smile, his expression otherwise unchanged.

This made Virenice pause, the words she’d been about to say catching in her throat. She studied him for a long moment, then pressed her lips together.
“You catch on quickly.”

Without waiting for him to reply, she pulled a folder from her desk and handed it to him.
“This is the transfer report for the serial bank robbery case. In a moment, Team Fourteen will officially hand it over to Team Five.”

“OK.”

Rohan nodded, took the folder, and said nothing further, just smiled quietly at Virenice.

Seeing this, Virenice didn’t bother with pleasantries.
“At the meeting just now, the Special Agent-in-Charge, upon learning that Bronson had failed to solve the case in time, reprimanded him on the spot, then immediately announced his reassignment to the suburban branch of the FBI’s New York office.”

At this, Rohan’s smile widened.
As expected, the Special Agent-in-Charge had finally acted against Bronson.

Noting the look on Rohan’s face, Virenice’s mood also seemed to lift. She continued,
“After Bronson left the conference room, the Special Agent-in-Charge asked the four unit supervisors present who could take over the case.

This time, however, the deadline for solving it is one week.

Failure to solve it will still be punished, but the penalty will only apply to the team supervisors—not the field agents.”

Seeing the smile tugging at Virenice’s lips, Rohan knew immediately that this so-called punishment couldn’t be too severe—otherwise, she wouldn’t look so relaxed.

And the fact that she specifically mentioned it would not affect the agents on the ground…

Thinking of Bronson’s new assignment, Rohan understood at once: this was a message meant for him.

“If the case is solved within a week—perhaps even sooner—”
Uncrossing her legs, Virenice leaned forward, her figure accentuated, fingers interlaced on the desk, her eyes narrowing as she licked her lips and fixed her gaze on Rohan:
“There will be a reward.”

“…”
At her unusually concise words and the look on her face, Rohan was taken aback, then a smile slowly blossomed on his lips.

In his previous life, he’d learned that the fewer the words, the greater the matter. The Federation didn’t usually operate that way, but Virenice herself was always straightforward and direct.

For her to be so brief now—the reward must be something significant.

Thinking of Virenice’s superior, Rohan wasted no time, his smile broadening as he nodded and promised:
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll do everything in my power to investigate this case.”

“Good.”
Virenice nodded. She liked people like Rohan—those who understood things at a glance.

(End of chapter)