Chapter 82: Professional in the face of grief.

As she left the interrogation room, Liwu’s mind pinged with new updates.

[Congratulations Host for triggering a major misfortune.

Reward 1: Upgraded Baton with a buff; Level 2: It can bounce off any surface and always find its way back to your hands. Three more levels to upgrade this tool.

Reward 2: Lucky Handcuffs; Level 1: They never break, rust or malfunction. Every arrest you make is successful. Four more levels left to upgrade this tool.

Bad luck points: 0

Chaos points: 0]

All of these updates were faint in Liwu’s mind. She was looking at nine parents. They were standing in the hallway which was thick with grief. Some were sitting in chairs at different desks, mothers who clutched photographs tightly while crying.

There were fathers that were pacing like caged animals. One was smoking and an officer was calmly explaining to him that smoking was not allowed inside the precinct. Other officers were trying to keep order, but sorrow had a way of spilling barriers.

One mother wailed so loudly that Liwu felt it in her bones. Not even the sound of the waves, coming from the sea could keep the grief down.

The father that had been smoking tossed the cigarette away, and punched the officer, shouting, “You should have come sooner! If the Bureau was here, this would not have happened. You were supposed to protect humans. How did you protect my son? He is my only child?” His voice cracked.

The officer he had punched had barely flinched. He did not handcuff the father, but gently and firmly guided him to a chair. “It will be okay,” he said softly.

Liwu sighed. It would not be okay.

She cleared her throat and walked to the middle of the room. The parents surged forward, their faces streaked with tears, their voices raw.

“Was it her?” one mother demanded.

“Why didn’t you stop her?” another cried.

“There should be laws against fate predictors talking to children.” a father roared, his anger barely masking his devastation. “We all know they make things up to keep us going back to them. They are like drugs.”

Liwu could not deny that.

Officers tried to calm the parents, speaking in low tones. “We understand what you are going through. We have some answers for you, Please let Detective Liwu explain.” But grief was not something easily soothes. One mother threw her handbag to the floor, screaming, “You don’t understand what we are going through. Nothing you say is going to bring my Rong back.”

Another father muttered bitterly, “The police sat on these murders for months Maybe if they had moved early, some of our children could have survived.”

Weijun covered his mouth with his hand. He was brave, but not brave enough to face these parents like Liwu was doing. What could she possibly say to these people that would soothe their anger?

Liwu raised her hands, her voice steady but soft. “I know that this is hard and I cannot claim to understand what you are feeling. I know nothing can bring back your children. All I can do is tell you that we have caught the culprit behind these unfortunate deaths. She has confessed to her crimes and I promise that we will hold her and all those who played a role in this tragedy accountable.”

Mothers continued to cry.

Liwu’s words hung in the air, fragile. Some parents nodded, clinging to the promise. Others shook their heads, unconvinced. The father that had punched an officer bellowed, “She is only thirteen. She will be out in five years. Where is the justice in that?”

His words riled the parents.

“She will be tried under the criminal law. Nine victims is too many.” Liwu replied.

Hua’s mother screamed, “My baby was so young. She still slept with her stuffed rabbit. We had Nu Ying over to our house for sleep overs many times. How could she do this?”

Liwu’s throat tightened, but she forced herself to remain composed. She wondered how these people would react when the video of Nu Ying’s confession was played in a courtroom during her trial. This was only the beginning of their agony.

All Liwu and the officers could do was offer more words of comfort and assurances. They offered tissues, chairs, water, tea, coffee. Some parents refused anything, standing rigid in their grief. Others hugged officers.

One father, his face red with rage shouted, “It is because of those stupid systems. Nobody went out looking to know their fate before they came.”

A mother, with the darkest trails of mascara on her cheeks shook her head and muttered bitterly, “No, it is because of us. We should have told the truth instead of acting like cowards. The Bureau has banned fate predictors from revealing things like death. If you are told such a thing, you must report the system right away. We were so afraid to be arrested that we kept the secret.”

“The Bureau was not in One city when all this started.” Another mother pointed out. “The city master is to blame.”

Weijun was drawn back! How was he to blame? In fact, he agreed with the mascara mother. The parents were to blame because they hid important facts about their children from the police officers. If any of them had mentioned it, things would not have spiraled so out of control.

He stepped forward, to address the parents. But, Chief Abby pulled him back, shaking his head. “They are grieving and looking for someone to blame. If you go out there and defend yourself while pointing the finger at them for their shortcoming, you will just come off as an asshole.”

“But it was not my fault.” Weijun defended himself.

Chief Abby nodded. “Just like it was not Officer Ye’s fault that he was punched by that father. Did you see him putting that man in cuffs and dragging him to the tombs?”

It took a second for Weijun to remember that the holding cells were called tombs, sometimes. He looked at Officer Ye that was the perfect picture of professionalism. He was handing out grief support group brochures, numbers to psychologists and saying words of comfort to the parents. It was like he had not been punched at all.

Weijun took a deep breath and backed off. He would wait until they had calmed down to say something. Maybe he could offer to pay the funeral for this last victim or do some other meaningful thing for the dead children.

“Say nothing.” Chief Abby told him.

Weijun frowned. It was as if the man could read his mind!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep