Try Begging - Chapter 144.2
Leon, who had wasted precious time, was seething with a desire to kill Blanchard in the most painful way possible. He restrained himself only because he needed more information.
He suppressed his urge and unfolded a map.
A red circle was already marked around Anderton on the downstream.
As soon as he heard that the boat had been found, he rented a vessel and rushed to the Anderton marina. Despite thorough searching and inquiries in the area, he only learned that the boat had been docked empty from Christmas morning onwards.
Given it was Christmas Eve, there were no witnesses to her arrival.
The fuel tank was nearly empty. It baffled him why she hadn’t refueled and taken the boat out to sea, leaving it instead.
Perhaps there was somewhere nearby she could go.
“Addresses of any bases or places in Anderton and the surrounding area.”
Leon threw a pen in front of Blanchard as if tossing it. While taking a cigar from Campbell and putting it in his mouth, Blanchard slowly shook his head.
“None.”
Leon’s patience was dwindling, much like the end of his cigar. Despite being asked to list all known relatives, acquaintances, or likely places that the woman could have gone to, except for Jonathan Riddle Jr., the man responded in this lackluster manner.
He decided to wait and see how long his patience would last, given only by the drag of his cigar.
“Look, I’m giving you a chance here. Didn’t you see it with your own eyes this morning?”
He had shown Blanchard a good spectacle by letting him witness an execution by firing squad scheduled that morning from his boring windowless cell.
“You know you’ll end up in tatters too.”
Recalling that scene seemed to strike a nerve, and Blanchard clenched his eyes shut.
“My point is, if you cooperate in finding her, I can make sure you avoid the death penalty.”
Blanchard sighed deeply and closed his eyes. Perhaps he was weighing his options with his walnut-sized brain.
Seeing a slight wavering, Leon added generously.
“You might think it’s a joke for a ‘captain,’ but I have that much authority. So think carefully.”
However, Blanchard’s walnut-sized brain remained silent as the cigar burned down to a third of its size.
“If you prefer not to live, I can always ask someone else. Your comrades know how to squeal, don’t they? Just mentioning ‘Riddle’ gets them spilling more than I ask for.”
Everyone was driven by vengeance, just as he had intended. Moreover, for those desperate to save their own skins, Grace Riddle was the perfect opportunity to cooperate with the military without betraying a comrade.
The problem was that they weren’t particularly close to her.
Once their useful information ran out, they would needlessly recite her crimes. They intended to drag her down to hell with them.
How much of it was true? From forging official documents and infiltrating government agencies to bombing and assassination. Listening to them, it seemed she single-handedly managed the work of dozens of ‘revolutions.’
Their ‘enthusiastic cooperation’ only fueled his anger further. It wasn’t his business what she had stolen from the royal villa. He just wanted to know where she was.
Finally, Blanchard opened his eyes.
“I’ll tell you the only place I know.”
Was this delay a tactic to increase his value in a bargain?
Deciding to deal, he picked up the pen. Leon, forgetting to tap off the ash, was fixated on the tip of the pen when Blanchard’s face suddenly hardened.
He scrawled not a name or address in the center of the map but a single word.
Hell.
“That’s the only place Grace will end up.”
A short, sharp laugh escaped through Leon’s teeth clenched around the cigar.
“You seem to be under a misunderstanding…”
Switching the cigar to his left hand, Leon extended his right hand towards the man. What he grasped was not the presumptuous rat who didn’t know his place but the pen.
“Ugh…”
“Here, I am god.”
The sharp tip of the pen pierced into the man’s hand.
“Hell is this place you’re in right now…”
Muffled groans and the sound of the pen scratching skin continued relentlessly.
“I can send the whole world to hell, but I won’t send that woman…”
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