Chapter 371: Someone Is Deliberately Guiding Her
Chapter 371: Chapter 371: Someone Is Deliberately Guiding Her
Looking at the rusty iron gate before her, Renee Jennings said to Mary, "Mary, go check out what’s going on inside."
"You got it!" Mary immediately swooped upward and flew into the factory through a window.
A moment later, Mary returned, crying out frantically, "Renee, this is bad! Really bad! The human girl is gone."
"Gone?" Renee Jennings’s expression shifted. She turned to Henry Stark. "She’s gone."
Henry Stark furrowed his dark brows, walked to the factory entrance, and carefully studied the footprints there.
"There are footprints from two people at the scene, with four sets of tracks going in and out... This smaller footprint is on top of the other one. It seems someone was here beforehand," he analyzed in a low voice.
Hearing this, Renee Jennings asked Mary, "Did you see anyone else here yesterday?"
"Not yesterday." Mary shook its head. "Yesterday, only the human girl was here by herself."
Renee Jennings asked, "Did you go inside and take a look?"
"I did." Mary nodded. "I thought she was locked inside, so I went in and stayed for a bit!"
As it spoke, it seemed to remember something. "Oh, right, right! I remember now! While I was inside, I heard her talking on the phone with a male."
Renee Jennings’s eyes suddenly lit up. "What did she say?" she asked eagerly.
"The male said something like, ’If you truly love me, you’d be willing to do anything for me, right?’"
The girl cried and said, "Of course! I’ll do anything for you! Please, just let me see you, okay?"
The person on the other end of the line said, "Fine. Just stay put tonight, and I’ll call you tomorrow."
"Okay," the girl agreed, her voice trembling.
After hanging up, she sat on the floor hugging her knees, sobbing softly as she stared into the pitch-black room.
Mary found the situation very strange and wanted to go tell Renee Jennings about it.
But Renee Jennings wasn’t home, and it forgot all about it later.
Renee Jennings immediately relayed the phone conversation Mary had overheard to Henry Stark. "In other words, someone is intentionally manipulating her into doing these things."
"What now?" Kyle Morgan asked, his face etched with worry. "We don’t even know if this girl is Sherry Zane."
At his words, Renee Jennings suggested, "Do you have a photo of her? We can have Mary see if she recognizes her."
"I do." Kyle Morgan immediately tapped on his phone a few times and held the screen out to Mary. "Could you please take a look?"
Mary replied, "Of course not."
It stared intently at the photo on the screen. "Yep, that’s her. She’s the one who was in this building last night."
Renee Jennings looked up at Henry Stark and Kyle Morgan. "It’s her."
Henry Stark and Kyle Morgan exchanged a look.
’So it really is the same person.’
Henry Stark scanned the surroundings and frowned. "There are no security cameras around here. This is a problem."
Seeing how distressed they looked, Mary took the initiative to ask, "Is that human girl the one you’re looking for?"
"Yes," Renee Jennings nodded.
Mary offered, "How about I go find some nearby birds and ask them if they’ve seen the girl?"
"Okay." Renee Jennings smiled gently. "Thank you for doing this, Mary."
"It’s no trouble. Will you wait for me here?" Mary asked.
Renee Jennings and Henry Stark conferred for a moment, then she replied, "Okay, we’ll wait for you here."
A short while after Mary left, Kyle Morgan’s phone rang. It was Zachary Conway.
"We just heard from the tech division. We’ve got a location on Sherry Zane’s phone... Levi Hollis and I are heading to that location now."
"The boss and I are with Renee Jennings," Kyle Morgan said. "She had a little sparrow come to her to report a case... and it looks like the girl is Sherry Zane."
"What a coincidence."
"..."
Just as Kyle Morgan hung up, Mary returned, with a small sparrow and a swallow in tow.
"Renee, I’m back!"
When Renee Jennings saw Mary return with other birds, she guessed it must have found a lead.
"Renee, this is Le, and this is Yun," Mary introduced. "And this is Renee, my good human friend. She’s really nice!"
Le was the swallow, and Yun was the sparrow.
"Hello, Le and Yun," Renee Jennings greeted them warmly.
"H-hello..." Le and Yun looked at her timidly, a little afraid to approach.
Mary quickly chimed in, "Don’t be afraid! Renee is really, really nice!"
It turned back to Renee. "Renee, Le saw the human girl leave today. And Yun says that a couple of days ago, it saw a male come here, drop something off, and leave."
"Dropped something off and left?" Renee grew thoughtful. "Yun, did you recognize what it was?"
Yun shook its head, looking clueless. "I don’t know what it was."
"Okay, thank you." Renee Jennings then looked at Le. "Le, did the human girl leave by herself today?"
"Yes." Le nodded its little head. "She left by herself, but after a short distance, a male on a two-wheeled vehicle came and took her away."
"Thank you for the lead," Renee Jennings said, then turned to confer with Henry Stark.
The trail had gone cold again.
Just then, Kyle Morgan’s phone rang again.
It was Zachary Conway again. They had reached the location pinged by the phone.
"She left her phone in a storage locker at a supermarket."
Yun’s beady eyes stared unblinkingly at Kyle Morgan’s phone. "The thing the male left looked just like that."
"You mean this phone?" Renee Jennings asked.
Yun flew over and pecked at Kyle Morgan’s phone. "Exactly this thing."
Renee Jennings waited for Kyle Morgan to hang up before telling him what the sparrow had said.
Upon hearing this, Kyle Morgan quickly added, "Zachary said that Sherry Zane left her phone in a supermarket locker."
"The person who lured Sherry Zane away came prepared," Henry Stark analyzed grimly. "He had her leave her phone in a supermarket locker and planted another one for her here at the abandoned factory in advance."
Renee Jennings frowned. "He’s very aware of counter-surveillance techniques. What do we do now?"
Henry Stark replied, "We’ll head back to the station and check the traffic cameras. We can’t afford to overlook any possible area of interest."
Before leaving, Renee Jennings thanked the two little birds she had just met. "Le, Yun, thank you for your help today. I’ll have Mary bring you to my house some other time for a treat."
"Yay!" Mary chirped excitedly. "I’ll bring them, don’t you worry, Renee."
"We’re leaving now." Renee Jennings waved to them. After walking a short distance, she turned back.
Mary and the others were still there. Seeing her look back, Mary flapped its wings and flew over to her. "Renee, what is it? Is there something else?"
Renee Jennings pressed her lips together, then said softly, "Mary, could you all do me one more favor?"
"What favor?" Mary asked, full of anticipation. It loved when Renee gave it a mission.
Renee Jennings said, "Help me ask around and see if any other birds saw where that girl was taken on the motorcycle."