Chapter 10 Shedding Tears

• Amber nodded and followed the police officer to the archive room.
• The police officer had found every information about Connor in the system. Connor Smith was born in 1986, and he had a little sister named Yasmin. Both their parents died in a car accident. Connor was only nine years old, and his sister was five when the accident happened.
• Moreover, the other driver involved in the accident had also died on the spot. Because of that, Connor and Yasmin did not receive much compensation. Later, they were both adopted by their uncle, a powerful city official in Horington.
• The truth was, the siblings had been very obedient while they lived at their uncle's place. Unfortunately, an incident ten years ago changed Connor's life forever.
• That day, Connor and Yasmin were at home with their uncle's wife, Yannie Hemmings. She was a beautiful woman at the age of thirty-six.
• Yannie had a younger brother named Joseph, who was a junkie. That night, Joseph came to their house and asked Yannie for money. After countless times of doing so, Yannie became disappointed by his repetitive behavior. Hence, she rejected him.
• However, Joseph was an unreasonable man. Upon realizing he was not getting any money, he begged Yannie and smashed his head until it bled, crying like a baby as he did so.
• Yannie merely ignored him.
• Eventually, Joseph became enraged by her attitude and choked her, forcing her to give him money. He even brought a knife with him. It was clear that he had come prepared.
• Connor was only eighteen then. As he tried to pull Joseph away from the petrified Yannie, Joseph stabbed Connor's hand with his knife.
• Yasmin was so afraid that she called the police.
• As soon as Joseph saw her calling the police, he instantly tried to harm her life.
• Connor had been anxious at that time, so he went to the kitchen to look for a knife. Once he found one, he went straight for Joseph's throat. As a result, Joseph died then and there.
• Although what Connor did to Joseph could have been considered self-defense, Yannie's parents had refused to let him off.
• There was nothing Yannie could have said, as she did not dare to go against her parent's wishes.
• Back then, Yannie's parents demanded that Connor should be punished as a murderer.
• Hence, Yannie and her husband had no other choice but to send Connor abroad. Yet, the police had already issued an arrest warrant for him.
• However, the information stated on the computer was not as objective as the truth. Only the time, date, Connor's relationship with Yannie, and the fact that Joseph had asked for money from Yannie, had been documented. Besides that, it also stated that Connor had fled the country after killing Joseph.
• Amber felt something was off after reading the information. Why would Connor kill Joseph when he was staying with his aunt and uncle?
• She could not figure it out, so she went to look for Jonathan for answers.
• After hearing the truth from Jonathan, Amber became infuriated. “Yannie's not any better, then!”
• “Regardless of what had happened, Joseph was still his brother. You can't sever the love you have for your family. Not to mention Joseph had later threatened to harm Yasmin, so Yannie had thought Connor mainly did it to protect his sister,” Jonathan explained. He paused for a moment and added, “While Connor was preparing to flee, he had asked his uncle to promise him he would take good care of Yasmin, and his uncle had agreed. Frankly speaking, Connor had always felt grateful to his uncle. His uncle was definitely a good man, but unfortunately, he couldn't interfere with someone else's family affairs.”
• Amber remained calm while Jonathan spoke, but as soon as he was finished, she started bombarding him with more questions. “You should go look for his uncle, then. Wouldn't that be easier for you to find Yasmin?”
• “I don't know his uncle's name. Connor only called him Uncle whenever he brought him up. I wasn't interested in knowing his uncle's name back then. And then later, Connor died on the spot. All I know is that Yasmin eventually came back to Garland Street, which is the place she used to live.”
• “Well, that's understandable. Since Connor killed Yannie's brother, I'm sure Yasmin wouldn't find it comfortable to continue living with them.”
• “That's why it feels like I'm looking for a needle in a haystack searching for Yasmin.”
• “I can help you with that.”
• “Thank you so much.”
• “I did not promise to tell you anything, though,” Amber said. She then paused for a while before continuing, “You still need to answer a couple more questions.”
• “As long as you can locate Yasmin, I'll answer a hundred more of your questions if you like,” Jonathan replied resolutely.
• He's actually serious about this!
• “Didn't his uncle make proper arrangements for Connor after sending him abroad? How did he end up with you as a ruffian? Wouldn't that have made his situation worse? Don't you think Yasmin would hate your guts if she found out?” Amber asked.
• “Hate me? I feel guilty because her brother died saving me. As for how Connor ended up working with me, it was a coincidence. At first, he was supposed to look for someone in South Adrune, but that person had already passed away. Hence, he was forced to live on the streets, and he couldn't even speak the local language. After he met me, he said I felt like family to him. There was no way for me to make him leave. In the end, I asked if he wanted to work with me but warned him he might die at any given moment doing it. He had agreed.”
• “Seems like his uncle wasn't very reliable either,” Amber responded.
• “After that, Connor learned the ropes from me, and we were always together until he died.” Jonathan's eyes were red when he recalled what had happened. “If it weren't for that accident, Connor would've been still alive. He had always wanted to come back to see his little sister.” As he spoke, he took out a few pictures he had with him.
• Amber took them and saw that in one photo, Jonathan and another young man were in camouflage attire, with one arm around each other in a forest.
• The next few pictures were of them driving luxury cars like Ferraris.
• Amber could tell from the pictures that Jonathan and Connor had been inseparable. They were truly comrades for life!
• Although Connor had grown up, he still looked similar to the photo listed in the computer records.
• Amber gave the pictures back to Jonathan and realized that the latter had turned his head away. I can't believe this monstrous guy is shedding tears. It must've been one hell of a friendship to have someone jump in front of a bullet for you.
• Jonathan quickly wiped away his tears and put away the photos, looking embarrassed.
• “I'll tell you where Yasmin is, but there's one more question you need to answer.” I need to remain vigilant since this is a huge deal, after all!