The next day, the detective team operated separately. Report Man had an appointment with a customer introduced by his friend (“He’s from Langley, traveling here for one month. I’ll take him to Fifth Avenue to get a tailored winter coat.”). Spion needed to return to the Academy (“I have classes and can’t take a leave this week anymore. But I’ll make time for investigating the campus.”).
So, on this sunny and cold morning, only Lady News and Trevor went to the Dressrious Salon to investigate Shemsu. Unfortunately, the Reading Room was still closed, and Shemsu was not there. However, they met Ali, who was examining the cleaning of the lobby.
“It’s nine o’clock. He should be here by now. Maybe delayed by traffic,” Ali frowned. “If you want to know something about the professor, you can ask me. Come to my office.”
They followed Ali to his office.
“Want to drink tea?” Ali offered after they entered. “Take a seat.”
Trevor and Lady News sat on the sofa. Ali walked to his desk. Trevor noticed there was a DeepTalk on the desk, but Ali quickly put it into a drawer. He then took three tea sachets from a box on the desk, making tea for them.
“The best Koshary tea. Shemsu’s father gifted it to us.” Ali placed three cups on the coffee table, offering two to Trevor and Lady News.
“Thanks.” They both drank the tea, feeling warmth flow through their bodies.
“So, you want to know what the professor and Shemsu talked about. I’m afraid only Shemsu can tell you that, but I do know the professor wanted to change the topic of his book signing.”
“Change to what?” Lady News asked.
“He originally planned to give a brief lecture about the book’s main topic—how wars accelerate the spread of innovations. But he was afraid someone might use his book to justify wars, so he decided to focus only on the last chapter: warning against wars, especially to young generations who grew up after the Cold War and learned about wars from video games and heroic films. He feared they might be easily manipulated by war maniacs and arms dealers.”
“He came here just for this? Why not just discuss it on the phone?” Trevor said quietly.
“Oh, no. He needed to rewrite the entire presentation, and we needed to redesign the posters to focus on anti-war themes. So, later, I let Shemsu discuss the details with him. The professor required a private room to rewrite his presentation.”
“This sounds like he changed his mind that same day—he hadn’t prepared his new presentation earlier,” Lady News said thoughtfully.
“Maybe. He’s a busy man. The next morning, he had a class, so he left urgently and even left a flash drive in the room. He planned to get it when he came back here for the book signing, but this tragedy happened,” Ali sighed.
“A flash drive? Where is it now?” Trevor asked with renewed curiosity.
“It’s here. He told us to hand it only to himself, not others. But now that he has passed away, we contacted his ex-wife and will give it to her when she arrives.” Ali paused, looked at his watch. “You can ask Shemsu more, he should have arrived now.” Ali pressed his badge. “To Shemsu.” No response. Ali pressed again. “To Little John.” The badge beeped. “Little John, have you seen Shemsu?”
“No, he wasn’t here. I just called him two minutes ago; he didn’t answer.” Little John’s voice sounded worried.
Lady News realized something and asked, “Ali, how could you contact the professor’s ex-wife? The professor wouldn’t have given you his ex’s phone number.”
“You’re right, we didn’t know. So we asked Frau Holle.”
“Frau Holle?” Lady News and Trevor were both surprised by the name.
“His assistant, Frau Olivia Holle. She is a German.”
Both Lady News and Trevor were shocked, a bad feeling rushing through their bodies.
“Does Shemsu know where the flash drive is?” Trevor asked.
“Yes, he put it in the Storage Room,” Ali said, looking confusedly at them.
“Oh dear, where does Shemsu live? We need to find him; he may be in danger!” Lady News asked urgently.
“Little John knows. They live in an apartment together.” Ali immediately called Little John to meet them in the lobby, then they rushed there.
In the lobby, Ali asked Little John, “Call Shemsu again.”
“I did seconds ago,” Little John called again. No answer.
“To my car, we go to his place!” Lady News said.
They all got into Lady News’s blue retro car, except Ali, as there was no extra seat for him. Little John sat in the front and guided Lady News’s driver to the apartment.
“Call me if something is wrong,” Ali considered, waving to them as they left.
On the way, Lady News and Trevor explained to Little John why they thought Shemsu was in danger. Little John tried to call Shemsu several times but still got no answer. After twenty minutes of driving, they arrived at the apartment—an old but well-maintained building. They went up to the fourth floor, led by Little John to the door.
The first inauspicious sign was that the door was unlocked.
“I locked it,” Little John muttered, puzzled.
“Be careful,” Trevor warned.
Lady News pulled a pepper spray from her clutch. They cautiously pushed the door open, stepped in, and saw the second inauspicious sign: Shemsu was tied to a chair, unconscious.
“Shemsu!” Little John rushed to him, untied him, and slapped his cheek, trying to wake him up.
After a while, Shemsu finally woke up. “Ah, finally you came to rescue me. I was so scared.”
“What happened?” Lady News asked.
Shemsu looked at Lady News and Trevor confusedly. Little John explained, “They told Ali and me you might be in danger, so we rushed here.”
“A woman attacked me. At least, I think it was a woman. She was in a tight, full-body black suit that covered her entirely. She had curves, so I think it is a she, but maybe it’s a man dressing like a woman. I can’t tell the sex just from the wear, so I assumed she…” Shemsu was still clearly muddled.
“Shemsu, what happened? Do you know why she attacked you?” Little John asked.
“I was just about to leave, but the door opened by itself, and the woman in black suit was standing there. I thought she was a stripper—you said you wanted to give me a birthday present,” (Little John blushed; Lady News and Trevor pretended not to notice.) “So I walked close to her, and she blew some powder at me, and then I slept. When I woke up, I was tied to a chair. I thought it was part of a play, so I told her I needed to go to work, it might be late, and we could play later. But she just ferociously poured some drink into me. My jaw is still hurting. She’s so violent.” He rubbed his jaw.
“What drink?” Little John asked.
They noticed an empty cup on the coffee table. Lady News leaned in and smelled it—a burnt odor.
“I don’t know, it tasted like burnt tea. But after that, she asked me some questions. I didn’t want to answer, but I couldn’t help it—it was like I couldn’t control my mouth,” Shemsu said desperately.
“Do you remember what she asked?” Lady News asked.
“About Professor Antonius’s flash drive. She wanted to know where I stored the flash drive. I told her.” Shemsu looked at everyone with his big eyes, hoping he hadn’t done some terrible thing, and that they could at least forgive him.