Chapter 88 A Scapegoat
Chapter 88 A Scapegoat
Chuck turned around and calmly cast a glance at Wallace. Wallace explained, "Chief Li, I've already explained to her that we have many cases to deal with. I've also told her that she's not the only person we are serving, and we need time to resolve the case."
"But it's been a week, yet you don't even have a clue. Do you expect me to believe it?" Maria retorted sharply. She was not a fool to easily believe in his excuses. Every time she came here to ask about the progress of the case, no one could clearly tell her the current update. She felt like they hadn't done anything at all. Obviously, they were playing dirty tricks behind.
She couldn't help wondering if it was James who told them not to work on the case. If it was really him, she would definitely not let him go so easily this time. Maria swore that she would haunt him down for a lifetime, and she would be his worst nightmare every night.
Chuck raised his eyebrows and said to Maria, "He is telling you the truth. So you'd better go home and wait for our call. We will give you updates soon."
His words enraged Maria, but she restrained herself from losing her temper. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and said, "Okay. But I can only hold my patience for three more days. I'm giving you another three days, all right? If I don't get a result within three days..." She paused, looked at Chuck's face coldly, and continued, "You will lose your job. I mean it."
Chuck didn't feel threatened at all. He even found Maria's words amusing. He burst into a contemptuous laughter and said indifferently, "Wallace, did you hear that? Hurry up and do your job!" Inside him, he thought disdainfully, 'Who do you think you are? Threatening me in my territory? You must be crazy.' He never took Maria seriously.
Wallace nodded obediently. "Yes, Chief Li." He then smiled with mockery.
Maria could feel that no one there believed in her words. So without saying anything, she left with a straight face.
When she was gone, Chuck took out his phone and made a call. "Is there someone behind Maria Song?" He believed that Maria would not be bold enough to threaten him if there was no one backing her up.
While listening to the person on the other end of the line, he asked, "Norman Shen? Who else?" He was quiet for a moment and said again, "Colby Zheng? Okay. I got it." Now he knew the reason behind Maria's boldness. It turned out, she had an affair with the two bigwigs in H City. Chuck couldn't help rolling his eyes upon thinking about her. Then an idea came to his mind right away.
Three days later, Maria received a call informing her that her case had been resolved.
She rushed to the police station, and as soon as she arrived, Wallace pushed a man in front of her and said, "Ms. Song, this is the man who smashed your coffee shop. He has already confessed to us. Here is the copy. Please check, and if you have no objection, sign at the bottom.
With an expressionless face, Maria looked at the man in front of her. He was thin and tiny, and fears welled up in his eyes. She then asked, "Which shop did you smash?"
Wallace was about to say something when Maria cast him a cold glance. It was a kind of look that made him have his words stuck in his throat.
'Damn it! She's just an ordinary woman, but why are her eyes so frightening?' he couldn't help wondering to himself.
Upon seeing the coldness in Maria's gaze, the man seemed to have bitten his tongue. It took a long time for him to say, "I can't remember anymore."
Maria just let it pass. She raised another question. "Why did you smash my coffee shop?"
"I...I made a mistake. I was going to smash another shop."
That was absolutely the most ridiculous excuse that she had ever heard. She was amused by the way the police had dealt with her case. Fury flashed across Maria's eyes as she tore the copy of the man's statement that Wallace had handed to her. Wallace wanted to stop her, but it was too late.
Ignoring Wallace's dissuasion, she stormed upstairs to see Chuck.
Some police officers followed her and tried to stop her. "Ms. Song, you are breaking the law. We can detain you."
She just turned a deaf ear to all of them. Eventually, no one had succeeded in stopping her.
When Maria reached the second floor, she saw that there were several offices in there, so she looked around to find Chuck's office. And as soon as she saw the sign "Deputy Chief's Office, " she pushed the door open without even knocking. "Chuck Li!" she shouted.
Chuck, who was dealing with some business, was shocked when Maria barged in. With deep lines on his creased forehead, he said in an official tone, "Ms. Song, how dare you!"
But Maria was so furious that she seemed not to hear him at all. She strode forward and threw the torn statement in her hand to his face. "Chuck Li, how dare you use a scapegoat to fool me! Do you think you can deceive me? You just wait and see!"
It was the first time that Chuck received such a treatment, so he got mad at once. He shouted at the police officers behind Maria, "What are you doing? Arrest this woman!"
The police officers exchanged glances before they rushed towards Maria.
"Hold on!" Maria snapped at them. She then looked at Chuck and added, "As far as I know, you were promoted step by step until you were transferred here from a county. I dared to throw a torn
statement on your face because I have something against you. Are you sure you want your men to arrest me?"
She dared to make trouble here because she was well-prepared.
The expression on Chuck's face changed. His arrogance vanished. He calmly told the police officers to go out first and closed the door, intending to have a good talk with her.
But Maria was too angry to have a conversation with him. As soon as the police officers left, she also turned around and walked out of the door, ignoring Chuck's calling.
Chuck was left in his office, pacing back and forth anxiously. Then he made a phone call. "I'm really doomed this time. This is all your fault!"
Maria returned to the coffee shop to calm herself down. The more she thought about everything that happened, the more she got determined not to let this matter go so easily. After a while, she went out of the coffee shop, stood on the roadside, and looked at the tall building across. She sighed at the realization that, in reality, she still had to bow.
She really had the evidence of Chuck's crime. But she still needed someone from the top who had control over things so she could succeed. And to find someone to take care of this matter, she needed a superior leader in this field.
She knew that any superior leader would not investigate a subordinate just because of someone's words. Even if she had the evidence, it could still be difficult since the person involved was working for the government.
Besides, it wasn't even easy to find a superior leader who could help her.
Maria didn't want to bother Norman anymore. He had already done too many favors for her. Lawrence was still on a mission, so it was not appropriate that she disturbed him. After thinking for
a while, she realized that the only person who was most capable of helping her was James.
She went back to her office inside the coffee shop, made a copy of the video from her laptop, and took it with her to HL Group. When she was at the entrance of the building, she made a call. "Summer, tell James that I want to see him now. I can give him what he wants."
"Maria, Mr. Xi is not in his office right now. He is accompanying some foreign visitors to inspect the factory. But I'll let him know as soon as he comes back, then I'll call you back." Summer was left in the office; it was Lorenzo who accompanied James to the factory.
"All right, Summer. Thanks!" Maria could wait. She was not in a hurry, anyway.
Summer smiled. "Don't mention it. I haven't thanked you yet for asking Mr. Xi to transfer me back to H City." She had always planned to
invite Maria to dinner, but they were both so busy that she couldn't find the free time to make a reservation.
"You don't have to be so polite. After all, I am also the reason why James has sent you
overseas."
"All right. All right. Let's just chat more when we both have free time. I have so many things to deal with now. I need to go back to work. Let's have dinner one of these days." As James'
special assistant, Summer was so busy every
day.
"Sure. Don't forget to relay my message to James, okay?"
"Of course!" Summer could forget other things, but she would never forget anything that concerned Maria.
The next morning, Maria finally got the chance to see James.
He set their appointment at six-thirty in the morning in his office. Maria wondered if he did it on purpose so she would be forced to get up early. This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
She wanted to complain, but she had no other choice. It was she who needed his help this time.
James was already in the company, doing some morning exercises in the gym. He was wearing black sportswear, and beads of sweat streamed down from his forehead. Working out had been a part of his morning routine for a long time.