Free Web NovelChapter 53: Chapter 53 Walked into the Gun’s Mouth_1
"So... how do you plan to explain today’s incident, Megan?"
In the office, Aiden tapped his fingers on the desktop with a smile that did not reach his eyes, questioning Megan, who was bowing her head in front of the desk.
Or rather, the former prison guard.
Upon hearing the "good news" delivered by Veronica, his first reaction was to suspend Megan for investigation.
"Well..." Megan, who had already broken out in a cold sweat by the time she was brought in, still managed to force a smile under Aiden’s questioning, "I’m so sorry, it was an oversight on my part... I lacked the capacity and failed to notice the contraband the prisoner had hidden away. It really took the warden’s wisdom to promptly fill in the gap..."
Leaning against the office door keeping watch, Veronica glanced at Megan with sheer disdain in her eyes.
The one who had been obstructed by Megan knew all too well that right now she was spewing nothing but lies, but since Aiden was the one conducting the interrogation, Veronica didn’t say anything. Her primary duty at the moment was to guard the interrogation site, speaking only when Aiden needed her to supplement the report.
"Overlooked?" Aiden raised an eyebrow, "A blanket, a box with a false bottom, even the tin of biscuits mixed with powdered medicine. How many pounds of drugs were there in total that you managed to overlook? Are those two things on your face glass marbles?"
"Yes, yes, you are right to reproach me..."
Wearing the standard smile of an employee scolded by their boss, Megan nodded again and again.
"Such a seasoned prison guard, and yet so unprofessional in her duties, that doesn’t add up, does it?"
"I was negligent, and I am willing to accept the punishment!"
She slickly tried to downplay the incident, framing the essence of the matter as mere negligence, merely a matter for criticism or perhaps a salary cut... even just dismissal would be a big win for her.
But if it were delved into the issue of her taking bribes, that would be an entirely different nature of the case.
Aiden watched her for a while, then slowly said, "All right then, after you take your punishment, you need to learn from this lesson, be more careful in the future, and prevent similar incidents from reoccurring..."
"Yes, yes..." Megan hurriedly bowed and nodded, at the same time, a sigh of relief rose within her.
Considering the severity of her misdeeds, an internal discipline would be tantamount to getting off with just a slap on the wrist.
Lucky that this greenhorn is still relatively easy to fool—Megan thought, just as Aiden suddenly changed his tone, "...You thought I would say that, didn’t you?"
Megan’s face suddenly went pale as she looked up in shock, meeting Aiden’s cold expression.
"When I first came to this prison, I heard about your reputation. Megan, many people know what you’ve been doing. Flandre knows, I know, and I’ve wanted to deal with you for a long time, but I never had enough evidence to take you down for good." Aiden said darkly, "I didn’t expect you to walk right into the line of fire this time, and do it so fiercely. Conspiring with prisoners to smuggle so much contraband into the prison, bribery aside, this alone is enough to keep you inside for a while."
Megan suddenly felt a surge of panic inside her, but she still managed to maintain her composure, which was the result of many years of experience in the workplace.
"Ahaha... Warden, what are you talking about?" She laughed awkwardly, spreading her hands, "This was really just a case of my negligence! Is it necessary to go to such lengths? You... don’t need to make things difficult for me just because you don’t like me, right?"
"I’m really not the type to mess with someone just because I don’t like their face. I’m very fair, only when someone else tries to mess with me will I retaliate," Aiden said coldly as he watched her act. "Recently, there’s been a circulation of drugs in the prison I manage, turning the place upside down. And now it turns out that the drugs were brought in by you. Isn’t this you messing with me?"
"I... I... Okay, I admit, I did take some minor advantages in the past. But I’ve really changed now!" Megan raised her hands in a defensive advance, "For major issues, I still have a clear head, I—" freewebnσvel.cøm
But Aiden interrupted her excuses with a single sentence, "Enough, the two people under your command have already confessed. You took the bribes from the goods, gave them a small portion to shut them up, and then put the drug-hidden items back into the already checked baskets."
"They, they—" Megan stuttered, but finally came up with an excuse, "They want to pin all the blame on me! They are the ones—"
However, Aiden didn’t let her finish, "You were in charge of the scene; you are the responsible party. If you keep insisting, then I can only have Veronica come over and search you. If you are truly innocent, then you shouldn’t have any bribes matching their confessions on you, right?"
Megan was frozen on the spot.
"Face reality, Megan, you’re done for," Aiden said quietly after a long silence. "It doesn’t matter if you know what the prisoners are hiding. The fact that you accepted bribes to let contraband drugs circulate is enough to convict you, you’re a prison guard; you should understand this. Stop struggling, it will only make things more embarrassing for you."
He got up from his seat, walked around the desk, and looked directly into the eyes of his former subordinate, "Honestly, I don’t feel sorry for you at all. But now someone is causing trouble in my prison, and I really don’t want to waste too much time on a small fry like you. If you can save me some time, I might be able to help you get a plea for a voluntary surrender at the prosecutor’s office."
This time, Megan finally couldn’t hold out any longer.
Her mouth trembled, and she finally put on a mournful face.
She collapsed on the ground, holding her head and howling in sorrow.
"Enough, you’ll have plenty of time to cry in prison," Aiden said, looking down at her with no mercy, "First answer me, who bribed you to bring the drugs in?"
Minutes later, Aiden concluded the interrogation and had Veronica call other prison guards to take away the ashen-faced Megan.
Afterward, Veronica, still at the scene, saluted Aiden with admiration, "Chief, it’s brilliant how you figured this out. Now the source of the drug influx has been cut off."
"It’s nothing, I just happened to notice," Aiden waved it off.
Realizing that drugs were at the core of a series of sudden incidents, Aiden, through experience, sensed that these events were merely smoke bombs to cover the real issue.
The influx of a large amount of drugs must have a channel; cutting off this source could solve a series of problems, which is essentially nipping the problem in the bud. fгeewebnovёl.com
"I mean, it never occurred to me to use my nose to sniff out the drugs," Veronica said, somewhat embarrassed, as she touched the tip of her nose, "It’s the first time someone has used my specialty like this."
"After all, I used to work at the Inquisition," Aiden said with a guilty smile.
With the inherited memory, he knew that a werewolf’s sense of smell could rival that of a hunting dog.
It was only because of the impression in his mind from his past life’s world, where drug enforcement police would use certain animals to check customs shipments, that he thought of utilizing Veronica’s unique skill to sniff out drugs.
These kinds of things are better left unsaid...
