Toby pinched his nose while asking in a grave tone, "What happened after that? Has there been any updates from the police? What did they say?"
Tom shook his head. "Sorry, President Fuller, but there's no update regarding this. According to the police, Connor asked to meet Anya alone when he went. The police couldn't comply with his request to let Anya off, but Connor is one of the city's biggest taxpayers, so the police wouldn’t turn down such a small request. Therefore, the police had no idea what they had talked about during their private meeting. But..."
"Shoot!" Toby frowned in displeasure.
Tom hemmed. Not daring to tarry, he hurriedly continued, "The police officer who took Connor to see Anya gave us a strange piece of information. He said that judging from Connor and Anya’s manner toward each other, they didn't seem like father and daughter; instead, they seemed more like a superior and his subordinate."
"Oh?" Toby stopped pinching his nose as suspicion showed on his face. "A superior and his subordinate?"
"That's what the police officer said, but I don't know the details. I didn't see it myself, after all," Tom replied seriously.
Toby rubbed his thumb and forefinger together a few times. "Did he explain in detail why they seemed not like father and daughter, but like a superior and his subordinate?"
"He did." Tom nodded. "According to him, when Connor saw Anya, his face didn't show the slightest excitement or joy of seeing his daughter. Even if he wasn't happy, he should've been angry, right? After all, now that his daughter had gotten into such big trouble, he should've been exasperated and disappointed as a father. But Connor looked neither happy nor angry. When he saw Anya, he looked very imperturbable, as if Anya weren't his daughter but someone unrelated to him."
"Is that so..." Toby mumbled thoughtfully while lowering his eyes. Then, he asked, "What about Anya, then?"
"Anya was strange, too. When she saw Connor, she didn't react like she was meeting her father; she didn't look happy at all. A daughter should've been excited and overjoyed to see her father come to save her, right? But she wasn't. When she saw Connor, she was only terrified."
"Terrified?"
Tom nodded. "That’s right. I've confirmed it repeatedly, and the police officer insisted that she looked terrified. People in their line of work would've seen all kinds of people, so there was no way he would've misread her expression."
What Tom said was indeed true, so Toby didn't ask any further. After a while, he finally said, "Go on."
"Yes, President Fuller." Tom continued, "Anya was terrified of Connor from the bottom of her heart. According to the police officer, Connor had probably done something to her before, which was why she was so terrified of him. And besides, when Anya saw Connor, she didn't call him 'Dad' or 'Father.' Instead, she called him 'Mr. Salzburg,' which was why the police officer wondered if they really were father and daughter." The father wasn't happy to see his daughter, nor was he angry or exasperated by her incompetence. On the other hand, when the daughter saw her father, she wasn't excited about being rescued. Instead, she was terrified. This is strange no matter how one looks at it, right?
Toby narrowed his eyes in thought without saying a word. Anya was terrified of Connor, who had done something very terrifying to her. Would a father do something terrifying to his daughter? Well, there certainly are such fathers in the world, but I believe they're in the minority. However perverted Connor is, he wouldn't have done anything terrifying to his daughter—unless they weren't father and daughter! They aren't father and daughter, huh... Toby's eyes flickered as the idea crossed his mind. That's right! If they aren't father and daughter, then all of this makes sense. "Tom," he said.
Tom straightened up upon hearing Toby's words. "Yes, at your service, President Fuller."
"Try to get your hands on Anya and Connor’s DNA samples," Toby ordered in a grim voice.
Realizing what Toby meant, Tom immediately asked, "President Fuller, are you suspecting that..."
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