The Captain I Married by Chance novel Chapter 399

The detective nodded and spun around to make the call.

Nora assumed this would be a straightforward request.

After all, Quinn seemed incredibly desperate about Michael's safety.

To her surprise, the detective returned minutes later with a sour look on his face. "She said she doesn't have time."

"Doesn't have time?" Nora asked, genuinely bewildered. "What is she so busy with?"

Was she buried in prep for Michael's fan event?

But event coordination was usually handled by logistics and PR teams. As his manager, she just needed to oversee the final approvals.

Besides, how long would a trip to the precinct really take?

If she was truly that terrified for her client's life, shouldn't she be rushing down here to give the police every single detail to speed up the investigation?

Why was she being so uncooperative?

"I have no idea. When I pressed her, she just hung up on me."

The detective sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration. "Dealing with these Hollywood types is a nightmare."

"Some of these people get a million followers and suddenly think they're royalty. They're the ones begging us for help, so why do we have to grovel to get a statement? Wouldn't it be better for everyone if we just solved this quickly?"

Nathan glanced at the exasperated detective and said calmly, "Try her one more time. If she refuses again, let it go. We'll find a backdoor through someone else on his staff."

Nora looked at Nathan, slightly surprised.

He was being unusually accommodating.

Normally, if a witness blew him off, he'd be kicking down their front door with a warrant.

But Nora understood the politics at play. Dealing with high-profile figures required a velvet glove.

Public perception was a volatile beast.

If an A-lister like Michael went online and trashed the department, the fallout would be catastrophic.

More importantly, it would contaminate the entire investigation.

The reason Mr. Adams was keeping this under wraps was to prevent mass hysteria.

If the press caught wind of a serial threat, the media circus would paralyze the precinct.

That didn't fit the psychological profile of an obsessed stalker desperately trying to get noticed.

"It's simple," Nathan replied, his voice clinical. "A threat like this serves one of two purposes."

"First: it's a genuine warning."

"It means the killer is actively preparing to execute a mass-casualty event."

"Second: it's psychological torture."

"It means the sender hates these people and gets off on watching them squirm, hoping to strip away their glamorous facades and expose their ugly, terrified true colors."

"Right now, all we have is paper and ink. We don't have enough data to determine which profile fits."

He paused, the silence stretching for a few heavy seconds.

When Nora looked up, she found him rubbing the bridge of his nose, his expression grim.

"But my gut tells me this case is going to end in blood."

Which meant Nathan firmly believed it was the first option.