The Captain I Married by Chance novel Chapter 420

"This..." Seeing Nora remain silent, the disbelief in Valerie's eyes slowly morphed into agonizing despair.

"Why?"

"Why did it have to be her?"

Seeing Valerie so heartbroken, Nora pulled out a tissue and handed it to her. "Were you close to her?" she asked softly.

Valerie nodded, then hesitated and shook her head.

"Online? Definitely. We knew each other."

"Honestly, any longtime fan knows who she is. We exchanged contact info when we were organizing fan support and birthday gifts. She made a group chat, and we talked occasionally."

"I never met her in real life, and I never knew her real name, but a lot of the veteran fans knew her."

Because of her intense work schedule, Valerie never attended offline events. Michael didn't host many public meetups, but die-hard fans like DevoStan attended private wrap parties and birthday celebrations.

They even held their own fan meetups, building strong connections within the community.

"Did she come to Luminport City for his fan meet?"

Valerie froze, then shook her head. "She shouldn't have."

"Shouldn't have?"

Nora frowned in confusion. "Isn't she his biggest fan?"

"She told the group chat she wasn't coming."

"She said something came up. I saw her posting crying emojis, saying how devastated she was to miss it. We all felt terrible for her at the time."

Nora's eyes darkened.

A woman who explicitly stated she wasn't coming to Luminport City suddenly turns up here.

And jumps from a hotel attached to a mall in the exact same city...

Nora's mind immediately flashed to that tall silhouette.

Why was Michael at that specific mall today?

"Okay."

Valerie understood Nora's concern and nodded obediently.

Nora finally turned and walked out of the breakroom.

"The body is back. We need you to perform the autopsy immediately."

Hearing Nathan's tone, Nora knew they desperately needed the cause of death to dictate their next move.

"Understood. I'm on it."

Nora didn't waste a single second. She and Julia Ryland quickly changed into their scrubs and sanitized for the examination.

Perhaps anxious for answers, Nathan didn't leave to coordinate the investigation. He scrubbed in and followed them into the examination room.

This wasn't the first time Nora had performed an autopsy with Nathan watching. Knowing time was critical, she didn't waste breath on small talk. She picked up her instruments and looked down at the broken body, which had been wiped clean of the surface blood but still looked brutally shattered. She took a deep breath.

"Victim: Maisie Shaw. Female. Thirty-one years old..."