The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne) novel Chapter 352

Percival froze for a moment.

Vivienne's mentor?

Wasn't he dead?

After a beat, his eyes narrowed and he grabbed his phone to call Jerry.

He had saved the contact info from the last time they had dug into Vivienne's fellow disciples.

As soon as the call connected, Percival blurted out without waiting for Jerry to speak, "Vivienne said she saw your mentor. Go find him!"

He could grasped Vivienne's implication in a moment. Though she hadn't explicitly asked Jerry to search, he knew she was desperate to find her mentor.

On the other end, Jerry's fingers stalled. But he quickly responded, "Got it."

After hanging up, Jerry sent a message to the group chat. [All hands on deck. Vivienne spotted our mentor within Rivenwood territory. Search party, assemble!]

The message detonated a bomb in the chat.

Dawson: [Did the old coot pull a Lazarus on us?]

Eric: [Just squashed a lab rat and my eyes are acting up. Jerry, are you sure your text said Vivienne saw the mentor?]

Brian: [I get it. The old man's playing us for fools! By pretending to take his own life with poison, he was just testing his latest concoction. He was playing dead before he skedaddled!]

Leopold: [That heartless geezer. I was in bits when I heard the news! He's actually been toying with us! You owe me a river of tears, my mentor!]

The chat blew up with message after message.

Jerry, somewhat exasperated, typed: [Enough chit-chat. Let's start the hunt! If Vivienne didn't call herself, it means the old man's bolted.]

Leopold immediately fired up. [Exactly! We can't let him get away; we need answers!]

Nine people sprang into collective action, dividing and conquering in the pursuit.

...

At the art gallery.

Percival called Thomas, asking him to join forces with Jerry in the search.

Vivienne had dashed off too quickly. By the time Percival notified everyone, she was out of sight. So he decided to wait for her return.

About an hour later, Vivienne came back with a scowl.

"Lost him?" Percival asked.

She shook her head, her expression sour, "He sure is spry for his age!"

She was confident in her chasing skills. But in front of the old man, she felt like an amateur.

She had chased him through several streets, and he had vanished right in front of her eyes!

It wasn't that she couldn't catch up. He just disappeared. He was performing some kind of street magic trick!

Percival looked up at her, "Did you always know he wasn't dead?"

Vivienne dialed Jerry, instructing them to call off the search, before turning back to Percival, "I knew."

She thought her mentor had kept his secret well. But she had sensed something amiss long ago.

Her mother's grave was next to her mentor's. When she visited her mother's grave, she noticed that the soil on her mentor's grave seemed disturbed.

Finnian had his fair share of enemies.

Worried someone might have desecrated the old man's resting place, she exhumed the grave only to find an empty coffin!

The old man had pulled the rug from under her, leaving her the Emerald Monastery while he set off for greener pastures.

"He probably has his reasons for not wanting to meet. When he's ready, he'll show up," Percival tried to console her softly.

Vivienne paused, then straightened up her face, "Who wants to see him? I just want my money back. He borrowed a thousand bucks before he 'died' and never paid it back!"