Chapter 1116 Who’s the Mastermind?
“Little Leaf, you’re indeed very smart.” The solemn look on Toby’s face mellowed slightly as he smiled at her. Meanwhile, Sonia snorted haughtily. “Of course, I’m smart! After all, I’m the first person to notice that there was something fishy going on with this incident.”
“Yes, you are. I’ll reward you handsomely later on. What do you think about that?” Toby’s eyes darkened. Instantly, Sonia’s expression froze as she made a ‘no’ gesture with her hands in front of her chest. “No way! Don’t even think about that!”
Don’t even think about that? Toby was secretly scornful about that. I’ve already gone there, so how can I go back and change my mind? Since he had already made up his mind to reward her, he was not going to renege on his words. After all, he was not a fickle person.
Still, his thoughts remained as thoughts as he did not express it to Sonia. Otherwise, she would surely come up with an excuse tonight to brush him off.
As soon as Sonia noticed that he had stopped speaking, she thought that he had given up that notion, which rendered her relieved. Subsequently, she changed the topic and brought up the incident once again. “But then, how did you know that Professor Randall took a fall after retrieving the documents? You weren’t at the scene, right?”
“This was according to the vice-chancellor’s words; he had a good relationship with Professor Randall. As soon as Professor Randall’s accident occurred, the vice-chancellor rushed over immediately. He saw Professor Randall’s body, which was still clutching to the documents.
Furthermore, the vice-chancellor confirmed with the leader of the exchange students that Professor Randall had indeed gone back to his office to retrieve the documents. I was the new mentee that Professor Randall was about to accept, so I naturally wanted to find out what happened to him. I went to the vice-chancellor and these were all reiterated to me personally by him. In fact, he’s actually distantly related to Professor Randall.
Also, the vice-chancellor’s chances of gaining the chancellor position after the current one retired would be dependent on Professor Randall’s achievements too because Professor Randall was considered to be working under the vice-chancellor. The vice-chancellor’s achievements in the research world would also be linked to Professor Randall’s research topic successes.
That’s how the vice-chancellor would be able to ascend to the position. So, I concluded that he would be the last person on earth to wish for misfortune to befall Professor Randall. Naturally, he would not lie to me about this matter.”
Sonia nodded approvingly. “Since the vice-chancellor knew that Professor Randall slipped when he came out of the room, then why didn’t the vice-chancellor suspect that his death was sabotage? After all, the sudden appearance of a banana peel on the ground’s just too out of the ordinary.
Not only the vice-chancellor, but the police didn’t find this incident suspicious either. They even closed the case swiftly by deeming it an accident, so it just seems kinda odd. I don’t believe that the police didn’t consider the suspicious points that even I could identify. That’s why I have another hunch.”
“You mean that the police and the vice-chancellor were bribed afterward, and even though they realized that there were some suspicious points, they chose to overlook them. Is this what you’re trying to say?” Toby looked at her.
Sonia affirmed twice, “Yes, exactly. That’s the suspicion that I have. This whole thing seems quite strange, isn’t it? It’s not normal for a death case to be investigated swiftly and then become a closed case so soon. Even if it was an accidental death, there would at least be a seventy-two-hour investigation before the police requested for case closure. However, this case was concluded in a rush by the next day, so that’s abnormally fast.
It feels more like someone bribed the police to close the case as soon as possible and conclude Professor Randall’s death as an accident so that no one would investigate the matter any further. By the way, does Professor Randall have any family members?” she asked while looking at him.
He shook his head. “He had no family. His family members lost their lives ten years ago and he was the only survivor back then.”
“That’s no wonder, then.” Sonia pursed her red lips. “That makes sense. Since he didn’t have any family members, so even if the case was concluded hastily, no one would object to that. As for you, why didn’t you notice the suspicious part regarding the hasty conclusion of the case?”
“I noticed that and made plans to relook into the case.” Toby lowered his eyes. “However, before I could do so, I was hospitalized due to my heart disease, so this matter was overlooked.”
“Is that so?” Sonia averted her gaze to his chest. “Then, is your heart okay now? I heard that even after a heart transplant, it’s not your own organ after all, so there could be some issues. Over these years, have you experienced any discomfort in your heart?”
She realized then that she had never asked him about this issue before.
Taken aback by her question, he suddenly froze in response and stiffened slightly. “No, everything has been perfectly fine for me.”
As Toby replied, he lowered his eyes further to mask the emotions inside them.
Not noticing the difference in his expression, she heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that his heart was fine. “That’s great.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. We’ve got a long life together ahead of us, so there’s no way I’d leave my heart issue unresolved.” Toby reached out to ruffle her hair. “Trust me.”
Although he had already found an organ donor, the donor was still alive and Toby was not as evil as to seek a life using despicable methods just to survive. He did want to get a heart transplant as soon as possible, but he would not kill the donor beforehand to achieve his goal quicker. Furthermore, the donor was now on his final lap of life and his body could no longer sustain him for more than half a year. Therefore, Toby could well afford to wait for another half a year.
“I trust you.” Sonia looked at him and nodded with a smile.
Toby retracted his hand. “Let’s continue our discussion. Who do you reckon is the mastermind behind Professor Randall’s accident?”
“Is this a test?” She took a sip of soup.
He smiled and said, “You could think of it that way.”
Sonia lifted her head and rolled her eyes at him. “The answer is so obvious and yet you’re testing me? Do you think that I’m an idiot?”
“No.” Toby shook his head frantically. He had no other option as he had noticed the dangerous look in her eyes.
Sonia snorted with a pleased expression as soon as she realized that he was perceptive. “That sounds much better, but since you’ve asked me that question, I’ll give you an answer. My answer is quite simple actually. Whoever has the most to gain out of this would be the most suspicious person. Let me ask you this, who was it that accepted Mr. Lore as his mentor after Professor Randall’s death?”
“I did,” Toby murmured as he moved his thin lips.
Sonia nodded in response and said, “Then, I’ve got another question for you. After Professor Randall’s death, who became the person to head the student exchange team? I’m guessing that it was Mr. Lore too, right?”
Toby curved his lips into a smile. “How did you come to that?”
“It’s simple. You mentioned before that there were only two people you were interested to seek as your mentor—either Professor Randall or Mr. Lore. Evidently, these two men had a significant influence on the subject of economics studies and they’re the cream of the crop in the industry.
The university assigned Professor Randall to lead the international exchange student program, so it’s obvious that the program was exclusive. Otherwise, how would Professor Randall have been selected to lead them? The university must have been critical in choosing who to lead them as that would be detrimental to the international ties between both countries.
Although Professor Randall passed away before the program ended, they couldn’t possibly put a stop to the program, so it would surely proceed as usual. The university would naturally have to assign someone else to lead the group. Furthermore, that person would need to be of equal status to Professor Randall. The only person who fits that criteria is Mr. Lore.”
“You’re right. Little Leaf, you’re awesome!” Toby put down the red wine and praised her by giving her a thumbs up.
Flattered, she brushed him off while waving her hand. “Okay, okay. Stop fawning over me. I maintain my words; whoever has the most to gain out of these two things would very likely be the mastermind.
After Professor Randall’s death, not only did Mr. Lore became your mentor, but he also succeeded in leading the international exchange students and became the top economics professor in the country. There would no longer be anyone else capable enough to vie for the same position as him. This is entirely something that he benefited out of, regardless of how you look at the situation.”
