"I think that went well."

Ivan commented once both of them were in the car and Yao began driving, leaving the house. That was an interesting interrogation for sure, and he can't imagine Kasem being the killer at this point, because what would the motive be? If he really was involved with the murder someway then surely money was the reason behind it, but he just sold the company to their competitor, he would have made much money if he continued managing it by himself, but he decided to sell it.

"I guess, at least we know what our next step is for now."

The Chinese man was no longer considering Kasem as a possible suspect, the poor man was dealing with psychological effects after finding his cousin, it just seemed unlikely that he was involved in the murder or related to the other two cases.

"The secretary, he was probably the last one who communicated with Lien Chun."

Detective Braginski knew they would be visiting her office, and hopefully, Emil would collaborate with them and maybe play them the call she made, perhaps they could detect something he didn't and on the report made by Gilbert, there were no mentions of the secretary or the phone call at all, it was a poorly made report if being honest.

"And he's a new secretary too, a bit too convenient for the killer don't you think? Whoever did it knew that Emil didn't know her that well to find it strange she was going to take the week off, therefore he didn't report it to Kasem."

Yao was sure there was a lover involved in this, just like in the other cases. A mysterious boyfriend that murdered the girls. It appears that the murderer dated girls he knew they wouldn't reveal his identity so easily. For example Emma, he was her lover and of course, she wouldn't talk about him since she was still married to Antonio. Then, Michelle, she was planning to tell Mona. Her friends only knew it was a younger man but they didn't know his name because Michelle was trying to keep it as a secret so Arthur wouldn't bother her. Now they had Lien Chun, a very private woman who didn't seem like the kind to go around telling people about her new relationship, not even to his cousin, even if they lived together.

"We could assume the murderer was her boyfriend since he knew about the new secretary and all, it would just be like the other cases."

The Russian was sure that a man was involved in this, the same man that committed the other murders, at the end it would lead them to the same guy at the end, he was sure of it.

"We can assume all what we want but we don't have any proof."

Detective Braginski knew Yao was right, so far they had no way to prove that Lien Chun had a lover that could have committed the lover. They could be sure about it but they needed evidence to support their theory, but there was no doubt that the murders were connected.

They soon arrived at the company, parking in front of the building before getting out of the car and walking towards it. They presented themselves to the security guard who allowed them the entrance and indicated on which floor they could find Emil.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, they saw a small male with white-silver hair sitting behind a front desk, holding the phone by his ear while his hands were typing on the computer in front of him.

"I'll call you back."

The Icelander said before hanging the phone up and looking up from the screen to have a better look at the detectives.

"Good morning, how can I help you sirs?"

The secretary was fairly young, probably fresh out of high school, and took the first job he was offered, at least that's what Yao thought now that he was staring at Emil.

"I'm detective Wang and this is detective Braginski, we're investigating the murder of Lien Chun, your boss."

The boy went silent, looking back at his screen before fixing his view on the detectives again. It had been a crazy month in the office ever since they learned that the boss had been murdered. It was quite chaotic, with none of the employees exactly sure of what happened and what the future of the company might be. He, on the other hand, had no idea if he would be able to keep his job since his boss was dead but for now, Mr. Kasem hasn't fired him yet.

"Could we have a word with you?"

The Russian spoke this time, taking out his little notebook ready to jot down any important details of the interrogation.

"Of course."

The boy replied with a nod before standing up so he could be at the same height as the detectives, although both men were bigger than him, at least now they seemed less intimidating.

"When was the last time you saw or heard about Lien Chun?"

The Asian asked, crossing his arms as he waited for a reply, if the report made by Gilbert was right and what Kasem told us was right, then the last time he heard from her was when she called to excuse herself for the week.

"I saw miss Lien Chun on Friday, a month ago before what happened. Then the last time I heard from her was the Monday of that week, when she called here to explain that she will be absent for the entire week because she was feeling unwell."

So that was true, now if Emil could play it for them would be ideal, if he had recorded the call of course. The Russian began writing down the secretary's statement.

"Did she tell you anything else? And have you observed any unusual behaviour from her the last week you saw her?"

The Icelander scratched his chin, tilting his head to the side, trying to remember the events of that week, which wasn't that long ago but with everything going on in the office, his memory was a bit messy.

"Well, she told me to clean up her schedule since she wouldn't be coming to work, nothing more. The week before, mmh, I don't remember her acting out of the normal or anything."

Lien Chun really was a secretive person, there was little to no evidence that could prove that she had a lover or something like that.

"Do you have the call recorded? Can we hear it?"

Emil nodded, going to the phone and starting to press buttons, Yao was bad with technology so he had no idea what was happening, but the good news was that the secretary did record the call, which could be very helpful to them.

"Uh oh."

The Icelander mumbled, looking nervously down at the phone, the recording was done. His hands were getting sweaty, did he delete it by accident? He wasn't even sure, he hadn't deleted any deleted calls for some time and he had no reason to delete Lien Chun's last call.

"What?"

The Chinese man looked over the counter to find Emil with the phone pressed against his ear while his hand pressed on buttons, he was trembling a bit and Yao already knew that the recording was gone.

"Did you delete it?"

Detective Braginski question, peeking over the counter too, wanting to see what the secretary was doing.

"Maybe, I don't remember deleting any calls recently and definitely not that one!"

The poor boy was scared for dear life, he was the only one with access to that phone, how could this happen? Doesn't this make him look suspicious? He hoped it didn't, the last thing he needed right now in his life to be a suspect for a murder, he was already at risk of losing his job, his entire future was uncertain.

"Are you sure? Can you double check?"

Yao insisted, why is it that every time they were getting close to finding a clue it had to get spoiled. This call was important, he wasn't even sure if Gilbert had even taken the time to hear it.

"Didn't you play this for the other detectives?"

The Chinese man added, he was almost certain that the Prussian didn't even bother to hear that call, which would make Emil the only one who heard it.

"No, you two are the first detectives that have come talk to me."

Now Ivan understood why his partner despised Gilbert so much. How did the Prussian even work on an investigation? The secretary was a key part of it and he didn't even bother to come and interrogate the Icelander.

"I swear that it was all recorded, I don't know how it got deleted.I'm the only one who takes this phone."

Emil nervously clicked on the buttons, looking more and more frustrated by every second, tapping on the phone nonstop. He just couldn't believe this was happening, that call was recorded and there was no way he would have deleted something so important.

"Okay, calm down. Do you remember what she said on that call word by word?"

The Chinese man needed Emil not to get altered. The boy probably deleted by accident and he honestly didn't blame Emil. The poor secretary just got his first job and so much shit was going down for him.

"I-I don't. I mean, she started saying good morning and then that she was sick and.."

The Icelander paused, now putting the phone down as he tried to remember the conversation but he was already panicking, and there was no way he could remember all the details of the call now.

"You know what, forget that. Did she sound nervous or anything? How was her tone?"

Emil took a deep breath, he really wanted to collaborate but his memory was just being deleted with every second that went time. His brain sort of froze, he could barely recall that she mentioned she was sick and was going to take off the whole week and that he should clear her schedule.

"I'm sorry, I just...can't."

Yao sighed, if this was any other grown man he would have slapped them to refresh their memory, but Emil had been dragged into this mess unintentionally. The boy also reminded him of his little brother, Leon. They were probably the same age, and if Leon was in the situation of the secretary, he definitely wouldn't blame him for getting nervous.

"Did you by any chance heard the voice of someone else on that call? Maybe the voice of a man?"

Ivan asked this time, holding his little notebook, as usual, they still couldn't discard the possibility of a murderous boyfriend, because that's what happened with all the other ladies.

"No, no, I don't think so."

The Icelander was wishing that he had paid more attention that day on the call but he was also busy doing other things.

"It's fine, thank you for your help."

The Russian heard his partner said, before following the man out of the office and back to the elevator going down to leave the building.

"Poor guy, he was awfully nervous."

Ivan said, walking behind Yao as they left the place and going towards where their car was parked.

"He's just a kid, you can't blame him."

Detective Wang hopped in the driver seat with his partner right by his side as he started driving out of the parking lot and back on the road again.

"I don't think he deleted the call."

The Russian mentioned. He felt like Emil was being truthful and didn't actually delete the recording, and if he did then it wasn't on purpose.

"Could have been an accident, you know?"

Sure, there was the possibility of someone sneaking in to delete it but the Icelander himself said that he was the only one that had access to that phone.

"So what now?"

Ivan asked, looking out of the window then back at his watch, it was about noon already, but he wasn't expecting to have lunch when working with Yao.

"You hungry?"

Hey y'all! I have a little bit more of time now so I'll be updating more constantly :) So I am mostly active on the hetalia amino and to celebrate the completion of 25 chapters (I know we're on 28 already but oh well) I've made a playlist for the fic, sound track to be precise. So please check out this link where my post is: /p/rrdtvcon there you'll find the link to the playlist as well as a brief explanation on why I picked each song. Anyways I hope you guys like it and are enjoying the story so far :D