Chapter 364 A Warning for Zara
It was not unusual for the police to know how to contact Zara. What was unusual was that their visit had something to do with Hubery and the incident from the night before.
"He's missing?"
Zara stared at the officers who had shown up at her door, looking completely innocent.
"Officers, this doesn't make any sense. What does his disappearance have to do with me?
I barely even know him. Yes, we went to school together, but we hadn't spoken in years and hadn't seen each other since graduation.
He only added me on WhatsApp a few days ago.
Why would you come to me just because he disappeared? "
She truly was innocent.
Could the people Hubery had offended still have been angry after Dylan stepped in? Had they sent someone after him anyway?
"We looked into your relationship with Hubery, and you're right.
There doesn't seem to be any meaningful connection between you," one of the officers explained awkwardly.
"But according to his girlfriend, he was taken away by a very strange young woman.
She said that if Hubery was going to survive, you had to go find her. "
The officers clearly did not know what to make of it either.
To be precise, Hubery's girlfriend had called the police immediately. Her report had sounded so bizarre that they had checked the parking lot surveillance footage, only to find absolutely nothing.
Even so, she insisted that Hubery had been taken by someone with supernatural abilities.
The police had been left speechless.
But Hubery really was missing, and this was the only lead they had, so they had come to question Zara.
Zara felt trouble closing in around her.
"What does any of this have to do with me?
I don't even know who took him. What am I supposed to do?
Are you suggesting I kidnapped him? I can prove where I was.
I stayed home yesterday and today, aside from going to the supermarket for a few things.
There are cameras everywhere. You can check the surveillance footage from my neighborhood yourselves. "
The two officers exchanged a hesitant glance.
There was nothing they could do. They had no evidence connecting Zara to Hubery's disappearance, and the woman described by his girlfriend looked nothing like her.
One of them asked again, "She specifically said that if Hubery was going to live, you had to find her. Miss Zara, are you certain you don't know anything that might help us?"
Zara almost laughed. "To put it bluntly, Hubery and I barely qualify as acquaintances. Whatever happens to him has nothing to do with me. Don't try to guilt-trip me into taking responsibility for some stranger."
With no other option, the police began checking the surveillance footage to verify Zara's whereabouts.
The recordings confirmed that Zara had never gone anywhere near the place where Hubery disappeared. In fact, she had been nowhere close.
The investigation took quite a while. Just as the officers seemed to run out of leads, they received a message and hurried back to the station.
Zara could not make sense of the whole ridiculous situation, so she called Dylan and asked what had happened after the incident at the bar.
According to him, everyone had gone home afterward. No one had bothered with Hubery again.
When he heard that the police had questioned Zara, he sounded startled. "Did those people do something after all? Don't worry, Zara. I'll look into it."
If anyone dared frame Zara, they were not only provoking her but also challenging Dylan and Lucian. Did they no longer want to survive in Magior?
Before Dylan could uncover anything, however, the police returned.
This time, their expressions were grave.
They found Zara again and showed her a photograph.
Hubery was dead.
His death looked completely natural. There were no visible wounds or signs of trauma.
The disturbing part was the message written beside his body in his own blood.
"If she won't come, you don't get to live. Next will be an Ashford."
Zara fell silent.
Zara first observed three minutes of silence for Hubery.
But the moment the killer left a threat behind, the situation changed completely.
Up to now, even the people from the other world had limited themselves to verbal threats. They had not dared target Zara's family directly.
The last time someone had so much as touched Nancy, they had paid a devastating price.
The people from the other world had learned their lesson. They knew better than to come after Zara head-on now.
Yet someone had just openly threatened her with death.
Hubery himself had nothing to do with Zara. That was not the point. The point was that someone had killed him, left a message in his blood, and made it perfectly clear that one of Zara's family members would be next.
Someone clearly had a death wish.
Zara narrowed her eyes.
She was not being arrogant. The killer obviously had no idea that Hubery meant nothing to her. Most likely, they had happened to hear him claim that he knew Zara and decided to use him as an easy target.
That suggested a simple pattern: anyone connected to Zara was fair game.
And indiscriminate attacks meant the killer acted entirely on impulse.
No ordinary person on Earth possessed that kind of power. The culprit was probably connected to the other world, but not under its control.
Zara pieced everything together almost instantly and called her younger siblings first.
Honestly, now that Nancy had awakened her abilities, Zara worried about her far less. If anything serious happened, Nancy could defend herself, and the moment she unleashed her power, Zara would know.
Karen, Wilson, and the others were a different story.
They were all at school. After thinking it over, Zara called their teachers and arranged for them to take some time off and stay home.
She might joke around and act careless most of the time, but when real danger was involved, she would never gamble with her siblings' lives.
Once everything was arranged, Wilson and the others replied that they would head home immediately.
After another moment's thought, Zara even had Soraya picked up from kindergarten.
Then another question occurred to her.
The message had said that an Ashford would be next.
Did Lucian count?
After all, he was technically her fiancé.
That was an impossible question.
Zara set up a few protective measures around the house and ordered Aurelion and the others not to go outside. Then she headed to the police station to learn more about Hubery's death.
Once there, she asked to see his body.
The police refused, explaining that she did not have the necessary clearance.
This was exactly when personal connections became useful.
Without hesitation, Zara called Allen. Not long afterward, she received authorization to view the body.
Hubery's remains had been placed in the morgue, and the medical examiner had just finished the autopsy.
The circumstances surrounding his death were bizarre, and because the murder had taken place in Magior, the police were treating the case extremely seriously.
The moment Zara saw Hubery's body, she sensed a deeply hostile presence.
It did not come from Hubery himself. His body had been in contact with the killer, and a faint trace of that person's aura still clung to him.
Zara stood with her arms folded, her expression unchanged. She even appeared remarkably relaxed.
The female officer accompanying her was surprised. Most young women would have been visibly frightened in front of a corpse.
Zara, however, showed no fear whatsoever.
Her composure was extraordinary.
And considering that she was still connected to the case...
While the officer was quietly studying her with suspicion, Zara suddenly stepped forward and pulled the white sheet away from Hubery's body.
The officer paused and nearly stopped her. But since Zara had already received permission to examine the body, she ultimately remained silent.