Twenty Two

CHAPTER 22

Luke had just managed to hack one of the most difficult safeguards that allowed him to access the site's secret trading page. his skills were amazing! But he didn't get it easy. His family is talented in technology and computers. Some of them are programmers and corporate hackers, so Luka has more or less learned the ropes.

"I can access it and it's amazing!"

The curious Brittany reflexively brought herself closer to Luke. She looked at the page that displayed many pictures of firearms and other illegal items that were sold freely on the site. All displayed without censorship and restrictions for children. "You've got to be kidding me, Luke," Brittany hissed. "These are all illegal items."

Luke's smiling face turned one hundred and eighty degrees. He didn't look as happy as before. Luke mumbled a little, seemingly considering Brittany's words. Brittany was right about the illegal goods, so why should Luke be happy. He looked in the other direction and called out, "Detective, look at this. They're not just selling guns and drugs. You see this part," Luke said, pointing to the right side of the screen. There were some photos of scantily clad women there. "They do prostitution too."

Nicholas pulled the laptop away from Luke and looked at the site carefully. To Nic's surprise, he saw that what Luke had said was the truth. Illegal goods were being sold freely on the site. How could the site actually escape the security officers or cyber police. He scrolled down the screen and remembered something. "Luke, can you find the list of buyers who ordered cocaine in the past week?" and handed the laptop back to Luke, so he could get to work on his request.

"I think if you just check the previous week, it won't be difficult. But I don't know, let me check it first," Luke said and took the laptop from Nicholas' hand.

Nicholas nodded in agreement. "Then do it quickly. I want to know if Elena is involved in this site that trades illegal goods." and he turned his face to Alicia who was sitting next to him. "Alicia, did you see anything strange in the cafeteria? I heard that you were the one who gave Elena first aid. That means she was still alive when you helped her there, right?"

Alicia shook her head weakly. "She just opened her mouth, probably to say something. But I think the effects of the poison shut down her internal organs quickly."

Nicholas muttered. "I wish Elena had left a dying message for any of us. This case is starting to drive me crazy." He groaned in frustration and let out an exasperated breath in a random direction.

After being stuck in silence for a few minutes, they were all startled by Luke's voice suddenly filling Ace's room. Ace didn't even take a sip of the drink in his hand out of shock.

"What the hell?!" Luke shouted in surprise. Luke rounded his eyes in disbelief, then looked at the people around him in turn. "You guys should see this! There's a list of strange transactions here. They've been sending cocaine to Golden High's address for the past three months and it was still going on until the day Elena died. Elena must have known something about the site and all these illegal transactions."

Ace grabbed the laptop in Luke's hand without permission. "Let me see!" to make sure Luke wasn't messing with his words. But a moment later, Brittany snatched the laptop from Ace as she said, "I want to see it too, Ace!"

"I'll take this laptop first!" Ace held the laptop with both hands.

"You can't! I have to see it now!" Brittany didn't want to lose to Ace.

There was a grabbing action going on. Ace gave Brittany an annoyed look while his hands were still trying to win the laptop. "Britt, you can see it later. Give it to me first!"

"No. I'll go first!" Britt replied, not to be outdone. "You have to let the lady make the first move."

Nicholas then got up from his place and took the laptop from Brittany and Ace. He mediated between the two. He looked at Ace and Brittany and said, "That's enough. You're acting like children fighting over cheap candy. This is a waste of time." He walked over to Luke and handed him the laptop. "You two, just go over to Luke and look at the site together!"

Brittany pursed her lips, feeling angry that Nicholas didn't stand up for her even though they were like brothers. She then looked at Ace and sneered, "You're not very gentlemanly, Ace."

"I don't care," Ace retorted, moving closer to Luke.

Ace and Brittany both changed their seating position to behind Luke. Now, the three surrounded Luke because they were curious about the screen that listed the customers of the site. There were many pictures and videos uploaded by anonymous accounts, but most of them did make transactions through epsan-secret or open messages.

Luke scrolled slowly through the screens until they reached the line of customers who had ordered cocaine in the last six months. Luke found it very easily, strangely enough but Nicholas didn't bother. Nicholas managed to get what he needed.

"This is a list of transactions sent to the school's address, I'll try to go deeper into it, maybe we can see the identity of the buyer who deliberately sent the goods to the school," Luke said.

Brittany replied, "Then go ahead and do it, Luke. What are you waiting for?"

Hearing Brittany's impatience annoyed Luke. He moved as fast as he could. Eventually, his efforts worked.

A buyer's name and profile picture suddenly appeared after Luke clicked one of the random buttons on the list. And like finding a hidden treasure, the four of them discovered who had ordered the cocaine and-possibly-cyanide on the site's display.

The four of them rounded their eyes in disbelief and threw each other horrified looks when what appeared on the laptop screen was...

Alicia Perth's name and a clear picture of her face. []