26 - Revenge

He was itching to give the omega another call, but Julian was probably going to ignore him again.

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A low whistle escaped Julia as she scanned the written conclusion on the laptop screen.

"Very well done, Agent Grant," she sincerely praised. As expected from a senior agent who acted as the chief of two prominent divisions at the bureau.

Maximillian shot his colleague a smile. He saved the recordings and the lie detection result in a HoloDoc before passing the device to Julia.

"As discussed previously, I shall await the result of your investigation regarding this matter."

Julia happily took the HoloDoc away from Maximillian.

"Gladly, Agent Grant. As always, it is a pleasure to work together with you. By the way, why did you show him Julian Haas' picture?"

"Just a random irrelevant question to check his reaction," Maximillian shrugged lightly, feigning nonchalance. 

"Aha. But strangely, his answer was recorded as a lie," Julia arched her brow at Maximillian. During a lie detection interview, control questions were supposed to establish a baseline of truth, not trigger lies.

"It seems that he is not a regular witness to this case," Julia mused as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Maybe he is related to Heinrich Krausser by blood."

"He is not," Maximillian countered. "I checked his DNA against Heinrich Krausser's, there was no relation at all."

"None? Are you sure?"

Maximillian gestured for Julia to open her palm. He then clicked on the HoloDoc in her hand and opened one of the confidential documents inside. It was a report compiled by Stefan, detailing a DNA comparison between Julian Haas and Heinrich Krausser. The data were taken from the National Genotyping Registry's database directly.

As Maximillian had previously stated, the analysis confirmed a complete lack of genetic kinship between the two individuals.

"Now I am really confused. When did Lieutenant Morton move to Evergreen Valley again?" Julia scratched the side of her head in confusion.

"Around seven years ago."

"What age was Julian Haas then? Fourteen?"

Maximillian conceded with a nod. "Supposedly he was still in Munich back then, finishing high school."

The mission that claimed Dr. Heinrich Krausser's life fourteen years ago was Nikolai Morton's last mission in Germany. A chance meeting between him and an orphan boy from Munich was thus unlikely.

"We cannot exclude the possibility of detection error," Julia remarked. "You saw how defensive he got. His agitation from the earlier questions could have carried over, causing a negative reaction even to control questions."

"Naturally," Maximillian agreed. 

In the pursuit of unraveling a grand mystery, obsession with a single detail can be a perilous misstep. It was easy to become blindsided, failing to see the bigger picture and inadvertently making the complex even more intricate, ultimately hindering the path to a solution.

When it happened, then one simply had to zoom out and return to the starting point.

"We already deduced that the culprit who attempted murder on Atticus Bates was the same person who exploded the psychiatric hospital, most likely to hide the evidence of his crime," Maximillian said. "Based on the date and location of the attack, this is most likely an act of vengeance, done to avenge Dr. Heinrich Krausser for similar crime in the past."

"That was quite a stretch in imagination, Agent Grant." Julia tilted her head in disagreement. "After all, the ambush on Dr. Krausser was done under official military orders. If the perpetrator wanted to avenge Dr. Krausser, he should be attacking the government and not Atticus Bates."

A glint of intrigue sparked in Maximillian's eyes. "Unless," he countered, leaning forward, "Atticus Bates himself was somehow involved in Dr. Krausser's demise. His meteoric rise from obscurity to Nobel laureate suggests there might be more to his story than meets the eye."

Julia pulled a grimace.

"Academia can be a cutthroat world, you know that. Stealing another scientist's work and selling it under one's name isn't exactly shocking anymore."

Maximillian's smile held a hint of darkness. "What if said work is worth a Nobel Prize? People would kill for less than that."

Not to mention that the Nobel Prize winning invention was related to the rumored third evolution. News of it had sent shockwaves through the world a decade ago, only to vanish without a trace.

The two agents exchanged grim smiles of understanding.

"Speaking of which, Dr. Krausser's reputation used to be impeccable. He dedicated his career to treating mental illness and alleviating the suffering of children with genetic disorders, leading to problems such as autism and Down Syndrome.

He was practically a saint in the medical field."

This was some of the more interesting facts about Dr. Heinrich Krausser's background before he was convicted of the horrific crime at Eichwald psychiatric hospital.

"Such a saintly doctor would never abuse innocent mental patients by forcing unknown drugs into their system, would he...?"

"I don't know," Maximillian sighed, raising a hand to rub his weary eyes. "No one knows. Maybe he was innocent, maybe he was not. Maybe Atticus Bates did something unspeakable to Dr. Krausser, maybe he did not.

Whatever the truth might be, the one we are looking for is determined to avenge him. We should check anyone. Distant family members, unknown relatives, friends, subordinates, maybe even secret fans."

"Roger that," Julia affirmed. "I'm going to check on everyone myself, leaving no stone unturned."

"Great."

When Maximillian turned his head to the side, his eyes fell onto the screen of his phone.

Notifications for several missed calls and chat messages adorned the surface. All of them hailed from family members and work colleagues, but none from Julian.

Maximillian frowned.

He was itching to give the omega another call, but Julian was probably going to ignore him again.

Forget it.

He should find a good opportunity to talk to Julian face-to-face. Maybe Julian would be more accessible then.