The Perfect Crime Chapter 3

Bursting out of the building, the sunlight made me squint.

Police sirens converged from all directions, like a tightening net.

I ripped off the trench coat that served as "evidence" and stuffed it into a roadside trash can.

I grabbed a baseball cap from an old man's newsstand, pulled it on, and plunged into the flowing crowd.

The subway station.

I squeezed into the most crowded car, and at the moment the doors closed, I violently tore off the watch Elena had given me and threw it onto the opposite platform.

Metal hit the ground with a crisp sound, immediately swallowed by the train's roar as it started moving.

Inside the car, the hanging screens were broadcasting breaking news.

Elena's pitiful face filled the entire screen.

"My brother must be very scared right now. He'll choose the method he's best at to escape."

"He'll go to the most crowded places. He's on the subway right now—that's the easiest place to hide."

In the car, people began whispering, their gazes sweeping around suspiciously.

My heart sank.

A young man closest to me held up his phone, comparing the mugshot on screen with my profile.

"It's him!"

A scream.

Every eye in the car instantly focused on me.

"Catch him!"

"Murderer!"

I shoved through the crowd, and the moment the doors opened at the next station, I burst out.

Behind me were curses and the sounds of pursuit.

I ran wildly, my mind blank except for the instinct to escape.

At the corner electronics store, every TV showed Elena's image.

She was broadcasting her "manhunt" for me to the entire nation.

"His usual methods have been exposed."

"He's fleeing desperately, dodging through Liberty Street."

Her voice seemed to have magic, inciting everyone's emotions.

Pedestrians on the street, drivers—all joined this nationwide "hunt."

I ducked into a dark alley, finally losing the crowd behind me.

I headed for the abandoned water treatment plant.

This was my final choice, an anti-logical hiding place that even I thought was crazy.

I pushed open the rusted iron door, the heavy smell of rust and mold hitting me.

I leaned against the wall, calmly thinking about why Elena could successfully frame me with such an absurd reason.

However, from the radio in a truck outside the plant, a voice came like a death sentence.

"He's hiding now."

"A place where everything can be washed away... that abandoned water treatment plant in South District."

Elena clearly pronounced this location.

The next second, from far and near, countless footsteps and car engines surged like a tide.

The crash of the iron door being smashed almost overlapped with the sound of me breaking through the back window.

I quickly rolled out through waist-high weeds, chaotic footsteps and shouts behind me.

I saw a foul-smelling drainage ditch ahead.

Without hesitation, I lifted the iron grate and crawled in.

Half an hour later, a glimmer of light appeared overhead.

I pushed open the manhole cover and climbed out.

Just as I was about to hide in a motel, I heard the piercing sound of sirens.

I saw the red and blue police lights, silently rotating.

The car door opened.

Elena stepped out.

She wore a crisp police uniform, her expression calm, as if just handling a routine traffic dispute.

Behind her were Captain Wright and a team of heavily armed SWAT officers.

Reporters' camera flashes strobed like a belated rainstorm.

"Marcus, you've lost."

"Third floor, the room at the end of the hall."

Elena's voice came through the megaphone, carrying a tinge of innocent cruelty.

A reporter jumped in with a question. "Officer Torres! How did you find him here? Did you plant a tracker on him?"

"A tracker?"

Elena laughed, shaking her head.

"I don't need something like that."

She looked around, her gaze finally settling on me.

"I just asked myself one question."

"If I were Marcus Lane, a top expert in logic and counter-surveillance, disgraced and desperate to flee, what kind of hiding place would I choose?"

She paused, her voice carrying clearly across the scene.

"This small village has no surveillance tracking, multiple escape routes. It's a textbook choice."

She looked at the camera, her eyes gleaming with an almost divine light.

"I relied on deduction."

"I understand my brother's mind better than anyone. He can't escape my temple of thought."

"I am the greatest detective genius!"