Chapter 0006 Grace Young (Part 2)

Grace Young parked the car, and someone had already run over holding an umbrella, opening the car door to shield her from the wind and rain.

Grace Young reached out to take the umbrella. She was about to greet Logan Reed, but saw that Logan Reed had already pushed open the car door and stepped out, quickly making his way to the front door of the villa.

Grace Young followed, now dressed in a black suit, looking especially capable and professional.

Her subordinates stood before her with utmost respect, heads lowered, not daring to look at her directly. Logan Reed didn’t look at her either, taking the opportunity to admire the exquisite decorations of the villa.

Grace Young quickened her pace, her long, beautiful legs keeping stride with any man, her gait full of vigor and confidence. She had less of the stage’s grace, but more athleticism. She soon overtook Logan Reed, naturally taking on the role of guide, and said softly, “This house is nearly twenty years old. From design to construction, it was all done by Italian craftsmen.”

Logan Reed nodded. Entering the magnificent hall, his gaze was immediately drawn to the huge crystal chandelier. “It must have cost a fortune, right?”

Grace Young smiled faintly. “Converted to silver dollars, about two hundred thousand.”

Logan Reed was astonished. He had never set foot in such a lavish building in his life. “Behind the red doors, wine and meat go to waste, while out on the road, the bones of the frozen poor lie.” The gap between rich and poor in this era had reached unimaginable levels.

Grace Young gave a brief introduction. The villa had a total of thirty-two rooms and halls of various sizes. Though the corridors inside the building were winding, they connected all the floors. The rooms and parlors were all decorated in Chinese style, the interior murals painted by famous European artists, the door and window handles all custom-cast in bronze, and the plum blossom window railings hollow-cast. Every component, every detail here was close to perfection.

Logan Reed laughed, “Living in a place like this, you’d probably wake up from your dreams laughing.”

But Grace Young shook her head. “Someone died here once. There were even ghost stories!”

Logan Reed felt a jolt inside, as if he was facing a table full of tempting delicacies, only for a fly to suddenly land on them.

Grace Young pointed to the purple-red leather sofa, inviting him to sit.

Logan Reed took off his trench coat, and a servant immediately came over to take it, also taking his hat and hanging it on the coat rack for him.

“Coffee or tea?” Grace Young asked.

Logan Reed replied, “Tea, please. I’m not used to coffee!”

The servant brought two cups of steaming hot black tea, then withdrew.

Logan Reed picked up the crystal teacup, took a sip of the black tea, then gently set it back down. It wasn’t Chinese tea, but an imported product from overseas. “Miss Ye, what advice do you have for me?”

Grace Young said, “Your knife skills are impressive!”

Logan Reed laughed, “I’m not quite sure what you mean, Miss Ye!”

“It’s fine if you don’t understand. What I fear most is someone pretending to be confused when they’re not! The fabric of that qipao was tribute blue brocade from the Suzhou Weaving Workshop, presented to Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty. There’s a saying that an ounce of blue brocade is worth a thousand gold, and now, even if you could afford it, you wouldn’t be able to find the same material.” Grace Young took the qipao out of her handbag, gave it a gentle shake, and spread it out in front of Logan Reed. The exquisitely embroidered qipao had a hole in it. Grace Young pointed at it. “What should I do?”

Looking at the hole, Logan Reed couldn’t help but recall the scene when Grace Young raised her leg to kick. Even though all precautions had been taken, her long, straight jade-like legs were still revealed. Of course, Logan Reed knew that Grace Young’s intentions were not really about the qipao. No matter how precious the dress, it couldn’t compare to a life. His timely intervention had at least wounded William Clark, slowing him down. Thinking back on what had just happened, Logan Reed couldn’t help but wonder: William Clark clearly had the chance to regain control over Grace Young, to kill her or use her life as leverage again, so why did he choose to flee in such a hurry?

Thinking carefully, there were indeed too many inexplicable things about the assassination at the Blue Mill. William Clark fired three shots, all hitting John Robinson. The attack happened after the power went out. Unless he had the night vision of a blind man, it would be hard to accurately target someone in the dark. Could it be that William Clark could also see in the dark? If not, how did he aim so precisely in the darkness?

Grace Young draped the qipao over the armrest of the sofa, took out a cigarette and lit it. She was quite a heavy smoker; in no time, she had already smoked three cigarettes in front of Logan Reed.

Logan Reed couldn’t help but recall the situation at the time. John Robinson had a cigar in his mouth, and when the power went out, the glow of the cigar became an obvious target, which William Clark could use as a reference for aiming. Logan Reed clearly remembered that William Clark had only fired one shot into the private room, which showed his great confidence in his marksmanship. There was another reason: he was probably afraid of accidentally injuring others. Judging by how decisively he killed John Robinson’s subordinates, he clearly didn’t care about those people, so the only possibility was that he was worried about hurting Simon Moore.