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Chapter 58 - The Investigators

Somewhere else, Juson and Hakiten had already achieved part of their goal. They had found the place where Genido worked, although neither of them was certain that the room truly belonged to him. They needed something that could prove Genido's presence. The open doorway led them into a small pathology laboratory, but entering the room did not make either of them feel safer. Instead, the pressure to find a clue became heavier. Juson remained near the entrance while Hakiten slowly moved toward the workplace, his eyes travelling along the long slab and the objects scattered across it. His attention eventually settled on something larger than it initially appeared. A white suitcase, the same kind that had previously carried a fetus, lay inside the room. 

Hakiten moved toward the left side of the laboratory, where a cupboard stood with its contents scattered across the floor exactly as Genido had left them. His hands moved toward the suitcase before his mind had fully decided what he was doing. He placed his thumb against the clip-lock, but before he could open it, Juson struck an object on the floor. It rolled across the room and crashed into a small drawer.

 In the lower section of that drawer rested another white suitcase, the actual one and beside it was a folder of documents. Hakiten stepped back and withdrew his hands, turning toward Juson, who was standing beside the wooden cupboard and staring at an empty section. Hakiten approached him and asked why he was standing so still. Juson did not answer immediately. Instead, he whispered and asked whether Hakiten could hear a humming sound coming from the wall. Hakiten took a deep breath and focused on the sound. At first it seemed distant, but as the room became completely silent, the humming became clearer. Neither of them yet knew that the sound was coming from the hidden laboratory beyond the wall. Juson moved closer to the empty cupboard and turned his right ear toward one of its racks. Hakiten remained quiet, his eyes searching across the ransacked table without even knowing what he was looking for. 

Then Juson's attention shifted. A small lock caught his eye, and a faint flickering glow seemed to emerge from it. He stepped back and asked what exactly the lock was. Hakiten did not answer. He had noticed a key lying near the edge of the table. For a couple of seconds, nothing moved. Then the faint jingle of four keys broke the silence. Hakiten inserted one into the lock and, with Juson's help, turned it. The creaking sound of the wooden structure echoed through the room. Behind the cupboard was a door, already standing wide open. Why would Genido leave such an important entrance exposed in the middle of such a tense situation? Neither of them knew. 

Somewhere near the hospital, Genido stood inside another room of his house, wearing a green shirt. The doors of an almirah stood wide open, revealing four or five glass bottles and tube-pipes beside them. He pulled out a bottle and a pipe and placed them on the table beside him.

 At that exact moment, his phone rang. The screen displayed the only name he had been expecting: the doctor. Genido answered. The doctor asked where he currently was, while the assistant placed a notebook containing several written points in front of him. Genido remained silent for a moment before asking about the supply he had requested. The doctor answered quickly, though a slight crack in his voice betrayed his tension. He explained that the supply was exactly why he had called and asked Genido to meet him to receive it. Genido immediately asked about the suitcase. The question made the doctor hesitate before he admitted that he had not obtained it. 

Genido's suspicion deepened. The doctor attempted to convince him to meet anyway, but something else had already begun forming inside Genido's mind. After another moment of silence, he asked whether the doctor was currently inside Genido's hospital laboratory. The question came directly from his suspicion. He did not wait for a proper answer and continued questioning him. Before the doctor could provide a solid location, Genido hung up after saying that he would come to the hospital and beat him down.

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