The Promise of Happiness novel Atalie and Samuel

The following afternoon, there was complete silence in the conference room. Everyone was at a loss.

John Williams, the police officer in charge of the case, began collecting the documents scattered on the

table. “If there’s nothing else to add, then the meeting is over. For tonight, follow up on the name list of

girls that have gone missing recently. We have to confirm her identity.” Right when everyone was

yawning and getting ready to get on with their work, someone in the corner slowly stood up. “I have a

question.” Natalie had one hand in the pocket of her white coat, and there was an aura of total

tranquility around her. Her colleagues all turned to look at her in surprise and couldn’t help but begin to

gossip. “That’s a new face. I’ve never seen her before. Is she a new coroner?” “Are all fresh graduates

this bold nowadays? Even the older, experienced people here have nothing to add. What could this

brat have to say?” “I’d love to know what exactly she’s got on her mind.” Effie and Brandon looked at

each other and communicated through their expressions. They thought it was absurd that they were

treating Natalie as some newbie. They were eager to witness Natalie give them a slap in the face.

Meanwhile, Natalie did not mind what anyone was saying at all. She walked over to John and bent over

to pick up some scratch paper from the ground, which had a footprint on it. “Besides the autopsy report,

I also wrote some information down by hand. However, it seems that it’s been treated like trash,” she

commented. Her voice was not overwhelming, but every word she spoke was firm. Furthermore, her

gaze was sharp enough to slice through one’s heart. John felt rather awkward, but he replied, “Hand it

over to me. I’ll take a look.” “Considering you treated it as nothing more than scrap, I’m pretty sure

you’ll do the same thing again.” Natalie dusted off the dirt on the paper. “An autopsy report doesn’t just

contain the victim’s time of death and DNA information. I’ve already stitched the corpses of the two

female victims back together. Even though their faces are distorted beyond recognition, telltale signs on

their body tell me they were married with a good financial situation. They regularly received beauty

treatments,” Natalie explained. “Considering all of this, there are only three people on the name list who

are possible candidates. When you take into account the victim’s age, that narrows it down to two—

Lisa Moore and Jean Gray. You can get the family members of those two women to come in for a DNA

test. The investigation department needs to work harder and find the third missing woman before

something bad happens to her,” she continued to stress. “Whoever this criminal is, they make clean

cuts. They don’t have a drop of sympathy in them, and they’re a serial killer as well—a typical

sociopath. If we don’t hurry and take the chance to get them behind bars, then even more women will

be put in danger.” Natalie steadily placed the document in front of John, who quickly skimmed through

it. He realized that everything she had said was the truth, and it was impressive how she had narrowed

down a list of hundreds of people to just two women. “I didn’t have the time to introduce myself to

everyone because of this case, so I’ll do it now. I’m Natalie Nichols, specially-appointed coroner of the

Major Crimes Unit. I’m looking forward to working with all of you,” she greeted with a tranquil gaze. The

people in the conference room burst into an uproar. “I thought the coroner would be some forty-year-old

lady, not someone this young.” “Wait, doesn’t that mean we don’t have to search for every single

person on the name list?” “She’s our saving grace!” Natalie didn’t pay their praise any mind. “That’s all I

have to say, so I’ll be taking my leave now. I hope all of you will continue putting in your best effort so

that I don’t have to work overtime often.” An imperceptible smile crept up on her face. All of her

colleagues watched in awe as she left. She had stunned them to their core. The fact that she was only

in her twenties didn’t matter. There was nobody in the Major Crimes Unit who could match her level of

observance. She had saved everyone many nights of intense investigation. Meanwhile, in the changing

room, Natalie had just taken off her white coat when she received a call from Xavian. “Are you so busy

that you forgot about me, Mommy?” Xavian asked. Despite his grumbling, there was no trace of blame

in his tone. Instead, it was just heartwarming. “Nevermind. You can forget me, but don’t forget to get

some proper food and rest. I made mushroom soup for you. You can have some when you get back.”

Natalie couldn’t help but blow her phone a kiss as she pictured Xavian cooking for her. “I love you so

much, Sweetheart.” “I love you too, Mommy.” After telling Natalie a few more things, Xavian hung up

the phone reluctantly. “Boss, I heard you calling someone ‘Sweetheart’ over the phone just now. Was

that your boyfriend?” Effie couldn’t hold her curiosity back. Boyfriend? Natalie let out a giggle and gave

Effie a pat on the shoulder. “You know, Effie, there are quite a number of people who I call

‘Sweetheart.’“ Her words left Effie dumbstruck. She was under the impression that Natalie had a few

boy toys aside from Samuel, who had ordered delivery for her. In the meantime, Natalie made her way

downstairs and left the building of the Major Crimes Unit. However, she had only taken a few steps out

when a polished Hummer came to a stop beside her. The door swung open. Before Natalie could even

see who had stepped out, she was pulled into the backseat.