Female Novel
Chapter 258
“Actually, back when Hector told me that someone wanted to gather all the associations in Horington towreak havoc at the Antique Fair, I thought that the Stalling family either had a mental problem or hadother motives. The Stalling family can forget about their chain of pharmacies in Horington afterambushing the local influential figure in broad daylight. Besides, there was no way that Victoriawouldn’t have caught wind of it. If she had been preparing against this long ago, your plans are just ajoke.”
Casper looked down at the mole and took the bottle of powder over from him.
“Over the past few days, I had been thinking about why the Stalling family needed to do such a thingdespite being one of the most prominent families in Chanaea. Why would they ever think of such astupid plan? After eliminating all impossible options, the truth was obvious no matter how ridiculous itseemed.”
Casper channeled Sherlock Holmes while stating his analysis. It was just that there wasn’t a pipe or hataround for him. What’s more, he genuinely didn’t look like Sherlock Holmes.
“The ambush plan was just a disguise. His real trick must be hidden elsewhere. He only did that todivert Victoria’s attention to protecting the Antique Fair so that it would be easier for him to bribe thosewho were inside to turn against her.”
As the mole was exposed by Casper, the former’s face turned ashen. It seemed that he knew his fate.Gunther was ruthless and dislocated both of the mole’s shoulders. After that, Gunther picked up hisphone and was just about to report it to Tony.
“Hold on.”
Before he could do so, Casper raised his hand to stop him. “There are still two things that I don’tunderstand. Firstly, since the Stalling family is so good at using poison, why did they have to go
through so much trouble to poison the food at the Antique Fair? Secondly, he said that it was a type ofdrug over the phone and that one couldn’t wake up from it without an antidote. Then how does he planto move away those who had taken the poison?”
Stroking his chin, Gunther replied, “There can only be one possibility. There’s still another mole. Heisn’t the only one.”
At that, Casper turned to look at the mole to see how he would respond. However, the mole wasalready in excruciating pain after Gunther dislocated his shoulders. Beads of perspiration dripped downfrom his face.
“I don’t know. I only know that I’m in charge of poisoning the food. There should be someone else onthe inside, but I’m not sure who it is. Besides, they’re very cautious.”
Hearing that, Casper was distressed. “If this person really is that cautious, then we won’t be able to findout who the other mole is. We can only play along and serve the dishes and pretend as if nothinghappened at all.”
Gunther was stunned by his words. “Are you really going to let them eat the food? Didn’t you hear himjust now? They won’t be able to wake up after eating it if they don’t have the antidote.”
“It’s no big deal.”
With that, Casper glanced at the menu on the serving cart before running over to other serving carts totake a look. After selecting three dishes that both the main and side tables had, he dumped the dishesthat had been poisoned by the mole into the dumpster in the back alley. He then picked the same threedishes from the serving carts for other tables and put them on the serving cart for the main table.
“Notify Mr. Lane and Ms. Stalling that they should only eat these three dishes,” Casper instructedGunther. When he opened the door to take a look outside, Casper saw that the waiter was just about to
serve the dishes on the main serving cart.
After asking the mole a few more questions, Casper knocked him out and shoved him under the car.
After Gunther was done informing them, he seemed slightly worried and said, “But Mr. Lane and Ms.Stalling aren’t the only ones at the main table. There is also the Livingston family and other leadingfigures in the antique industry present. What would happen if they ate the poisoned food?”
With a wave of his hand, Casper gestured for Gunther to calm down. “Didn’t he already say that there’san antidote over the phone? Since he doesn’t intend to take their lives, he must have other plans forthem. They’re going to be fine. Besides, I would like to see if there’s anyone siding with the Stallingfamily at the main table.”
Gunther paused for a moment before quickly coming to an understanding. If there were others whodidn’t eat the dishes at the main table, they were probably in cahoots with the Stalling family.
After they got away from the serving carts, the waiters just happened to come over to bring the dishesout. They then made their way back to the banquet at the auction hall.
As of that moment, Winston, Tony, and Victoria had already received the information from Gunther thatthey should only eat the three dishes that Casper swapped out. Although they had no idea whathappened, with their intelligence, they could guess that Casper had his reasons and abided by theinstructions obediently.
After Casper took his seat beside Victoria, she used her fan to cover her mouth and whispered into hisear, “Did you find out that someone poisoned the food?”
Casper blinked in agreement.
A trace of devastation and fury flashed across Victoria’s eyes. “They really are ruthless. I knew theywould do something like this.”
Casper then looked at Victoria and asked, “Ms. Stalling, are you really part of the Stalling family fromJazona?”
Victoria fanned herself gently and replied, “Yes and no. Although the Stalling family’s blood runsthrough my veins, I’m not a member of the Stalling family… I’ll tell you more about this in the future.”novelbin
At that, Casper nodded. He secretly scanned those who were seated at the table and saw that theywere happily chattering away. Stephen was filling Winston’s plate with food non-stop, causing the latterto feel extremely embarrassed.
Everyone is eating the dishes. This doesn’t seem right. By right, there should be one or two people onthe Stalling family’s side.
As Casper narrowed his eyes and pondered, he came up with two possibilities.
Firstly, those who were in cahoots with the Stalling family already had the antidote with them and couldtake it at any time. Either that or they had already taken the antidote beforehand. However, as Casperwasn’t familiar with the drug, the second half of his speculation was still questionable.
The second option was that those who were supposed to be seated at this table weren’t present due tosome reason, which was why they didn’t have to eat the food.
In an instant, two families flashed across Casper’s mind, the Yaeger family and the Hunter family.Those two families had the possibility of plotting together with the Stalling family.
As Catherine left the Antique Fair after feeling disgraced, she wasn’t very suspicious. On the otherhand, it would be normal for the Hunter family to be late to the banquet as they had been constantly
ostracized by the three families.
Casper turned to look at Victoria. “Ms. Stalling, why isn’t the Hunter family here yet? Are they not goingto come?”
Victoria knew that Casper had his reasons for asking this and told him the truth. “Actually, the Hunterfamily helped me find the main treasure that would be the final auction item at the Antique Fair thistime. They will definitely be present today.”
Casper then continued, “What treasure is it? Could it be an ancient relic?”
Victoria nodded. The term “ancient relic” was a code word to avoid mentioning “burial objects” outrightfor those involved in tomb-raiding.
“Although it is a taboo item, I have to admit that twenty percent of the genuine antiques this time weredug out from the ground. Besides, the item was decent, so I decided to keep it.”
She then took out her phone and showed Casper a picture. It was an ancient silk and feather jacketthreaded in gold silk. As it was perfectly preserved, its price could be unimaginable. However, whenCasper thought about how they got it off a dead body, he felt a chill run down his spine.
“Such an item only appears once in a blue moon on Pine Street. It really is a fine specimen,” Casperpraised.
Just then, they started to put up a few trinkets for auction. Although they were trinkets, the objects thatwere auctioned off were easily worth tens of thousands.
The ancient porcelain jar from Casper was also put up for auction. When Tony knew that it belonged toCasper, he immediately bid for it for three million.