I Can't Deal With These Girls! [HoloID]

Chapter 13: The Culprit Is...

"You figured it out?!" I asked Sari, unable to contain my surprise.

"Yeah. Though in hindsight, it's a lot more obvious if you've seen what I saw," Sari muttered with a hint of embarrassment, which only made me more curious.

"Let's hear it then."

Sari nodded her head and began explaining what she saw. As her explanation kept going, my expression contorted from confusion into disbelief.

"...Are you kidding me?" At the end of her explanation, that was the only response I could think of.

"No, unfortunately not." Sari seemed to be in disbelief herself from her own explanation.

A sigh had escaped from my mouth before I even realized it. The truth was undeniable, but it was simply too unbelievable for me.

"This damn squirrel, I swear... Hooo..." I let out my grievances while massaging my head to calm myself down.

After taking some deep breaths, I finally came to a decision. "Alright, let's just go ahead and show them what happened. I'm getting the feeling that Reine won't like this," I murmured as I walked toward the exit.

"I have no doubts about that," Sari agreed right behind me.

We exited the trailer safely, where Risu and Reine were looking at us expectantly.

"How is it, detective? Did you find something?" Risu asked worriedly.

"We did find something, but I need to ask you a few things before we get started." I reassured Risu before starting my questioning. "First, you've been driving a truck for a long time, correct? Can I assume that you're familiar with how they work?"

"Of course! I've been driving them for years!" Risu answered proudly.

"I figured as much. You must be confident in your knowledge of trucks since you've spent a long time with one. However..." I knocked on the trailer with my fingers before asking, "You only owned this refrigerated trailer recently, right?"

Risu's eyes widened for a moment. "Yeah, I only had this trailer for this delivery. How did you know?"

"It's not too hard to figure out. This trailer looked a lot newer when compared to your truck. Even the inside didn't have too much wear and scratches. There's a chance that your old trailer simply broke down and you had to get a replacement, but that didn't seem likely. Since you kept your truck well-maintained all this time, it didn't seem right for you to not treat the trailer the same way." I theorized.

"But how is that related to the sculpture's disappearance?" Reine asked.

"It's quite related, unfortunately." I answered dejectedly. "Risu, can you open the sleeping space compartment in your truck?"

"Um, sure?" Risu appeared confused by my request but followed it regardless.

With trained movement, Risu swiftly finished the sleeping space setup inside her truck. Reine shook her head at the ridiculous spectacle, but kept her silence to let me continue.

I crawled to the back of the sleeping space and flipped open a panel, which revealed charging ports available right next to the bed. But at the moment, every single charging port was occupied.

"Sari told me earlier that you used this spot to charge your phones before you slept. Is that correct?" I asked Risu.

"Yeah, I always do that when I'm traveling long distances. But as long as the truck isn't running, it's safe to plug out the cables and use the charging ports. I've done it for years without any issues," Risu explained.