Chapter 2

My destination was Drakemoor too. I had only taken this ride because my own car had broken down.

And I had traveled this mountain road countless times before.

I knew this road well. It was close to a popular tourist area, so there was no reason for the cell signal to disappear.

Yet the moment our car broke down, all our phones lost signal at the exact same time.

That meant there was only one possibility. Someone had used a signal jammer.

But I kept that information to myself. I didn't want to alert or provoke the killer.

After giving them the explanation I had prepared, I said, "I used to be a doctor. I could tell right away that her death wasn't natural. I asked everyone to introduce themselves so we could narrow down the list of suspects and keep everyone else safe.

"Your car was working perfectly, yet it suddenly broke down. That could have been done on purpose. And if the killer planned this in advance, then he must have known the victim.

"So, based on what we know, the best way to find the killer is to look for something suspicious about his identity."

During the entire trip, the four passengers had barely spoken. The only one who talked a lot was the driver.

That meant that, on the surface, the five of us were complete strangers.

But the killer clearly knew the dead woman, and he was pretending that he didn't.

"Why should I believe you?" the driver demanded.

He was still gripping the wrench tightly.

I raised both hands to show that I wasn't a threat. "You don't have to believe me. We can stay quiet and wait here until morning. But do you really think the killer will just sit around with us and wait for help and the police to arrive?"

The killer had chosen this method because he wanted to get away with murder. He must have had another plan to cover his tracks.

For us, the best choice was to expose everything and force the killer into a situation where he had to defend himself.

That meant only one of the four of us would resist my suggestion—the killer.

The driver seemed to realize this too.

He gritted his teeth and said, "I'm the driver, so I'll go first. I didn't know the victim at all. She got my car through the ride-hailing app. Look. Here's the trip record from the app. It shows that the system assigned her to me automatically.

"And I already told you that I suddenly got a job in Drakemoor, but I couldn't get a ticket, so I had no choice but to drive there myself. There's no way I'm the killer!"

After he finished, the other three passengers looked at me and waited for my response.

My earlier words had clearly established me as the one in charge.

"Sir, I need to search your car to verify what you just said."

He didn't hesitate. "Go ahead. Search it all you want. But if you're going to search my car, then search everyone's luggage too. The woman looks like she was poisoned. Maybe we can find the poison!"

I let out a quiet breath of relief. He had said exactly what I wanted to say.

I already believed the driver, Melvin Winston, was probably innocent.

But I still needed to search the luggage for the signal jammer.

I had deliberately kept the jammer a secret.

If I told everyone about it, the killer might realize that I was onto him and kill someone else.

After searching Melvin's luggage, I found nothing suspicious.

Next, I reached for the pregnant woman's backpack.

But the moment I picked it up, she suddenly jumped and snatched it back from me. "I... I'm not the killer, but you can't touch anything inside!"