The warden who guards the witches.

Suspects

　Five minutes later, the warden's office.

　　Aiden sat bolt upright in his seat, took off his police cap and placed it on the desk, then looked up to see Veronica still standing bounding forward, and gestured towards the guest seat off to the side, "Have a seat."

　　Veronica nodded, before sitting down carefully.

　　"Would you like something to drink? Tea? Coffee?" Aiden asked casually.

　　Veronica shook her head with a formal expression.

　　Aiden stared at her for a while and couldn't help but laugh out loud, "It feels like you have a different persona after only one night."

　　When they first met, Veronica gave off a feeling like a cat with fried hair, full of mistrust towards everyone around her, whoever touched her without a second glance would have to tear layers of skin off of her on the spot, but at this moment, the violent aura of rejecting people outside of a thousand miles on her body had already disappeared.

　　"What are you ...... trying to tell me?" Veronica asked, looking at Aiden.

　　"I just got back from the mounted police side."

　　"You met with Bruce?" Veronica's eyes widened.

　　"Well, I had a little chat with him." Aiden nodded, "The bloke didn't admit to anything, but if I had to say it personally, it's the bloke who's got you in jail no less. Just a few questions and he's already got the word "thief" written all over his face, and now I'm more inclined to believe that you've been wrongly accused."

　　Recalling Bruce's wimpy face, Aiden smiled contemptuously.

　　Veronica was silent for a moment, grabbing her left wrist with her right hand, gripping it harder and harder, her nails embedding themselves in the flesh a little.

　　"How can he ...... do this when I cared for him like my own brother and wanted him to be an upstanding police officer?" She squeezed the words mixed with indignation and disappointment from between her teeth.

　　"So that's exactly what we're trying to figure out, huh?" Aiden tapped his knuckles on the table, reminding Veronica to turn her attention back this way.

　　"What?" Veronica was stunned for a moment.

　　"I can see that he's obviously upset about betraying you, whether it's a guilty conscience or fear of being exposed is another story, but there has to be some reason for him to betray his benefactor to harbour another true culprit."

　　"Are you preparing ...... to start with the motive?" Veronica responded.

　　"You've finally got your wits about you." Aiden smiled knowingly, "That's right, the most common reasons that can make someone desperate are nothing more than personal feelings, profit, and compulsion, and the real culprit always has to have one of those factors. As far as you know, in the mounted police force, who is this boy on better terms with? Is there anyone who could make him voluntarily do such a thing as to harbour the other?"

　　"No." Veronica shook her head without much thought, "To be honest, the internal climate ...... of the mounted police team is actually not very good. A newcomer like him with no background and a weak character will 100% be sidelined, being stuffed with odd jobs by the other old men is commonplace, I'm already considered to be the one who takes care of him the most in the entire police force."

　　"Workplace bullying? Then it's possible to be pushed around." Aiden clasped his hands in thought, "Would he have anything on anyone?"

　　"Not as far as I know, and ......" Veronica thought calmly as well, "I'm also having a hard time imagining any handle that could be more serious than that."

　　"Indeed, and how is he doing financially?"

　　"Not too good, I've heard him talk about it, he's a single parent and his mother is a textile worker. Their family used to borrow money from everywhere in order to go to the police academy, and the trainee police officer's salary isn't very high, only a little over four pounds a month, so it's kind of a tight life ......"

　　"That means it's all very possible." Aiden held his chin in his hand in thought, and suddenly remembered something else, "Right, do you remember who were assigned to patrol at that time of the crime?"

　　Veronica understood the reason why Aiden would ask that as soon as she heard it - under normal circumstances, mounted police officers were only allowed to carry their sidearms when they were on duty.

　　If the suspects were pinpointed to the mounted police team, the ones who had gone on patrol around the block at the same time of day as her that day would be the most suspicious.

　　"Remember, remember very well." Veronica replied with conviction.

　　"You're so sure about something that happened over a month ago?"

　　"After I was caught, I basically thought back to that day every day." Veronica squared her shoulders, "The mounted police team has to gather in formation before going out on patrol, so I have an impression."

　　"That couldn't be better." Aiden snapped his fingers, "And do any of these people have the energy to do such a thing?"

　　Veronica understood what he meant, perjury to put a felony like murder on another person's head was by no means a trivial matter, if the real culprit was forcing Bruce Kane to perjure himself by coercion, if he wasn't grasping at some kind of leverage, he had to have a certain background or a special sleight of hand to be able to do it. If the real culprit was bribed with benefits, then he would have to have some degree of financial power.

　　After lining up the men one by one in her head, she had an answer, "There's one."

　　"Tell me about it."

　　"His name is Jaron Rawdon ......"

　　Veronica had only just started when Aiden frowned, "Jaron?"

　　"What?" Veronica blinked in some surprise.

　　"Nothing, I think I've seen this guy at the police station." Aiden waved his hand, "So this Jaron, is he very well off? Or is he richer?"

　　"A little bit of background, if you will. His father seems to be a councillor of the Silver City Council, and he himself only got his position in the mounted police force after his family had gone through a little bit of connections, and everyone in the force basically knows about it, and he himself often hangs on to it." Veronica said slowly, "As for money, he should have that too. He's notorious for spending a lot of money in the police force, and on top of that he always carries a gold pocket watch that he never leaves without. The pocket watch has his family's coat of arms on it, and he often takes it out to show it off to people."

　　"Sounds rather like a silly son of a landowner." Aiden commented lightly.

　　"You could say that, it's only in the last few years that his father is said to have become a councillor. The so-called family he often talks about has only made a fortune since his father became a councillor, it's not an exaggeration to say that he's a political profiteer." Veronica tugged at the corner of her mouth in contempt, "The bastard's a complete scum himself, not short of money at all, but still taking money all over his district."

　　"Sounds like you hate him."

　　"I've had my problems with him, he tried to make me his mistress once and I refused." Veronica replied with this stern face, clearly disgusted by the memory, "On top of that I had reported him for taking bribes."

　　"I see." Aiden nodded thoughtfully as he recalled the fat officer named Jaron bursting into the parlour with a nervous face to interrupt his meeting with Bruce, "That guy, he's not a bad suspect."