But Brandon seemed totally oblivious, his face just pale and expression frozen.
"Mr. Crawley?" The cop called out to him, clearly worried.
Susan couldn't help but call out to him too, "Brandon?"
Brandon's lips barely moved as he gave a small nod and turned around to give Theresa a tight hug, gently patting her shoulder intermittently.
Theresa looked lost as she let Brandon hold her tight, clueless about what was happening.
Without explaining anything to her, Brandon just calmly said, "Let's go."
With that, he turned to leave with Theresa in his arms, but his tall frame suddenly staggered heavily, startling the cop and Susan into steadying him.
"You okay?" The cop asked, concerned.
Brandon waved him off. "I'm fine," his deep voice was already hoarse.
Susan couldn't help but worry as she looked at Brandon. She had seen Brandon
fall apart over Sophia before; his calm now was just not normal.
"Maybe I should call Kent over," Susan said softly, reaching for her phone to make a call.
Brandon raised his hand to stop her, "No need to call him."
After steadying himself, he walked out, holding Theresa. His large frame seemed unsteady, each step taken as if it cost him great effort.
Susan exchanged a worried glance with Grace and they had no choice but to follow. Brandon took Theresa to the hospital with the police to provide a DNA sample.
"Can I...go...see...her?" Coming out of the hospital, Brandon asked in a raspy voice, each word seeming to be squeezed out of his lungs, causing immense pain.
The accompanying cop gave him a worried glance but nodded anyway.
Brandon then turned to Theresa, coaxing her in a hoarse voice, "How about Theresa goes to sleep now?"
Theresa hesitated and shook her head, clearly exhausted but sensing something off with Brandon, stubbornly scared to sleep.
Brandon cradled her against his shoulder, his cheek lightly touching hers, and soothed her in a raspy voice, "Daddy's fine; it's just really late, Theresa should go to sleep, and we can play after we wake up, okay?"
Theresa looked uncertainly at the unfamiliar cop, then at Susan and Grace, and finally nodded reluctantly, "Okay."
"You're such a good girl, Theresa."
Brandon praised her in a hoarse voice, cradled her sideways, and after soothing her for a while, Theresa soon closed her eyes and fell asleep. Brandon carefully handed her over to Grace to take back to the car, and then followed the cop.
"I'm coming too," Susan hurried after them.
The discovered female corpse was still in the morgue. Long immersed in seawater, the body had swollen to a grotesque state, its size and features unrecognizable.
Susan only managed one look before turning away, nauseous, tears streaming uncontrollably. Brandon, however, seemed unaffected, just staring blankly at the highly decomposed corpse, his large body swaying heavily, his hand trembling as he reached out toward the body.
"Mr. Crawley," the accompanying cop quickly stopped his reaching hand.
Brandon didn't struggle but just stared blankly at the unrecognizable corpse, eyes reddening, lips quivering.
Kent, who had been secretly alerted by Susan, rushed over.
"Mr. Crawley," he came forward to support Brandon. The latter didn't respond, appearing numb.
The police, seeing his condition was a bit off, asked a few routine questions about Sophia's characteristics, and then hurriedly had everyone leave the autopsy room.
Kent drove Brandon, Susan, Grace, and Theresa back home. Upon arriving, Brandon locked himself in the next-door studio that belonged to Sophia, ignoring Kent's knocking.
Brandon was shut in for a full day and night. He didn't eat or drink, didn't make a sound, didn't answer calls, didn't respond to texts, didn't respond to knocks.
Kent, who had never seen Brandon like this, was worried sick and feared something bad might happen. In the end, he had no choice but to call a locksmith, planning to forcefully break in.
Fortunately, just as the locksmith was about to unlock the door, it was opened from the inside.
"Mr. Crawley," Kent couldn't help but look at Brandon.
Just one night apart, and Brandon seemed to have lost all vitality, his appearance haggard and his eyes devoid of any sparkle.
If the disappearance of Sophia had left him holding on to a sliver of hope, the body, which was highly suspected to be Sophia's, had completely erased all his hope.
"How's the investigation going on Ivan's side?" Brandon finally spoke, his voice rough from not eating, sounding like gravel had been dragged over it.
"He..."
Seeing Brandon like this, Kent could hardly bring himself to say it.
"Say it," Brandon's voice was hoarse.
"He's been on his own." Kent said, "After quitting Star-Dempsey Architects, he spent some time in Zion City, looking for Sophia everywhere. When he couldn't find her, he went to Wye City alone, stayed there for a while, and recently, due to Mr. Evert's deteriorating health and his company's shaky situation, he returned to West district at Mr. Evert's insistence. He just came back the day before yesterday, rented an apartment near West District High to stay temporarily, supposedly because it's close to the company. There's nothing in his movements that has anything to do with..."
Kent's voice faltered, lowering, "Nothing to do with Ms. Yearwood. He's been alone."