Chapter 70: Evidence
The crimson countdown floated in the corner of my vision.
It wasn’t like the blue System windows.
This one felt heavier.
More insistent.
Almost impatient.
The old pocket watch rested on the cracked concrete floor a few meters ahead, its silver casing dulled by age. Under the harsh warehouse lights, the fractured glass reflected countless tiny shards of white.
Its hands remained frozen.
11:17.
Noah was the first to move.
He stepped carefully toward it but stopped halfway.
"Don’t touch it."
Professor Ellis’s voice cut through the silence.
His breathing was still uneven, but the urgency in his tone was unmistakable.
Noah turned.
"Professor?"
Ellis slowly struggled to his feet, leaning against the concrete pillar for support.
"I’ve seen one before."
My heart skipped.
"You have?"
He nodded weakly.
"Eight years ago."
The warehouse fell silent again.
Even the distant police sirens seemed to fade for a moment.
Professor Ellis stared at the watch as though looking at an old nightmare.
"It was identical."
"The cracked glass."
"The stopped hands."
"The scratches around the crown."
"I thought it was ordinary evidence."
His expression hardened.
"It wasn’t."
The countdown continued.
00:09:31
Noah noticed my gaze lingering on the watch.
"You see something?"
"...Maybe."
I couldn’t tell him about the timer.
Not yet.
Professor Ellis took a slow breath.
"When I first began researching the Pocket Watch Murders, I tracked down one of the retired detectives who worked the earliest case."
"He told me something that never entered the official report."
"What?"
"The watch disappeared."
"We know that," Noah replied.
Professor Ellis shook his head.
"No."
"I don’t mean it went missing from storage."
"I mean..."
His voice lowered.
"It disappeared while he was holding it."
Neither Noah nor I spoke.
"He said the evidence bag suddenly became empty."
"He thought someone had played a prank."
"But the surveillance footage..."
Professor Ellis swallowed.
"...showed nobody entering the room."
The countdown ticked lower.
00:08:57
Noah looked back toward the watch.
"You believe him?"
"I didn’t."
"Not until tonight."
He looked toward the warehouse entrance where Lucien had vanished.
"Now..."
"I’m not so certain."
Outside, tires screeched.
The police had arrived.
Flashlights swept across the depot yard.
Someone shouted.
"This way!"
Another voice answered.
"Warehouse!"
Noah exhaled in relief.
"They’re here."
He looked at the watch.
"We leave it exactly where it is."
I opened my mouth.
Then stopped.
The System objective echoed inside my mind.
Find the owner of the watch before it disappears.
Failure.
Evidence Lost.
If the police secured the warehouse...
Would the watch still vanish?
Or was the countdown inevitable?
Footsteps thundered toward the entrance.
Three officers rushed inside with weapons drawn.
"Police!"
"Everyone step away from each other!"
Noah immediately raised both hands.
"We’re students."
"The missing professor is here."
One officer hurried toward Professor Ellis while another remained focused on Noah and me.
The third scanned the warehouse.
"Was there another man?"
Noah answered immediately.
"Yes."
"Silver hair."
"Long black coat."
"He left seconds ago."
The officer nodded into his radio.
"Suspect fleeing east side."
"Units intercept."
Two officers sprinted back outside.
The remaining officer crouched beside Professor Ellis.
"Can you walk?"
"I think so."
"We’ll get medical assistance."
The countdown reached—
00:07:43
I couldn’t take my eyes off the watch.
An older detective entered the warehouse a few moments later.
His graying hair was cut short, and years of field work showed in the lines around his eyes.
He surveyed the room once before noticing the object on the floor.
"Nobody touch that."
His voice was sharp.
He approached carefully, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.
Professor Ellis suddenly spoke.
"Detective..."
"I wouldn’t."
The detective looked over.
"And you are?"
"Professor Andrew Ellis."
"I’ve been researching the Pocket Watch murders."
Recognition flickered across the detective’s face.
"...You’re the academic who’s been requesting old case files."
Professor Ellis nodded.
"Then listen to me."
"Don’t pick it up."
The detective frowned.
"It’s evidence."
"I know."
"But please..."
"Don’t."
The detective studied him for a long moment.
Finally, he crouched without touching the watch.
"What exactly are you suggesting?"
Professor Ellis hesitated.
"If I told you..."
"...you’d think I’d suffered a concussion."
"I’ll decide that."
The professor looked exhausted.
"It disappears."
The detective blinked.
"...Excuse me?"
"The watches."
"They disappear."
"No matter how carefully they’re secured."
Silence.
One of the younger officers shifted awkwardly.
The detective looked back at the watch.
"I’ve worked homicide for twenty-six years."
"I’ve heard stranger things."
"But I deal in evidence."
"Not ghost stories."
Professor Ellis closed his eyes.
"I said you’d think I was crazy."
The countdown continued.
00:06:18
The detective reached into his pocket and removed a transparent evidence bag.
He looked toward one of the officers.
"Camera."
The officer immediately began photographing the watch from multiple angles.
Flash.
Flash.
Flash.
Each burst of light illuminated the cracked glass.
For an instant...
I thought I saw movement beneath it.
Not the hands.
Something else.
Like words etched onto the dial.
I blinked.
They were gone.
"Adrian."
Noah’s quiet voice pulled me back.
"You’ve been staring at it for several minutes."
"I know."
"You look pale."
"I’m fine."
It wasn’t convincing.
The countdown reached five minutes.
The photographer finished documenting the scene.
The detective extended a gloved hand.
Slowly.
Carefully.
His fingers closed around the pocket watch.
Nothing happened.
He placed it inside the evidence bag.
Still nothing.
He sealed it.
Labeled it.
Held it up beneath the flashlight.
"There."
He looked toward Professor Ellis.
"It hasn’t disappeared."
Professor Ellis didn’t answer.
He simply kept watching.
The detective handed the evidence bag to a younger officer.
"Take this directly to the forensic vehicle."
"No stops."
"Understood."
The officer nodded and headed toward the warehouse entrance.
The countdown dropped below four minutes.
00:03:47
My pulse quickened.
He reached the doorway.
Three minutes.
He stepped outside.
Two minutes.
I couldn’t see him anymore.
The timer continued.
00:01:54
Noah frowned.
"What are you waiting for?"
"I..."
How could I explain?
The detective began taking statements.
He questioned Professor Ellis first.
Then Noah.
I barely heard any of it.
The timer dominated my vision.
Thirty seconds.
Twenty.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
00:00:00
The world didn’t explode.
No alarms sounded.
Nothing dramatic happened.
The countdown simply vanished.
At the exact same moment—
A scream erupted from outside.
Every officer inside the warehouse turned toward the entrance.
"What happened?"
Someone shouted from beyond the doors.
"The evidence!"
"It disappeared!"
The detective’s expression froze.
He rushed outside.
The rest of us followed.
The young officer stood beside the forensic van, staring at the open evidence bag in his trembling hands.
"It..."
"I swear..."
"I never opened it."
The bag was still sealed.
Completely intact.
Yet inside...
There was nothing.
No broken watch.
No silver casing.
Only empty air.
The detective snatched the bag from him, inspecting every corner.
His jaw tightened.
"Where is it?"
"I don’t know!"
"I carried it straight here!"
"I never took my eyes off it!"
Another officer checked the ground around the van.
Nothing.
No watch.
No broken glass.
No signs of tampering.
It had simply...
Ceased to exist.
Professor Ellis whispered quietly enough that only Noah and I heard him.
"It happened again."
The detective slowly lowered the empty evidence bag.
For the first time since arriving...
The certainty in his eyes was gone.
And somewhere, hidden beyond the dark maze of abandoned tracks, a pocket watch chimed once.
A clear metallic note.
Though every watch connected to these murders had supposedly stopped at 11:17.