TPCF 60

Posted by zahid, Released on September 1, 2025

Here’s a fluent and faithful English translation of your passage:

Anita reached out a hand to help him, but when she saw what happened next, she blinked several times in disbelief before slowly letting her hand fall back down.

Rutger, who had rather roughly dragged a chair in front of the detective, dropped into it with a heavy thud. Anita stood frozen for a moment, then belatedly sat down again.

She’d meant to help him, thinking his injury might make it hard for him to move—but apparently, that hadn’t been necessary.

“The statement from this side as well…”

Detective Russell rubbed his brow with a weary look.

“I’ll write it for him,” Anita interrupted, cutting across his words. The crease between Russell’s eyebrows deepened.

“If Miss Rodel writes it, it’ll just be the same as before, won’t it?”

“Of course it will. I’ll write what he tells me to. And besides, why do you need another one when I already wrote mine?”

Anita, who had been struggling to keep calm all this time, could no longer manage it after seeing Rutger sitting there—his wound still unstitched, blood seeping through the bandages.

“Why on earth did you even come here? Go back and get those stitches.”

“I can’t leave until I’ve given my statement.”

“Don’t pretend to be responsible all of a sudden. You never do anything you don’t want to do. Just go—”

Rutger, who’d been avoiding her eyes until now, finally met her gaze.

“I said I don’t want to go. You said it yourself—I never do things I don’t want to.”

His words sounded flippant, but his eyes were serious. Meeting that unwavering look, Anita’s lips parted, but no sound came out.

“Alright then,” Russell said, waving a hand between them as if to cut through the thick air hanging in the room. “Let’s just get this over with—whether it’s treatment or questioning.”

Just then, the door opened again. Without thinking, Anita turned toward the sound—and froze, her mouth falling open.

The man who stepped inside was dressed in a brown suit. The streaks of white scattered through his black hair revealed that he was no longer young. His face was rigid as he walked deeper into the station.

Anita shrank her shoulders like a guilty child and called out hesitantly,

“Dad?”

“…”

Her pupils trembled. What on earth was her father doing here? As she sat there speechless, Rutger turned in his chair to face the newcomer.

“It’s been a while, Mr. Rodel.”

“…”

“I’d offer you a handshake, but, well—you can see the state of my hands.”

He raised both hands slightly, the bandages still spotted with red, his expression faintly apologetic. Mr. Rodel glanced down at him briefly, then turned his head away sharply.

“Yes. It’s been a while.”

Anita was still dazed, staring at her father’s back as if in a trance.

“Nathan Rodel,” he said, introducing himself. “I’m her father.”

He handed a business card to Detective Russell. The detective, who had been eyeing Nathan warily since the moment he entered, accepted it with a reluctant expression.

“You’re an attorney.”

“Yes.”

The moment he read the card, Russell’s expression shifted into something complicated.

“You two—wait outside.”

“Sorry?”

Nathan Rodel didn’t even look at Anita or Rutger as he issued the order. Anita wanted to protest—after all, it was her case—but Rutger tugged lightly at her sleeve.

“Let’s go.”

“But—”

In the end, Anita had no choice but to leave the station, her face clouded with unease.

When they had first arrived, the sun had still been dipping below the horizon. Now, the sky was pitch-black, the stars already visible.

“Why did he even come all the way here?”

Unlike her mother, who loved to travel, Nathan Rodel was not a man who liked to move around. His world consisted almost entirely of his law office and their home. The only time he ever went far was for work-related investigations.

“Well, I guess he must’ve come for a case,” Rutger said.

“I suppose…”

While Anita lingered by the police station entrance, biting her lip anxiously, Rutger seemed perfectly at ease.

“Sit down. Aren’t you tired?”

“…”

“Anita?”

“This isn’t the time to sit.”

She ran a hand roughly through her hair. Nothing had gone right lately—everything was falling apart.

If things went wrong, both she and Rutger could end up being punished. And if Charles Bennet didn’t wake up… the situation would get even worse.

“We’re screwed. Totally screwed. He’s not… dead, right?”

“You didn’t hit him hard enough to kill him, did you?”

Anita snapped her head toward him, eyes flashing. Rutger immediately backpedaled.