Chapter 196: A Family Detested by Gods and Men

Chapter 196: Chapter 196: A Family Detested by Gods and Men

"After verification, we’ve confirmed their identities. They’re the parents of the deceased from the second floor," the chief said as he spoke, handing Evan Keller a file with the information he had gathered on the Ford family. Evan took it and flipped it open. It contained a detailed record of the Ford family’s situation.

Meanwhile, Lynn Grant and Sean Hughes followed an officer from the local station to go examine the three bodies.

Miss Ford’s parents had come from a blended family. Each had a child with their previous spouse, and life was supposed to have continued on, quiet and happy.

But then, while still married to their respective partners, Miss Ford’s parents fell for each other. They insisted on being together, no matter the cost, and even resorted to all sorts of threats.

This included, but was not limited to, hunger strikes, threatening to jump off buildings, and other acts of self-harm, which placed a severe psychological burden on their young children.

For the sake of the children’s mental and physical well-being, their respective spouses and families eventually had no choice but to agree to a divorce.

But when it came time to divide the assets, they discovered that their shared property had already been squandered, leaving nothing but a bank book with a zero balance.

Clearly, this had been premeditated. While making a scene about getting a divorce and threatening their families with self-harm, they had been secretly transferring their assets.

The man’s original wife tried to fight back, but her in-laws pressured her to drop it. They told her not to make a fuss; he was still her child’s father, after all. Money could be earned back later, they said, but they couldn’t risk damaging the relationship between father and son.

The ex-wife saw the family for what they were and didn’t want to get entangled any further. She dropped the issue of money and asked only for custody of their child. As soon as the divorce papers were signed, she quickly took the child and returned to her parents’ home.

As for Mrs. Ford’s ex-husband, his parents and elders had long since passed away. The remaining members of his generation couldn’t control her, so they could only watch helplessly as she divorced him, took the money, and ran off with her new man.

For the next twenty-plus years, the different parties didn’t interfere with each other’s lives, and things remained peaceful.

Last year, Mrs. Ford’s ex-husband fell gravely ill. He was lying in the ICU, burning through money every day. His family threw all their savings into his treatment and borrowed from every relative and platform they could, but it still wasn’t quite enough.

In desperation, his son went to find her, hoping she would lend him some money to help his family through the crisis. Not only did he fail to borrow any money, but he was also verbally ridiculed by her, her new husband, and their daughter.

The very next day, the couple turned right around and took their daughter to buy a set of gold jewelry, the cost of which was almost exactly the amount the son had asked to borrow.

In the end, not wanting to be a burden to his son’s family, the ex-husband found a time to hang himself.

Coincidentally, Mr. Ford’s ex-wife also came to see him. She explained that their daughter was getting married next month and hoped he would attend—but that he should come alone.

Mr. Ford agreed readily enough, but then he turned around and brought his wife and child along. The trio not only caused such a scene that the wedding banquet couldn’t continue, but in the middle of it all, Miss Ford took a liking to the groom. She seduced him so completely that he abandoned his new bride and ran off with her on the spot.

The bride was left standing there alone, enduring the strange looks from everyone in attendance.

Mr. Ford’s ex-wife and daughter became the talk of the neighborhood. The wedding was off, and they had lost all face.

What was even more outrageous was that less than a week later, the groom showed up again, arrogantly demanding that the wedding proceed.

When asked why, he explained that Miss Ford wanted them to reconcile. She didn’t want them to give up their marriage because of her. She said that more than her own happiness, she wanted her older sister and brother-in-law to live a long and happy life together.

So, to fulfill the wish of the woman he now loved, he had deigned to come back and continue with the wedding.

Besides, he reasoned, the bride had already "married" him once. Getting married again would make her a divorcée, and nobody else would want her.

Those words were tantamount to ripping the bride’s dignity away, stomping on it, and then tossing it in the trash—all while claiming, "I’m doing this for your own good. You should be grateful."

"Well, all of these people certainly have a motive," Evan Keller mused, staring at the file in his hands.

’Even I want to punch someone just from reading this,’ he thought. ’I can’t imagine what it was like for the people who actually lived through it.’

It was very likely the work of that serial offender, but these two families harbored a great deal of hatred for the three victims.

If you really looked into it, it was possible they could have done it themselves.

The chief waited until he was sure Evan Keller had finished reading before continuing. "We went to both of their houses right away and brought them in for questioning."

"Did they get the marriage license?" Zoe Sawyer asked, having listened to the back-and-forth between Evan Keller and the chief.

"Nope! Maeve Lee was so smug when she came back from that wedding banquet. She went around telling everyone how that poor girl had no skills. The banquet wasn’t even over, they hadn’t even gotten their marriage license yet, and the groom was led away by her daughter with just the crook of a finger," an auntie in the crowd of onlookers eagerly chimed in.

It was precisely because the family was always up to no good and had terrible relationships with their neighbors that many people looked down on them. So, when this incident happened, no one felt any sympathy for them.

"Recognizing what a scumbag he was before the wedding is actually a good thing," Zoe Sawyer muttered under her breath, tugging on Heath Hale’s sleeve.

It was certainly better than what happened to Wendy Logan a few days ago, whose marriage was also wrecked by Miss Ford, leading to a desperate struggle that ended with both her and her father being locked up.

"You’re right. Realizing it before the marriage is a good thing," a woman’s voice said from behind them.

Zoe Sawyer turned around to see a woman she didn’t recognize standing behind her, an older woman on her arm. From their resemblance, it was clear they were mother and daughter.

Zoe quickly put two and two together. ’These must be Mr. Ford’s ex-wife and their daughter.’

The woman nodded at Zoe before walking toward the chief.

"Where were you all day yesterday? What were you doing? Do you have any witnesses?" the chief asked as she approached, running through the standard questions.

The woman thought for a moment, then replied, "We were at a beauty salon all day yesterday for treatments. The staff and the salon’s surveillance cameras can be our alibi."

Hearing this, Evan Keller frowned. "Do beauty treatments take an entire day?" ℯℯ𝘭.

’Don’t they usually take anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours?’

"No, my mother and I opted for the full-body package. From head to toe, not a single strand of hair was missed. We also got our nails done, so it’s normal for it to take a long time."

"I’m getting married in a few days. It’s perfectly normal for a bride to get a full-body beauty treatment," the woman said, holding out her hand for Evan Keller to see.

Her ten slender fingers were adorned with an intricate manicure. Evan had seen similar designs on his mother’s and aunts’ hands and had heard them complain about how long it took, so he had some idea of the time required.

"Getting married?" The chief’s voice was tinged with confusion. If he recalled correctly, just last month these two families had been at the police station, arguing over whether to go through with the wedding.

"You’re still going to marry that man?"