Chapter 218: Filing a False Police Report

Chapter 218: Chapter 218: Filing a False Police Report

Officer Lee stood up excitedly, and the others quickly gathered around him.

Soon, they too saw the situation on the screen.

Ms. Sherman’s routine was simple: work, the supermarket, and home.

But after Officer Lee reported to the chief, he worked with the cyber police to pull Ms. Sherman’s online data.

It didn’t take long for them to find something amiss.

Ms. Sherman had a SIM card that she used to call an unsaved number at a fixed time.

Each call lasted over a minute.

And Officer Lee recognized the number.

’Isn’t that Murphy Lynch’s phone number?!’

So, the "Aunt Sherman" Murphy Lynch mentioned really was Ms. Sherman!

Ms. Sherman also had a hidden QQ account. It was completely clean, with no contacts.

But the cyber police still managed to retrieve all the information associated with the account.

This included three chat groups that had already been disbanded.

Since they were disbanded recently, the chat logs could still be recovered.

And the contents of those logs were anything but simple.

From start to finish, she had been manipulating the children in the group, encouraging them to run away from home and use their own safety to threaten their parents.

Of course, she also assigned some "missions"—nothing difficult, but they required a bit of time and effort.

Those who successfully completed them would receive a small red envelope reward from Ms. Sherman.

Officer Lee also looked into the accounts of the group members. Many were elementary or middle school students.

However, most of them only picked tasks they could easily do, ignoring the rest of her words.

All they wanted was to snag a little cash from the red envelopes; they never seriously considered running away.

Quite a few members had also been kicked out.

Officer Lee managed to contact a few of them using their account information and asked why they were kicked.

"She told me to stay up all night and send her a photo every half hour. I fell asleep, and when I woke up the next day, I found I’d been kicked out of the group."

"She wanted me to skip class and go to an internet cafe. I’m the class president; I’d definitely get caught. Her little red envelope isn’t worth the two-on-one beatdown I’d get from my parents!"

"Her methods are a lot like that game that was in the news. I mentioned it once in the group and got kicked."

After seeing these three responses, Zoe Sawyer became even more certain of her theory. ’The Whale Game!’

Ms. Sherman had even recommended the app in the group, claiming it offered absolute privacy.

But in the end, only a few people downloaded the app, including Linda Pierce and Wallace Donovan.

"Her whole routine might have worked ten years ago, but with all the short-form video apps popular now, kids are exposed to so much information that they’re not so easily swayed," Heath Hale concluded, looking at the file in front of him.

Fortunately, though, very few people were actually fooled.

Most were just in it for the red envelopes she handed out.

Ms. Sherman wasn’t from a wealthy family. Though the amount in each red envelope was small, the sheer number of them added up.

Gradually, her wallet couldn’t take the strain. And since two little fish had already taken the bait, she simply disbanded the chat groups.

However, they truly couldn’t find any records related to that app.

Meanwhile, good news arrived from another front.

"Good news. The two kids have been brought back to the station and returned to their parents. As for Murphy Lynch, she’s also been taken into custody," Evan Keller said, rubbing his temples wearily from his chair.

Regardless, the most critical issue had been resolved.

The children were found, and they hadn’t suffered any additional harm.

Now, the focus would shift to Ms. Sherman and Murphy Lynch.

Why did they do it? What was in it for them?

Human traffickers? Did they have a buyer?

Was it just the two of them, or were others involved? And why would Murphy Lynch cooperate with Ms. Sherman? What good would it do her?

All of these were still unanswered questions that the police needed to investigate thoroughly.

"We can just hand this over to the local precinct. They’ll definitely get to the bottom of it, don’t worry," Evan Keller said, stretching with a relaxed expression.

They had finally wrapped up most of this mess.

"Interested in listening in?" Heath Hale asked, looking at Zoe Sawyer sitting next to him.

"Yes!"

Zoe Sawyer’s eyes lit up. She was genuinely interested in this case!

After figuring out Ms. Sherman’s side of things, Officer Lee immediately packaged the files and sent them to the colleague in charge of the case.

"You’re interested? Then we can head over now," Hayden Shaw said, standing up and looking at Zoe after hearing her reply.

Zoe Sawyer looked a little puzzled as she followed Hayden Shaw out. "They brought her in already?"

A trio of officers, including Heath Hale and Barry Quinn, also hurried to follow.

Evan Keller looked at Sean Hughes, who was sitting beside him, and asked, "You’re not going?"

"Forget it. I have a feeling that as soon as this case is over, a new one will pop right up. I’d better catch up on sleep while I can." Sean Hughes grabbed a book and covered his face with it, his voice tinged with a faint, almost unnoticeable exhaustion.

’For some reason, it feels like ever since Zoe Sawyer’s ability leveled up, we’ve been running into cases more and more frequently.’

’We used to get some downtime, but now it’s just one after another.’

’We solve one today, and a new one shows up tomorrow—and each one is bigger than the last!’

’There’s no room to breathe!’

’Instead of going with them, I’d rather use this time to take a nap. Who knows what other emergency might pop up later.’

Sean Hughes felt he had to conserve his energy and be ready for anything.

Evan Keller was a bit speechless. He glanced around the office and noticed that most of the officers who had come over from the Varden West Precinct were doing the exact same thing as Sean Hughes.

They were starting to catch up on sleep!

Meanwhile, the two newly joined teams were still a bit excited.

They were frantically discussing the matter of the "door," though they had enough sense to deliberately keep their voices down.

’Forget it. I’ll get some sleep, too.’

’I have this nagging feeling the next case is waiting just behind that door.’

With that thought, Evan Keller also grabbed a file, opened it, and covered his face to sleep.

"I don’t know if she was overconfident or just never planned on running, but she was sitting right outside the precinct entrance the whole time. Our colleagues saw her the moment they stepped outside and brought her right in," Hayden Shaw explained in a low voice as they walked beside Zoe Sawyer on the way to the interrogation room.

So this arrest hadn’t taken much effort at all.

Soon, the group of five arrived outside the interrogation room.

The interrogation of Ms. Sherman had already begun.

The officer in charge of the interrogation looked at Ms. Sherman, slammed the file in his hand onto the table, and demanded, "Talk! Why did you file a false police report?!"

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about," Ms. Sherman replied, her expression calm, as if she wasn’t flustered at all.

"One minute you’re telling us this girl is missing, and the next you’re on the phone with her.

You deceived the police and filed a false report. What exactly is your motive?!"