Chapter 25: Another Victim

Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Another Victim

After another look and still finding nothing, Evan Keller couldn’t help but ask.

Zoe Sawyer shook her head. "I saw a strange man, so I paid a bit more attention. This isn’t the place to talk. I’ll tell you when we get back to the station."

There were too many people coming and going here.

Besides, it was just a guess. She didn’t have a shred of evidence. It was better to wait until they were back, tell them what she saw, and let them investigate it for themselves.

Sean Hughes ran out from the tent as well, joining the two of them.

But compared to before, Sean Hughes’s expression was now rather dejected. It seemed his earlier conversation with Teacher Scott had hit him hard.

After chiding the other two for leaving him behind, the trio went back to examining the scene. This time, however, their luck ran out; they found nothing.

Over the next few days, Evan Keller and Sean Hughes took their teams to East Varden to help out.

When they returned at the end of the first day, they relayed Zoe Sawyer’s theory in full detail.

Captain Lynch had initially thought it absurd, but he fell silent after hearing Evan Keller’s analysis.

They were under immense pressure.

Aside from a single, unidentified fingerprint, the entire Scott home had been scrubbed clean, leaving no other clues. None of the victim Mia Scott’s relatives, friends, neighbors, or classmates were a match for the print.

The large transient population in the area, combined with damaged surveillance cameras, made it incredibly difficult to move the case forward.

Not enough personnel, and not enough evidence.

With no other option, they had to consider Zoe Sawyer’s theory. They also assigned two officers to follow Teacher Scott and his wife.

It was for their protection, but also for surveillance.

It was also a good way to see if anything out of the ordinary was happening around them.

Evan Keller and Sean Hughes were so swamped helping with the other case that they had no time to look after Zoe Sawyer.

So, for her own safety, Zoe Sawyer had been staying in the office and working on her own things.

She hadn’t posted an update in days, so she took the opportunity to catch up on her writing.

Finished with the last Chapter, Zoe Sawyer stretched and got up to go to the restroom.

The moment she opened the door and saw what was inside, the sleepy Zoe Sawyer was suddenly wide awake.

Vivian Dunn, whom Sean Hughes had asked to keep an eye on Zoe Sawyer, saw her stop dead in her tracks, her expression frozen. Vivian instantly knew what was happening.

"Zoe Sawyer... you’re seeing something again, aren’t you?" Vivian Dunn’s voice was quiet, but it rang out clearly in the silent office.

Officer Lee instinctively grabbed a tracker and hurried to Zoe Sawyer’s side.

Zoe Sawyer managed a stiff smile. She turned to the others in the office and said, "You guessed it. The job’s come knocking again. Please, take this down. I think I just got a glimpse of the killer’s clothes."

She stood at the doorway, having opened it just a crack, and could already smell the thick stench of blood from inside.

The blood seeping out from under the door was a testament to how serious the situation was inside.

’Whoever was inside... their chances were slim!’

The smell that hit her was nauseating, but when she saw Vivian Dunn approaching with a pen and paper, Zoe shook her head, pushing the feeling of sickness aside.

"A yellow raincoat, a pair of men’s sneakers that looked a little worn, and the cuffs of their black jeans had some white powder on them. That’s all I saw.

I heard a very faint sound of a door closing. It must have been the killer leaving."

Zoe Sawyer closed her eyes, and the scene she had just witnessed appeared in her mind like a photograph.

After giving a detailed description of the clothing and making sure she hadn’t missed anything, she took the tracker from Officer Lee, switched it on, and tossed it through the gap.

She hadn’t thrown it in the moment she opened the door because she was afraid the killer might still be inside.

’If it landed at their feet and they found it, that would’ve been a real mess. And it could easily expose my ability!’

That’s why Zoe Sawyer chose to toss it in only after she heard the door close.

Officer Lee immediately switched into work mode, quickly pinpointing the tracker’s location.

But this time, the tracker’s location stunned everyone in the office.

It wasn’t in Varden anymore. It was already in the next city over.

While Officer Lee reported to the chief, he also watched the situation at the crime scene via a camera feed.

The scene was even more gruesome than Zoe Sawyer had imagined.

The deceased lay on the floor, eyes wide open, as if they never expected to meet such a fate.

From the wounds visible on camera, there were at least thirteen or fourteen stab wounds. The most severe injury was to the neck.

Soon, less than an hour after the case was reported, Evan Keller and Sean Hughes rushed over from East Varden.

Captain Lynch was following behind them.

"Zoe Sawyer, another situation?" Evan Keller’s expression was grim. The chief had just called, saying Zoe had discovered another crime scene, and a particularly brutal one at that.

Because it was an out-of-jurisdiction alert, combined with Zoe Sawyer’s special circumstances, the chief made the executive decision to have Evan Keller and Sean Hughes return and accompany Zoe to the scene.

After all, some things could only be explained clearly on-site.

As for Captain Lynch, he had volunteered to come along after overhearing Evan’s phone call with the chief.

After confirming the situation with Zoe Sawyer, the group of four hurried to the neighboring city.

The moment the four of them got out of the car, a liaison officer waiting by the entrance hurried to greet them. "You’re here! Your chief already briefed me, but we still need you to come and confirm things in person."

Evan Keller stepped forward and shook his hand. "Of course. This is a serious matter. Let’s go take a look right now."

The liaison officer didn’t object. He led the four toward the crime scene, explaining on the way, "The situation over there is pretty chaotic. The rent is low, so a lot of migrant workers like to rent apartments there.

So, not only is the population highly transient, but some less reputable, unemployed individuals also like to congregate there. Fights break out frequently.

As a result, the surveillance cameras are constantly getting broken. When my colleagues went to retrieve the footage earlier, they found the cameras had been smashed by those guys again. This investigation is going to be difficult."

As they listened, the expressions on the faces of Zoe Sawyer and the others grew increasingly grim.

’This sounds... so much like Mia Scott’s case.’

A large transient population, and surveillance cameras that just happened to be broken at the time of the crime.

Evan Keller looked at Captain Lynch, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, and asked, "Captain Lynch, can you now tell us why you were so insistent on coming along?"

Captain Lynch was silent for a moment, then said something that left Zoe Sawyer and the other two completely stunned.

"Teacher Scott came here yesterday."