Chapter 289: Yvonne Wayne

Chapter 289: Chapter 289: Yvonne Wayne

Watching the figure collapse, the assailant couldn’t help but let out a derisive laugh.

Then, she lifted her foot and began to grind it into the fallen figure’s fingers. As she listened to the shrill wails of agony, the look of vicious glee on her face grew more pronounced.

"That’s enough. Don’t actually kill her. We’ll need her cooperation later." Just then, a tall figure appeared in the doorway, hands stuffed in his pockets, watching the scene unfold with a blank expression.

Hearing this, the woman stopped, turning her head toward the doorway. She broke into a wide grin. "Don’t tell me you’re still hung up on that confession from back then?"

"Bullshit! Don’t you insult me! Do whatever you want, but when the cops track this back to us and we can’t hand her over, we’ll all be arrested!" the man in the doorway spat, his voice filled with resentment. He slammed a fist against the doorframe, then turned and stalked away.

"Yvonne Wayne, tell me... how should I get you to take the fall for this?" The woman reached out and grabbed the face of the figure in the corner, her sharp nails digging deep into her cheeks. After a moment, an idea seemed to strike her, and a triumphant smile spread across her face. "How about you trade your life for your husband’s and your kid’s? Huh?"

Yvonne, who had been motionless, suddenly began to struggle, but her captor quickly overpowered her.

"If you want them to be okay, you’ll know what to say when the time comes." The woman patted Yvonne Wayne’s face, then strode out of the room, cackling.

After the woman left, Yvonne Wayne, still slumped in the corner, let out a wail of despair and curled into a ball, sobbing.

"We’ve got their location!" Officer Lee’s voice suddenly broke the silence in the office.

Zoe Sawyer’s eyes were glued to the screen in front of her, her mind racing.

’First, a cover-up murder, and now they’ve found a scapegoat.’

’From the conversation, it’s clear Yvonne Wayne has a serious history with these people. Now that they have hostages, she’ll almost certainly compromise and take the fall for them.’

’Even if we can’t find Yvonne Wayne right away, she’ll probably show up on her own in a few days to ’confess.’ ’

"Set everything else aside. Hayden Shaw, take a team over there right now and bring those three under control," Heath Hale ordered, his eyes fixed on the screen.

The rest of the team didn’t stay idle. They immediately started digging into Yvonne Wayne’s social network and her past relationships from school.

"Zoe, get some rest. In a bit, I’ll need you to perform a rewind and see if you can find any clues at the crime scene." After giving out the other orders, Heath Hale turned to Zoe Sawyer.

While Zoe Sawyer’s team was scrambling into action, Evan Keller and his own unit were hurrying to the scene.

"Is there a problem, Officers?" the landlord, Old Man Thorne, asked hesitantly. ’Didn’t they just turn this whole building upside down?’

’Don’t tell me they’re going to do it all over again?’

He remembered the tenant complaints from the last search, and his expression soured. ’If this keeps up,’ he thought, ’even if I lower the rent, a ton of people are going to move out.’

Evan Keller didn’t waste any time and got straight to the point. "I need to ask you, does anyone in this building own a large freezer?"

The sob story Old Man Thorne had been about to launch into died in his throat. He wracked his brain. "A large freezer? I remember the young couple on the first floor has one for their food stall.

Everyone else just has a regular refrigerator, I think."

Since he had built the rental property himself, Old Man Thorne and his son handled all the repairs to save money. As a result, he had a pretty good idea of what was inside most of his tenants’ apartments.

Without needing a word from Evan Keller, Sean Hughes took two officers and headed for the first-floor couple’s apartment.

"Any others?" Evan Keller pressed.

Old Man Thorne thought again, and his mind turned to the rooftop.

"The rooftop! There’s a lot of old stuff piled up there. If I remember correctly, there’s a large freezer. A previous tenant left it behind." Old Man Thorne’s words tumbled out in a rush, eager to share everything he knew.

The tenant had paid his rent in full—even paid for several extra months—and asked me to store his things, saying he’d be back for them later.

But that was over a year ago, and I never saw him again.

Since I’d already taken his money, I just moved his stuff to the rooftop and covered it with a tarp.

Upon hearing this, Evan Keller led the rest of his team and hurried toward the rooftop.

Because it was a private rental building, the landlord’s wife was the one who maintained the cleanliness of the common areas.

Even the rooftop was swept spotless, with no obvious traces visible to the naked eye.

However, Evan Keller’s sharp eyes immediately locked onto the tarp.

While the tarp and its surroundings looked undisturbed, he noticed that one of the bricks weighing it down had drag marks on it. It was a stark contrast to the other bricks, which sat perfectly in place.

As Old Man Thorne, who had hurried up after them, watched, Evan Keller and his officers put on gloves and carefully pulled back the tarp.

Underneath was a large, running freezer.

The faint hum and slight vibration of the appliance made Old Man Thorne gasp. "How is that possible? There aren’t any outlets on the rooftop to power a freezer!"

"Over here," Evan Keller said, pulling a small generator out from another corner.

The generator’s base was wrapped in thick foam. The spot where it sat had been propped up on bricks and layered with cardboard and foam pads, all to muffle the sound and vibration as much as possible.

Furthermore, the generator had been placed at a very clever angle. If Evan Keller hadn’t known about the freezer and been actively looking for a power source, anyone else coming up to inspect would have likely overlooked it.

Evan Keller’s phone vibrated. He pulled it out to see a text from Sean Hughes.

They had checked the freezer belonging to the couple on the first floor; it was filled with ingredients for their food stall and nothing else.

"Alright. Let’s open this one. Then we’ll know for sure," Evan Keller said, pocketing his phone. He signaled for his team to open the large freezer.

As the lid of the freezer was lifted, a blast of frigid air washed over them.

But what seized everyone’s attention was the body curled up inside.

"Found it." The tension on Evan Keller’s face eased slightly. He then directed his team to lift the body out.

Old Man Thorne stared in astonishment. He couldn’t believe the body had been hidden in the freezer on his own rooftop!

"Dad, what’s going on? Why are all these cops on our roof— GAH!" Just then, a young man in slippers came up the stairs from below.

Upon seeing the body being carried out, he stumbled back a step and gasped. A flicker of guilt flashed in his eyes—a look that Evan Keller did not miss.

’This man.’

’He’s got something to hide.’