Chapter 315: Vivian Jills

Chapter 315: Chapter 315: Vivian Jills

"Where’s your phone? Show me the seller on WhatsApp." Although he was relieved, Evan Keller didn’t let it show on his face and continued questioning her.

Hannah Thompson wrung her hands, her voice much softer. "My mom has it. She confiscated it when she dragged me over here."

Evan Keller said nothing, instead looking outside the interrogation room.

He didn’t even have to say anything. A junior police officer standing guard outside had already jogged over to the reception room to get Hannah Thompson’s phone.

Watching the officer hurry back and forth, the aunt’s expression was hesitant. She wanted to ask about her daughter’s current situation.

But before she could ask, a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

Hayden Shaw spoke up. "Don’t worry, Auntie. Our Captain Keller is very good. He’ll solve this case."

The aunt thought for a moment, then lowered her hand and sighed. "Forget it. She brought this on herself. I thought she was just losing weight so quickly because she was exercising and having a growth spurt. I never thought she was actually on drugs.

If she needs to be sentenced, so be it. We have to make her quit!"

’When my child gets out, I’ll hand over all my business to someone else and spend my time with my poor daughter.’

Hayden Shaw comforted her in a soft voice, "That won’t happen. What she did was an infraction, not a crime. It won’t go as far as jail time. At most, it’ll be an administrative penalty.

But from the looks of it, Hannah seems to be a bit addicted. She’ll probably have to be sent to rehab."

The aunt, who had been tense, relaxed a little after hearing this.

She kept muttering to herself, "As long as it’s not a crime, it’s fine. As long as it’s not a crime."

’As for anything else,’ the aunt thought, ’I can’t ask for more.’

Hayden Shaw looked at his dejected aunt and patted her back sympathetically.

Although he was also anxious, Hayden Shaw knew that Evan Keller would solve this case perfectly today.

Meanwhile, in the interrogation room, Evan Keller got the phone from the junior officer and, with Hannah Thompson’s guidance, successfully unlocked it and opened the chat app.

As soon as Evan Keller tapped it open, a stream of messages popped up.

He took a closer look and saw they were from a girl saved under the contact name "Vivi."

"Someone named Vivi sent you a lot of messages." Evan Keller turned the phone screen toward her.

Hannah Thompson didn’t look at the phone, saying in a muffled voice, "That’s my deskmate, Vivian Jills. You can just look, Officer. The one with the running emoji as the contact name is the one who sold me the diet pills."

’After realizing her deskmate had intentionally led her into this trap, the last shred of friendship Hannah Thompson felt for Vivian Jills had vanished into thin air.’

So now that Evan Keller was asking, she naturally held nothing back, telling him everything she knew.

After getting Hannah Thompson’s permission, Evan Keller nodded and tapped open the chat between the two of them.

Vivi: "Hannah Thompson, lend me some money. I need to buy the latest."

Vivi: "Hannah Thompson, stop playing dead and answer me! If you don’t lend me the money, I’ll post about your drug use on the school’s social media page for everyone to see your disgusting, ugly true colors!

I don’t care about my reputation anymore anyway, so hurry up and give me the money!"

Vivi: "Hannah, Hannah, my good deskmate, please lend me a little money. Your mom makes a lot from her business anyway, just lend it to me this one time!"

Vivi: "If you really can’t, then just buy some more! If you buy more, I’ll get a commission, and then I can get my fix!"

The messages above went from threats to pathetic begging, with each one sent only a few minutes apart.

Evan Keller finished reading and was about to back out of the chat when another new message came in from Vivian Jills.

It was a video.

He tapped it open and saw a knife held in someone’s hand, while a girl’s tearful voice came from the video.

"Hannah, I know what I did was wrong, but I’m really out of options. For the sake of us being deskmates, can you lend me some money?

I promise this is the last time. If you lend it to me, I’ll take the secret of your drug use to my grave.

If... if you don’t lend it to me, I’ll kill myself. And before I die, I’ll expose everything you’ve done. You can live the rest of your life with the guilt of having killed me!"

Vivian Jills’s last words were filled with viciousness. Immediately after, the sound of a knife cutting through flesh came from the video, followed by a terrified scream.

The volume on Hannah Thompson’s phone wasn’t high, but in the quiet interrogation room, the sound was still quite noticeable.

Hannah Thompson, who had been looking down and picking at her fingers, snapped her head up. An expression of disbelief crossed her face, and her voice trembled. "Officer, did Vivian Jills really... really do it?"

Recalling Vivian Jills’s last words, Hannah Thompson’s face filled with fear and regret. "If I had just lent her the money in the first place, would she have not gone this far?"

Hearing the regret in her tone, Evan Keller put down the phone. He looked at Hannah Thompson, who had her head bowed so low it nearly touched the floor, and said, "No. Because it’s fake."

"Fake?"

Hannah Thompson’s head shot up again, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

"Yes, fake." Evan Keller dragged the video’s progress bar back to the beginning and placed the phone in front of Hannah Thompson.

He pressed play as she watched with a look of stunned disbelief.

Right before the part with the knife, Evan Keller hit pause and told Hannah Thompson in front of him to watch closely.

Then he pressed play again.

"See? There’s a momentary pause right here. And there was a pair of scissors in the top-right corner, but the second after she ’cuts’ her wrist, it’s gone." Seeing Hannah Thompson’s confused expression, Evan Keller dragged the progress bar back again and pointed out the inconsistency.

This time, with Evan Keller clearly pointing out what was wrong, Hannah Thompson was able to spot the difference.

After watching the video from beginning to end, realization dawned on Hannah Thompson. "So she deliberately chose a white wall to make it easier to edit later?"

At the same time, as she calmed down, Hannah Thompson also noticed something else that was off. Although Vivian Jills had deliberately chosen a video of a wrist that looked very similar to her own, as her deskmate, Hannah clearly remembered that Vivian Jills had a small, dark mole on her wrist. In the second half of the video, however, there was nothing there.

Hannah Thompson told Evan Keller what she had discovered.

"She was probably counting on your soft-hearted nature and wanted to use this video to catch you off guard.

In a panic, you definitely wouldn’t have been in the mood to investigate whether the video was real or fake. Instead, you’d feel guilty and agree to lend her the money.

And once you did it once, you’d do it again. If your mother hadn’t dragged you to the police station, you probably would have already sent her the money by now.

And at that point, extricating yourself wouldn’t have been as easy as it is now."