Chapter 317: I Want to Be Thinner! Thinner Than Vivian Jills

Chapter 317: Chapter 317: I Want to Be Thinner! Thinner Than Vivian Jills

Before Zoe Sawyer could even ask, Sean Hughes, who already understood the implications, had his expression turn grim.

"Are you saying someone dug up a grave, hoping to burn the remains into ash and snort it like drugs?" Sean Hughes gritted his teeth, squeezing the words out.

Before Heath Hale could answer, Sean continued, "Weren’t there PSAs about this? That the amount of drug residue in the bones of people who’ve died from an overdose is so small it can’t produce any physiological effects?"

"There are always addicts who get desperate enough to try anything when they’re broke," Heath Hale said, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration.

He recounted the case to Zoe Sawyer and Sean Hughes from the beginning.

The person who discovered something was wrong was a young woman who had recently lost her job and come home to rest for a few days.

On her second day home, the woman decided to visit the grave of her uncle, who had died from a drug overdose. It was a way of honoring the kindness he’d shown her before he got involved with drugs.

But when she and her parents arrived at the gravesite, they saw that the grave had been dug up.

The bones that were supposed to be buried inside had been scattered about. Not far off, there was a fire pit and several small piles of black powder.

The woman liked to browse social media and recalled seeing a video explaining that some junkies, desperate for a fix and with no money, would dig up the bones of other addicts and burn them, trying to extract any trace of drugs.

Realizing what this might be, the woman didn’t dare wait. She immediately called the police. Luckily, it hadn’t rained for the past two days and the wind had been calm, so the fire pit and other traces were preserved until she found them.

And that’s how the case file ended up on Heath Hale’s desk.

"This case happened within the province, but it was in a remote rural area. Why did it skip the county and city departments and come straight to the provincial bureau?" Zoe Sawyer asked.

Rural areas are tight-knit communities. Any stranger would be noticed immediately.

Logically, the culprit should be easy to find.

Heath Hale leaned back in his chair and explained, "Because there’s no surveillance and no eyewitnesses.

"After the report came in, officers from the local station rushed to the scene. They photographed all the suspicious footprints they found and questioned some of the nearby residents.

"But none of the residents noticed anything unusual, and no one saw any strangers."

The local officers immediately suspected it might be a local, or that one of the residents might be covering for the culprit.

But after a thorough investigation, they ruled out that possibility.

They genuinely hadn’t seen any strangers and had no idea why anyone would target that particular grave.

Besides, their own children were migrant workers who could rarely even afford to take time off to visit, so there was no way they would have snuck back to do something like this.

With no surveillance and no witnesses, the local officers were at a dead end.

Later, wanting to give the family some answers quickly, they tried to transfer the case up to the county level.

As it happened, a director from the city bureau was there. When he saw the case, he thought of borrowing Zoe Sawyer’s ability to identify the suspect.

He ran it by the bureau chief and Heath Hale, and after they both agreed, the photos were sent over.

After hearing the whole story, Sean Hughes stared at the photos in his hand, glanced at Zoe Sawyer, and nodded in agreement with Heath Hale’s decision. "Good. Give Zoe something to do. Keep her from getting idle and overthinking things."

Beau, who had been standing silently to the side, nodded in approval at Sean’s words.

Zoe Sawyer scratched her head, a little embarrassed. ’I can’t believe Sean remembered me venting like that.’

Still, she didn’t refuse his kind gesture. It was hard just sitting around while everyone else was busy.

Even if her role in this case was a small one, Zoe Sawyer was happy to be involved.

’Maybe once this case is solved, a new one will pop up!’

When Zoe Sawyer realized what she had just thought, she couldn’t help but gasp. ’Have I been brainwashed by work?’

’All I can think about is work now. Even resting feels like a sin!’

Despite her thoughts, Zoe Sawyer’s hands didn’t stop moving.

She took the case file from Heath Hale and led Beau over to the door.

While Zoe and the others prepared to open the door to find clues, Evan Keller and two team members followed Hannah Thompson and her mother home.

The other team members were positioned around the Thompson residence as planned, monitoring the people coming and going.

Each officer wore an earpiece for real-time communication. If they spotted anything suspicious, they could coordinate with their nearby colleagues to apprehend the suspect.

After tinkering with Hannah Thompson’s phone to ensure his team could monitor all her messages and video feeds, Evan Keller gave her an "OK" sign from where she sat on the sofa. It meant they were ready. She could message the seller now.

Hannah Thompson took a deep breath and sent the seller a message asking for a more potent diet pill.

A second later, a video call came through. Hannah Thompson instinctively glanced toward Evan Keller, a flicker of panic in her eyes.

"It’s okay. Answer it," Evan Keller said, his voice gentle and reassuring. "We’re all here. You’ll be safe."

Hannah’s aunt, who was sitting beside her, patted her on the shoulder. "Don’t worry," she said. "Your mom and the police officers are right here. You’ll be fine."

Hannah Thompson took another deep breath, steeled herself, and answered the video call.

In contrast to the brightly lit room on Hannah’s end, the other side of the video showed only a desk and a blank white wall.

The moment the call connected, a team member next to Evan Keller began working furiously.

He was trying to trace the signal and lock down an IP address so they could move in for the arrest.

"You just bought some today, didn’t you? Why do you need more?" A hoarse male voice came from the other side of the screen before Hannah could even speak, his tone laced with suspicion.

The man’s eyes were glued to Hannah Thompson on the screen, and his fingers drummed against his thigh.

’According to the intel I just got, this Hannah Thompson already knows what her "diet pills" really are. She just bought a new batch, and now she wants something even stronger?’

’Something’s wrong. Very wrong.’

The man sensed a trap. He didn’t beat around the bush; staring at Hannah Thompson’s face, he had asked his question.

Hannah Thompson swallowed hard. She opened her mouth to explain, but an image of Vivian Jills’s distorted face flashed through her mind.

The words on the tip of her tongue changed instantly.

"I need to be thinner! Thinner than Vivian Jills!"