Chapter 35: A More Interesting Idea

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: A More Interesting Idea

After hearing the whole story, Sean Hughes asked the most critical question.

"If it weren’t for this middleman, the Scotts might not have found an opportunity to act. They might have slowly realized something was wrong with their daughter."

Then they would have discovered it wasn’t drugs at all, and this tragedy would never have happened.

And Mia Scott, after being reprimanded, would have been strictly supervised by her parents and wouldn’t have lost her life.

"Mr. Donovan couldn’t explain it clearly either. He confessed that on his way back from grocery shopping, he started talking to a woman he’d never seen before."

"They hit it off so well that they gradually became friends. Once they were familiar, the woman learned why Mr. Donovan had been in a bad mood recently and recommended Shirley Miller’s boyfriend to him."

"But after the two of them met, the woman never appeared again. A man in a duck-billed cap came once to give them some tools." Evan Keller briefly recounted Mr. Donovan’s testimony.

There were still some unclear points in the story.

But after finishing his confession, Mr. Donovan seemed completely drained of spirit, reverting to his non-responsive state.

The remaining answers could only be found after catching the other murderer.

With Mr. Donovan’s confession, Teacher Scott knew there was no point in resisting further, so he told them everything he knew.

Meanwhile, the person in charge arrested Shirley Miller’s boyfriend the moment they received the confession.

A fingerprint comparison confirmed that the print found at Mia Scott’s death scene was his.

With that, both cases were solved.

As for Shirley Miller’s boyfriend, his motive was even more absurd.

He knew what Shirley Miller’s previous job was from the very beginning and had said he didn’t care.

After they got together, they did spend a happy time together, working hard with plans to buy a house, get married, and have children.

Later, at a gathering with colleagues, a coworker who always had it out for the boyfriend happened to see his phone screen and a photo of the two of them.

The coworker recognized Shirley Miller and started spouting nonsense, claiming he had been one of her clients and that her "skills" were pretty good.

Then he started mocking the boyfriend for bringing something so "filthy" and "disgusting" into his home.

From that moment on, the boyfriend felt like everyone at the company was looking at him differently. The resentment in his heart grew until it finally erupted after he was passed over for a promotion.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He came to see Shirley Miller as a stain on his life and no longer wanted that stain around.

But he was worried she would keep bothering him if they broke up, so the thought of killing Shirley Miller took root in his mind.

As for the middleman, he had met them by chance at an internet cafe. They had only ever communicated offline, and he had no contact information for them.

After connecting him with the Scotts, the middleman vanished.

And after killing Mia Scott, he was afraid of being exposed, so he didn’t dare go back to the internet cafe. Naturally, he lost all contact with them.

With the case solved, Zoe Sawyer and the other two prepared to return to Varden.

The person in charge hurried over and extended his hand. "Thank you all so much. If it weren’t for your help, we wouldn’t have solved this case so quickly."

The three exchanged some pleasantries.

Before the car door closed, the man in charge looked at Zoe Sawyer and said, "Next time you need any help, Miss Sawyer, please don’t hesitate to find me. I’ll do everything in my power to assist you."

Zoe Sawyer frowned but still nodded at him.

As the car pulled away from the police station and the man’s figure disappeared from view, Zoe Sawyer asked in confusion, "What did he mean by that?"

’Didn’t he just thank us a moment ago?’

’Why did he have to say it to me again specifically?’

Evan Keller subtly met Sean Hughes’s eyes in the rearview mirror and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Don’t overthink it. You’ve got us. We’ll definitely protect you," Sean Hughes said with a grin, putting his arm around Zoe Sawyer’s shoulder.

Captain Lynch, on the other hand, was waiting for his colleague—the one who had been drugged by Teacher Scott—to be discharged from the hospital so they could return together.

So this time, it was just the three of them in the car.

Naturally, the conversation was much more relaxed.

The car drove past the mall where Zoe Sawyer had chased Teacher Scott.

A man and a woman stood by the stone lion at the mall’s entrance, watching the car drive away.

If Zoe Sawyer had seen them, she would have instantly recognized them as the man in the duck-billed cap and the woman she’d bumped into at the mall!

"How are things with the young man?" the woman asked, leaning against the stone lion and twirling a strand of hair with her slender fingers.

The man in the cap snapped a photo of the car. His fingers flew across his keyboard as he answered, "Taken care of. They’d never in a million years guess that the person who encouraged them to pass off protein powder as drugs was one of our people, planted in advance."

"It’s just a shame we can’t use this method anymore. I was hoping to hit a few more cities and set up a couple more."

’We went through all that trouble to come up with this criss-cross murder plot.’

’And they saw through it after we only tested it on two pawns.’

’So boring.’

The woman let out a slow sigh. "I didn’t expect these cops to move so fast and figure us out right away, either."

"But it’s fine. I have an even more fun idea now. It’ll be way more exciting than this one."

The man in the cap shoved his phone back into his pocket, his eyes still fixed on the direction the car had gone. "We need to find a chance to grab that woman. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have been exposed so quickly!"

"Whatever you say. She is a bit strange, though. We’ll just have to get someone to keep a close eye on her," the woman said, not disagreeing with him. After comforting him, the two left the mall.

Back in the car, Zoe Sawyer suddenly let out an incredibly loud sneeze.

"Did you install an engine in your nose?" Evan Keller asked with a laugh as he drove.

"What engine! Say that again and you’ll get a taste of my fist, big as a punching bag!" Zoe Sawyer couldn’t help but raise her fist and shake it threateningly at Evan Keller.

"Yes, yes, our Comrade Sawyer is the best." Evan Keller thought about what Zoe Sawyer would be facing in a few days and couldn’t help but snicker to himself. That made him much more tolerant of her provocations.

’Oh well,’ he thought. ’She only has a few more easy days. Once that person arrives, she’ll be too exhausted to even cry!’

Five days after the case was solved, Zoe Sawyer, still deep in sleep, was suddenly dragged out of bed by Sean Hughes.

Bleary-eyed, she followed him to the training grounds. Seeing the two people already waiting there, Zoe Sawyer’s eyes flew wide open.

"Evan Keller, you’re doing this to get back at me, aren’t you!"