Chapter 479: All 3 of Them Were Coerced by Me

Chapter 479: Chapter 479: All 3 of Them Were Coerced by Me

The local government eventually decided this couldn’t continue. They built resettlement housing for the villagers of Brellwood on a patch of empty land not far from town and moved everyone down from the mountain.

For the first couple of years, some of the elderly villagers, homesick, would go back every so often for a few days at a time. But everyone else quickly integrated into their new lives.

Being close to town meant more job opportunities than in the village, and it was far more convenient to shop or travel.

Once the initial homesickness faded, they gradually stopped thinking about it.

Most of the elderly villagers, with their aging bodies and stiff joints, eventually stopped making the trip up the mountain.

A few even moved away to live with their children and never returned. And so, bit by bit, Brellwood fell into ruin.

Most of the young people from the town were already working elsewhere. The remaining elderly residents tended to their fields and stuck to wandering around their homes, so no one went up the mountain anymore.

If not for the recent police report, who knows when the bodies in Brellwood would have ever been discovered.

By the time they were found, the perpetrators would have long since vanished. Tracking them down would have been nearly impossible.

After bringing the women back to the station, Evan Keller wasted no time. He had Henry separate the four of them for individual interrogation.

Evan Keller chose Victoria Ford for the first interrogation. Back in Brellwood, he had noticed that this "Mrs. Ford" was the backbone of the other three.

If she confessed, getting the other three to talk would be much easier.

He had just walked in and sat down, but before Evan Keller could even speak, Victoria Ford began: "Don’t bother asking. I poisoned all of them. I used the Tetramine they’d bought to kill rats.

"I forced the other three to help. I made them dig the pit, and I made them bury the bodies. If you have a problem, you take it up with me."

Victoria Ford rattled off the long speech with a deadpan expression, then lowered her head, her eyes fixed on her own rough hands, which she repeatedly clenched into fists.

"Victoria Ford, do you really think that if you take all the blame, the other three will just walk away?

"You underestimate us." Evan Keller laced his fingers together on the tabletop, his eyes locked on Victoria Ford, his tone cold.

The name "Victoria Ford" made the woman, who had resolved to stay silent, go stiff.

’How does this cop know the name Victoria Ford?’

’Not even Melody and the others knew that! How does he know?!’

Finally, Victoria Ford abandoned her plan to feign ignorance. She looked up, staring at Evan Keller, her voice sharp and cold. "How do you know my name? Did you police know about our situation all along? Did you investigate us from the start?

"If so, why didn’t you come save us? Why did you let us suffer in that hellhole for so long?"

As she spoke, Victoria Ford slammed her hands on the table in front of her, as if venting her resentment.

Evan Keller didn’t move or speak. He waited until Victoria Ford had finished her outburst before saying, "First, I apologize that we, the police, didn’t discover you had been trafficked here sooner. I’m sorry you had to endure so much inhuman torment.

"But the truth is, we only found out about the situation in Brellwood today. If we had known earlier, you never would have had the chance to use poison.

"I know your name because I’ve seen your missing person posters. Your parents have been looking for you for ten years. In their search, they nearly bankrupted your sister’s family."

Victoria Ford, who had been furious, froze. Then her anger surged even higher. "Impossible! You’re lying to me! You have to be lying! I managed to sneak out a phone one day while they were sleeping and make a call. Do you know what the person on the other end said?

"She said she doesn’t have an aunt! She said her mom is her grandparents’ only child!"

’That clearly meant they gave up on me after I disappeared. They didn’t even want to tell the kids about me!’

That was why Victoria Ford had fallen into despair, not even thinking to call the police.

She felt that after more than a decade of torment, the only thing that had kept her going was the hope of returning home.

But now, even her own family had given up on her. What was there left to hold on to?

Hearing this, Evan Keller couldn’t help but frown. ’She had a phone, so why didn’t she call the police first? If she had, maybe that group in Brellwood would have been caught sooner.’

But seeing Victoria Ford’s devastated state, Evan Keller held his tongue.

’It’s no use,’ he thought. ’What’s done is done. Dwelling on that choice now is pointless. It would only cause Victoria Ford more pain.’

Realizing this, Evan Keller moved past the issue and briefly summarized for Victoria Ford what Sean Hughes’s investigation had uncovered.

When she heard that her parents had fallen ill, sold off their property, and even caused her sister to lose several jobs in their desperate search for her, Victoria Ford burst into tears. She truly had no idea this was the truth.

Back then, after hearing what the child said, Victoria Ford had even double-checked the phone number, thinking she must have dialed it wrong. But she hadn’t.

She had believed her family abandoned her after she disappeared. She felt her perseverance had been a joke, which is why she decided to take the people of Brellwood down with her.

But now, she was being told that what she thought was abandonment was actually a ten-year search by her parents that had nearly torn her sister’s family apart.

It was a realization Victoria Ford couldn’t bring herself to accept right away.

"Victoria Ford, what you need to do now is cooperate with our investigation.

"In this case, while you did deliberately poison them, you are also victims. Cooperate with the police, and you might have a chance to reunite with your parents and family someday."

Although he didn’t have all the facts yet, the wounds on Victoria Ford’s calf and the other scars on her body made it clear that her life in Brellwood had not been easy.

Coupled with the fact she was a trafficking victim, if she cooperated fully and told them everything she knew, there might be a chance for a reduced sentence.

But if she continued to stubbornly take the fall, things would get complicated.

At the mention of this, Victoria Ford’s agitated expression calmed, returning to how she was at the beginning.

She said nothing, just kept staring at her hands.

’I can’t tell them,’ she thought. ’My future is already ruined anyway. As long as I take the blame for everything, Mila and Rivers will get much lighter sentences. They might even get out after just a few years.’

With this in mind, Victoria Ford’s resolve hardened. This time, no matter what Evan Keller asked, she refused to say another word.

Evan Keller knew he wouldn’t get anything more out of Victoria Ford for the time being. After a moment’s thought, he got up and went to Mila’s interrogation room.

"Victoria Ford confessed," he said. "She says she did everything."