Chapter 521: Answered Correctly

Chapter 521: Chapter 521: Answered Correctly

Once the money was deposited, Theodore Hughes didn’t hesitate. He quickly packed his things, transferred some money to his mother, made up an excuse, and went into hiding.

Before leaving, Theodore Hughes had solemnly promised his mother that after a while, once he struck it rich, he would bring her over to live a life of luxury.

Although Mrs. Hughes didn’t know what her son had done, she knew it couldn’t be anything good.

Otherwise, why would the son who was always asking her for money suddenly transfer some to her? It was strange, no matter how she thought about it.

All the local businesses knew about Theodore Hughes’s rotten character, so none of them would ever hire him.

But Mrs. Hughes never considered calling the police. She was getting old and couldn’t bear another shock.

So now, she felt that as long as her son had his own path forward, all she needed to do was live her own life.

Theodore Hughes fled to a city thousands of miles from home. He would occasionally contact Henry Marshall and the others to check on the situation back home, to see if the police or any clients had noticed something was amiss.

If they had, he could make another run for it ahead of time.

Everything was quiet for the next three months, and Theodore Hughes slowly put the matter out of his mind. But then, just as the police were closing their net, they came for him.

Theodore Hughes didn’t dare to waste a second. He quickly packed his things and fled to an even more remote town.

But the moment he stepped off the bus, he was grabbed by the police, knocked out, and brought back.

Evan Keller, who had listened to the entire story, rubbed his face. There were no obvious holes in the account, and Theodore Hughes’s emotional state throughout seemed genuine. It also lined up with some of the facts they had already uncovered.

’It’s most likely true.’

"And the rest?" Evan Keller knocked on the table, asking the three most critical questions. "Why did Cameron and his people have information on Roger Rowan and other intellectually disabled individuals? Who is this ’boss’ you mentioned? And where was your next target?"

Unfortunately, upon hearing the questions, Theodore Hughes shook his head. "I really don’t know about that."

"Besides, I was only responsible for getting Roger Rowan out and finding an opportunity for him to sign the papers. Why would Cameron tell me about anything else?"

He sounded surprisingly self-righteous as he said this.

"Alright, I’ve got the general picture," Evan Keller said, waving toward the door. "Go with the officers outside back to the holding room for now. We’ll discuss sentencing after I’ve interrogated everyone." Two officers quickly entered, took Theodore Hughes by each arm, and led him out.

"Officer! Officer! I told you everything I know! Can I get a lighter sentence?

I have an elderly mother waiting for me at home, I can’t go to jail!

Let me go! Let me go!" It was only as he was being dragged out that the reality of his situation—that there was no escape—truly hit him. He struggled frantically, shouting all the while.

But once the man was gone, Evan Keller paid him no more mind.

’So *now* he remembers his elderly mother waiting at home? Why didn’t he think about his family when he was committing crimes?’

’Why didn’t he consider that the families he swindled might also be shattered by his actions?’

Soon, the other five members of the group, everyone except Cameron, were brought in. Over the next hour, all five, including Henry Marshall, were interrogated one by one.

Their stories were similar to Theodore Hughes’s. In each case, their parents hadn’t prioritized their education, which led them to go astray as they grew up.

By the time their parents realized, it was too late to correct their course, so they simply stopped trying, acting as if they’d never had sons at all.

The men Theodore Hughes had picked out all had the same problem: they were drowning in debt. Their daily worry was how to earn enough money to pay off what was due that day.

When Theodore Hughes approached them with his plan, they hesitated only for a moment before readily agreeing.

Theodore Hughes figured that only with that kind of external pressure would they be dedicated to the job.

Like Theodore Hughes, two of the men had already succeeded in tricking their targets into signing for the loans. Henry Marshall and the other two, however, were caught before they even had a chance to make their move. After a second round of questioning, those three were moved to a separate holding cell.

The conditions in this new cell were slightly better, and Henry Marshall knew why. It was a small consideration given because they hadn’t actually committed the crime yet and had shown a cooperative attitude.

When the other two were led out, they constantly proclaimed their innocence, but the evidence was ironclad. No matter how much they tried to argue, it was useless.

Because those two had also attempted to flee during their arrest, the officers guarding them were on high alert, determined not to give them any chance to escape.

Each of them tried to struggle as they were led away, but none of their attempts were successful.

Evan Keller repeated the same questions he had asked Theodore Hughes, and, unsurprisingly, he didn’t get a single useful clue from them.

Having interrogated six people in a row, Evan Keller felt a wave of exhaustion and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Zoe Sawyer knocked on the interrogation room door and came in with Heath Hale. "How’s it going?" she asked with concern. "Are you tired? Do you need to take a break?"

Evan Keller shook his head. "No need. We still haven’t interrogated Cameron. Have them bring him in. He’s the one with the most information."

Since the lead investigator had spoken, Zoe Sawyer didn’t press the issue. She just pulled Heath Hale back out, leaving the interrogation room to Evan Keller and the recording officer behind him.

Soon, Cameron, the last of the group, was brought in.

Evan Keller went through the same questions in the same order as before.

Cameron briefly recounted how he met Theodore Hughes and the others, indirectly confirming that the previous six hadn’t been lying.

"Why did you have information on Roger Rowan and other intellectually disabled individuals?" Evan Keller asked, moving on to the more critical questions.

Cameron sat perfectly still in the interrogation chair. After hearing Evan Keller’s question, he tilted his head slightly. "Getting that kind of information is actually quite simple."

"Most of them register on websites for people with disabilities to make it easier to access services when they need them."

"This particular website is privately run, not an official government one, but most people don’t realize that. So all you have to do is find a few competent hackers, pay them a little money, and you can get all the data you want."

The service even allowed them to filter by region and type of disability, which made it easy to plan their next steps.

Cameron himself had been shocked when he first saw it, but he soon discovered just how useful that feature could be.

With a single click, they could find all the information they needed, saving them a massive amount of time and allowing them to precisely target their desired prey.

"So this time, Roger Rowan and the other two victims... you found them all using this method?" Evan Keller asked, his voice calm as he watched the man sitting across from him.

"That’s right."