Chapter 526: Turning on Each Other

Chapter 526: Chapter 526: Turning on Each Other

"O-Officer, is there something wrong?" The man’s heart skipped a beat, and he couldn’t help but stutter.

Heath Hale looked at the man in front of him. "Mr. Joyce, the police have made a major discovery at the branch office, but we still need your cooperation on a few things."

Mr. Joyce’s expression stiffened for a moment. What could these cops have found at the branch office?

But he remembered that when he was working there, he had specifically worn gloves. There was absolutely no way he could have left any fingerprints behind.

Why did this police officer come looking specifically for him? Mr. Joyce certainly didn’t think this was just a simple interrogation!

No, he couldn’t follow him! They might be trying to lure him out to arrest him!

"Officer, if you have something to say, just say it here. There’s no need to make a special trip outside," Mr. Joyce said, taking a step back with a hint of vigilance in his tone.

Seeing that he was still clinging to false hope, Heath showed him a photo of a cigarette butt sent by his team members. "This is a cigarette butt we found in a hidden office at the branch. With current police detection methods, we can easily extract the residual DNA from it."

Hearing Heath mention that hidden office, Mr. Joyce knew he was doomed.

And as for the cigarette butt, he remembered it too.

He had always been very careful before, making sure never to leave the slightest trace.

But that time, the branch’s performance had reached an all-time high. He had noticed it while checking the records, knowing that if he reported those numbers, he would definitely be rewarded by the boss. A promotion and a raise would be a sure thing.

Getting overly excited in the moment, he ended up leaving a cigarette butt behind.

At the time, he thought Cameron would arrange for someone to clean it up, but unexpectedly, it was still there.

Realizing that he really couldn’t escape this time, Mr. Joyce stopped resisting. With his head bowed, he followed Heath out with heavy steps.

After Heath entered, the other people in the reception room had quieted down and watched him, wondering if there was any new progress and if they could get their money back sooner.

They hadn’t expected to witness such a scene.

"Is he the culprit? Does that mean there’s hope of getting our money back?" a middle-aged woman asked, looking at the young police officer next to her with anticipation.

Feeling the expectant gazes around him, the young officer felt a bit nervous.

He had been stationed here the whole time, and Coach Hale’s team wouldn’t share the case progress with him. He had no idea what the specific situation was!

However, facing these victims, he didn’t know how to answer. He could only continue to comfort them, saying, "Don’t worry. We will definitely speed things up, catch all the perpetrators, and recover everyone’s money."

Having received an answer, coupled with Heath’s actions just now, the other people in the reception room inexplicably relaxed a lot.

As long as there was progress, that was good enough.

The woman who had been specifically instructed to keep an eye on the situation had been huddling in the corner. Seeing Heath take the man away earlier, her heart skipped a beat. Had he just been arrested?

Hadn’t they said the disguise was foolproof and the police definitely wouldn’t find out anytime soon?

Why was he caught so quickly?!

Would she be next? But she had only taken some money to put on an act. She wouldn’t be arrested, right?

Half an hour passed, and no one else entered the reception room. Just as the woman thought the matter had blown over, a female police officer knocked on the door, pointed at the woman huddled in the corner, and asked the young officer inside to bring her out.

"I just took some money and came to shout a few lines. That shouldn’t be enough to send me to jail, right?" Under everyone’s watchful eyes and urging, the woman stood up, her limbs feeling weak, and a trace of panic on her face.

Hadn’t they told her that, at most, she would get a lecture for this kind of thing, with no real consequences?

Why did this female officer look so stern?

The woman’s heart was beating so fast she felt like it would burst out of her chest at any second.

But when she heard the officer’s question, her expression shifted to utter astonishment.

"What did you say?" the woman asked in disbelief.

The female officer in charge of questioning patiently repeated her request. "Please provide the account that transferred the money to you. The police need to investigate some information regarding this account."

The woman asked cautiously, "You’re really not here to arrest me? I thought I was going to jail."

The officer shook her head and explained, "Your behavior in the reception room earlier did hinder our police investigation. Although the punishment isn’t severe, we do not encourage this kind of behavior.

"Don’t be greedy for these petty gains in the future. You were lucky this time that it didn’t cause any serious consequences, but next time you do something like this, you might not be so fortunate."

Hearing that she wasn’t going to jail but was just being asked to cooperate with the investigation, the woman nodded repeatedly, promising anxiously, "I know! I will never do this kind of thing again!"

Having obtained the account information Heath had requested, the female officer stood up. She was just about to leave when she was stopped. "So... can I leave now?"

The officer shook her head. "Not yet. Stay here for now. If you need anything, just call out. There are people outside."

With that, the female officer hurried off, bringing the account number the woman had written down to the office.

Because the team members had found a cigarette butt at the branch office and the extracted DNA perfectly matched Mr. Joyce’s, he stopped struggling. Previously stubborn and trying to muddle through the situation, he now hung his head and confessed everything he knew in detail.

During his confession, he also gave up the names of several other strongholds and the people in charge there. More importantly, he shared what he knew about the boss.

As soon as Heath got the confession, he immediately sent the locations and names to the two chiefs, leaving it to them to communicate with their colleagues in those jurisdictions.

With the chiefs taking the lead, their colleagues didn’t delay after receiving the evidence. Following the addresses provided, they led raids and arrested the employees still at the branches.

Based on their confessions, they also apprehended those who had initially slipped through the net.

After the arrests, further interrogations were conducted. From the managers in those areas, they extracted the names of even more branches and managers, as well as additional information about the boss.

Throughout the night, police departments across various jurisdictions nationwide were on standby, afraid that there might be such swindlers hiding in some corner of their territory that they hadn’t yet discovered.

Heath Hale and Evan Keller finally pieced together the entire puzzle regarding the boss.

One of the suspects even handed over his spare phone, which was filled with his chat records with the boss, along with some secretly taken photos.

He had kept them as leverage, just in case.