Chapter 75: Chloe Monroe Threatened Me First

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Chloe Monroe Threatened Me First

Zoe was all too familiar with that expression.

’Isn’t that the cleaning lady, Aunt Monroe?!’

Before Zoe could see any more, she stumbled back a few steps.

If Heath Hale hadn’t been right behind her to catch her, Zoe would have surely collapsed to the floor.

"Whoa, what did you see? You were standing there for an hour, completely still." Evan Keller squatted next to Zoe, poking her arm with a curious tone.

’It’s never taken this long before!’

’Could this be a really tough case?’

At that thought, Evan Keller sucked in a sharp breath. ’So much for getting any rest!’

Zoe unapologetically slapped Evan Keller’s hand away, inwardly shocked that she had been watching for over an hour.

’No wonder my feet are sore and tingling now that I’ve moved,’ she thought. ’And I’m exhausted!’

But Zoe didn’t waste any time. She quickly recounted what she had seen.

"Damn it, so that Aunt Monroe is no good either!" Evan Keller slammed his fist against the nearby wall.

She watched her friend get assaulted and did nothing, and she didn’t even call the police after she knew Director Lane had killed her.

If she had reported it immediately, the case wouldn’t have gone cold for so long!

"Let’s dig up the evidence first. We’ll deal with the rest later." After venting, Evan Keller wasted no time and assigned two officers to dig up the evidence Chloe Monroe had buried.

The good news was that the school hadn’t undergone any major construction for many years. Even though they had paved some small paths a few years ago, most areas were untouched, so the evidence might still be there.

The bad news was that there was no telling if the buried evidence would still be usable.

Heath Hale patted Evan Keller’s shoulder and said in a low voice, "Anyway, we’ve come this far. Go apply for a search warrant and search that Director Lane’s home and office. See if we can find anything."

Zoe had seen him deliberately remove Chloe Monroe’s clothes instead of throwing them into the small pond with the body.

So Heath Hale reasonably guessed that Director Lane had taken the victim’s clothes home as a souvenir.

It wasn’t the first time they’d encountered a situation like this. Evan Keller quickly filed another report with the chief and got the search warrant approved with top speed.

"You two, don’t just stand there. Come over and look through the missing persons reports from the last decade or so. See if we can identify the other victims." Evan Keller waved Zoe Sawyer and Heath Hale over, telling them to hurry up and help.

As for Aunt Monroe and Director Lane, who were locked in the interrogation rooms?

Let them wait. It’s not like they were going to die.

Besides, letting them stew for a while might make them easier to question later.

Following the records in the files, they actually managed to find information on several suspected victims.

All the missing persons were female students from the same school as Chloe Monroe, and some were even in the same major.

But the time intervals between them were quite long.

The longest was Chloe Monroe, who had been missing for eighteen years. The most recent had been thirteen years ago.

"So many people went missing, and no one ever got suspicious?" Zoe stared at the records, finding it hard to believe.

Heath Hale sat next to Zoe, explaining as he took notes, "Back then, the household registration system wasn’t very well-developed. A lot of people were undocumented."

"And look, the ones who filed the reports were mostly classmates and teachers, not the victims’ parents."

"In the former case, unless they were very close, most people would just file the report and then move on. Only the family would keep following up. Without anyone pushing them, the police would conduct a search, but they’d focus most of their attention on other violent crimes."

"On top of that, when they couldn’t find them, the cases slowly went cold over time."

"There was another, more important reason. If someone with an agenda said a few misleading things during the police investigation, it could easily divert the police’s attention."

"Just like in the investigation records for these missing women. Director Lane, who was their specialized course instructor at the time, said a few suggestive things that painted them as a group of girls with lots of friends who frequently went out clubbing with male companions."

"Girls like that were seen as the most likely to go astray, so naturally, the police at the time started thinking along those lines."

Because the target location was clear, the two officers sent to dig up the evidence returned quickly.

They were carrying a wooden box.

Although it was covered in dirt and looked a bit battered, the contents inside were thankfully undamaged.

Evan Keller breathed a sigh of relief after seeing what was inside.

Soon, the team that went to Director Lane’s home also returned, carrying a bag of neatly folded but very old-looking clothes.

’With all this, how could that Director Lane possibly deny it?!’

Sure enough, when Director Lane saw Evan Keller take out a fountain pen that looked familiar yet strangely unfamiliar, a bad feeling inexplicably welled up inside him.

’Why does that look so much like the fountain pen I lost eighteen years ago?!’

"It seems Director Lane finds this pen quite familiar. In that case, I don’t need to say much more."

Evan Keller placed the evidence bag in his hand on the table and picked up several others.

"These are the clothes Chloe Monroe was wearing the day you assaulted her, covered in your bodily fluids. These are the two stones she used to scratch you."

"And here’s the statement she wrote, detailing how you threatened and assaulted her, along with Chloe Monroe’s own bloody handprint."

"If Director Lane has any doubts, we can run a DNA test. Don’t worry, the technology is very advanced now. And since these items have been so well-preserved, extracting viable evidence will be quite easy." Evan Keller displayed the items to Director Lane one by one, then tapped his fingers on the table in front of him.

"Does Director Lane have anything else to say?" Evan Keller stared at the profusely sweating Director Lane, his gaze icy.

’How does a coward who caves this easily during questioning even have the guts to kill someone?!’

’He even killed several people, misled a police investigation, and kept it hidden for over a decade!’

Evan Keller couldn’t understand it, but that didn’t stop him from pressing his advantage.

"We’ve already gotten a search warrant from our superiors. We found a bag of clothes at your house, each one a different size. With all this, what else can you possibly argue?"

"Speak! Why did you target them?! How did you murder them and dump them in the small pond?!" Evan Keller slammed his hand on the table, his voice suddenly booming.

A crushing sense of pressure and tension instantly overwhelmed Director Lane.

For Director Lane, who was already wound tight, the taut string in his mind finally snapped with a sharp TWANG.

He suddenly clutched his head, his voice breaking as he yelled.

"It’s not my fault! Chloe Monroe threatened me first!"