Chapter 76: Because Chloe Said She Would Sell Me

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Because Chloe Said She Would Sell Me

"We both agreed it was just a fling, but she got serious. She insisted we get married, threatening to report me for molesting a student by abusing my authority if I refused.

She also demanded I get her a good job. If I had that kind of power, would I still be languishing at this school for so long?!" Director Lane’s voice was laced with a mix of anguish and resentment.

If we’d just parted amicably back then, none of this would have happened!

It was all because Chloe Monroe was too greedy!

That’s right! It was her greed!

’Everything I did was just because her demands were too outrageous,’ Director Lane kept telling himself.

Evan Keller’s brow twitched as he listened to this.

"What kind of bullshit excuse is that! That’s no reason to kill someone!" Evan Keller roared, slamming his palm on the table, his eyes burning with fury.

He then calmed himself down, sat back, and continued, "So, what about the other girls?"

"After I killed Chloe Monroe, I was terrified. But I also became sort of addicted to the feeling. It just so happened that those other women were the restless type, always hooking up with male students from the college.

So, to create a better learning environment for the other students, I had no choice but to kill them.

They were always messing around with all sorts of men anyway. All I had to do was nudge things in the right direction, and with the testimony from that group of students, it was easy to make you all think they’d gone off to work in... less-than-reputable professions."

At this, Director Lane let out a smug laugh.

He had intentionally targeted girls who were attractive but had reputations for being promiscuous.

That made the story more believable, keeping the police’s attention off of him.

If that bunch hadn’t started haunting his dreams, scaring him and ruining his sleep and his health, there might have been a few more skeletons in that little pond.

It was because those dead girls kept tormenting him that Director Lane was afraid he’d talk in his sleep and expose himself. That’s why he never married or had children for over a decade, choosing to live alone.

At this thought, Director Lane tapped his fingers on the small table in front of him, a hint of regret in the gesture.

’If I’d known I was going to get caught, I should’ve killed a few more.’ 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Outside the interrogation room, Zoe Sawyer, who had listened to the entire confession, couldn’t help but gag.

’What a bullshit excuse.’

’Now that they’re dead, he can twist right and wrong however he wants. It’s all just his side of the story.’

’Slandering the dead to make himself look better.’

’If I hadn’t seen those visions, I might have actually been fooled by that shameless bastard in there!’

"He confessed, but I don’t find his reasons very credible." Zoe Sawyer said, thinking of the Chloe Monroe she had only glimpsed a few times behind the door. ’She didn’t seem like that kind of person.’

"They may not be credible, but they still have some reference value. The rest depends on Big Girl Monroe," Heath Hale said, handing Zoe a tissue after she straightened up.

A moment later, Evan Keller came out of the room.

"This is premeditated murder, and he’s confessed to everything.

The statute of limitations for these cases is usually twenty years. Luckily, we’re still within that window. With several lives on his hands, it’s more than enough for the death penalty!" Evan Keller slammed the notebook in his hand onto the table in anger.

You’re a cop long enough, you hear every insane, bullshit reason for murder there is.

"All right, all right, calm down. We’re on the last step. Let’s solve this case quickly, otherwise people at the school will be in a state of panic," Heath Hale said, patting Evan Keller’s shoulder to console him.

With the internet being what it is today, if we don’t solve these two cases soon, the public outcry will be terrifying.

Evan Keller was reminded of the human skin case they had just recently solved.

If this one dragged on, he figured the netizens’ outrage would flood the police station.

"Let’s go, let’s go. Over to the other one." Evan Keller didn’t dare to waste any more time and hurried toward the room where Big Girl Monroe was being held.

From the visions Zoe Sawyer had seen, it was clear this woman knew her friend Chloe Monroe’s business like the back of her hand.

She was watching from nearby when Chloe was assaulted, which is why she was able to get there in time.

She was even nearby when the body was dumped.

’She has to know something!’

Meanwhile, Big Girl Monroe had lost her initial agitation and was just sitting there quietly.

This time, Heath Hale took over the interrogation from Evan Keller, with Zoe Sawyer following behind to observe.

"Big Girl Monroe. You were in the same class as Chloe Monroe, but you dropped out and vanished the year after she disappeared. Why?

And since you left, why come back?"

Heath Hale asked, looking at the file Officer Lee had rushed over and pointing to a section.

Big Girl Monroe slowly lifted her head to look at Heath Hale, then lowered it again. Her tone was just as sluggish. "I was afraid of being targeted. When Chloe went missing, rumors were flying around campus that she’d been murdered and her body dumped in the wild.

All the girls were too scared to go anywhere alone back then. Since we came from the same town, I was terrified the killer would target me next, so I just dropped out.

Later, after I learned the truth about Chloe’s disappearance, I found an opportunity to come back to the school as a janitor, to keep an eye on that animal, Tim Lane."

She was just someone who wanted to avenge her friend.

Heath Hale stared at Big Girl Monroe, his gaze sharp and unreadable, making it impossible to tell if he believed a word she’d just said.

"But Tim Lane just confessed. He said that when he assaulted her and disposed of her body, you were watching from nearby.

Since you knew, why didn’t you go to the police? And don’t give me that story about being afraid of retaliation against Chloe Monroe’s parents. We’ve already called the police department in their district. Her parents passed away while searching for her, just a year after she disappeared.

At that point, Chloe Monroe hadn’t even fully decomposed into a skeleton at the bottom of that pond yet."

If Big Girl Monroe had gone to the police back then, the other victims’ tragic deaths might have been prevented.

As if feeling the evidence he’d presented wasn’t enough, Heath Hale then recounted, based on Zoe Sawyer’s vision, the conversation between Big Girl Monroe and Chloe Monroe, and even described the look on her face as she watched the body being dumped.

Any lingering hope Big Girl Monroe had cherished vanished, and her heart plunged into a bottomless abyss.

’How do they know that?!’

’Could it be... Could Tim Lane have really been watching from nearby back then?!’

’Then why did he let me work at the school for years without doing anything?!’

Heath Hale rapped his knuckles on the table, pulling Big Girl Monroe back from her thoughts.

Realizing she couldn’t hide it any longer, Big Girl Monroe licked her lips and told them everything, from beginning to end.

"Because... Chloe threatened me. She said she’d have my mother sell me to a crippled, one-eyed old bachelor from the next village... one who’d already beaten several of his previous wives to death."