Chapter 594: It Was Him Who Made Me a Streamer
Chapter 594: Chapter 594: It Was Him Who Made Me a Streamer
When Veronica Young saw the chat history, her expression immediately changed. A flicker of guilt flashed in her eyes, and a sense of unease bloomed within her.
Kyle Morgan tapped his pen on the desk. "Veronica Young, we’re giving you a chance. You’d better think this through. If Emil Redmond talks before you do, you’ll lose your chance at a reduced sentence."
Veronica Young frowned. "Can the person who confesses first get a reduced sentence?"
"Of course," Sawyer said coolly. "We already told you: leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist. Has none of that sunk in?"
Veronica Young was still hesitant.
Sawyer stood up. "Let’s go interrogate Emil Redmond first. I imagine he’s made up his mind by now."
Seeing this, Veronica Young cried out in a panic, "Don’t go! Interrogate me first! I’ll talk! I’ll confess everything!"
Sawyer sat back down.
Kyle Morgan raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly. "Then I’ll ask you one more time. Why did you ask to meet Nancy Yules last night?"
Veronica Young’s nails dug into her own flesh, her words coming out slowly. "Because... because I had a meetup with Rank Two, and I didn’t want to sleep with him. So Emil Redmond... he gave me an idea. He told me to invite a friend over."
"Did you drug Nancy Yules’s drink?" Sawyer asked.
Veronica Young lowered her eyes and said in a hushed voice, "Emil Redmond was the one who drugged her. He bought the drugs. And the chat messages... that was all him pretending to be me, talking to those high-rolling fans."
"Trying to wash your hands of all responsibility?" Kyle Morgan said with a smirk. "So Emil Redmond committed all the crimes?"
"Everything I’m saying is true." Veronica Young looked desperate. "He’s the one who made me become a streamer. He said all I had to do was show up on camera and he’d handle everything else."
Kyle Morgan continued, "Besides Rank Two, have you met with anyone else?"
Veronica Young said, "We’ve met others, but I never had a friend take my place to sleep with them."
"It seems you’re not being entirely truthful." Sawyer frowned and took out a photograph. "Do you recognize the person in this picture?"
When Veronica Young saw the person in the photo clearly, a flicker of panic crossed her eyes. "That... That’s my dad’s second wife."
She dug her nails into her flesh, growing more and more agitated as her heart sank.
Sawyer said in a cold voice, "On August 31st, did you ask Sharon Willows to bring you a meal at Starlight Apartments?"
Veronica Young squeezed her eyes shut. After a moment of internal struggle, she broke down, her voice cracking with sobs. "Emil Redmond told me to do it! He told me to find people I hated..."
"Who did you make the unconscious Sharon Willows accompany that day?"
"Rank... Rank Three."
The fan known as Rank Three had already been brought into the adjacent interrogation room.
He sat on the chair, his body rigid and tense, his voice laced with anxiety. "Officers, why did you ask me to come here? I... I haven’t done anything wrong."
"Where did you go on the evening of August 31st?" Levi Hollis asked.
"August 31st..." Rank Three tried to recall, his expression unnatural. "I... I didn’t go anywhere."
"Be honest," Zachary Conway warned. "We brought you in because we have evidence. We’re questioning you to give you a chance to come clean. Hiding the truth won’t do you any good."
Rank Three stammered, "That night, after I got off work, I went to Starlight Apartments to meet a female streamer."
"What was the streamer’s name?"
"Joy."
"What happened at Starlight Apartments that day?"
"Nothing... happened..."
Zachary Conway’s gaze turned sharp. "The truth."
Rank Three’s already tense body shuddered, and he finally confessed what had happened that day.
Levi Hollis demanded, "And you didn’t realize the woman in the bed wasn’t Joy?"
Rank Three said, "I thought something was off at first, but Joy’s cousin told me she uses beauty filters online, so of course she’d look different in real life."
"We’re telling you right now: the woman that night was not Joy. She was an innocent victim who had been drugged unconscious!"
"What?" Rank Three’s face went pale with fright. He finally understood why he was here. He quickly proclaimed his innocence, "Officers, I didn’t know! I’m a victim, too!"
Levi Hollis and Zachary Conway remained unmoved by his claims of innocence.
Zachary Conway said calmly, "Now, you will need to cooperate with the police and identify the man who greeted you that night—Joy’s so-called cousin."
「Meanwhile.」
Nancy Yules arrived at the police station, accompanied by Wendy Dawson.
Renee Jennings and Henry Stark led them into a conference room.
"Miss Yules, are you feeling any better?" Renee Jennings poured two glasses of warm water and passed them to her. Just then, a voice rang out in her mind.
[System 009: Congratulations on completing the new Level 4 mission: Rescue. Rewards obtained: Frog Dictionary, 300 points, 3 million cash.]
Though Nancy Yules was conscious, she clearly wasn’t well. Her face was unnaturally pale.
"Thank you." She clutched the water glass, her voice trembling slightly as she looked gratefully at the people across from her. "Officers, thank you so much for last night!"
Nancy Yules was still shaken as she recalled the terrifying events of the previous night.
"We were just doing our job," Henry Stark said, his voice gentle. "Miss Yules, why were you at Starlight Apartments last night?"
"It was Joy... I mean, Veronica Young, who invited me," Nancy Yules explained. "I live in Lynfell. I quit my job two months ago because my boss was sexually harassing me..."
She started looking for a new job after quitting, and that’s when Veronica Young suddenly messaged her.
"Veronica Young and I were high school classmates. We were even roommates in the dorm, but we weren’t particularly close. We lost touch after graduation."
"I was pretty surprised when she suddenly contacted me. I thought she needed something, but she said she just wanted to catch up."
"After that, she started messaging me every day, sharing bits and pieces of her life."
"When she heard I wasn’t working, Veronica Young kept inviting me to Zenvia to visit her. I wanted to find a job first, but she was just so insistent. She even offered to book my train ticket."
"I eventually started to feel bad for keeping saying no, and since my brother and sister-in-law live here, I thought I could visit them at the same time. So I agreed."
Nancy Yules sighed. "Looking back on it now, there were red flags everywhere. I was just too naive to find any of it strange."
"What kinds of red flags?" Renee Jennings asked.
Nancy Yules replied, "After I got to Zenvia, I tried to make plans with Veronica Young, but she kept saying she was too busy and would meet up with me when she was free."
"When she finally did ask me to hang out, I suggested going shopping or seeing a movie... but she shot down every idea."
Renee Jennings frowned. "She insisted you had to go to Starlight Apartments to see her?"
"Yes." Nancy Yules nodded, frustrated with herself. "And last night, she kept pushing me to drink that coconut milk. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to finish the whole thing!"
"Don’t blame yourself. These criminals just have too many tricks up their sleeves," Renee Jennings comforted her gently. "In the future, just be more cautious when you meet up with friends you haven’t seen in a long time."
"Okay, I will." Though Nancy Yules said that, she was thinking, ’I don’t think I’ll ever be able to meet up with friends I’m not close with again.’