Chapter 67

Tom hung up the phone.

Why did they all keep telling me to stop digging?

Lally mentioned in her letter that if I didn't want to keep going after learning the truth, I should leave Silverlight City.

Tom just told me to stop investigating too.

What was the big secret here? First, they kept me in the dark, and now that I'm getting close, they want me to back off.

Was this some kind of well-meaning warning?

"Nancy, stop investigating; it's dangerous here; leave quickly, don't be reckless."

Tom's last words sounded so confident and arrogant to me.

Tony and Lally couldn't hold on any longer and wanted to spill the truth. Lally vanished after writing half the letter, and Tony called in the middle of the night, but I missed it.

Tom still wanted to keep the truth hidden, the hatred and revenge Lally wrote about in her letter.

The revenge was not over, and the enemies had begun to retaliate.

During the trial, I noticed issues with the testimony. Laura wasn't the murderer. These people conspired to frame Laura in court, trying to use the law to kill her. Was this their revenge?

When they said these things, did they ever think about how this was a mockery of fairness and justice?

Or did they think they were the embodiment of fairness and justice?

What about Alan? Did they not care about him? Why didn't they show any sadness for the friendship they once had?

Wait! I just thought of a possibility that could link Alan's death to the trap they set.

First, when Lally sugarcoated the story, she said they came out of the orphanage. Now it seemed they might have escaped.

Second, because they escaped, neither the criminal group nor these kids dared to make a sound. Everything had to be done in secret.

But among these kids, there was a traitor who leaked their info to the criminal group. From Lally's photos, it seemed they continued to be persecuted after leaving.

Lally was like this, and the others were even more so.

This traitor, judging from the false testimonies of Lally, Tammy, Tom, and others, was likely Laura.

I met Laura at my wedding, and from her statements in court, Laura and Alan's friendship was genuine. She might not have leaked Alan's info.

By now, everyone had grown up. They set a trap to avenge the persecution they suffered back then, and the first step was to eliminate Laura and then take revenge on the criminal group.

The criminal group was also looking for them because they held the group's secrets and had to be eliminated quickly.

When these two forces collided, Alan probably knew about his friends' plan, and Lally respected Alan a lot, so Alan thought of persuading Lally.

Unexpectedly, Laura was also at the Entertainment Club. Alan knew the truth about Laura's betrayal, and there might have been some conflict.

At the same time, the criminal group also found out about Alan's whereabouts, so they planned a power outage and murder at the Entertainment Club, killed Alan, dissected his body, and hung it in a private room as revenge and a warning.

Everyone knew this was a path of revenge, so they turned Alan's death into motivation for revenge and continued their actions, conspiring to first put the traitor Laura to death.

According to the clues provided by Leonard, all the police, prosecutors, and court personnel related to this case had now been transferred, indicating that there was likely a huge protective umbrella behind this group.

Because of this, Lally could vanish without a trace, and the cops had no leads these days.

Tony, who called last night, might also be in danger.

If this line of thinking connected the dots, then everything that seemed off started to make sense.

But this was just speculation without solid proof.

Plus, there were many people not included in this theory. Like Bob and Mike, who were part of Alan's closest group of five in college. They hadn't shown up in this mess from the start.

Could they really be unrelated?

Also, when Lally testified in court, Laura must have recognized her, but she didn't say a word. Why?

Was it the shame of a betrayer? I didn't think Laura would feel that way.

And Tammy wasn't from that hellish place. Why did she give false testimony?

Was it for Zack? But Zack was fine and doing well. No matter how deep the grudge, she wouldn't want to kill her.

And most importantly, was Alan's death really just a coincidence?

All of this was unknown. The main thing now was to find the address of the criminal group that trafficked kids back then, start from there to find clues, and understand the relationships behind these people. Then everything would be clear.

The car stopped at the entrance of Sand Village. Zoey and I got out and headed straight to Tony's house.

Just then, Ruben called.

I had called Ruben on the way and asked him to check if Tony had gone to work at Stardust Diner today.

Ruben said, "Mrs. Smith, I just came out of Stardust Diner. They said Tony quit a few days ago."

I asked, "Did they say why?"

Ruben replied, "They said Tony's wife caused a big scene at Stardust Diner, broke a lot of tables and chairs, and even got the police involved. Tony paid for the damages and quit that day."

It seemed Anna knew about Tony changing jobs and caused a scene.

Talking about Anna, I always felt their relationship was odd. Tony knew Anna was a mistress of a Digital Leap Technologies Company shareholder, yet he still married her. And Anna, knowing Tony's situation, still married him.

From my few encounters with Anna, she didn't seem like a young girl blinded by love. On the contrary, she was very shrewd.

Since we were here, if Anna was around, we might as well talk about her and Tony. At the very least, she shouldn't do such impulsive things again.

If this matter was resolved and Tony hadn't done anything illegal, I had to help him because Alan was well taken care of by his family back then. I owed them this favor.

Thinking about this, I knocked on Tony's door.

No one responded, and I felt a sense of unease. It seemed something really happened.

I pushed the door open, and Zoey followed closely behind. The yard was empty, and the doors on the second and third floors were closed.

Only the door to Tammy's place on the first floor was open.

Could it be that the whole family was in trouble?

"Ms. Martinez, are you there? It's Nancy, the reporter who came before." I tried to steady my heartbeat, speaking as I walked in.

Tammy had blood at the corner of her mouth, half-lying on the sofa, staring at George's photo on the wall. She was on the brink of death, barely hanging on.