Chapter 109

Alexander said, "If they were broke, we would've heard from them in the last few years 'cause they couldn't leave the county. But it's been over a decade, no one's seen them. The weirdest part is Haven and Rilla, who were so tight. Rilla even went to Hugh's place to check on her. So why did Haven just ghost her?"

Jordan blinked. "Yeah, it's strange. There was no hint Hugh wanted a divorce. The villagers said Haven had griped about Ava before, but they had no clue about the divorce. It just happened out of nowhere, even Rilla didn't know... isn't that odd?"

"What's so odd about it? There's only one explanation: Haven herself didn't know she was getting divorced. How could she tell anyone?" Dennis said, sounding more and more skeptical. "If you keep talking like this, there might be a few more unsolved cases in Willowbrook Village. This is serious enough to report as missing persons. Hugh's family is really suspicious."

"Let's eat first, we can think about it after dinner." The waiter brought the last dish, and Robert waved them off, signaling a temporary end to the conversation.

"Rilla's phone still has Haven's number. Although it hasn't connected in a long time, I've sent it to the tech department to see if they can trace it," Jordan said, then lowered his head to eat his pasta.

The room fell into a rare silence, broken only by the sounds of eating.

After dinner, everyone found a comfortable spot in the room to rest and discuss the case further.

Unexpectedly, a new test report came in: Sample B had very little semen, but it contained trace amounts of dimethicone.

Initially, they only tested a small sample for DNA, which was why they missed the dimethicone. This time, after extracting as much semen as possible, they found it.

"What's dimethicone?" Charles asked, curious.

Dennis said, "Never heard of it."

Jordan checked his phone, "It says here it's an anti-foaming agent used for gastrointestinal bloating and acute pulmonary edema. Does that mean the killer has this condition?"

Zoey, who had been quiet, opened her eyes and said coldly, "Dimethicone is used in condom lubricants."

Everyone connected dimethicone with condoms and fell silent.

Then, they all looked at Zoey.

Zoey, puzzled, asked, "Why are you all looking at me?"

"How do you know?"

Zoey frowned, realizing her teammates lacked professional knowledge, and retorted, "Why don't you know?"

The questioner was speechless.

Robert, trying to ease the awkwardness, stepped in, "The case is getting more interesting. The bar provided an alibi for Hugh, and now we've found condom material in the body. Using a condom would prevent semen detection, unless..."

"The condom was punctured?" Dennis suggested.

Jordan looked at the group. "But Ava was desperate for a child. Why would she have condoms at home? Maybe they didn't even have any."

Dennis thought Jordan was naive, "Did you forget Hugh liked to mess with prostitutes? He would definitely carry condoms."

Zoey supported Dennis. "I agree with Dennis. Hugh would carry condoms, but the lubricant is on the outside, contacting the vagina. It's unlikely we'd find just a trace. Hugh might have used the condom inside out, not realizing it was punctured, and the semen carried out the lubricant."

The others were speechless, wondering why Zoey a little girl was so knowledgeable.

Robert, a seasoned detective, had encountered such issues countless times, but discussing it with two young women felt uncomfortable. "I think Zoey's right. Hugh was confident during his statement because he thought no one would find out about his condom."

Charles asked, "So who punctured the condom?"

As soon as he asked, Jordan and Zoey answered in unison, "Ava."

"It must have been her," Robert agreed. "She said if Hugh had a child with a prostitute, she'd make him divorce Olivia."

"Haha, the more I hear, the more satisfying it is. Ava got Hugh sent to jail? Serves him right."

"If Ava tampered with all of Hugh's condoms, that would be interesting," Dennis added, laughing. "Hugh frequenting those places, thinking he was safe from STDs, only to be sabotaged by Ava."

Charles looked at Dennis. "You're right, but if Hugh had an STD... what about Olivia?"

Everyone fell silent again.

Olivia, who had done nothing wrong, married Hugh at a naive age and had to endure all this, it was truly pitiful.

"Forget about Olivia. Everyone has their fate," Zoey said, showing no sympathy for Olivia or any woman in Willowbrook Village.

They were too stubborn to be saved.

"We need to focus on solving the case. We're stuck now, and I think our breakthrough might be with Evan or the Lynn daughters' notebooks, but we've learned almost nothing from them."

Charles, thinking of Evan, felt helpless. "Hoping to get a lead from Evan? He only talks about fighting aliens. Cases with child witnesses are the hardest."

Alexander, who had been quiet, suddenly had an idea. "There's someone else we can ask."

"Who?" Zoey asked.

"The Lynn's son."

"Right!" Jordan remembered. "He's twelve, not a little kid. He should understand things."

"Let's head to Faye's house!"

"Let's go!"

Another hour-long drive.

Finn Lynn was crouched by the chicken coop, watching the chickens eat. The detectives approached, their eyes following his gaze.