Chapter 15

She was scared of being laughed at and dreaded the others' mocking looks.

She was even more terrified that folks would say, "How can someone as ugly as her claim she was sexually harassed?"

But now she got the courage to tell Zoey, "He touched me twice, so I quickly moved to the side... I was so freaked out that I got off the bus before my stop. But thinking about it, his hand shouldn't be that big."

Zoey was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Ella explained, "My butt isn't that big, but he couldn't even grab it with one hand."

Zoey was quiet for a moment. She got the gist and said goodbye to Ella, "Alright, that's it. If I need anything else, I'll call you."

Just as she was about to hang up, Ella quickly asked, "Officer Brown, what are you going to do about the guy who was stalking me?"

Zoey replied, "We'll figure it out once we have more info. I'll let you know as soon as we do."

Ella said, "Alright, thank you, Officer Brown."

Zoey ended the call and turned back to the surveillance footage. This time, Charles had swapped the video for her.

Charles said, "Take a look at this."

Zoey looked closely at the footage again. There were still a lot of people in the video, but this one was a bit clearer than the last.

However, the guys standing next to the two victims weren't the ones Zoey had in mind. Nor were they the two men next to Ella.

Dennis had checked all the footage from the escalators. Since it was an escalator, the surveillance mostly captured wide-angle shots, making the people look really small.

At a glance, he felt like cursing. He irritably lit a cigarette and tapped the table. "Charles, hurry up!"

Charles came to help Dennis, and under Dennis's pressure, he quickly identified the victims.

"Is it her?" Charles scrutinized the footage and calmly analyzed it, "I get the feeling that these individuals who have been harassing others aren't the same person." The most certain point was that it definitely wasn't the Lawrence they apprehended.

Zoey actually felt the same way.

In other words, they had no way to prove that the victims they were investigating were connected to Lawrence. Nor could they prove that these harassment cases weren't just coincidences.

Zoey stared intently at the footage, lost in thought. Charles, seeing Zoey like this, thought she felt guilty for mobilizing so many officers for nothing.

He comforted her, "It's okay, Zoey. We've already sent all the evidence we found at Lawrence's house for DNA testing. In our line of work, we know that sometimes even what we see can't be trusted. We have to believe in science. What if the comparisons match?"

Zoey nodded while looking at the footage.

Alexander was specifically investigating Aria. She had joined a hiking group she found online and was sexually harassed during the hike. It happened to be a weekend, so the number of hikers was three to four times the usual.

The surveillance in the scenic area was spotty at best. Plus, it was a hiking trail, so there weren't many places where cameras could catch anything, making the investigation tougher. The angles were incomplete, making it impossible to piece together a continuous surveillance record.

Aria had found the hiking group online and didn't know much about them. As they started hiking, some people moved faster while others lagged behind. The report was made when they were near the top of the mountain.

This info was practically useless, making evidence gathering super difficult.

Alexander spent over half an hour searching for Aria. When he finally found her, she disappeared into a blind spot in the surveillance just a few minutes later. She reappeared three hours later, coming down the mountain with a female online friend, supporting each other.

Aria had been sexually harassed near the top of the mountain.

In the footage, she was already coming down.

After watching hours of surveillance, he got nothing useful!

Alexander's patience was wearing thin, and he had lost his smile.

He started speeding up the video, trying to spot Lawrence in the crowd, but after several viewings, he saw no sign of Lawrence, and his eyes were sore.

He overheard Charles and Zoey's conversation. All the evidence formed a closed loop at this moment. Was Zoey's initial hypothesis wrong? Impossible!

Alexander believed in Zoey's reasoning even more than she did.

He had seen Zoey's brilliance countless times. He believed that if Zoey worked in the criminal investigation department, no matter how complex the case, there would undoubtedly be a breakthrough with her involved.

Despite having suffered setbacks at her hands before, Alexander inexplicably harbored a profound sense of trust in her.

Just as Alexander was wondering whether to continue investigating, a familiar figure suddenly appeared in the surveillance footage! A woman appeared in full hiking gear, looking like a regular hiker.

Although she had her back to the camera, she occasionally glanced around before continuing up the mountain with the crowd. In no time, she disappeared into a blind spot.

Alexander watched several more times before pausing the video.

He waved to Charles, "Charles, look! Isn't this Lily?"

Everyone turned to look at Alexander.

Charles quickly moved to Alexander's position and began comparing the paused surveillance footage in his mind. "Although we can't see her face clearly, her profile and long hair almost confirm her identity. She is Lily!"

Zoey thought for a moment and then gestured a 0.4-inch width with her hand. She said, "Lily and Aria went missing nearly four months apart. Her hair should have grown this much."

Dennis was even more confused, "What does this all mean? If Lily wasn't missing, why didn't she contact her family? Why didn't she go home? How can you be sure Aria is Lily just because of her hair color?"

He felt genuinely frustrated. Since when did their police work rely on gut feelings?

Alexander, however, remained calm. "Dennis, did you go to Lily's home?"

Dennis replied, "Lily came here from out of town for work. We investigated her place and found nothing unusual. The room deposit was refunded to her family, and the place has long been rented out again."