Chapter 180: The Reason for Revenge
The two of them exchanged a glance, both clearly surprised by the woman’s identity. But they soon discovered that something even more astonishing was yet to come.
"Not only that, but she’s also connected to the tragic death of Vaughn’s daughter."
Apparently, after Mr. Vaughn’s company went bankrupt and he was saddled with massive debt, Mrs. Vaughn had taken their child to see that woman.
She brought the child along in the desperate hope that the other woman, being a woman herself, might empathize, take pity on the child, and agree to her plea—to persuade her own husband to help Mrs. Vaughn’s husband through his crisis.
However, she had clearly underestimated the other woman’s heartlessness. She also never expected to run into a robber in the mall, or that her only daughter would tragically become a hostage.
"The officers from the Southward Police Department handling the case said negotiations were initially going very smoothly. Although the robber had a gun, he didn’t actually dare to hurt anyone; he was mainly using it for intimidation. The negotiator spotted this and proposed realistic terms that met the robber’s psychological needs. They were on the verge of rescuing the child, but then someone screamed, causing the kidnapper’s hand to flinch..."
Beatrice Donovan paused for a long moment. "The child was tragically killed."
"This has something to do with that woman." A bold guess suddenly popped into Arabella Donovan’s mind. "The person who screamed... it was her, wasn’t it?"
Eugene Jennings’s expression changed slightly, and he instinctively looked to Beatrice Donovan for confirmation.
"...That’s right."
"That animal!" Before Arabella Donovan could say anything, Eugene Jennings had already cursed aloud. "She didn’t do it on purpose, did she?"
Beatrice Donovan lowered her gaze. "There’s no concrete evidence to prove whether it was intentional or not. But it’s a fact that the child died because of her scream."
’No wonder I could faintly sense an aura of blood and yin energy on that woman. She must have done plenty of wicked things.’
Eugene Jennings’s face turned pale. He had lived a smooth, privileged life for over twenty years. The incident with the Blood Jade had been his first glimpse into the malevolence of the human heart, but this woman’s story completely redefined his understanding of how low humanity could sink.
He truly couldn’t comprehend how such a trashy person could exist in this world. What kind of grudge, what kind of hatred, could make her so cold-hearted toward a living, breathing human life—let alone a child who was only a few years old!
"Because of his daughter’s death, Vaughn’s entire family was devastated. His parents were already elderly and had fallen ill with worry over his bankruptcy and debt. Losing their only granddaughter was an even greater blow, and it wasn’t long before they both passed away... His wife was so wracked with guilt that she took an overdose of sleeping pills while he was out trying to borrow money again..."
This was what Arabella Donovan had mentioned earlier: the suspect’s entire family was dead, leaving him all alone. With no one left to care about, he naturally had nothing left to lose.
That was why he had strapped the last bomb to himself, ready to take everyone down with him and find his own release.
The reason he chose this place to detonate everything was easy to guess. This was where his daughter had tragically died, and it marked the beginning of his family being torn from his life.
It was also easy to understand why he chose to lure the police here. He resented them for failing to save his child that day.
He probably initially intended to lure the Southward officers. After all, they were the ones who had responded to the call when his child was in danger. Therefore, if a similar incident occurred in the same location, it was highly likely that the same team would be dispatched.
But he likely hadn’t anticipated the twist of fate: the ones who responded this time weren’t the Southward police who had failed to save his daughter, but Beatrice Donovan and her team.
Piecing it all together, his actions seemed like an indiscriminate attack on innocent people to get back at society, but in reality, there was a clear logic to his revenge. In that case...
"That child he almost took hostage..."
"That’s the woman’s younger daughter. She’s one year older than his daughter was."
And with that, all the pieces fell into place.
This was a long-premeditated act of revenge. Vaughn had tried to artificially create a kidnapping identical to the one in which his daughter died, all to vent the pain of losing his entire family and to retaliate against those who had caused his suffering.
"He may be pitiable and that woman may be despicable, but what about the innocent shoppers who had no idea what was going on? And what about your colleagues from the Southward precinct? They may have failed to save his daughter, but they tried their absolute best. Aren’t they innocent, too?"
Being hated just for failing to save someone was a textbook case of "no good deed goes unpunished."
Hearing her say that, Beatrice Donovan couldn’t help but smile.
The reason the police report didn’t disclose these details was to prevent sanctimonious keyboard warriors from using sympathy for Vaughn’s family as an excuse to attack the Southward officers, who already needed psychological counseling for failing to save the little girl.
If that kind of public opinion were allowed to fester, it would be like inflicting a second wound on them.
"She seemed pretty scared of you just now."
"A guilty conscience, probably. We questioned her and her husband a few times for the bombing investigation. They’re both still persons of major interest at the department."
It was obvious to anyone with eyes that there was something fishy about that woman’s husband transferring most of the funds out of Vaughn’s company. But when questioned, he insisted that the money was his initial investment from when he and Vaughn started the company together and that he was simply withdrawing his capital.
It made no sense, he argued, to leave so much money in a company that was about to go under and sink along with it. The excuse sounded plausible, but it was actually full of holes. Still, it was clear he had someone skilled advising him.
They had to follow procedure in their investigation—innocent until proven guilty. So even though they knew he was suspicious, they couldn’t just arrest him.
However, just because they couldn’t do anything to him for now didn’t mean they were giving up. They had been working hard to find evidence all this time.
What Vaughn did was certainly unforgivable, but the suffering he endured shouldn’t just be ignored. The two were separate issues.
The woman probably knew this, which was why she had unconsciously shown a flicker of guilt when she saw Beatrice Donovan.
Arabella Donovan listened to the explanation, her brow slightly furrowed in thought.
’What goes around comes around. The retribution is always just. That woman has an aura of blood and the resentful yin energy of Mr. Vaughn’s family clinging to her. The dark clouds above her head are several shades blacker than Mr. Sterling’s. She’s probably going to have some major misfortune soon.’
As if to prove her thought, Beatrice Donovan’s phone suddenly rang. She answered it and heard some good news, which made her unconsciously glance at the unsuspecting girl in front of her.
But Arabella Donovan misunderstood her intention and said considerately, "Cousin, do you have something to take care of? You should head back. I still have Herman and the others with me, so I’ll be fine."
"All right, then. Head home early after you’re done shopping. Call me if anything comes up."
"Okay! Oh, right, take this." Arabella Donovan rummaged through a bag Eugene Jennings was holding and handed something to Beatrice Donovan.
Seeing this, Beatrice Donovan’s junior colleague standing beside her stared with wide eyes. ’Holy cow,’ he thought. ’Is this... public bribery?’