Chapter 87 - 86: You Can’t Just Say That
The most dreadful thing is a sudden silence...
Everyone present was stunned by her words and forgot to speak. Even the live stream chat went quiet for a moment.
The officer was the first to snap out of it. He looked at her with a serious expression. "Ms. Lowell, do you have any evidence to support that claim? If you’re fabricating facts to falsely accuse someone, we have the right to hold you legally responsible."
The officer handling their case happened to be one of the ones who had gone to the Lowell family’s home to make an arrest during the return banquet.
He recognized Yvonne Lowell, but this was no laughing matter.
"I will take full responsibility for every word I say," Yvonne Lowell said, her tone firm.
[Premeditated murder?!! Is this for real?!!]
[Yvonne, calm down!! You can’t just throw accusations like that around!!]
[Yeah, yeah, don’t be rash!! Or else you’ll be the one sued for defamation!!]
[Hold on, hold on, she doesn’t seem like the type to make things up. She said she’d take responsibility.]
Harrison Lowell swallowed hard. "Nola, what do you mean by that?"
Yvonne Lowell pressed her lips together. She couldn’t bear the look in his eyes, but she couldn’t let a sincere, innocent girl die in vain.
Besides, as an incredibly important beacon of light in that girl’s life, Harrison Lowell had the right to know the truth.
"Brother, do you remember a fan of yours with the ID ’Nanananana’?"
Harrison Lowell answered without a second thought. "Of course I remember her. Nana was my fan back when I was filming my very first show. I’ve met her many times. A lot of my long-time fans are good friends with her, too. But what does she have to do with any of this?"
"Nana went missing on campus on the fifth of last month. That evening, her roommate went to the school administration, teary-eyed, with a supposed ’suicide note’."
"The school immediately notified her parents and called the police. Three days later, Nana’s body was found in a remote lake in the hills behind the school. There had been a torrential downpour for several days, which washed her body ashore and erased any and all evidence."
"There was no surveillance footage of the area. Combined with her history of depression, the ’suicide note,’ and her roommate’s testimony, her death was ultimately ruled a suicide."
"But all of it was a charade, orchestrated by that very roommate. Am I right? ’Roommate’?"
After she spoke, Yvonne Lowell stared directly at the restrained woman next to her.
The woman’s obsessive gaze remained fixed on Harrison Lowell. She didn’t say a word.
Yvonne Lowell wasn’t bothered. "It’s true the school doesn’t have any cameras that can see the lakeside. However, next to the school is a commercial greenhouse, and one of its security cameras is aimed directly at the lake."
"When she showed up at the company building, I sensed something was off, so I had someone look into her. I just got the report on the way to the station, but I never expected it would lead to something like this."
"I’ll send you the evidence I have. Of course, you should still go to the greenhouse I mentioned to verify it for yourselves."
At these words, the woman’s pupils contracted slightly, but she still gave no response.
The officer nodded slightly. "Rest assured, we will send people to investigate, including the information you’ve provided."
[HOLY SHIT?! NANA?!! NO!!!]
[This isn’t real, right?! FUCK!!]
[But now that I think about it, Nana really hasn’t said anything in the group chat in a long time. She wasn’t active during the variety show broadcasts either. I just thought she was swamped with school.]
[I can’t even imagine how much Harrison is going to blame himself for this...]
[I’m this woman’s former roommate. She was really weird. She had pictures of Superstar Lowell plastered all over her desk and bed, like they were talismans to ward off evil or something (no flame plz).]
She was always acting strange and muttering to herself, and she even made us call her ’Mrs. Lowell.’ We got so fed up with her that the three of us went to our resident advisor together to request she be moved to another room.
It’s true her new roommate passed away, but I don’t know if she was the one who did it. (Putting up my shield here.)]
[Just a random observer here, but this was on the Kingsland evening news. The whole disappearance was a huge deal.]
[It can’t be?! NANA!! My Nana!!!]
Harrison Lowell stood frozen to the spot, speechless for a long time.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally turned to Yvonne Lowell, his eyes rimmed with red. "So... Nana died because of me?"
"Harrison, this isn’t your fault," Nina Jennings said, patting his shoulder reassuringly. "She’s completely delusional and twisted. This has nothing to do with you."
The woman started raving again. "You filthy bitch, get your dirty hands off him! Don’t you dare touch my Harrison!"
’Heh! I’m not the type to just take that lying down.’
Hearing this, Nina Jennings defiantly slung her arm around Harrison Lowell’s shoulder and kept it there.
Yvonne Lowell turned to the woman. "Why did you do it? Was it because my brother would actually remember Nana? Or was it because she could get him to willingly take a photo with her in public, while you were doomed to forever be a maggot festering in the gutter?"
The woman whipped her head toward her. "You bitch, shut your mouth!"
’Now!’
Yvonne Lowell stared directly into her eyes, her face devoid of expression, but every word was a dagger to the heart.
"Let me tell you why. It’s because Nana was sincere and kind. The energy she gave my brother was always positive. Unlike you, who stalks and spies on him to satisfy your own selfish desires, invading his private life."
Provoked, the woman let out a shriek, her face twisting into a hideous snarl.
"Shut up! You bitch! None of that is true! Harrison and I are the perfect match!"
"Yes, I killed her! So what? She deserved to die! What right did she have to take a picture with Harrison?! She even put it on her desk just to provoke me! And Harrison always replied to her comments on social media! Why her?!"
She then let out a shrill laugh. When she had laughed her fill, she continued.
"Since you’ve found me out, I’ll stop pretending. First, I forged a suicide note in her handwriting. Then, I used her crush’s name to lure her to the hills behind the school."
"It was raining so hard that day. I pushed her into the lake from behind, then used a bamboo pole to hold her down, keeping her from coming back up. I just watched as she sank, little by little."
"Finally, I avoided the cameras and ran back to the dorm. After changing into clean clothes, I went crying to the RA. It’s a good thing my other two roommates were away for internships, or they would’ve ruined my performance."
Harrison Lowell shot to his feet, glaring furiously at the woman.
But under the influence of Yvonne Lowell’s superpower, the woman didn’t react to him at all, simply continuing her monologue.
"Do you know why I’m so calm? Because this isn’t the first time I’ve killed someone."
"When I was ten, my five-year-old brother drowned in the water cistern at home. Everyone thought he was just being careless while playing. My parents were so stupid. That cistern was taller than he was—how could he possibly have fallen in?"
"HAHAHAHAHA! I didn’t shed a single tear. They all thought I was just scared stiff. They never would have guessed I was laughing on the inside, because now, there was no one left to compete with me for my parents’ love."