Chapter 972 Suspecting Violet
Charles could tell Hannah was on the same page as him. To keep Shirley from overthinking, he just gave a silent nod.
"They're already on their way," Charles added.
Hannah shot a worried glance at Shirley.
Seeing her smile, totally clueless that Violet almost sold her out, Hannah's heart ached for her.
"Alright, you stay here with her, and I'll head to the amusement park to wait for you," Hannah said.
She knew sticking around wasn't a good idea. If Violet saw her, it would just stir up more trouble.
Charles nodded. "I'll hand Shirley over to Carter and then come find you."
"Got it," Hannah nodded, squatting down to Shirley's level. "Let's make another promise, okay?"
Shirley looked at her with innocent eyes. "What promise?"
Hannah smiled back just as innocently. "Don't tell Violet you saw me. When they ask, just say Charles saved you."
Shirley scratched her head, confused. "Why?"
Hannah patted her head. "If Violet knows Charles and I are dating, she'll be upset. You don't want her to be sad, right?"
Shirley quickly got it and nodded. "Okay! I won't tell them I saw you."
Hannah felt relieved and patted her head. Just as she was about to leave, Shirley grabbed her hand.
Hannah turned around, surprised. "Something else?"
Shirley looked at her with a hint of reluctance.
Even though it was their first meeting, Shirley felt like she had known Hannah forever.
"Will I see you again? Can we play together again?" Shirley asked.
Hannah smiled. "Of course! Charles told me you'll be here for a month. You can find me anytime. If I'm at work, just ask Charles to bring you to my workplace."
Shirley beamed and held out her pinky. "Promise, pinky swear."
Hannah chuckled and made the pinky promise.
After that, Hannah didn't even have time to grab a drink and dashed to the nearby amusement park.
As soon as she left, Carter and Lassie showed up.
Lassie hugged Shirley tight, trembling with fear, then checked her over to make sure she was okay.
Seeing Shirley unharmed, Lassie sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're alright."
Charles had only given a brief rundown over the phone. Carter didn't know the full story, so he looked at Charles with a serious expression and asked, "Charles, what happened? Wasn't Shirley with Violet? How did she end up with traffickers?"
Charles didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked behind them and asked, "Where's Violet?"
Carter replied, "I called her earlier; she should be on her way."
Charles pressed, "Weren't you worried when Shirley didn't come back for so long?"
Carter explained, "I called Violet, and she said the restroom was crowded, so they went a bit far. I didn't think much of it, figuring they were together and nothing would happen."
Just five minutes ago, he had called Violet.
Violet still hadn't mentioned that Shirley was missing.
Charles asked suspiciously, "When was the last time you called her?"
There were a few things Charles needed to clear up.
Carter answered right away, "When you called me, I had just finished talking to Violet."
A flicker of something crossed Charles's eyes.
He didn't push further and quickly explained what had happened, only tweaking the part where Shirley saw Hannah and asked for help, making it seem like he had done it himself.
Carter was still shaken.
Thinking about how close Shirley came to being kidnapped, he was furious, his forehead veins popping.
"We have to find those traffickers. I want to make them pay!" He turned to Charles and asked, "You got a good look at the trafficker, right?"
Charles nodded. "I can probably use the computer to put together her face."
Hannah must have seen Jennifer's real face.
Once they had a composite, finding her should be easier, and they might even bust the whole criminal ring.
Carter gritted his teeth. "Good! They dared to go after Shirley. I'll make sure they regret it."
Thinking about how Violet had been affected by them, and how Shirley almost got caught too, Carter was seething.
He couldn't get revenge for Violet back then, but now he could take out all his anger on the traffickers who tried to snatch Shirley.
Lassie held Shirley's face, tears streaming as she asked, "Weren't you with Violet looking for the restroom? How did you end up with traffickers?"
Shirley, only five, didn't think as deeply as the adults. She wiped away Lassie's tears and started to sob, "I..."
She had just begun when Violet suddenly appeared, running over and hugging her tightly, crying, "Shirley, where did you go? Do you know how scared I was! I told you not to run off, but when I came out of the restroom, you were gone. I was terrified looking for you everywhere."
Carter frowned slightly.
He had always been lenient with Violet, trying to make up for lost time, putting up with all her extreme behavior.
But this time, she lost Shirley and even lied to him on the phone.
It was hard not to blame her.
If it weren't for Shirley filling the void left by losing Violet, he and Lassie wouldn't have made it through all these years.
Carter asked, "Violet, why didn't you tell us when you lost her? Do you know she was almost kidnapped by traffickers?"
Violet's eyes widened in shock. "What? You said Shirley was almost kidnapped by traffickers?"
Then she hugged Shirley and cried.
She didn't answer Carter's question directly, just kept crying and blaming herself, "Shirley, I'm so sorry! It's my fault. I didn't take good care of you. Blame me! No matter how much you blame me, I deserve it. Thank goodness you're okay. If something happened to you, what would I do?"
She cried so sadly, looking like the perfect sister.
Charles stared at her, unblinking, his eyes cold and intense, like he was looking at a stranger.
He never knew Violet could put on such an act.
The traffickers knew Shirley's name and could mimic Lassie's voice, which was definitely not a coincidence.
Today's events were full of holes and suspicions. With a bit of thought, it wasn't hard to figure out who was behind it all.
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