Chapter 973 Charles Becomes Suspicious of Violet
Shirley, thinking Violet was genuinely sorry, reached out to wipe her tears. "Hey, it's all good now! I don't blame you. I know you didn't want this to happen."
Violet wiped her tears, stood up with her head down, and walked over to Carter, still shaking from crying.
"Daddy, I'm so sorry! I didn't take good care of Shirley. We were heading to the restroom, but it was packed, and she had a stomachache. So, I took her to the underground parking lot to use the restroom. Then, I got a stomachache too and had to go. When I came out, Shirley was gone. I thought she went back, so I retraced my steps to find her. I was scared you'd be mad, so I didn't tell you. I figured I'd find her first and then act like nothing happened so you wouldn't worry. I had no idea there'd be human traffickers in such a big mall. If I knew, I would've told you and the mall security right away. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I was careless."
Shirley, hearing this, didn't blame her at all. Instead, she held her hand and comforted her, "It's not your fault. It's mine. I shouldn't have trusted a stranger. I won't do it again, so don't beat yourself up."
Seeing her so upset, Carter couldn't bring himself to scold her. "Alright, it's over now. Just be more careful next time!"
Violet nodded and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
'That was close,' she thought. 'If Lassie and Carter found out, I'd be done for.'
Lassie squatted down to Shirley's level and scolded, "Didn't Mommy tell you? Don't talk to strangers or go with them. If something happens, find a police officer. You were lucky today to meet Charles, but you might not be so lucky next time."
Shirley lowered her head in shame. "I know! I won't let it happen again."
Violet walked over to Charles, still with her head down, making it hard for him to see her true expression, but her tone was full of gratitude, "Charles, thank you for saving Shirley. If it weren't for you, I would have been the family's sinner and would never forgive myself."
Charles found her words odd.
If Shirley had been kidnapped, she wasn't worried about Shirley or concerned about Lassie and Carter, but was afraid of becoming the family's sinner.
Then he thought, 'It makes sense. This whole thing might have been her plan from the start. She will only hate me for ruining her plan, so how could she sincerely thank me?'
Charles lowered his eyes to hide his true emotions and reminded, "It's okay! Your movie should be starting soon. Go watch it and don't let this ruin your fun."
Violet looked at him expectantly. "Charles, will you join us? Shirley and I can sit together, and you can take her seat."
Charles shook his head and declined, "No, I have something to do. You go ahead!"
Seeing he didn't agree, Carter pulled Violet back and said, "Alright, we'll go then!"
"Okay!"
Carter never suspected Violet had anything to do with it. He just figured Shirley, being a kid, was an easy target for the traffickers when they saw her alone. He didn't dig any deeper.
As for getting back at the traffickers, he and Charles could handle that.
Shirley glanced longingly at the amusement park, bummed out that she didn't see Hannah.
After they left, Charles was about to head back to the amusement park to find Hannah when she walked over, giving him a meaningful look. "I remember what the trafficker looked like. Let's go home and sketch her out."
Charles nodded. Neither of them felt like having fun anymore, so they drove back to his place.
Charles opened his laptop, which had a bunch of icons Hannah didn't recognize.
He clicked on one, and a string of blue code zipped across the screen. In no time, some software Hannah had never seen before popped up.
"Describe her features," Charles said.
Hannah closed her eyes and carefully described Jennifer's appearance from memory.
When she finished and opened her eyes, Jennifer's face was perfectly recreated in the software, looking just like a real photo.
Hannah was amazed, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You're incredible; it looks just like her."
Charles proudly lifted his chin. "Of course! I'm a computer genius; there's nothing I can't do."
Hannah hugged his head and kissed his forehead hard. "Yes, my boyfriend is the best!"
Charles was very pleased and connected the printer. Soon, the picture was printed out.
Hannah sat back down, her face suddenly serious as she remembered something. "This is clearly related to Violet. Shouldn't you tell Carter first? If she did it once, she'll do it again. Shirley is in real danger."
Charles was silent for a moment before saying, "Without evidence, if you were Carter, would you believe your daughter or me?"
Hannah became anxious.
"Then what do we do? If she tries to harm Shirley again, we might not be there to save her!" She paused, puzzled. "Why? Isn't Shirley her sister? Why would she conspire with traffickers to kidnap Shirley?"
Even though she had only met Shirley once, she felt an inexplicable concern and anxiety for her.
Charles's face was dark, unable to reconcile the current Violet with the one in his memories.
Violet was too different, completely unlike the same person.
He finally understood why people in TV dramas often had twisted minds.
Recently, he had watched a lot of dramas with Hannah and always thought the plots were silly, with characters becoming twisted over small things.
After Violet's incident, he realized that art imitated life.
When someone's mind became twisted, there was no stopping it.
Charles said, "First, we catch the traffickers and then find evidence of their collusion with Violet. Once we have solid proof, Carter will see her true colors."
He even began to doubt whether Violet's illness was real.
Could someone so cunning and malicious be so fragile as to attempt suicide?
Once he started doubting, Charles couldn't stop thinking about the past.
Many things didn't seem to hold up under scrutiny.
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