Chapter 508: Idiot Pays Off Huge Mortgage

Chapter 508: Chapter 508: Idiot Pays Off Huge Mortgage

After Sean Hughes summarized the situation, he stood up and stretched.

Zoe Sawyer also learned what had happened to the Donovan siblings from the subsequent reports.

Mr. Donovan, being an accomplice who had acted with full knowledge and an extremely poor attitude, was sentenced to twelve years in prison.

Mrs. Donovan received a slightly lighter sentence. The judge, taking into account that she had been maliciously deceived into her crimes, used his discretion to reduce her term, ultimately sentencing her to eleven years.

However, a considerable portion of the stolen money had already been spent, and they had no assets to their names. Only a fraction could be recovered; the police could do nothing about the rest.

As for the property and assets left by Old Man Donovan, they were to be divided equally between the two siblings.

Given their current situation, the judge ultimately ruled that the siblings’ respective shares of the inheritance would be passed directly to their children.

The others involved in the case were sentenced according to the crimes they had committed.

"What about Miss Rowan?" Zoe Sawyer asked quickly, thinking of the unlucky tenant, Wren Rowan.

Sean Hughes thought for a moment and replied, "She stayed at the station for a day. Once we were sure she had recovered, she negotiated with her landlord to terminate her lease.

She was afraid she’d have nightmares if she kept living there, so she decided to move closer to her company."

’Even if the soundproofing and neighbors at the new place are an unknown, it’s got to be better than having a corpse and a murderer next door!’

Fortunately, the landlord was reasonable. Knowing that Wren wasn’t at fault, he agreed to let her terminate the lease and returned her security deposit in full.

After learning how everything had wrapped up, Zoe Sawyer let out a long sigh of relief. ’It’s really over now!’

Seeing that there was nothing else for her to do for the time being, Zoe Sawyer stretched, said a quick word to Sean Hughes, and headed back to her dorm.

She needed some sleep to recharge.

By the time Zoe Sawyer got back to the office, it was the next morning. Sean Hughes and the team had all worked overtime to get the required reports finished.

Now, everyone in the office was leisurely eating breakfast.

Just then, the phone Sean Hughes had left on his desk suddenly rang.

Sean Hughes picked it up and smiled when he saw the caller ID. "Good morning, Miss Rowan. Are you settling into your new place okay?"

The caller was none other than Wren Rowan.

After she’d confirmed her new address, she had even sent Sean Hughes a video of the neighborhood to show him that the new environment was nice and close to her company, putting his mind at ease.

So, Sean Hughes naturally assumed that Wren Rowan was calling this time to update him on how she’d been doing since the move.

After the last case, Wren Rowan had developed a certain reliance on Sean Hughes—the officer who had led her away from the crime scene and even arranged for someone to stay with her.

Sean Hughes had experienced this kind of thing before, so that was his first assumption upon answering the phone.

"I’m doing fine.

Officer Hughes, I’m calling because there’s something I need your help with." Wren Rowan’s voice was frantic and helpless, as if she had run into an unsolvable problem.

Detecting the panic in Wren Rowan’s voice, Sean Hughes sat up a little straighter. His smile faded slightly as he said, "Go on. Is something wrong with your new place?"

Wren Rowan was sitting on her sofa, unconsciously picking at a loose thread on her clothes. Her frantic emotions calmed slightly after hearing Sean Hughes’s voice.

"It’s not me, it’s my aunt. She called me this morning. She said my neighbor is suddenly saddled with a five-million-yuan debt, and his family’s resettlement home was mortgaged for a loan.

But... my neighbor is intellectually disabled. The only reason he can even dress himself is because my aunt has spent decades teaching and reminding him every single day. There’s no way he could have signed a mortgage application to take out a loan. He wouldn’t know how.

The bank’s debt collectors showed up at their door today. My aunt didn’t know what to do, so she had to call me." As she said this, Wren Rowan’s voice couldn’t help but choke up.

She had lost her parents when she was young and had wandered the town alone, surviving by collecting and selling trash and scraps to fill her stomach.

It was her aunt who couldn’t bear to see her like that and took her in, providing food and clothing and sending her to school.

Wren Rowan had originally planned to work for a few more years, save up more money, and then quit her job to go home and take care of them.

But she never expected to wake up first thing this morning to a call like this.

It was only because the bank’s collectors realized the neighbor was genuinely intellectually disabled, and that something was fishy, that they gave them three days to sort things out.

If it wasn’t resolved in three days, they would have no choice but to follow standard procedures.

After all, they had families to support and jobs to protect. No amount of sympathy could change that.

Her aunt was at a complete loss. Her entire life had revolved around caring for her son and working odd jobs to get by; she had never encountered anything like this.

Unsure of what to do, her only option was to call Wren Rowan and ask if she had any ideas.

It was Wren Rowan’s first time dealing with such a matter as well, but not wanting her aunt to panic, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and take charge.

At her wit’s end, she thought of Sean Hughes, which led to the phone call.

Upon receiving Wren Rowan’s call, Sean Hughes subconsciously frowned as he listened to the first part.

’If someone signs for a loan themselves and debt collectors show up, there’s nothing the police can do.’

’But on second thought,’ he mused, ’Wren Rowan doesn’t seem like the type to cause trouble for no reason. Maybe there’s more to this story?’

With this in mind, Sean Hughes didn’t interrupt and continued to listen.

Sure enough, he soon heard the rest of the story.

’Just as Wren Rowan said, how could an intellectually disabled person who can’t even sign his own name mortgage a house for a loan?’

’This has to be a setup targeting her family.’

"I understand. Wait for us at your place.

Miss Rowan, you did the right thing. This is exactly the kind of situation where you should call the police immediately. Call your aunt now and tell them not to leave the house or respond to any debt collectors who show up," Sean Hughes instructed in a serious tone.

On the other end of the line, Wren Rowan nodded furiously, indicating she understood.

After he hung up, all eyes in the office were on Sean Hughes.

One of the team members couldn’t help but ask, "Was that Miss Rowan from the last case? Don’t tell me she’s found another problem?"

’She can’t be that unlucky!’

Sean Hughes put down his phone, stood up, and, meeting the gazes of everyone in the office, recounted the phone call he had just received.

The joking expressions on everyone’s faces instantly vanished. They naturally arrived at the same conclusion Sean Hughes had just considered.

"They were set up. But to target an intellectually disabled person... that’s despicable, a new low!" one of the team members said through gritted teeth, slamming a hand on the desk in front of him.

"Let’s go. We’ll check it out."