Chapter 233: The Dust Settles

When Melody Summers saw Roman Rhodes, she asked in surprise, "Officer Rhodes, what brings you here so early in the morning?"

Roman’s face was etched with fatigue; he had barely rested for the past two days.

Ever since receiving Melody Summers’s message the night before last, he had immediately organized the operation to arrest Hector Hayes and his associates.

The arrests went smoothly. The Hayes Family had just returned to their villa after a banquet at the Nimbus Hotel when armed police showed up and took them away.

None of the Hayes Family’s subordinates escaped the raid, either. Even the employees of the Oceanus Hotel were all taken in for questioning.

Then came a full day and night of processing the case.

Just as Roman had expected, the deeper they investigated, the bigger the case became. It even implicated several high-ranking officials in the Anworth Government.

Roman had been under immense pressure to take down the Hayes Family’s protectors, and his nerves had been stretched taut for the past two days.

It wasn’t until this morning, when the dust had settled and everyone who needed to be arrested was in custody, that Roman finally had time to visit the Summers residence. He needed to take a formal statement from Melody Summers, the original informant. After all, she had killed a man in that room in the alley...

Roman gave Melody Summers a resigned look. "I’m here to take your statement, Comrade Summers. You’ve performed another great service."

Melody Summers quickly invited Roman in and poured him a cup of tea.

Seeing Melody’s cheerful grin, Roman tried to hold his tongue but couldn’t. He spoke with a sense of helplessness, "How many times have I told you? If you run into anything suspicious, call the police first. Why can’t you seem to remember that? The situation the other night was so dangerous! Anyone else would have been running for the hills, but you just had to dive in headfirst!"

"You already knew something was wrong with that pregnant woman, yet you insisted on taking her home. You were lucky this time. They only had one man lying in wait, and you could handle him. But what if there are more enemies next time? What would you do then? You’re an only child, the only one your parents have. If something happened to you, how could your family bear it?"

’More people? If there were more people, I’d just enter my space!’ Melody thought to herself.

But facing Roman, she adopted a sincere attitude and said, "I understand, Officer Rhodes. I’ll be more careful next time."

Seeing her expression, Roman knew that not a single word of his advice had gotten through to her. He sighed helplessly.

At this, alarm bells went off in Melody’s head. She was terrified Roman was going to take her gun back. She quickly changed the subject. "Officer Rhodes, was the entire Hayes Family arrested?"

Roman nodded. "Hector Hayes, his son Raymond Hayes, and his mistress Lily Adler were the ringleaders of the criminal organization. They’ve all been arrested and brought to justice."

Melody was taken aback. "What about Hector Hayes’s two daughters? Weren’t Clara Hayes and Sylvia Lancaster arrested?"

Roman shook his head and replied, "Clara Hayes is dead."

Melody exclaimed, "What?! Dead?!"

Roman nodded. "When the bureau went to seal the Hayes family’s villa, they found that Clara Hayes and Sylvia Lancaster had fallen from the building together in the courtyard. Clara died on the spot. Sylvia was taken to the hospital. It seems she hit her head in the fall, and her memories are a bit jumbled. We couldn’t get anything out of her."

Melody was stunned. ’Did Clara go straight home and try to take Sylvia down with her?’

’How is Clara even crazier than I was in my past life?!’

Roman took a sip of tea and said to Melody, "Alright, give me a detailed account of what happened the night before last."

Sitting by the sofa, Melody began to recount her ordeal in detail, starting from when she left the banquet hall at the Nimbus Hotel the night before last.

"Young tried to rape me. I killed him in self-defense."

"Because that Ms. Archer and Young mentioned a basement during their conversation, I searched the house. I was thinking that if there were other people they had kidnapped in the basement, I could rescue them all at once!"

"But I never expected the basement to be so huge! It was like a massive factory! In one of the rooms, I saw what looked like human organs in a refrigerated cabinet that had lost power. I didn’t dare look any closer and immediately called the police."

"After I came out of the basement, I found Clara Hayes tied up in another room. She looked to be in a terrible state, so I untied her."

The more Roman heard of Melody’s account, the deeper his frown became. "You didn’t even know what was in that basement, and you dared to just walk in? You’re far too reckless, kid! Didn’t you ever think, what if—"

Seeing that Roman was about to start lecturing her again, Melody quickly waved her hands and pleaded, "Alright, alright, Officer Rhodes, I really know I was wrong! It won’t happen again! Please stop scolding me!"

Then Melody muttered under her breath, "Even my mom doesn’t nag me this much..."

When Roman heard Melody mention Winnie Summers, his heart skipped a beat. He raised a hand to rub the bridge of his nose and, in the end, didn’t continue.

Thinking of the basement, Melody asked again, "Officer Rhodes, did you investigate it? Was that basement the place where Hector Hayes and his people performed the illegal organ surgeries?"

Roman nodded, his expression grim. "That illegal medical facility in the basement was something they started secretly building years ago. It’s massive. It runs all the way from the entrance in that alley to the underground parking garage of the Oceanus Hotel..."

When the police investigated the Oceanus Hotel before, Hector Hayes got tipped off in advance. He blocked off the exit on the hotel’s side. Coupled with the Hayes Family’s protectors in high places, the police didn’t find any leads at the time.

"Years ago, when Hector Hayes was doing business in Southeast Archanea, he had his eye on the organ trafficking market there. After returning to the country, he began secretly setting up his own illegal organ trade, even purchasing a lot of medical equipment under the guise of charitable donations."

"Even without the Cataclysm, he would have started his illegal organ harvesting and trading operations in that basement. The two years of chaos during the Cataclysm just made it easier for him to carry out his evil deeds."

Once the Cataclysm began, Hector Hayes and his vicious thugs started frantically kidnapping and trafficking people. They roamed the city like a pack of demons, preying on the innocent. The list of their crimes is endless.

Later on, after the incident at the Crestview Hotel was exposed, Hector Hayes got word of it. To avoid the risk, he suspended his evil organ trafficking operations, and the underground facility was temporarily abandoned.

The more Melody listened, the angrier she became. She couldn’t bear to imagine how many people had lost their lives in that wicked place.

Fortunately, justice will always be served. Now, Hector Hayes’s criminal syndicate was finally paying the price for their actions.

Seeing the anger on Melody’s face, Officer Rhodes said comfortingly, "Not a single member of Hector Hayes’s crime ring will get away, including his son Raymond Hayes and his mistress Lily Adler. Once the bureau completes its investigation, they will be executed by firing squad. There will be no room for appeal."

Melody nodded. "Then, what will happen to Sylvia Lancaster?"

Roman replied, "Sylvia Lancaster only recently returned to the Hayes Family. According to our investigation, she wasn’t involved in Hector Hayes’s business affairs. It’s highly unlikely she’ll be implicated in this."