Chapter 361: I’ll Pay for the Phone on Archer’s Behalf
Chapter 361: Chapter 361: I’ll Pay for the Phone on Archer’s Behalf
Tori Lynn, of course, knew exactly what was going on, because Archer had called her at the time.
Archer’s reactions had all been directed by Tori Lynn in real time. Even the order to throw the phone into the river came from her.
She feigned a helpless look at Archer. "Archer, you’re not a kid anymore. Why are you still so impulsive?"
Archer lowered his head. "Ma’am, I really didn’t mean to. I just got so angry at that moment. I thought it was my phone, so I threw it..."
"That was a new phone I bought the year before last!" Lydia Lawson was fuming. "You have to pay for it!"
Archer looked at Lydia Lawson with a sincere expression. "Jean, I’ll pay you back for the phone, but can you give me some time?"
"How many days do you need?" Lydia Lawson asked.
"Jean, how much did you pay for the phone?"
"Eighty-seven hundred. Since we’re colleagues, I’ll give you a discount. We’ll call it eighty-five hundred."
Archer did the math. "I get two hundred a month in pocket money, which is twenty-four hundred a year. If I’m frugal, I can save two thousand a year to pay you back. At this rate, I should be able to pay it all off in four years."
"Four years?" Lydia Lawson’s voice shot up. "Are you kidding me? No way. I’ll give you four days, max, to get the money!"
"Four days?" Archer looked troubled. "I can’t do it in four days, Jean. Can you please not make things so difficult for me?"
"I’m making things difficult for you?" Lydia Lawson’s face twisted into a sneer. "You threw my phone away. I’m just asking you to pay for it, I haven’t even called the police to have you arrested. You call that making things difficult?"
Archer: "I really can’t come up with that much money all at once."
"You can’t even come up with eighty-five hundred? What kind of man are you?" Lydia Lawson said coldly. "If you don’t have the money, get a loan or borrow it from someone."
"Alright, alright," Tori Lynn said, playing the peacemaker. "Jean, don’t be angry. Archer’s family situation really makes it impossible for him to come up with that much money. How about this? I’ll pay for the phone that fell in the river on his behalf, and we’ll deduct two hundred from his salary every month."
Lydia Lawson’s eyes darted, and she didn’t agree right away. "Tori, that won’t do. You’d be losing out."
"I’ll be fine," Tori Lynn said with a smile. "GUO is coming out with a new model soon. How about I just get you the new one?"
"The new GUO model?" Lydia Lawson rubbed her hands together. "Okay, that works."
’The new GUO models start at ten thousand, at least. I’m actually making a profit on this.’
And so, when she found her room had been completely trashed by Owen, Lydia Lawson didn’t even get angry. She even woke up laughing from her dreams that night.
The next day, she asked Tori Lynn if they were going to buy the new GUO phone that day.
"Not so fast," Tori Lynn explained. "The new GUO model isn’t released until the middle of next month. But don’t worry, Jean, I’ll place the order for you as soon as it’s out."
"The middle of next month?" Lydia Lawson frowned immediately. "That’s too long."
’I need a phone to contact my buyers!’
"It’ll be here before you know it. It’s already the end of the month," Tori Lynn said with a smile. "The middle of the month is only half a month away. That’ll fly by. Besides, I’ve noticed you don’t really use your phone that much anyway."
"But I need to contact my family!"
"No problem. If you want to call your family, just let me know. You can borrow my phone."
"..."
Lydia Lawson thought for a moment, then said, "Tori, how about we forget the new model? An older one would be fine."
"That won’t do." Tori Lynn shook her head, her tone firm. "I promised I’d buy you the new model as soon as it’s released. I can’t go back on my word."
Lydia Lawson opened her mouth to speak, but closed it, a storm of frustration brewing inside her with no outlet.
That afternoon, Renee Jennings came to visit Tori Lynn’s house with Sawyer and took the feature phone.
Back at the police station, Henry Stark turned on the feature phone, a model that was already obsolete.
He went into the contacts list. There were over a dozen entries, and each one was saved under a single character.
This was the phone Lydia Lawson used exclusively to contact her accomplices.
Henry Stark then went to the messaging app. Lydia Lawson had recently sent a text to a number saved as "Ye."
The content was simple: a phone number. It was the same number Henry Stark was using to communicate with these criminals.
They had posed as new buyers, and this person, "Ye," had already contacted them.
However, the other party was extremely cautious and unwilling to communicate in person.
"What should we do now?" Renee Jennings asked quietly. "Leaving Lydia Lawson at Tori Lynn’s house is like a ticking time bomb for them."
"I know." Henry Stark’s brow was furrowed in thought. "For now, Lydia Lawson has no way to contact her accomplices..."
After a moment, the man’s voice turned cold and grim. "Arrest her."
***
That night, Lydia Lawson returned to her room after a shower and lay on her bed, her mind heavy with worry as she picked at the dead skin on her feet.
Even though she didn’t normally use her phone much, she felt a sense of panic without one.
’I still have a buyer ready to receive a high-value shipment, and there’s still a final payment that hasn’t been made!’
Lydia Lawson thought that if it came down to it, she would just have to spend her own money to buy a phone. She needed to contact the buyer and see if they could delay the delivery until the middle of next month.
’I have to get my hands on that phone worth over ten thousand, no matter what.’
The phone that had been thrown into the river was actually a used model she’d bought two years ago for three thousand.
’Wait half a month and I’ll make ten thousand. Why wouldn’t I take money that’s just sitting there?’
After a moment, Lydia Lawson’s foot-picking suddenly stopped.
’I have to ask that bitch Ye if she’s managed to contact the rich sucker yet.’
She was worried that if she didn’t check in from time to time, that bitch Ye would pocket all the money for herself.
Lydia Lawson climbed out of bed and rummaged through her wardrobe drawers for a long time, but she couldn’t find the feature phone.
"Where did it go?"
She turned the entire wardrobe upside down but still couldn’t find it.
Lydia Lawson suddenly remembered that damned dog making a mess of her room a couple of days ago. ’I must have misplaced it when I was cleaning up after it.’
She searched the other corners of the room, working up a sweat, but there was still no sign of the feature phone.
"What the hell!"
Lydia Lawson nearly tore the entire room apart.
Unable to find the feature phone, her panic grew.
’Both of my phones are gone! This can’t be happening!’
’I never took that feature phone out of the house. It has to be in this room. That damned dog must have snatched it to play with!’
Suppressing a bellyful of rage, Lydia Lawson stormed upstairs and banged on Tori Lynn’s door. "Tori! Tori! Are you asleep?"
Tori Lynn opened the door and frowned at her. "Jean, what is it? It’s so late."
"Where’s Owen?" Lydia Lawson craned her neck, trying to see inside the room. "He made a huge mess in my room a couple of days ago. Did he snatch one of my things to play with?"
"What thing?" Tori Lynn asked, puzzled.
Lydia Lawson stammered, "It’s... it’s just an old, simple phone. A really small one. Owen must have mistaken it for a toy and run off with it. Could you please check if it’s in your room?"
"I don’t recall seeing anything like that," Tori Lynn said. "It’s getting late. Let’s look for it tomorrow."