Chapter 56
"Ms. Johnson, we've caught the guys who did the beating."
Emily's heart jumped. "Did they confess? Was someone behind this?"
Emily's heart was racing with excitement.
Although she'd received an anonymous text message that seemed random, she knew it must have been from Sophia. Now that the police said they'd made progress, did that mean they'd traced it back to Sophia?
But the police clearly didn't catch Emily's meaning. Instead, they pushed a file toward her.
"The ones who attacked Mr. McCoy are some thugs with criminal records. Their attitude is arrogant, and they're completely unserious. Before this attack, these people had already committed quite a few crimes."
Emily took the file and flipped through it. The more she read, the more her heart sank.
Several of them were minors, and even the adults had criminal records a mile long - fighting, brawling, causing trouble.
But each time they hadn't caused serious harm to their victims, so they only got light sentences, locked up for a bit, and then released.
The officer sighed and continued in a lower voice, "The official injury assessment results are in - it's classified as a minor injury. According to the law, these people can only be detained for fifteen days maximum and fined a bit, then that's it."
"Minor injury?" Emily couldn't believe her ears. "My teacher has broken ribs and injuries all over his body. You saw it yourself - how can this be called a minor injury?"
"The forensic assessment has standards."
The officer avoided her eyes. "The ribs are indeed only slightly fractured with no displacement. According to the standards, it doesn't qualify as a light injury level."
"As for the other external injuries, those are just soft tissue contusions, so they don't constitute a disability level."
Emily's head buzzed, and she nearly fainted from anger.
She finally understood why these punks had been so precise in their attack - Rodolfo had suffered so much harm, yet they'd exploited a legal loophole.
"This was clearly premeditated," Emily said, too angry to keep her voice from shaking. "You saw it yourself - the surveillance in the studio was destroyed, and they were so precise in their attack. You can tell from this that they're repeat offenders."
"If you don't teach them a lesson, today it's Mr. McCoy who got hurt, but there'll definitely be others next time. Are you going to let them get away with it every time by claiming minor injury? Does someone have to get hurt every single time?"
"How can this continue? Sir, you can't just stand by and do nothing."
"Yes, of course, we won't stand by and do nothing," the officer said reassuringly. "We're still collecting other evidence. You just mentioned whether someone was behind this - if we can prove they were acting on someone's orders, the law might impose a heavier sentence. At the very least, the ringleader definitely won't get away."
"Ms. Johnson, don't worry. I understand how you feel, but this is what the law says. We'll do everything we can to get you justice."
Although the officer's words were diplomatic, Emily got the message - these punks were problem cases. No matter how angry the police were, they could only handle it according to the law.
Emily walked out of the police station in a daze, not even knowing how she got there. The sunlight outside was blinding, but she only felt cold all over.
So the law, which some people saw as a symbol of justice, could actually be precisely calculated and manipulated to avoid all unexpected risks.
Emily stood at the police station entrance for a long time before finally calling Grace McCoy. After hearing about the case results, Grace was silent for a long while.
Emily bit her lip, a flash of determination in her eyes. "Mrs. McCoy, we can't just let this go. I have other options."
"I think we can use the media to expose this and let public opinion pressure the police. Maybe the case will lead to the real mastermind behind it all."
"No, absolutely not, Emily, please don't be impulsive," Grace suddenly became agitated, her voice breaking. "Just let this go."
"Let it go?" Emily's pupils contracted in shock.
"Mrs. McCoy, Mr. McCoy was beaten like that - how can we just let it go?"
"Then what do you want to do?" Grace's voice was almost pleading.
"Emily, if we make this big and everyone knows about it, what good will it do?"
"Even the police said it's only a minor injury. Even if we take it to court, those punks won't get a heavy sentence."
Emily opened her mouth to argue, but found she couldn't say anything.
Yes, the police had made it so clear - even if they made a big deal of it, what difference would it make? The result would still be the same.
But if they didn't do this, they'd just have to swallow this injustice.
Rodolfo had never done anything wrong, had always been kind to everyone. Now he'd been beaten and couldn't get justice. Just thinking about it made Emily's heart ache.
"Emily, you're still young, you don't understand," Grace said from the other end, seeming to sense Emily's indignation. "We're just ordinary people. We can't fight those people."
"You said yourself they might have been acting on orders, targeting Rodolfo. If that's true, this time it was just a beating - what if next time they use even worse methods?"
"We have children, a whole family. If we keep making trouble and something happens to Rodolfo, how will our family survive?"
Suppressed sobbing came through the phone. Emily felt a bitter ache in her heart.
She felt like her mind had become sluggish, filled with justice on one side and evil on the other.
The solution was right in front of her, but hearing Grace cry, Emily couldn't bring herself to go through with it.
Wasn't she talking about reality?
These days, people with even a bit of power always wanted to use it to the fullest, and even those without power but with money firmly believed money could solve any problem.
Unfortunately, they had neither money nor power, so they were in a weak position, at others' mercy.
The light in Emily's eyes slowly dimmed.
After who knows how long, she ran her hand through her hair and closed her eyes gently. "Please don't cry. I'll listen to you."
"Are you at the hospital now? How is Mr. McCoy?"
"He's much better."
Now that Emily had agreed, Grace's crying finally stopped. "But when he woke up this morning, he kept asking about you. He's been asking for days."
"Emily, Rodolfo has been so good to you. When will you come to the hospital to see him?"
"I..." Emily hesitated and shook her head. "I've got some things to deal with lately, so I won't come by for now. Mr. McCoy will definitely get better soon."