Chapter 83 — Shrimp Street Without Name

On Thursday night while awaiting sentencing, Kien took a late shift around Ms. Sau's house, a habit he had voluntarily maintained throughout the past few days even though he was no longer part of the official investigation team. He sat in an old motorbike parked under the shade of a tree near the beginning of the alley, his eyes observing every smallest movement in the darkness, his ears listening to every unusual sound amid the chirping of insects on a quiet Western night.

Around eleven o'clock at night, he noticed a strange pickup truck driving slowly through the alley twice in a row, slowing down suspiciously as it passed Ms. Sau's house. He immediately wrote down the license plate number, sent a text message to the nearest patrol team, and at the same time moved himself to a closer observation position to monitor more closely.

The car, after the second pass, stopped about fifty meters from Ms. Sau's house, the car's lights were off, the engine still running lightly. Kien watched nervously, his hand on the phone, ready to call for support if the situation became more dangerous. A few minutes passed in tense silence, then the car door opened, and a figure got out and moved toward the fence behind Mrs. Sau's house — not the main gate, but the entrance to the back of the garden, which was less guarded.

Kien did not hesitate, he immediately approached, turned on the flashlight and shouted: "Stop! Police!"

The figure was startled, turned and ran towards the pickup truck, but Kien was able to get close enough to see part of his face clearly under the flashlight - a middle-aged man, wearing a baseball cap, carrying a small cloth bag. The pickup truck, seeing the unfavorable situation, immediately sped away, leaving behind its accomplices who were trying to escape on foot.

The patrol, thanks to the timely alert, appeared just a few minutes later, intercepting the man before he could escape the area. When controlled and inspected, the cloth bag he was carrying was found to contain a number of tools used to break locks, along with a phone containing many messages exchanged with another phone number, the content of which referred to "checking to see if there are any documents at Ms. Sau's house that have not been submitted to the court".

Hai Yen, awakened by the noise and flashlight outside, hurriedly left the room, her heart pounding when she saw the chaotic scene in her yard. Mrs. Sau also woke up, mother and child hugged each other tightly in panic as they witnessed the whole incident happen.

“Is everyone okay?” Kien asked as soon as the situation was under control, running to Hai Yen and Mrs. Sau, his face still tense after the unexpected encounter.

“We're fine,” Hai Yen replied, her voice shaking but trying to stay calm. "Thank you, Kien. If you hadn't discovered it in time..."

She didn't finish her sentence, just held his hand tightly, a gesture that said everything she couldn't express in words in that emotional moment.

The lieutenant, alerted to the emergency, arrived at the scene less than half an hour later, directly directing the collection of evidence and preliminary interrogation of the arrested man. “This is a serious incident,” he told Hai Yen after completing the initial handling steps. "Apparently someone is still trying to find a way in, possibly to search or destroy any remaining evidence. This incident will be reported immediately to superiors and possibly directly affects the ongoing trial process.”

The next morning, news of the failed break-in spread quickly, not only in the local community but also to the media who were closely following the case. Minh Khang, after contacting his sources, confirmed to Hai Yen that the story had begun to be reported on several major press channels, with a perspective emphasizing the level of recklessness of those behind the case, even as the trial was nearing its end.

“This could create more public pressure in our favor,” Minh Khang commented when meeting Hai Yen at noon. “But it also shows how much we are facing people who are willing to risk their lives to protect what is left of us.”

Attorney Hoang, when informed of the incident, immediately proposed to bring this break-in before the jury as additional evidence, showing more clearly the severity and organization of the ongoing acts of obstruction of justice, even in the final stages of trial.

“This could be an important card,” she said, her voice filled with determination. “It proves that what we have presented to the court is not a matter of the past, but a threat that is still present, requiring an appropriate severity in the upcoming sentence.”

In the afternoon, the arrested man, after many hours of interrogation, finally revealed part of the truth: he was hired by an intermediary, claiming to represent "some worried shareholders" of the Coastal Region Group, to search for and remove any documents that might further disadvantage those involved, especially in the context of Mr. Vinh's extradition process progressing.

“Shareholders are worried,” Hai Yen repeated that phrase with bitterness when listening to the lieutenant's report. “It means that even though Mr. Vinh may soon be extradited, there are still others in the system, willing to do everything to protect their interests.”

“That's not surprising in cases of this magnitude,” the lieutenant said. “But the good news is, every time one of them acts so recklessly, they leave more traces, more evidence, helping us gradually close the circle around the entire remaining network.”

That evening, when everything had calmed down, Hai Yen sat with Kien on the front steps of the house, looking out at the alley where the incident had happened just a few hours before. “Thank you,” she said again, her voice sincere. “Not just tonight, but for everything you've done throughout this journey.”

Kien held her hand, his eyes were gentle but also full of determination. “I will always be here, Ms. Yen. Until it's really over, and even after that, if you'll let me.”

Hai Yen smiled at those meaningful words, feeling a warmth creeping into her heart amid the tension of a tumultuous night. She leaned her head lightly on his shoulder, both of them sitting quietly under the night sky, waiting for a new day to come, bringing with it the hope of a fair end for everything they had gone through together.

A few days later, the owner of the pickup truck that escaped on the night of the break-in was also identified through the license plate Kien had recorded. The vehicle is registered under The name of a small transportation company in a neighboring province, but upon further investigation, the authorities discovered that this company was actually just a cover, with operating cash flow leading back to one of the intermediary accounts mentioned in the financial records of the Coastal Region Group.

“This is the piece of the puzzle we need,” lawyer Hoang told Hai Yen upon receiving this information, her voice filled with excitement. “It not only proves the organized hack, but also directly links this behavior to the corporation behind the entire network, even when Mr. Vinh was abroad.”

This information was immediately transferred to the representative of the Procuracy, who decided to present it as an important additional detail before the jury officially pronounced the sentence, to further emphasize the danger and organized nature of the entire crime ring, instead of just the actions of a few individual individuals who were brought to trial.

The man arrested on the night of the break-in, faced with increasingly solid evidence, finally agreed to cooperate more fully with the investigation, providing more information about the middleman who hired him, another link in the chain of those still trying to protect the remnants of the collapsing network.

With each new piece of the puzzle discovered, Hai Yen feels more clearly that, although her battle has come a long way, there are still deeper layers that need to be peeled back. But she also felt more secure when she realized that each reckless action of the other side, instead of threatening her, unintentionally provided more evidence and added weight to the justice she was pursuing.

The last night before the expected sentencing date, Hai Yen sat by her room window, looking out at the alley that was now peaceful again, the streetlights casting shadows of familiar trees on the opposite wall. She thought of the entire journey that had passed, of all the people who had accompanied her to this moment, and of her father, who was always present in every step she took, even if only through the words left in an old notebook.

“Tomorrow,” she whispered to herself, “no matter the outcome, I did my best, Dad.”