Taking the box passed to him by the trace examination agent, Luo An discovered inside a half-burnt diary, a dusty handheld camcorder, a computer hard drive linked to ho surveillance, and so other miscellaneous items.
"Good, thank you for your hard work."
Luo An nodded, patted the shoulder of the trace examination agent, then pointed towards Reesi, who was not far away, signaling the agent to hand so of the items to her, and others to be processed by the trace examination departnt as usual.
Half an hour had passed, the bodies of the two victims had been cleared and taken away, and with no other findings at the scene, Luo An and the others drove away from there.
Earlier, when delegating tasks, Luo An led Winslow and Reesi to visit the Linden residence, planning to inquire information from Linden.
Chenier, Mona, and Michelle, on the other hand, were sent by Luo An to the cri scene of the 16-year-old boy Paul’s death.
Unlike Luo An’s trio, who encountered a sudden explosion, Chenier’s trio had a smooth investigation and returned to the Special Investigation Team before Luo An’s group did.
Knowing about the explosion, Mona, who had been waiting, saw that Luo An’s trio were only dirty with lots of dust on their clothes but uninjured, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Handing over the electronic items found at the explosion scene to Mona, Luo An entered the team leader’s office, quickly changed into a new coat, and then with a pen in hand, walked to the whiteboard at the front of the office area, and looked towards Chenier asking:
"How did your investigation go?"
Chenier stood up, her brows furrowed as she answered:
"We’ve found quite a lot at the cri scene of Paul’s death."
The scene of Paul’s death was located at a long-abandoned tire factory in the northwest part of Los Angeles.
According to the trace examination departnt’s investigation, there was evidence on the back of Paul’s head of being struck by a heavy object, and the tool was found - a bloody hamr in the corner of the cri scene.
There was also a needle mark on Paul’s right arm, and upon autopsy, the trace examination departnt discovered that the victim had been anesthetized before death.
Moreover, there were clear signs of struggle at the position where his feet were bound and suspended, indicating that Paul was still conscious at the ti.
Hearing this, Reesi furrowed her brows and questioned:
"Are you saying Paul was conscious when the murderer cut him open?"
Chenier nodded gravely:
"It’s highly likely."
"Son of a bitch."
"Damn it."
Winslow and Reesi cursed a few tis in disgust upon hearing this.
Luo An’s expression remained unchanged as he continued to ask:
"Any other findings?"
"Not at the mont."
Chenier shook her head; the assassin had been very careful, leaving no footprints or fingerprints at the cri scene, and there were no surveillance caras in the nearby area.
The person who reported the cri was a vagrant who consistently scavenged in that area. He was startled by the suspended body but didn’t notice any other suspicious people or vehicles.
As for Paul, he had gone out with so friends the day before yesterday and suddenly disappeared on the way ho at night. Those friends didn’t have any clues, and Linden and his wife imdiately called the police and also contacted the FBI.
But there were no surveillance caras at the location where Paul disappeared, and no eyewitnesses nearby, so both the FBI and LAPD had no findings.
It wasn’t until they received that vagrant’s ergency call yesterday that everyone found the missing Paul.
"OK."
Luo An turned around, sticking photos of Linden, Linden’s wife, and their son Paul at the top of the whiteboard, and then wrote their causes of death underneath – "bomb" and "dismbered".
After finishing the writing, Luo An tossed the pen to the side and said sternly:
"Ladies and gentlen, the assassin behind this case clearly targeted the forr team leader, Linden Osborne and his family.
We have two main directions for our next investigation:
First, investigate the cases Linden Osborne dealt with during his years at the FBI and screen for suspects who bear deep grudges against Linden and are very likely to have acted against him.
Especially those who were released from prison within the last year, or who have themselves experienced major life changes within the last year.
Second, an agent from the makeshift bomb departnt told that the bomb exploded in Paul’s room.
It’s impossible for Linden and his wife to run into their son’s room with a bomb, so there are only two possibilities: either the bomb was secretly hidden in Paul’s room by the murderer, or Paul brought it back himself without knowing.
So next, we will carefully review the surveillance footage before the explosion of the villa, and also look into Paul’s history—conflicts he had at school, who he had contact with, including people he interacted with online."
"Understood!"
Luo An’s analysis was straightforward, and the agents found no issues, so they all nodded and agreed.
Luo An was the first to leave the Special Investigation Team and went to the office of team leader Potante Byrne to explain the situation and request access to all the cases Linden Osborne had worked on before his death.
Potante Byrne agreed without hesitation, and Luo An, with the permission granted, returned to the Special Investigation Team and had Michelle log into the FBI’s internal network to start screening for clues.
Winslow, Chenier, and Reesi each went to Paul’s school and to the neighborhoods near the Linden’s ho for field investigations.
Luo An began to flip through a notebook found by the Forensics Science Departnt at the cri scene.
Unfortunately, as Linden was a decent man, this notebook wasn’t his but his wife’s. Aside from so complaining words, it didn’t contain any other useful clues.
After pondering for a while, Luo An turned his gaze to Mona. He had previously handed over the computer and other electronic devices found by the Forensics Science Departnt at the cri scene to her.
"I have indeed found so clues here, but they seem a bit complicated."
Mona rubbed her sore eyes and pointed at the computer on the table, saying,
"In the computer found by the Forensics Science Departnt that was connected to the ho surveillance, it records what happened before the explosion."
The surveillance had no sound; the footage showed Linden’s wife sitting on the sofa crying for a while before the blast, with Linden looking furious yet still comforting her with his arms around her.
Suddenly, both seed to hear sothing, both looked up toward the staircase in unison, discussed for a few monts, and then Linden and his wife went upstairs following the staircase, entering their son Paul’s room.
The scene in the room was not visible due to the angle of the cara; three seconds later, the explosion occurred, and the surveillance instantly went dark.
After watching the surveillance, Luo An’s brows were slightly furrowed. Before he could speak, Mona continued,
"This surveillance footage automatically overwrites itself every seven days. In this seven-day period, no one was seen sneaking into the villa.
Also, the hand-held camcorder didn’t turn up much—it only had so videos of the Lindens’ birthday parties and other daily life recordings.
However, that laptop you found—I did find sothing interesting in it."
Mona typed quickly on the keyboard, and soon her computer screen displayed a long list.
She pointed at the list and explained,
"The laptop you found belongs to Linden, and this list was created in the second hour after his wife received the news of Paul’s death.
free\.c o(m)
I checked ’Miller-Morman’ listed early in the list, he is a notorious lone trafficker; among these nas are assassins involved in hits, information dealers, serial killers, bomb makers... none of them ordinary people."
"A list of ’talents’."
Luo An raised an eyebrow, then realized,
"So, it’s highly likely this list is one Linden made himself, recalling individuals who would hate him enough to harm his son Paul."
"Exactly."
Mona nodded, took a sip of her coffee, and as Luo An narrowed his eyes in thought over these talented nas, Michelle suddenly raised her hand hesitantly from a distance and said,
"Luo An, over here... I think I have found a clue, um, or perhaps a problem."
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