Luo An, with his keen observational skills, noticed the change in Beren’s eyes, smiled, and said:
"Looks like you know sothing."
Due to several days of confinent and the lingering slls of alcohol, body odor, and vomit on him, Beren’s scent was particularly complex. Hearing Luo An’s words, Beren frowned slightly, scratched his scalp, and a flurry of dandruff fell as he asked in return:
"What happened to Kevin?"
Kevin?
Luo An exchanged a glance with Chenier and noticed the problem in the other’s words. Unperturbed, he asked:
"He’s dead."
"What was the cause of death?"
"Mr. Beren, it’s our turn to question you."
Luo An lightly tapped on the table, pretending to be annoyed:
"Do you know about this key?"
"I know, but I don’t want to tell you."
Beren flashed a grin, revealing a set of sowhat disordered, yellowed teeth:
"Unless you give that beaten-up guy so money and have him drop the lawsuit against ."
"You’re too greedy, Mr. Beren."
Chenier’s expression turned slightly cold, while Luo An chuckled, leaning back in his chair with his legs crossed:
"Just a piece of information, it’s not worth that much."
"What will you exchange for it?"
"A cleaner cell, a clean shirt, and a chance to shower."
"...Not enough, add three packs of cigarettes as well."
"One pack."
"Two packs."
"Half a pack."
"????"
"Five cigarettes."
"Half a pack! Just half a pack! Deal!"
Seeing Luo An reducing the offer more and more, Beren was montarily stunned and quickly agreed to prevent the offer from lowering further.
Chenier, with amusent in her eyes, gave Luo An, who was feigning disdain, a subtle thumbs up. Her cold deanor unchanged, she flipped open her notebook and said solemnly:
"Speak."
"Kevin was a friend I t while taking a taxi. We had a good relationship; he often drove to... uh, find won to drink with."
Seeing that he almost slipped and admitted to the cri, Beren quickly changed his wording. Luo An tapped on the table and said seriously:
"We’re not interested in your lower-body activities. Tell us about that key."
"It’s a key to a rental warehouse!"
Beren breathed a sigh of relief and explained:
"Once, after going out to drink with Kevin, this key of his got damaged, and I had soone fix it for him."
"Good."
Luo An nodded in satisfaction:
"Where is this warehouse?"
"I don’t know the exact location, but I know that the warehouse company is in Northwest Washington D.C!"
————
Warehouse companies, a unique industry within the federation.
As most federal residents rent their hos and find moving cumberso, or buy small houses without storage space, warehouse companies build a batch of warehouses on a plot of land, rent them out for profit, while people use these dedicated spaces to store their belongings.
There are two warehouse rental companies in Northwest Washington D.C. After not finding the target in the first one, Luo An and Chenier drove to the second company.
Outside the gates of the warehouse district, just as Luo An and Chenier stepped out of the car, they heard a fierce argunt nearby.
Turning the corner, they saw that the arguing parties were a man in a suit and two white won in their thirties.
Both sides were red-faced and yelling at the top of their lungs, with every sentence peppered with "F"-starting words.
"Hello, FBI."
Chenier pulled out her gold badge to show her identity, temporarily interrupting the quarrel. The man in the suit took a deep breath and quickly flashed a smile at Chenier, asking:
"Can I help you with sothing?"
Chenier handed him the search warrant, then showed him Nockvic’s identity information and said:
"We need to check the warehouse he rented here."
"No problem!"
The man in the suit was the manager of this warehouse area. He quickly entered the nearby office, located Nockvic’s rented warehouse, led Luo An and Chenier over, and unlocked it with the keys.
The warehouses here resembled shipping containers. The mont the door was opened, Chenier imdiately walked in with a flashlight.
Not far away, two middle-aged won once again approached angrily. Seeing this, the manager cursed under his breath, and Luo An asked:
"What’s going on here?"
"Their father died, and they’re accusing of killing him, damn it..."
The manager’s face looked terrible, and he explained that the two won’s father used to work in this warehouse area, responsible for night shifts, monitoring surveillance, and ensuring the security of the warehouse area.
Yesterday early in the morning, the father of the two won died suddenly from a heart attack, and their company had already decided to pay them a sum of money.
However, the daughters were extrely dissatisfied, insisting that their father died from overwork due to long nights, demanding the company provide more compensation.
Hearing this, Luo An’s expression changed slightly, thinking of sothing, and before he could ask, Chenier suddenly ca out of the warehouse with a very unsightly look:
"Luo An, we’re too late."
At this point, Chenier had already located the warehouse’s lights and turned them on. Under the glow of the lights, the interior was clearly visible.
The warehouse wasn’t large, with a folding bed and a suit in the corner, a few unopened bottles of water, and so bread on the floor in the middle.
What was most striking was that one whole wall of the warehouse was covered in tape, and Luo An could tell at a glance that many photos had once been stuck there.
But now those photos had all disappeared without a trace, leaving only a few scattered fragnts clinging to the tape, fluttering in the wind.
"Nockvic must have rested here, and those photos on the wall must be the information he uncovered."
Chenier, wearing gloves, picked up a bottle of mineral water from the ground and said with a grim expression:
"But they’ve been ripped to shreds and taken away.
I suspect that the person who ca here before us is the sa one who killed Nockvic in the park!"
"Call the forensic unit, have them co here to look for fingerprints and other clues!"
After a few seconds of contemplation, Luo An shifted his gaze away from the tape on the wall. After Chenier acknowledged the order, Luo An imdiately stepped out of the warehouse.
"I told you, there’s no way you’re getting that money!"
"You are all a bunch of vampires! Disgusting vampires!"
"Damn it..."
Not far away, the manager was still arguing with the two won. Seeing Luo An, the manager, unable to argue with the two won, quickly ran up to him, hoping to use Luo An’s identity to avoid further confrontation.
"Mr. Manager, I have a question for you."
Luo An grabbed the manager who was about to hide behind him and asked with a serious tone:
"You said their father died early yesterday morning?"
The manager was taken aback but nodded in response:
"That’s correct."
"What was the exact ti?"
"I don’t know."
"The cause of death was a heart attack? Are you sure?"
"That’s what the company said, they said that’s what the autopsy showed, that’s all I know."
"Do you have surveillance here? What’s the status of the surveillance equipnt and footage?"
"The surveillance equipnt is all working normally now; it just broke for a few hours yesterday, so there’s a gap in the footage. This kind of thing is not uncommon, it’s happened before..."
As the two of them talked, the middle-aged won, because of Luo An’s FBI identity, stood by, glaring fiercely at the manager, trying to hold back their anger.
The more the manager answered, the colder Luo An’s expression beca, and by the end, the manager himself had realized sothing and felt the hairs on his back stand up. He swallowed his saliva and cautiously asked:
"Mr. FBI, are you suggesting there’s sothing wrong with their father’s death?"
The two won were also drawn to Luo An and the manager’s conversation, exchanging surprised looks.
They had only co here to demand more money, but now it seed there might really be sothing wrong with their father’s death?
"Go check the surveillance."
Luo An didn’t answer the manager’s question but instead instructed him to check the surveillance equipnt and asked Chenier to follow him. Then Luo An stepped aside and took out his phone to call Mona.
"It’s , Luo An."
Luo An relayed the na of the night watcher and the information about his two daughters, and said:
"Mona, is there any way to find out his real cause of death? Or to have an autopsy perford again?"
A flurry of keystrokes sounded from the other end of the phone, and after a short while, Mona took a sharp breath in surprise:
"Luo An, the Night Watcher was cremated within 10 hours after his death was confird!"
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