North American Detective: I am Proficient in All Kinds of Gun Quick Draws Chapter 461 - 277 Conclusion1

「The next afternoon.」

Ross’s fiancée, Gaia, had been missing for twenty-two hours.

"We’ve run into so trouble!"

Louise’s brow was deeply furrowed as she found Dean.

Dean was watching the movie the old dical examiner had brought. Hearing this, he paused the video. "What? None of those logistics drivers recognized the person in the surveillance footage?"

They had nearly confird that one of the refrigerated truck drivers frequenting the airport had taken Ross’s fiancée. So, Louise used her authority to show the surveillance footage to the drivers for identification.

Louise shook her head. "I’m certain soone recognized him, but not a single person ca forward."

"Nobody ca forward?"

Dean was sowhat puzzled. Normally, in most countries, civilians are willing to cooperate with the police if it doesn’t affect their own interests. What’s the situation here?

Suddenly, Dean rembered information he had gleaned from a female shop owner on the street: though the airport logistics drivers didn’t work for the sa company, they were basically family mbers and friends of the mbers of the gang behind those logistics companies.

Organizations with ties to the underworld are very averse to leaking information, especially to the police. They might collaborate privately, but in front of a crowd... Louise, being the chief detective of Las Vegas, isn’t young; she should know these things!

Dean guessed there was more to it. So he ventured, "Is the person’s identity sowhat problematic?"

Louise nodded. "I considered they wouldn’t want to help the police in front of others, so I approached a few of the more active drivers individually. But after they saw the person in the video, they all chose to remain silent and stopped cooperating with us. Usually, this kind of behavior only occurs when it involves important gang figures!"

After listening to Louise, Dean thought for a mont and shook his head. "Not necessarily an important figure. Help look up the family mbers of the high-ranking gang mbers behind the airport refrigerated logistics companies."

"You suspect the killer is a family mber of that gang’s leadership?"

Dean nodded. "It should be soone who isn’t taken seriously, but whom no one wants to provoke. Male, age... probably born around the fifties, currently between forty and fifty, and obsessed with movies. Perhaps one of his elders was an actor and deeply influenced him."

Louise nodded thoughtfully.

She was just about to get to work when she suddenly caught sight of the movie Dean was playing and said with a smile, "How’s the movie, Agent Dean?"

"The female lead isn’t bad. But the plot of the whole movie insults my intelligence, especially the male lead’s lines. They sound artistic, but in reality, he’s just a jerk. Of course, modern won call that romantic...

"However, it’s certain that the female victims, in their final monts, were deliberately imitating the movie’s female lead. Perhaps during the days they were missing, the killer was forcing those girls to reenact scenes from the movie. When he got tired of them, he’d find a new ’leading lady’ and start the next ’audition.’"

Dean replied offhandedly.

Louise, however, looked enlightened. She seed to understand the logic behind Dean’s profile of the killer.

"Oh, right!" Dean added. "When we saw the killer from behind, he could also have detected us closing in from our movents. So, the actual ti we have left might not be the sa as before!"

The previous five victims were killed on the fourth day after their disappearance, aning there was a three-day safe period. But if the killer knows the police are about to catch him, he might kill Gaia imdiately to ensure his own safety and destroy all incriminating evidence.

Hearing this, Louise knew Dean was telling the truth. She left the office with a grave expression, prepared to use so unconventional thods!

...

「In a secluded building.」

Ross’s missing fiancée stood before a large mirror, admiring the long dress she wore. She turned, the hem of her dress stirring a faint breeze, then walked to a projector. Smiling towards an empty space, she asked, "How about this?"

Behind her was the projector. An old movie played on a screen; the interplay of light and shadow, along with a movie set that was almost identical to the room, created a deeply imrsive experience.

"Perfect!"

An older male voice ca from the speaker overhead, "That gown, on you, is as perfect as those lines spoken from your lips. You were born to be my leading lady!"

His words carried sincerity. None of the five won brought in before Gaia had suited the gown with an aura like hers. She seed like a young lady from a noble family, possessing a graceful and elegant dignity rarely seen in modern won. This was why he had suddenly changed his target and risked exposure to abduct Gaia.

And now, it all seed worth it!

Listening to the man’s praise, Gaia feigned distress. "But I’m still missing a pair of shoes—high heels that the leading man personally slips onto the leading lady’s feet."

These words seed to make the hidden killer hesitate.

The room fell silent once more.

Gaia clenched the shard of porcelain hidden between her fingers, feeling a surge of unwillingness to give up. Although she was unaware of the serial dismbernt case on the Las Vegas highway—news that officials were desperately trying to suppress—she knew her situation was dire. The longer I’m held captive without enough food, the weaker I’ll beco, and my chances of escape will only get smaller.