America: The Gear-Up Detective

Luke's body stiffened for a moment, his hand just touching the gun handle.

He glanced at the police officers around him, his mind racing with calculations.

"We're surrounded. There's no escape. Shooting means certain death."

He slowly removed his hand from the gun handle, raised it above his head, and slowly knelt down.

"Don't shoot, I'm unarmed!"

The moment the police came out, Kim Chong-kwang collapsed to the ground, trembling all over, muttering incomprehensible Korean.

Hank kicked away the pistol that Luke had placed beside his leg.

Rod and another patrolman stepped forward, handcuffed the two men, and read the Miranda Declaration.

"You have the right to remain silent..."

Three minutes later, the two were taken out of Franklin Canyon Park and into a police car.

Rod walked over to Liu Qingxi and handed her a bottle of water. "Are you alright?"

Liu Qingxi took the water, her face pale from nervousness, but her eyes were unusually bright. "This was so exciting! It was so much fun! Can you call me again next time?"

Rhodes glanced at her but didn't reply.

This time it was just good luck. If it had been some ruthless black guys, hot-headed teenagers, or desperate gangsters, they wouldn't care about being surrounded or not; they would have just opened fire and taken a few people away first.

Hank walked by, patted Rod on the shoulder, and said, "Stop chasing girls and hurry up and finish work. I'm still waiting for my bonus."

......

One o'clock in the afternoon, in the detective department's conference room.

Jin Chongguang and Luke, who were arrested, have been taken to the interrogation room.

The group sat together and began to review the course of the case and organize the evidence they had on hand to facilitate the interrogation later.

Seeing that it was almost time, Captain Connor gave the order to everyone, "Hank and Evan, you two go and interrogate that Jin Chongguang first."

Evan nodded, and Hank replied, "Don't worry, Captain, I'll make sure they find out everything about him."

The two got up and went to prepare.

Connor turned to Rhodes and said, "Rhodes, you go and watch their interrogation. When they're done, you come with me to interrogate Luke."

Rhodes nodded. This was also a good learning opportunity. He didn't know how the system calculated the settlement yet, but the more he participated in the case handling process, the better.

Rhodes also got up, preparing to check on the interrogation process, as interrogation is a skill that relies heavily on experience.

Inexperienced rookie detectives, when faced with cunning suspects, not only fail to extract crucial information but are also easily tricked into revealing their secrets with just a few words. They may even find loopholes in the police force's defenses, thereby avoiding their own criminal risks.

Jackson followed Rod into the interrogation room and asked in a low voice, "The captain said to interrogate Jin Chongguang first. Do you know what the reasoning behind that is?"

Rod glanced at the dark face with its big, bright eyes, and smiled, "Start with the one with the weakest psychological defenses. That way we'll get more information and it'll be easier to deal with his accomplices."

Jin Chongguang immediately collapsed to the ground the moment we went out to make the arrest; he was practically about to wet his pants.

On the other hand, Luke, though a little flustered, remained relatively calm; he seemed like a tough nut to crack.

Jackson nodded and said to Rhodes in a rhythmic tone, "Not bad. I was worried you wouldn't even understand the interrogation process."

"Then I should thank you?"

"Let me tell you, there are a lot of tricks to interrogation, just like Hank..." Jackson patted his chest, imparting his experience to Rhodes.

The interrogation room is located on the basement level.

This was the first time Rod had been to this place in a month.

Rod, Jackson, and Captain Connor were all in the observation room, observing everything in the interrogation room through the one-way mirror.

The observation room is also equipped with a remotely controlled PTZ camera (a camera that can rotate up, down, left, right and zoom), which is fixedly aimed at Jin Chongguang in the interrogation room through one-way glass. All his movements and micro-expressions cannot escape the judgment of the police officers in the observation room.

The interrogation room had gray-white walls and no exposed beams, pipes, hooks, sockets, or any other facilities that could be used for hanging or murder. There was only a table and a few chairs, all of which were firmly fixed to the ground and could not be moved.

There are microphones at the bottom of the table and in the corners of the walls for recording audio. This is because, according to California law, since January 1, 2017, it has been mandatory to record audio and video of the entire interrogation process of suspects in felony cases such as murder and sex crimes.

Anyway, Rod thought the regulation was pretty good. Recording audio and video protects both parties—it prevents suspects from being tortured to confess and also prevents suspects from recanting their confessions later and saying, "The police forced me to confess."

However, this might not be so friendly to some older, more traditional police officers.

Hank and Evan pushed open the door and entered, pulling out stools to sit down, the stool legs scraping against the floor with a harsh screech.

Jackson explained to Rhodes in a low voice, "They deliberately make a lot of noise; it's an interrogation technique. It's like giving the suspect a hard time first."

Jin Chongguang, sitting opposite him, was clearly starting to get anxious.

"You should know why we arrested you. Tell me."

Hank threw the open folder onto the desktop, and the file slid smoothly down the desktop to Kim Chong-kwang's face. The first picture was of Kim Jong-eun's body when he collapsed in the motel.

Rod clearly saw that Jin Chongguang breathed a sigh of relief.

"Officer, I want to report this person. This guy was murdered by that bastard Luke, and he even threatened to kill me if I didn't keep it a secret!"

"Tell me in detail the time and circumstances of his murder."

Jin Chongguang sighed and began to recount, "It was at a motel. Zheng Yin was very agitated. He said... he was going to report Luke, and then Luke, in a fit of anger..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hank interrupted, "So, on what charge is he going to report Luke?"

Jin Chongguang's eyes darted around. "Because Luke is not a good person at all. He has a criminal record abroad, and we don't want to have any contact with him. That's why Zhengyin said that. I just didn't expect Luke to dare to kill someone, so I got scared."

Next, Kim Chong-kwang recounted in detail some of Luke's deeds, as well as the time and method of killing Kim Jong-eun.

Inside the observation room.

"What do you guys think?" Connor asked, arms crossed, standing in front of the one-way mirror.

Rod pondered for a moment and said, "He seemed to be making sense, but in his words he shifted all the blame onto Luke and absolved himself of all responsibility."

But is that really the case?

Rod realized he had underestimated the suspects. He had assumed that Jin Chongguang, who had looked so disheveled during the arrest, was a "softie" and that the interrogation would be easy.

But now, looking at him, he's clearly a cunning old fox.

Was all of his testimony false?

Not necessarily. The most ingenious method is nine parts truth and one part falsehood. He only needs to slightly modify the most important act of murder, and his suspicion will be greatly reduced. He can even transform himself into a victim threatened by Luke.

Unfortunately, Hank and Evan are not complete novices either.

More importantly, the police have more than just the fact that they killed Kim Jong-eun; that's just the appetizer.

The main course is still Park Yoon-chan, who was originally supposed to have been sunk in the lake, but was unexpectedly discovered by Rod!