America: The Gear-Up Detective

It was still noon, and the bar was nearly empty. There was no loud music or flashing neon lights, only a few people lying unconscious on the bar counter, making it rather deserted.

Rod looked around and found no surveillance cameras inside the bar. That made sense; people here at night probably don't just drink, so installing cameras might actually hurt business.

Rod walked straight to the bar, pulled out his badge, and said, "Lapd, I need to see your boss."

The bartender, a young white man, seemed a little confused by the situation. "What's wrong?"

"Can you take responsibility if something happens?"

"Um... just a moment."

Rod sat on a high stool at the bar, while Jackson, always restless, touched and looked around.

"In my experience, it's very likely that this place offers that kind of service."

Which one?

Jackson gestured a half-circle in front of his chest, then clenched his right fist and twitched his left index finger back and forth, grinning mischievously, "You know what I mean. I've seen it; the staff here have a mixed skin color, but most importantly, they're all in great shape."

"One in ten bars like this offers that kind of service."

"You're more experienced."

The two had been chatting for a short while when the bartender returned. "Officers, our boss would like to invite you to his office."

An Asian man in a suit came over to lead the way.

The two followed the man in the suit deeper into the building and stopped in front of an office.

"I'm the owner of this club. You can call me John. Officers, what brings you here?" John, whose hairstyle clearly indicated he was of Korean descent, sat in a large office chair, smoking a cigar and exhaling a deep smoke ring.

"I'm Detective Rhodes, and this is Detective Jackson." Rhodes casually pulled out a photo of Park Yoon-chan. "Have you seen this person before?"

John picked up the photo, looked at it, stroked his chin, and handed it back to Rhodes. "I don't remember it. I probably haven't seen it before."

"He is the victim in the case we are investigating. He disappeared two days ago after leaving your place."

"Sorry, you said he disappeared after leaving, which doesn't seem to have anything to do with our club."

Rod put the photos away and continued, "There are no security cameras inside the bar, right?"

"We have the right to protect our guests' privacy."

"What about the two security cameras at the entrance?"

John put down his cigar, sat up straight, and asked, "Officers, do you have a search warrant?"

Rhodes countered, "We can have it. But are you sure you want us to give it up?"

"We can have a friendly discussion now, or we can wait until you open for business in the evening and come with a search warrant, but by then it will probably be more than just the two of us."

Rod knew what he was worried about; just like Jackson said, this kind of bar was likely involved in some shady business.

But Rhodes wasn't interested in any of that. He wasn't a saint; he just wanted to focus on his own affairs. Based on the novels and movies Rhodes had read, meddlesome protagonists usually didn't have good endings, and besides, he might not even be a protagonist, so causing trouble was undesirable.

After a pause, Rod said, "I only care about what I want; we're not interested in anything else."

John pondered for a moment, then gave a few instructions to his subordinates, and someone immediately left the office.

After a while, the man returned and nodded slightly to John.

"Alright, officers, let's not waste any more time. After we review the surveillance footage, let's pretend nothing happened, okay?" John gestured for his men to lead Rod and his companion to the monitoring room.

"certainly."

The monitoring room is located in a small room not far from the entrance of the bar.

"It was moved to two days ago, around 10 p.m.

By speeding up the surveillance footage to double, Rod quickly spotted Park Yoon-chan.

This is footage of him just entering the RCA club. Ten minutes later, he reappeared on the surveillance footage.

However, this time Park Yoon-chan collapsed onto the black-clad man beside him, and his consciousness did appear to be blurred.

"This is it!" Jackson exclaimed excitedly as he looked at the man supporting Park Yoon-chan.

The surveillance footage was fairly clear, so Rod rewound the timeline further back and discovered that the man in black who was helping Park Yoon-chan had arrived at the bar half an hour before Park Yoon-chan arrived.

However, due to the angle, the man in black's full face was not clearly seen on either occasion, which proves that he should have a good sense of counter-surveillance.

But a side profile is enough.

Rod immediately retrieved the video and saved it to his phone.

......

Inside the meeting room of the Sixth Team of the Police Department.

Everyone watched the footage from the surveillance camera.

Captain Connor clapped his hands. "Well done, Rhodes. Now let's consolidate the information we have."

According to Anna's investigation, Park Yoon-chan posted his stock profits multiple times on Instagram and other social media platforms during the week, which, roughly calculated, amounted to exactly $100,000.

Furthermore, based on the information provided by Rhodes, it can be basically confirmed that the kidnappers' motive is financial gain.

Anna was a new recruit who joined the Murder and Heist Division a year earlier than Rod.

Jose added, "I've already found out the information about the car they were in when they left."

A gray Toyota. After checking the license plate, it was discovered that the vehicle was rented. I can contact the rental company, and they should be able to find the renter's information quickly.

At that moment, Evan Blackwood, who was sitting on the outermost side, said, "The autopsy report is out."

Evan Blackwood is the most experienced and oldest detective in Team Six. He has gray curly hair, is in his fifties, and is usually quiet and reserved, but he always gets to the heart of the matter.

"So fast?" Jackson exclaimed in surprise. He knew that a normal autopsy report would take at least a day or two to come out.

"The forensic doctor in charge of this autopsy is an old acquaintance of mine, and I asked him to expedite the process."

Connor took the report and then circulated the paper document to everyone.

The downside of being older is that you're less willing to accept new things. Even though a projector is very convenient, Evan still prefers to use paper materials.

Park Yoon-chan, 31 years old, male.

The cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation due to the presence of a large amount of cement detected in the respiratory tract and esophagus, and the presence of a heavy object striking the back of the head, which also constituted a fatal injury.

There were signs of binding on his wrists and ankles, and multiple signs of beatings all over his body.

In addition, the body was found naked, with four fingers on the right hand severed, and the severed fingers were not found at the scene.

The estimated time of death is approximately 48 hours ago.

The discussion continued for a while, and then Rod suddenly realized that something seemed to be missing.

Where did Hank go?

"Well, Hank took half a day off, saying his brother-in-law Walter White is coming to Los Angeles to be a chemistry teacher, and he's going with him to check it out."

Connor continued, "Everyone, get ready. If we can catch the murderer by tomorrow, I'll apply for a reward!"

Generally speaking, the golden time to solve various kidnapping, missing person, and murder cases is around 48 hours.

However, the actual tracking time for a murder case is mostly between 4 and 7 days, which is why the first week after the crime is known as the "Golden Week".

Some investigations last for months, and in very rare cases, even years. Of course, at this stage, the probability of solving the case is extremely low.

If Rhodes and his team can solve the case and successfully apprehend the murderer within two days or even one day, then this would be a case worthy of a special press conference.

The leaders at the top were looking for ways to highlight their achievements in leadership.

Therefore, applying for a bonus is relatively easy.

After the meeting, Rod used the excuse of wanting to buy his father a pair of sunglasses to take a picture of Captain Connor's sunglasses.

Rod plans to buy an identical pair of sunglasses on Amazon and switch them out.

This is the only way Rhodes can think of to obtain the "Glasses of Love" item.

You can't just ask for a gift from someone's daughter.

Fortunately, the equipment inventory system doesn't care about the host's ownership of the equipment, which is why this method was successful.