America: The Gear-Up Detective

The image on the projector switched to the second page.

The screen showed a handsome Asian man who looked to be about twenty years old.

"This is a message from the car rental company: Kim Jung-eun, 24 years old, Korean-American."

The information is clean; there are no criminal records, not even a single speeding ticket.

Hank sat across from Rhodes. He hadn't attended yesterday's meeting, so he could gather the current information from a third-person perspective. "So, what's the suspicion on him? Just renting a car? That's not enough for us to apply for an arrest warrant."

A rare smile appeared on Evan's lips.

A video begins to play on the screen.

"This was captured by a security camera at a gas station last night while we were tracking the Toyota's route."

The surveillance footage shows the time as 11:03.

A white Toyota was parked at the gas station. A short-haired man wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and a blue shirt got out of the driver's seat. He was Kim Jong-eun, the renter.

During the subsequent refueling process, a man wearing a black short-sleeved shirt got out of the back seat of the vehicle; it was Jin Chongguang.

The two chatted by the gas pump, and Kim Chong-kwang even went to a store to buy some food to share with Kim Jung-eun. The two seemed to have a good relationship.

Rod noticed that he could vaguely see two figures in the back seat of the vehicle.

If one of them is the victim, Park Yoon-chan, then what is the identity of the other person who never got off the bus?

An accomplice of the suspect? Or a second victim?

The surveillance footage continues to play.

After their conversation, Kim Jung-eun returned to the store. When he reappeared, he was carrying a large plastic bag, the contents of which were not visible.

The two then drove away.

The surveillance video ends here.

After watching the surveillance video, Jackson's first question was, "So, what was in that bag? A weapon? It couldn't have been snacks, could it?"

After saying that, he laughed twice, and seeing that no one reacted, he shrugged, "A bunch of guys with no sense of humor."

Evan ignored Jackson's lame joke but answered his question instead.

"This morning, I arranged for my colleagues from the patrol department to investigate the gas station. This is a list of the items in the bag."

[A roll of transparent tape, a bundle of rope, a set of knives...]

Rod also raised his own question: "The surveillance footage shows two figures in the back seat. Assuming one is the victim, Park Yoon-chan, who is the other? Are there any relevant clues?"

Captain Connor said in a deep voice, "Not yet. We've been monitoring the Honda's route."

However, there are too many side roads after the gas station. Some sections have a lot of surveillance cameras, but some sections have almost no surveillance cameras, which is a huge workload.

Therefore, our task today is to find the trail following the vehicle.

Let's get to work, everyone.

The surveillance video was copied last night, and everyone got a share.

Next, we began a needle-in-a-haystack search, analyzing the color and license plate of each vehicle under various cameras to find the target vehicle.

If you can't find it at all, on the bright side, at least you've eliminated some locations.

This was undoubtedly painful, but Rhodes had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep watching.

As he looked at the clues, Rhodes analyzed them all.

Judging from the timeline, Park Yoon-chan went to a bar with his ex-girlfriend two nights ago, and was led away after only ten minutes.

Judging from the time of death in the death report, Park Yoon-chan was already murdered on the night he was taken away.

In other words, Park Yoon-chan was already at the bottom of the lake when Park Ji-hye and her husband received the ransom text message.

Judging from their motives, the murderers' goal was financial gain. They probably saw Park Yoon-chan's stock earnings posted online and used that information to get close to him, intending to kidnap and extort him. However, something unexpected happened, and they killed Park Yoon-chan before the kidnapping was completed.

So now we are missing the most important link in the logical chain—evidence.

Whether it's eyewitness testimony or physical evidence, just one of them is a crucial breakthrough.

The list of items in that bag cannot yet be considered evidence.

Just then, Rod's phone lit up.

Rhodes picked up his phone and looked at it with a conflicted expression. The message was from one of the original owner's girlfriends, now his ex-girlfriend, Lyra Cross, who also had another identity: a forensic pathologist at the police department.

Looking at the name, scenes from the past automatically flashed through Rod's mind: golden hair, a voluptuous chest, long, straight white legs, a melodious voice, and a taut...

I took two deep breaths to suppress my excited reaction.

After some hesitation, Rhodes checked the message. "She's a forensic pathologist; maybe she's messaging me for work-related reasons?"

Upon reviewing the information, sure enough, "There were two fingerprints on the inside of the glue container, which have been extracted. I'll send you the results."

An email then arrived.

After checking the emails, Rod confirmed that the police system had indeed identified two people.

"Captain, something's wrong!"

......

Two hours later.

Outside a motel in northern Los Angeles.

Rod and Hank got out of the car, followed by four or five backup police officers.

After all, this was already a murder case, and there was no guarantee that the suspect on the other side might have "heavy firepower." It wasn't safe for Rhodes and his companion to handle it alone, so they decisively called for backup.

Everyone immediately noticed the older white Toyota parked outside the hotel.

Rod and Hank stepped forward and showed their police badges to the hotel receptionist, then took out a photo of Kim Jong-eun.

Thanks to the fingerprint clues, the search warrant was quickly obtained, and the police department directly tracked Kim Jong-un's cell phone signal and located the hotel.

As for the rest of the team, the captain is stationed at headquarters, contacting all parties involved. Things like applying for search warrants and contacting support all require the captain's involvement. Evan Blackwood is too old to go out on fieldwork, so he stays in the back and provides advice. There is also a newcomer named Anna, who is currently mainly responsible for the follow-up reports and document organization of the case.

Therefore, those who frequently go out on fieldwork are Rod, Hank, Jackson, and Mexican-American José Martinez, who is like someone who "goes wherever he is needed."

Rod and Hank entered the hotel together to make the arrest, while Jackson and Jose were responsible for monitoring the situation outside the hotel and blocking any escape routes, just in case.

The Black security guard, who was dozing at the entrance, was startled when he saw a group of people approaching.

Upon seeing the photo of Kim Jong-eun that Rod had taken out, he silently said a room number and then shrank back inside.

This motel is not big; it has two floors and only about a dozen rooms in total.

Hank took the lead, drew his Glock pistol from his waist, and slowly walked up the stairs with the gun at the ready.

Rod put on his bulletproof vest early and followed.

Hank is an experienced veteran police officer, but this is the first time Rod has experienced a situation with a high probability of shooting, so he is inevitably a little nervous.

Two more patrol officers were sent to stand guard at the stairwell, while the rest of the officers headed toward the room where Kim Jong-un was.