America: The Gear-Up Detective

The Papatoitoi community in Wilmington, north of San Pedro Bay.

This is a community with a large Latino population, and you rarely see Asian faces.

For some reason, Jin Yulin chose to live in an unfamiliar community far away from her compatriots and her familiar environment.

A short while later, Hank slowly parked the car in front of a detached villa.

The villa has two floors and is nicely decorated on the outside. There is also a small swimming pool on the right side, but the pool is empty and covered with a thin layer of dust.

The yard was overgrown with weeds, and the barbecue grill lay overturned to one side, with the remaining coal scattered all over the ground, indicating that it hadn't been cleaned for a long time.

The two carefully examined the villa.

The doors and windows were tightly shut, and although it was afternoon, the curtains were still drawn on several windows of the villa.

"Knock knock knock~"

Hank knocked on the door, "LAPD!"

A few minutes later, there was still no movement inside the house.

Hank knocked on the door again, "LAPD! Is anyone home?"

Rod went around to the back and looked into the room from the side.

Due to the limited view, only a small area in the center of the living room can be seen.

Inside the room, the living room was a mess, with clothes and toiletries scattered haphazardly, as if the house had been violently ransacked.

Rod looked at Hank. "There are signs of a disturbance in the suspect's room. I have reasonable grounds to believe that our suspect, or the victim, has met with some misfortune."

Hank understood Rod's meaning and took two steps back.

Then, after a short running start, he kicked the door hard.

"Bang!"

The door was of poor quality; Hank kicked it open with one kick.

Both men pulled out their pistols and slowly searched each room.

"The kitchen is safe."

"Living room, safe."

"Bathroom...Bedroom..."

This is a two-story villa.

There is a master bedroom and a guest bedroom on the first floor, and two guest bedrooms and one room on the second floor. Judging from the furnishings inside, it should be a game room.

In the master bedroom on the first floor, a wedding photo is placed on the headboard.

In the photo, Jin Yulin is sitting on a stool, wearing a pure white wedding dress and holding a pink bouquet. Behind her, an Asian man wearing metal-rimmed glasses is looking down at Jin Yulin with a doting expression.

Rod stood in the bedroom and looked at the slightly messy scene. Clothes from the wardrobe had been taken out and were scattered all over the floor.

There were even a few loose US dollars lying on the ground.

It's clear that whether it was the original owner or the person who inexplicably broke into the house, they left in a hurry.

Inside the living room.

Hank casually touched the table, his hand getting a thin layer of dust on it.

"It seems this house hasn't been visited in a long time."

The two went up to the second floor.

One of the guest bedrooms.

The room was decorated in a very cozy style, with pink wallpaper covering all four walls. On the single bed against one wall, there were two Stitch dolls.

"This must be the daughter's bedroom?" Hank guessed, looking at the room's decor.

Then she turned to look at Luo De, "Could it be that Jin Yulin was also murdered?"

"It's hard to say. The room is messy, and it does look like someone broke in, but did you notice anything?"

These messy items look like they were deliberately arranged?

"Displayed?" Hank looked at Rhodes with a puzzled expression, wondering why Rhodes would say that.

Rhode activated his [Scan] skill the moment he entered the room.

In Rhodes's view, the clothes appeared to have been thrown around in a messy and haphazard manner.

But everything has a traceable pattern.

First, in the living room and bedroom on the first floor, all the clothes thrown on the floor were women's clothing, while Jin Yulin's husband's clothes were still neatly arranged in the wardrobe.

If someone could break into this uninhabited room and loot it, how could they possibly just pull out the woman's belongings and leave them lying around?

Secondly, it's still about these clothes. As anyone who frequently commits burglary knows, after a thief enters a room, no matter what they're looking for, they will try their best to restore the scene to make it look like everything was normal.

Such scenes of violent demolition usually only happen on screen.

In addition, on the second floor, in another bedroom.

The layout of this bedroom is very similar to the other one.

The wallpaper on the surrounding walls had been replaced with Pokémon posters, and two Pikachu plush toys lay quietly by the bedside.

Rod touched the sheets with his hand, then looked at Hank. "Although clothes are scattered everywhere, the sheets are still neatly made."

Hank nodded. "So you suspect this scene was deliberately staged?"

Who could it be? The murderer? Or Jin Yulin?

If it's Jin Yulin, why would she do this? This should be her home.

If he's the murderer, then where is Jin Yulin? Was she also murdered? Then where is her body?

Based on this scene setup, if Jin Yulin were murdered, this should be the primary crime scene, so the murderer would deliberately tamper with the evidence and disrupt the evidence.

Hank deduced this from the same line of thought.

Rhodes looked around again.

"no."

"Nothing?" Hank asked.

"The two black suitcases that Jin Yulin bought were not found..."

Hank touched his bald head, then shook his head. "I've already contacted the technical team. They'll bring equipment and thoroughly search the house."

Then, Hank pulled out two evidence bags containing clothing. "I took two pieces of clothing from the two guest rooms that were suspected to be occupied by children. The DNA samples on them were enough for the forensic team to identify the two bodies."

A dozen minutes later, the surveyors from the technical department arrived at the scene.

Rod watched as police tape was put up at the scene and several police cars arrived to provide support. After giving a few brief instructions, he left the scene.

Hank was tasked with staying behind to handle the follow-up work and reporting to Connor.

Rod, meanwhile, took the two evidence bags containing clothing and returned to the detective station.

Department of Forensic Science.

Inside a forensic office.

Rod found Lyra.

At this moment, Leila was wearing a white lab coat, her blonde hair was tied up behind her head, and she was sitting behind her desk, staring at the computer screen with a focused expression. She looked much more capable than before.

"Hey, Lyra, are you free?" Rod smiled as he walked up to Lyra's desk.

Lyra rolled her eyes and ignored Rhodes.

Rhodes coughed twice, then continued, "Weren't you in charge of the autopsy report for this case at noon?"

Upon hearing that it was serious business, Leila turned her gaze to Rhodes, signaling him to continue.

"We've found someone... who's a suspect, I suppose."

I brought two children's clothes from her house and would like you to help me authenticate them.

Will the DNA of these two children match?

Looking at the two evidence bags in Rhodes's hand, Lyra sighed, "I understand, leave them to me."

"Thank you, Lyra." After a pause, Rod added, "Actually, your Chinese is quite good. If you're interested, I can teach you."

Leila blushed slightly, then rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to test you or not?"

Rhodes shrugged and decisively slipped out of the office. "Remember to expedite it~~"