Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

"Smack!"

Susan had just walked into the Robbery and Murder Department office when she was harshly slapped across the face.

Lee Mei pointed at Susan's nose, angrily saying, "You self-righteous bastard, you almost killed your own daughter."

"And what about you? What are you doing? Have you ever cared about your daughter?

Day in, day out, all you care about is your career, trying to be someone important in Los Angeles, Mr. Mayor!"

"I don't want to argue with you, but you messed up. Not only did you miss the best chance to rescue our daughter, but you may even have endangered her life."

"I was just doing my best to rescue our daughter and bring her back safely to my side."

"I know you don't like government departments, but you shouldn't gamble with our daughter's life; professional matters should be left to professionals.

You have to learn to trust."

Susan intervened, "Both of you, this is not the place to argue. What matters most right now is rescuing Betty; blaming each other is pointless at the moment.

Besides, Mr. Kenneth, I have a question for you.

If Deputy Luke hadn't found you in time,

what would you be doing now?

Preparing the ransom again? Or would you call the police?"

Clearly, Susan was also dissatisfied with Kenneth's actions.

Brown Kenneth waved his hand, "I don't know, I never expected things to get this bad. Those damned bastards didn't keep their word."

Brown as if reminded of something, "Did you guys track the kidnapper's cell phone?"

"The kidnapper changed his number at the last minute. We've tried tracking the new number, but the calls are too short, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the phone," Susan said, only halfway through her sentence. Although the precise location of the suspects couldn't be determined, it was still possible to estimate the general area based on cell tower signals, but with a large range to cover, it was challenging to trace suspicious individuals.

Lee Mei asked, "Captain Susan, what are your plans now?"

Susan replied, "Mayor Lee, Mr. Kenneth, you can wait in the lounge. After we discuss and come up with the next step of the investigation plan, we'll inform you."

Brown demanded, "My daughter is in danger right now, and you just want to keep having meetings instead of doing something?"

The deputy pointed at Brown and shouted, "Shut up!

Where do you get the gall to accuse the police? The reason things turned out this way is because you hid the fact that the kidnapper was demanding a ransom.

It would be best for you to keep your damn mouth shut until the police have taken your statement."

The deputy, who was already a mean-looking old man, became even more intimidating when he lost his temper, and it truly shook Brown.

Reid stepped in to defuse the situation, "Hey, we all want to rescue Betty; let's all be calm. Only by trusting and working together can we handle this properly.

Mr. Kenneth, our meetings are not about being lazy or passive. They are about pooling our wisdom and compiling clues to analyze the kidnapper's next move.

We need to consider everything to ensure Betty's safety as much as possible.

Marcus, take Mr. Kenneth to the lounge."

After Lee Mei and Brown left, Susan called everyone to the conference room for a meeting.

"Everyone, there's been a change in the case. Share your thoughts."

The deputy said, "Immediately check for suspicious individuals within the range of the signal tower, notify the local patrol department to assist, and also review the surveillance footage to see if there were any suspicious individuals around when the call was made."

Matthew replied, "The phone signal wasn't picked up by just one signal tower, but four. The area they cover is quite large, making the search difficult."

Susan said, "Let's draw circles around the four signal towers; could their intersection point possibly be where the suspect made the call from?"

Matthew shook his head, "This is not like solving a math problem. Even if it's not the intersection point, signals can still be received. I've already said it's hard to pinpoint exactly; we can only outline a general area."

"Okay, just do it," Susan agreed. "Even if the chances are slim, it's better than doing nothing. Any other ideas?"

Luke answered, "I think we should check out the ransom drop-off location. It's unlikely the kidnapper left any clues, but what if they did?

We can also compare surveillance from around there and the area covered by the cell towers. If the person who made the ransom call and the one who picked up the ransom are the same, we can confirm their identity through surveillance comparison."

Susan nodded, "We do indeed need to check the ransom drop-off location, but considering that the kidnappers might still be watching the area, it's best to investigate discreetly."

…

Half an hour later.

The alley behind Weldon Steakhouse.

A disheveled-looking black homeless man walked into the alley, grumbling, "Talk about keeping the investigation low-key, do I really have to dress like this?"

Shakira reluctantly walked over to the trash can, leaned down to check the garbage inside, then rummaged through it, her black face contorting with disgust,

"When did I start looking like a homeless person?

Why do I have to rummage through the trash by myself?

What an annoying bunch."

Though she complained, the work had to continue. After searching for a while and finding nothing suspicious, Shakira took out her phone, snapped a few photos, and was ready to call it done.

After she left the alley and scanned the surroundings to make sure no one was following her, she took off the tattered jacket and ran back to the Ford car parked nearby.

Luke asked, "Did you find anything?"

Shakira curled her lip, "Yeah, a whole lot of garbage that stinks to high heaven."

"Didn't find the backpack filled with cash?" According to Brown's description, it was packed in a black backpack.

"No, it's possible the kidnappers took the backpack with them, which is normal, after all, there were two hundred thousand US dollars inside. It's also possible to be spotted by passers-by if transferring the money from one backpack to another."

"Good job, you've worked hard," Luke said encouragingly.

Xiao Hei reached out his right hand, ready to open the car door and get in.

Luke shouted, "Hey, are you sure you want to get in?"

"What do you mean?" Xiao Hei was puzzled.

"You just clambered over the trash can, now you'd dirty the car if you sit in. At least for a few days, it'll affect us both mentally and physically.

You'd better take a taxi back.

I'll reimburse you for the fare, no need to thank me," Luke said and then drove off with a press of the accelerator.

Xiao Hei "..."

...

The next morning.

Robbery and Murder Department, Team One.

Inside the office.

Susan, Jenny, Raymond, and Matthew all had panda eyes.

Considering that the kidnappers might call at any moment, the four of them stayed in the office on duty.

Luke, Xiao Hei, and the deputy team leader went home to sleep.

In the morning, Luke came into the office carrying two bags of breakfast, "Guys, breakfast time."

The deputy team leader asked, "Can we still eat if we're not working overtime?"

"Of course, hamburgers, burritos, doughnuts, milk tea, coffee, fries, everyone grab whatever you want," Luke waved his hand.

"Thanks," Susan took a cup of milk tea.

Luke held a doughnut in his left hand and sugar-free coffee in his right, "Captain, any developments last night?"

Susan took a sip of her milk tea, "We reviewed surveillance footage all night and didn't spot any suspicious individuals. However, Matthew found a new clue."

Matthew, just having taken a bite of his hamburger, mumbled unclearly, "Let me fill my stomach first, I'm starving."

After finishing a hamburger and drinking a cup of coffee, Matthew finally looked satisfied, "Deputy Team Leader Luke, thank you for the breakfast, I feel like I've come back to life."

Luke raised his coffee cup in acknowledgment.

Matthew took out a document from the table, "The captain had me check Amy Ma's communication records. I found that she seldom contacts the outside world; her mobile number is very clean, never registered on other apps.

I felt this was abnormal. I suspected she might have another number.

Indeed, when I investigated Mr. Kenneth's home network IP, I discovered a chat app frequently logged in and used Mr. Kenneth's Wi-Fi.

I specifically asked Mr. Kenneth, and he said their Wi-Fi wasn't used by outsiders, only he, Betty, and the nanny Amy Ma had access.

Moreover, he had never used that chat app, so I suspect it's very likely Amy Ma who used it."

As Matthew spoke, he placed a document on the projector, "This is a screenshot of a chat app, which has a special name called 'WeChat'.

Maybe you haven't heard of it, but it's one of the top three chat apps in the world in terms of user numbers.

The main user group is Chinese. I tried it yesterday, and it's quite interesting.

Besides chatting, it can also post 'Moments' where users can share life videos and pictures.

Amy Ma is quite active on this app, she uses it almost every day.

And her account name is 'Mrs. Kenneth'.

In her Moments, there are numerous photos of Kenneth's household, where she wears extravagant clothes, carries designer jewelry, has designer purses on the table, and designer clothes in the wardrobe.

In her Moments, she is no longer a nanny, but a wealthy, leisurely housewife.

Aside from her own life, she also posts about women and children related matters.

As it's all in Chinese, I just translated the general meaning, such as claiming that if a pregnant woman comes to America to give birth, the child could get citizenship.

The living environment here is superior, the food is inexpensive, benefits are great, and competition is low.

And the parents of the child can also get residency through family relations, like how she obtained her American green card.

There are also some subsidies and expenses that can be claimed for children when they are young, roughly that sort of thing."

Others couldn't understand Chinese, but Luke could see clearly that this wasn't about sharing her own life, but rather an undercover advertisement for a maternity center.

It was just missing a sentence, "Interested parties please contact."

Upon seeing Amy Ma's wardrobe at the crime scene, Luke had felt that with just a nanny's salary, she couldn't afford those expenses and speculated she might have other sources of income.

Afterward, an IRS investigator, Shakira, also provided a clue that more than a year ago, a maternity center had been paying money to Amy Ma, which later went out of business.

Amy Ma continued to sustain high expenses but without a clear source of income and also stopped paying high income tax.

From the content in WeChat, Amy Ma's source of income might very well be introducing clients to American maternity centers, only it changed from official income to private transactions.

Amy Ma's Moments also included the name of that maternity center, and Luke felt it was necessary to investigate further.