Chapter 21: Men in Black

"Craig was indeed with his girlfriend all night."

Mona said on the phone, "The surveillance shows he entered his girlfriend's apartment and didn't come out all night until he left for work after 8 a.m. this morning."

"OK."

Luo An nodded, hung up the phone, turned to Craig who was handcuffed and sitting nervously on the bed, and continued to ask after thinking for a few seconds:

"You just mentioned that Carista received a phone call and left. Did you hear what was said on the other end?"

"No."

Seeing that Luo An's attitude improved after the phone call, Craig breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly answered;

"We were both in bed before the phone rang, after it rang, Carista walked out of the bedroom, but I stayed in bed and didn't move, so I didn't hear clearly what was said, only heard Carista cursing a few words into the phone."

"OK."

Back in the room, Reesi noted this information in her notebook, Luo An pondered for a moment and suddenly asked:

"When my teammate shouted for you just now, why did you turn and run?"

"Uh,"

Seeing Craig hesitated, Luo An narrowed his eyes slightly and took out another pair of handcuffs and shook them:

"Think carefully before you answer, deceiving a federal agent is a serious crime."

Reesi twitched a bit at the corner of her eyes when she heard this.

"Well, I thought you were sent by Carista to catch me."

Craig thought for a few seconds and still chose to tell the truth, since their interest was not in him, he directly said:

"Previously while playing with Carista, I installed a tiny camera in a corner of the bedroom in the room, planning to record some of our love videos, to reminisce in the future..."

Reesi's expression was very disdainful:

"You planned to use the recordings to blackmail her for money later, right?"

"Say whatever you want."

Craig shrugged, he hadn't blackmailed anyone yet, and even if accused, he would only be fined at most.

Hearing Craig's words, Luo An seemed to have discovered something, and asked with a puzzled expression:

"Where did you install the camera? Our agents searched every room of the villa, especially the bedrooms, it's impossible not to find your camera."

"Villa?"

Craig was startled: "Carista's home is in Lower City Linton, there are no villas there?"

...

"I hate rich people."

In Lower City Linton, Reesi got out of the SUV, sighed as she looked at the standalone apartment, and said to Luo An next to her:

"Especially those rich people who have houses everywhere."

"Think of the bright side, Reesi."

Luo An took out his Glock 18, barrel pointed down, and slowly walked towards the apartment's main entrance:

"Rescuing these rich people, the gratitude money we could get is also much more."

"Good point."

Reesi nodded, the FBI salary is just that much, if it weren't for the bonuses after solving cases, or some reward money from the victims post-event, that salary wouldn't be as good as finding a bar to strip for money.

Both of them stood at either side of the apartment's main door, exchanged glances, Luo An counted down with his hand three-two-one, then kicked open the door and rushed in.

"FBI open up!"

Shouting a slogan loudly, Luo An held his Glock 18 and carefully searched the apartment's first room.

Maybe due to memories from a past life, Luo An is increasingly fond of shouting slogans now.

"Clear."

"Safe."

No one was in the several rooms of the apartment, and after confirming it was safe, Luo An walked into the bedroom and retrieved a camera from behind the bookshelf as Craig had mentioned.

The camera had been working continuously, and it felt hot to the touch when Luo An handled it.

"It seems this house is Sabina's temporary residence when she goes out to have fun."

Reesi rummaged through the bedroom and found a box of toys under the bed. She glanced at it and kicked it back, tilting her head and pouting:

"I don't see the point of her and Darren's marriage anymore."

"Didn't Darren say? He was just playing with that man; he loves Sabina."

Luo An took out the memory card from the camera and smiled:

"Maybe Sabina thinks the same; she loves Darren but just indulges herself by going out wildly."

"Perhaps."

After a brief search of the apartment, they found that besides the bedroom, the other rooms had barely been touched and contained almost nothing significant, so Luo An and Reesi drove back to headquarters.

"It's up to you now, Mona."

Upon reaching the office of Team 5, Luo An handed the memory card he found to Mona, instructing her to check the video recordings.

"Simple."

Mona looked relaxed, her slender fingers tapping rapidly on the computer. Minutes later, a video popped up before everyone:

First, there was a few minutes video of Sabina and Craig playfully frolicking on the bed. Mona pressed the fast-forward button to skip this, and a male agent inadvertently sighed, only to be fiercely glared at by Reesi.

Luo An: "..."

Was that necessary?

The video continued as Craig had described, with Sabina receiving a phone call interrupting their interaction.

Sabina left the bedroom to answer the call, asked Craig to leave, and then tidied up her clothes before turning and leaving herself.

The sequence was normal up until Mona sped up the video to four hours later.

Suddenly, a man dressed in a black coat, black pants, also wearing a black mask, and a black hat pushed open the bedroom door and entered.

The man in the black mask rummaged under the bed for some toys, then took several enticing garments from the wardrobe, stuffing them all into a backpack before leaving the room.

He didn't forget to close the bedroom door behind him.

The video ended with the scene of Reesi and Luo An bursting into the room with guns. Mona rewound the video to the moment the masked man entered the bedroom and shrugged:

"It's obvious this man is not a thief."

Not stealing money or bags but only toys and clothes is clearly targeting Sabina.

This person is likely the real perpetrator behind the scenes.

"Can you try to identify this man?"

The black-dressed man was not as tall as Darren, and he appeared much slimmer than the African American Craig, indicating the criminal is neither of them.

Luo An patted Mona's shoulder, then looked up at the clock at the forefront of the office area, saying:

"It's five o'clock in the afternoon now, 11 hours have passed since the victim vanished."

"I'll try my best."

Mona's face looked strained; alas, the suspect was fully equipped, revealing only his eyes, so she could only try checking the surveillance around the apartment.

Mona's fingers tapped away on the computer, and Luo An turned to look at Reesi and said:

"Contact the agent at the villa, have him bring Mr. Darren here, maybe he can recognize the man in the video."

"OK."

Reesi nodded and turned to call the villa agent.

With everyone now decisively engaged in their tasks, Luo An sat back in his chair, rubbing his stomach feeling a bit hungry after running around all afternoon. He scanned around and saw some unopened food packs on Lede's desk.

Lede was currently outside talking to the relatives of the serial killer case victims and was not in the office. Luo An hesitated no further, sat in Lede's chair, opened a pack of food and started eating.

The desk was strewn with documents related to the victims of the serial killer case, and Luo An casually opened a folder to browse through it while eating.