Chapter 23: New Developments

In the office area, Reesi was contacting the New York Police Department. Mona sat to the side, drinking coffee and resting, while Luo An repeatedly reviewed the surveillance footage on the computer.

Brooke was still miserably searching for clues in Lower Brooklyn.

"Did you find any clues?"

Having finished her coffee, Mona perked up and returned to her seat. After looking around for a while, she asked doubtfully:

"By the way, where's my laptop?"

It had just been smashed by Darren.

Raising an eyebrow without answering Mona's question, Luo An pointed at the surveillance footage on the computer and asked:

"Mona, I just noticed that within ten minutes before and after the mysterious figure disappeared, only three cars passed through this block. Can you find the identity information of those three car owners?"

Hearing Luo An's words, Mona's attention shifted. She looked down at the blurry license plate numbers on her computer and her expression became troubled:

"I'll try."

"Thank you for your effort."

Luo An quickly got up and gave his seat to Mona. At this time, Reesi finished her call and came over:

"I've contacted the patrol officers. They will get back to me in half an hour."

Seeing Mona's fingers dancing on the keyboard again, Reesi asked:

"Got any clues?"

"No, just some vague ideas."

Luo An plopped back down in his chair, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes to gather his thoughts:

"The street on both sides of Sabina's apartment is lined with apartments, with no alleys. If the mysterious figure wanted to leave that street, they couldn't have done so without passing by the bakeries on both sides."

"That's right."

Reesi nodded in agreement with Luo An's view. Luo An continued:

"So, the mysterious figure either didn't leave the street and is hiding in one of the apartments there or they left the street by changing their appearance in a way we don't yet know. So, driving away is certainly a good method."

"I've found it, Luo An."

The rapid typing on the keyboard halted, and Mona exclaimed happily:

"The quality of the bakery's cameras is decent. I was barely able to make out the license plate numbers of those three cars. I've already found the car owners' information."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Reesi quickly leaned toward the computer, while Luo An instead asked:

"Are the car owners male or female?"

"Two males and one female."

Reesi, looking at the information popping up on the computer, read aloud:

"One of the males is a lawyer who lives on that street. The other male is a supermarket manager, and the remaining female is a journalist for a newspaper."

A lawyer, a manager, a journalist... Luo An asked:

"Can you tell if the people driving the cars are the car owners themselves from the video?"

Looking at the greatly enlarged but still blurry images on the computer, Reesi grimaced:

"It's impossible to tell. It seems these two bakeries' cameras are quite old, only recently connected to the network."

Seeing Luo An lower his head in contemplation, Reesi thought for a moment and suggested:

"Should I contact the New York Police again and ask them to send some officers to check these three people's residences and briefly interrogate them?"

"No."

Luo An shook his head. The New York Police Department isn't theirs to command, and they can't boss them around all the time.

Minor inefficiencies aside, it would be more troublesome if it startled the mysterious figure.

Who knows if, in desperation, the mysterious figure might choose to directly kill Sabina.

"Wait a second."

Just as Luo An was contemplating which of the three to prioritize, Mona's slightly fearful shout came through:

"Come and see, I just checked the agency where that female journalist worked, they announced last week that because she had been missing for a week without cause, she has been fired!"

"Fu-k!"

Reesi quickly turned to look at the missing person's notice on the computer, exclaiming:

"An announcement made last week, journalist missing without cause for a week... Has this female journalist been missing for three weeks? Then who was driving that car yesterday?"

Seeing the notice on the computer, Luo An immediately stood up and asked:

"Where does the journalist live?"

"Right in Queens!"

...

At 7 PM, in Queens, a certain apartment building.

Luo An took Reesi, along with a few patrol officers that Reesi's acquaintance at the New York Police Department had sent, and they all got into the elevator.

Watching Reesi casually agreeing to go shopping with a female patrol officer after the job was done, Luo An had a wooden expression.

If he wasn't mistaken, Reesi's so-called acquaintance from the police department was definitely a woman.

The morals of people nowadays are deteriorating!

In his heart, Luo An fiercely criticized Reesi's behavior of leaving a trace of himself everywhere. But on second thought, Luo An realized he could probably do the same; he was not much worse than Reesi...

Ding—

The elevator doors slowly opened. Luo An immediately threw all the messy thoughts in his mind aside, pulled out a Glock 18 in his hand, and under the astonished eyes of Reesi and the patrol officers, he pulled out a stun grenade.

"..."

Luo An shrugged his shoulders, indicating his lack of a sense of security, and led the team out of the elevator.

But just as they stepped out of the elevator, the sound of relentless knocking and a man's loud shouting reached everyone's ears. Luo An and Reesi exchanged glances and quickly slowed their steps:

"Seren? Seren, are you there?"

At the front door of the female journalist's apartment, a middle-aged Caucasian man in a brown leather jacket was frantically knocking:

"Seren, I heard you were fired..."

"Don't move!"

Seeing that the man knocking was at their target room, Luo An and Reesi promptly pointed their guns and took control of him:

"Put your hands up, don't make any unnecessary movements!"

"Hey! Hey! Don't misunderstand! I'm not a thief!"

Seeing Luo An and his group fully armed, Joseph Smith was shocked, hurriedly raised both his hands obediently, and loudly cried out:

"My name is Joseph, I'm a journalist. My ID is in the right pocket of my jacket! Please, don't shoot!"

Luo An stepped forward to take the ID from Joseph's pocket, briefly looked through it, handed it to the patrol officers behind him to check its authenticity, and simultaneously frisked him while asking:

"What are you doing looking for journalist Seren?"

"I used to be her partner."

Finding no dangerous items on Joseph, Luo An gestured for Reesi and others to lower their guns. Seeing this, Joseph also sighed in relief, explaining:

"I heard a few days ago that Seren was fired by the newspaper, so I wanted to come and ask her if she wanted to rejoin my team."

Ignoring Joseph's explanation, Luo An handed him over to the patrol officers to prevent him from leaving and sent Joseph's information to Mona to have her briefly check on this person.

Subsequently, Luo An and Reesi stood on either side of the door, counted to three, and then kicked the door open:

"FBI! Open up!"

The two quickly checked each room to ensure that no one was inside.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

In the moderately sized apartment room devoid of any occupants, Luo An and Reesi exchanged a glance, both lowering their guns; Reesi sighed:

"It looks like we were a step too late."