Chapter 28: Credit Card!

"What? Vireness demands the killer to be caught within 24 hours?"

At the office area of the Investigation Team Five, upon hearing Luo An's words, the eyes of the two beauties, Reesi and Mona, widened in disbelief, covering their mouths:

"And we will be suspended if we fail?"

"Not suspended, dismissed."

Luo An gestured for Reesi to hand over the investigation reports from the two crime scenes. Yawning indifferently, he said:

"Don't worry, Mona, only I would be dismissed. The rest of you might at most be suspended or lose several months' salaries."

"Lose our salaries?"

On hearing these words, Mona bounced up on the spot, startling everyone present. Without waiting for Luo An or Reesi to speak, Mona grabbed Luo An's shoulders frantically and asked:

"What about the bonus we got for catching the shooter?"

Luo An blinked, teasing:

"They probably won't pay that either."

At these words, Mona instantly shut her eyes and fell back, collapsing onto the chair.

Everyone: "..."

Luo An almost laughed aloud, reaching out to wake Mona, but the next second she opened her eyes herself, furiously spinning her chair around and her fingers began to fly across the keyboard:

"Serial killer, ****"

A slew of curses spilled from Mona's mouth. Luo An, sitting to the side, was a bit taken aback. Seeing this, Reesi reluctantly pulled out a sheet of paper from her desk and handed it to Luo An, saying:

"Mona took a loan to buy a small apartment; she just signed the contract this morning."

Seeing the information about the apartment, Luo An was somewhat speechless.

This morning he saw Mona tapping away at the keyboard, thinking she was hacking into some program, but she was actually looking up information on the apartment.

Shaking his head, he tossed the paper aside, then Luo An and Reesi started to carefully examine the crime scene inspection reports of the two victims.

Forensics agent Nell indicated in the report that, based on the rough estimate of the degree of freezing of the body parts, the victim Luo An found was Victim #2, who was roughly estimated to have died within two to three days.

The victim found by Reesi, named as Victim #1, should have been dead for over a month.

At both crime scenes, the killer dismembered the body in the kitchen and tried to wash away the traces with water, then shattered the victim's household perfume on the kitchen floor to mask the smell of blood.

In addition, Nell's colleague also found a number of toys, clothes, and ropes for binding in both victims' bedrooms.

It is preliminarily judged that before their deaths, the victims may have been tortured by the killer using those items.

Also, Nell's colleague discovered half a fingerprint in the bathroom of Victim #2's house, which is currently being searched in the fingerprint database...

After reading the report, Luo An casually tossed it aside and started to rest and think with his eyes closed.

"I checked the surveillance near both victims' homes."

The clicking sound of computer keyboards filled the air, and Mona spoke with an unhappy tone:

"Nothing was found, none of them are network-connected. We should send an agent to do a field survey to see if there's any surveillance, and then retrieve the footage."

Reesi nodded, but as she was about to take out her phone, Luo An waved his hand to stop her, then opened his eyes and looked at Mona:

"Mona, immediately check the credit card records of both victims."

"OK."

Mona turned around and continued typing on the keyboard, while Reesi seemed to have thought of something and tilted her head to ask:

"Do you think the killer might have made purchases with the victims' credit cards?"

Luo An nodded and said:

"I wouldn't rule out that possibility. You also saw in the crime scene inspection report, there were a lot of toys in the bedrooms of both victims. Those items were most likely not bought by the victims themselves."

"Why not?"

Reesi was still somewhat perplexed:

"In Sabina's apartment, weren't there a lot of toys under the bed? The killer went there to get them."

"That's because Sabina is rich, Reesi."

Luo An took over the investigation report and explained, pointing to its content:

"The two victims had average financial status, yet those toys were all from well-known brands and quite expensive."

"This..."

Reesi was at a loss for words; she wanted to say it's normal for a woman to treat herself well, but considering some of the toys in the photos were nearly quadruple-digit prices, she opened her mouth but couldn't bring herself to say it.

"I've found it!"

The tapping on the keyboard abruptly stopped, and Mona, pointing excitedly at the data on the computer, said:

"The credit card shows that during the time the victim was reported confined in the investigation report, someone had used it to purchase many toys."

Reesi leaned closer to the computer and indeed saw the credit card records of the toy purchases, admiring how quick Luo An was to make connections. Turning her head, she noticed Luo An heading towards the conference room.

Inside the conference room, Augustus was calming the emotionally agitated Mr. Darren.

Pushing open the door, Luo An didn't waste words and directly addressed the red-faced Darren:

"Mr. Darren, I've found a lead regarding your wife and I hope you can cooperate."

"OK!"

Compared to Augustus's intimidating dark face, Luo An's ordinary handsome face was a more comforting sight. Hearing Luo An's words, Darren didn't hesitate a bit and immediately stepped out of the room asking:

"What do you need me to do? Sabina has been missing for 13 hours! I can't wait any longer!"

Luo An gave a brief reassurance, showing understanding, and then asked for the bank where Sabina's credit card was issued, thus obtaining the credit card transaction records.

Nothing.

"The most recent transaction was three days ago."

Mona pointed at the information on the computer:

"It shows Sabina bought a dress, and after that, there were no more transactions."

Seeing the five-digit price tag on the dress, Mona grimaced.

Having learnt the full story from Reesi, the sight of Augustus's and Darren's faces darkened at Mona's words.

Turning to look at Luo An, they found an 'I knew it' expression on his face; this immediately reassured them both.

Augustus's relief needed no explanation; he knew what Luo An was capable of.

But the reason for Darren's comfort was somewhat complex.

From the beginning of being questioned by Luo An, to being arrested and locked in the interrogation room, to learning about his wife Sabina's scandalous private life from Luo An, and finally having to beg Luo An to search for his wife... Perhaps this is what it's like to be a CPU.

Seeing everyone's gaze turning towards him, Luo An's mouth twitched and he pulled Darren back into the conference room, whispering:

"Mr. Darren, I now suspect your wife has a credit card that you don't know about. I hope you can immediately call the bank you suspect and ask for information regarding that card."

Darren: "..."

How many times? How much had his wife Sabina hidden from him?

After a moment's consideration, realizing he also had concealed some matters himself, Darren took a deep breath to suppress the restlessness within and said somewhat gruffly:

"Give me a few minutes, thank you."

"OK."

Luo An nodded, turned, and left the conference room, only to find Augustus and the others all looking up at the TV at the forefront of the room.

The news conference hosted by the team supervisor Vireness had officially begun.