Chapter 29: New Clues
The press conference took place in a conference room on the first floor of the Jacob Federation Building.
The brightly lit room was filled with a host of reporters holding notepads and cameras, their gazes intensely fixed on Vireness standing at the front of the conference room.
Today, Vireness was dressed in a business suit, wearing long trousers that accentuated her high waist, and a white shirt that made her waist look extremely slender.
Moreover, Vireness had applied a bit of light makeup. Although she wore no expression on her face, the special aura unique to mature women was palpable.
Several male reporters in the audience brightened up, their hands shooting up faster than their female colleagues nearby.
Female reporters: "..."
---
"OK, agents."
In the office area of Team 5, Augustus called out several times, drawing the agents' attention away from Vireness speaking on TV, and loudly said:
"Everyone, please work hard tonight. We need to find and capture this assassin as quickly as possible! Of course, I will pay overtime."
With that, Augustus directed the agents to their tasks—those assigned to review video did so, those assigned to research did so, and finally, his gaze turned to Luo An and Mona who were discussing something.
"Luo An, any ideas?"
Augustus asked.
Luo An moved his gaze away from Mona's laptop and raised his hand pointing to the conference room, saying:
"I suspect that the assassin used Sabina's hidden credit card, so Mr. Darren is currently calling to inquire about this card's details."
Augustus pondered for a moment, about to speak, when suddenly his phone rang.
"Hello, this is Augustus."
After hanging up the phone, Augustus's dark face grew even darker, and he said to Luo An and the others:
"That was a call from the fingerprint database, the fingerprint found in the bathroom at the crime scene failed to match, they couldn't find the owner of the fingerprint in the database."
Mona's face immediately fell, and Reesi didn't look too happy either.
This situation was quite normal, as only individuals who have committed crimes are required to have their fingerprints recorded; it's impossible to find the fingerprints of ordinary people in the database.
Augustus and Mona were aware of this fact, but before the final results were out, everyone still harbored some hope.
"Don't worry."
Luo An picked up the crime scene's forensic report to examine it, reassuring everyone:
"We still have the clue of the credit card."
"That's right!"
Mona's eyes lit up:
"As long as the card was used, I can definitely retrieve the user's information!"
Hearing Luo An and Mona, both Reesi and Augustus's spirits lifted from the gloom of the fingerprint mismatch.
Minutes later, Darren pushed open the large door of the conference room and walked out, meeting everyone's expectations, he directly said:
"I got some information about a credit card from Sabina's secretary."
"That's great!"
Mona cheered, her fingers flying, immediately beginning to investigate the credit card usage history based on the information Darren provided.
"Agent Luo An."
As Mona typed, everyone had to wait. Darren then shifted his attention to Luo An, who was analyzing data, looking incredibly worried as he asked:
"How is Sabina doing now, is she in any danger?"
How would I know?
Luo An felt somewhat helpless, he wasn't the assassin after all, he could only offer Darren some words of comfort, just when, an excited voice from Mona came through:
"Everyone! Just sixteen hours ago, this credit card was used!"
"What?"
"Where?"
Everyone present quickly turned their attention to Mona's computer, only to hear Mona tapping on the keyboard while saying:
"Sixteen hours ago, this credit card was used at a gas station in Area 19 on National Road 3 to refuel the car!"
"Sixteen hours, exactly when Sabina disappeared."
Agent Luo An and Augustus simultaneously turned their heads towards Darren, who hurriedly said:
"Sabina and I have never been in that direction! Moreover, we as a couple never refuel the car ourselves; that's always handled by the secretary!"
Agent Luo An: "..."
Augustus quickly turned his head and said to Mona:
"Immediately pull up the surveillance footage from that gas station!"
"I'm on it!"
Mona's typing had never stopped, and a few seconds later, she cursed with a word starting with 'f', and turned to Augustus saying:
"The surveillance at the gas station has been broken for a month, it's impossible to see what happened at that time."
"What about the surveillance on National Road?"
Reesi, who was next to her, moved closer to the computer and asked:
"There are surveillance cameras at the entrances and exits of the national road."
"I've already checked that."
Mona slumped in her chair, pointing at the computer screen speechlessly and said:
"This month, Area 19 on National Road 3 has been undergoing major repairs, and the cameras have been removed."
"Fu-k!"
Hearing this news, both Augustus and Reesi cursed simultaneously, and Augustus turned and pointed at an agent beside him saying:
"You, go to the gas station now and ask the owner about the specifics of this morning."
"Yes, Boss."
The agent responded and immediately turned to leave.
As this agent was leaving the office area, Reesi, who had been outside investigating clues, finally came back and approached Augustus saying:
"Boss, the family of the victims of the new serial killings have arrived, when are we going to record their statements?"
Apart from identifying the bodies, it's crucial to ask the victims' families some questions, perhaps they could provide useful clues to catch the killer.
"Now."
Time was of the essence, Augustus stood up, intending to take Agent Luo An with him, only to find Luo An sitting in his chair, staring intently at a document, furrowing his brow in thought.
"I'll go, Boss."
Seeing Luo An's state, Reesi quickly stood up, indicating she could go take the statements, but Augustus stopped her gesture with a hand, asked Reesi to contact the victims' families first, and decided to stay and wait for Luo An.
After all, the families of the victims were there to identify the bodies first; they could afford to wait a bit longer.
Reesi had just returned to the office for less than a minute when she was rushed out again.
Luo An hadn't noticed the movements of Augustus and the others, ever since determining that the killer had used Sabina's credit card, Luo An had been pondering one question:
What was the killer's behavioral pattern?
Analyzing a person's behavior pattern was a special project taught by a previous generation Assassin during Luo An's training, which extended from the behavioral analysis taught in the police academy.
Unlike the police academy, where behavioral analysis mainly involved analyzing the killer's movements to deduce their psychology, thereby pinpointing the killer's rough physical profile such as height, weight, personality, hobbies, etc., eventually narrowing down and apprehending the killer by these clues.
However, the Assassin taught Luo An to analyze another's behavioral patterns mainly to discern the target person's habitual actions, inertial thinking, small movements, subconscious behaviors, in order to find the target's most relaxed moments or the best spots to strike fatally.
Many principles in the world are interconnected; using behavioral analysis to find the opportune moment to strike at a target can also be leveraged to understand a killer's behavioral inertia.
A person's behavioral inertia usually belongs to subconscious behaviors, and it is usually difficult to change these subconscious behaviors.