Legendary FBI Detective-Chapter 306: Four Questions, Clues, Suspects

Upon hearing Reesi's words, Luo An immediately asked:

"What's going on?"

Mona and Michelle also looked over with questioning eyes.

"It's a photograph."

Instead of answering, Reesi simply took out a photo of Group Leader Owen's bus before maintenance and laid it in front of everyone.

Luo An and the others looked down and saw that the photo showed the windshield in front of the passenger seat of Group Leader Owen's bus—there was a crack with seven or eight lines and the glass was bulging inward with a hole the size of a baby's fist.

Mona's mouth twisted into a grinning:

"Could a bird have done this?"

Reesi downed the coffee in her cup and replied:

"Maybe this bird had an explosive strapped to it."

Michelle added from beside her:

"The problem now is that Group Leader Owen's bus was shot, yet he not only didn't report it, why did he also spin this lie?"

"Maybe Group Leader Owen knew the person who shot at him, or he knew who fired the bullet."

Luo An casually responded, crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes squinting slightly as he bowed his head in contemplation.

After a moment of thought, Luo An suddenly had an idea and looked up to ask Reesi:

"Right, how did you get your hands on this photo?"

It doesn't seem easy to get logistics to talk about things involving their interests.

"Michelle's credit."

Reesi wrapped an arm around Michelle's shoulder and laughed:

"She taught me some words that the agents over in logistics simply couldn't refuse."

Mona looked at Michelle in surprise, who smiled slightly:

"I used to work in the prosecutor's office, I've dealt with such matters, I know how to communicate with those people.

Plus, Reesi is smart; she learns quickly. I only had to tell her once and she memorized it."

Glancing at Reesi, who stood with her hands on her hips and full of pride, Luo An cleared his throat, walked to the front of the office area, picked up a pen, and began to write on the whiteboard that team four had borrowed and had yet to return, speaking as he wrote:

"Ladies and gentlemen, there are a few questions we haven't clarified.

First, why did Group Leader Owen hide the fact that his bus was shot at?

Second, why was the last phone call he made before he died to ask me for help?

Third, what was the reason for Group Leader Owen's murder? Revenge or something else?"

As he spoke, Luo An's eyes lit up suddenly, he thought of something, and while writing, he asked:

"And fourth, why did Group Leader Owen go to that pier in southwest Los Angeles last night, what was he doing there?"

Upon hearing Luo An's fourth question, Mona raised her hand and replied:

"I've checked the surveillance cameras in that area around the pier, and didn't find any unusual situations or vehicles."

Michelle and Reesi frowned in silence upon hearing this, while Luo An tossed the whiteboard pen aside and, after thinking for a bit, asked:

"Did you check Group Leader Owen's call records?"

"Call records?"

Mona was startled, shaken her head, and then quickly shifted her chair to return to her computer:

"I'll look it up right now."

"OK."

Luo An continued to address Reesi and Michelle:

"Reesi, Michelle, I need you both to go to the office of team leader for investigation team two and bring all of Group Leader Owen's office and personal items here."

"No problem."

The two nodded, stood up, and left the Special Investigation Team.

The office of the leader of the second investigation team, Group Leader Owen, did not contain many personal items; aside from some case reports and dossiers, there were not many other things.

Luo An, Reesi, and Michelle sat together, slowly perusing Group Leader Owen's belongings, and soon it was noon.

After lunch, Mona became busy in front of her own computer, then suddenly raised her hand:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I've found a clue."

The three people immediately moved their chairs closer to Mona:

"What clue?"

"Some phone call records with different phone numbers, but made from the same location."

Mona tapped on the keyboard for a moment, and a string of phone numbers along with a map appeared on the computer screen. Pointing to these, she explained:

"Starting six months ago, Group Leader Owen had multiple conversations with different disposable phones.

The time of these contacts was not fixed, but the frequency was—with two occurrences every month.

I assert that behind these various disposable phones, there's the same person because, though the numbers differed, the location from which the calls were made remained the same, never changing."

Whether it's regular phones or disposable phones, their operating principle is to transmit signals to a base station, which sends out the signals to connect with others afar.

The person contacting Group Leader Owen, despite changing disposable phones numerous times, always used the same base station to send their signals, indicating that they never changed their location when making the calls.

"But this doesn't necessarily confirm that the caller is the same person, right?"

Reesi voiced her doubts:

"Couldn't there just be a store selling disposable phones in that area and those people bought phones and directly called Group Leader Owen from there..."

Her voice trailed off as she spoke.

Because she realized that the plausibility of what she was suggesting was even lower than what Mona had proposed.

"You make a very logical analysis, try not to analyze anymore."

Luo An patted Reesi on the shoulder and looked at Mona, then asked:

"Any other findings?"

Mona chuckled proudly:

"Of course!

And I can already answer the fourth question you wrote on the whiteboard."

Mona enlarged the map on the computer screen and explained:

"I cross-referenced the individuals associated with Group Leader Owen in that area of the signal base station and successfully identified a middle-aged white man named Pearson.

This Pearson is also an FBI agent, working in the Criminal Justice Department in Los Angeles, and he graduated from the same police academy as Group Leader Owen—they were classmates.

Last night, before Group Leader Owen called you, Luo An, he had also called Pearson.

Not only that, when Group Leader Owen drove to the pier, Pearson also left his house by car.

Pearson's driving route was circuitous, deliberately avoiding many surveillance cameras, but his final destination was the Southwest Pier in Los Angeles."

"Criminal Justice Department... he's in the same department as Augustus."

After hearing the clue found by Mona, Reesi smacked her tongue and analyzed:

"Could it be that Group Leader Owen accidentally mishandled a wrongful conviction, and after the victim was released from prison, they sought revenge on him?"

Luo An stood up and stretched, patting Reesi on the shoulder:

"Reesi, I think you should go to Hollywood to be a scriptwriter."

"Earning money working on cases under you beats being a scriptwriter any day."

Reesi chuckled, having gotten a rough idea of the structure of Hollywood lately. A script editor's status there was not high at all; with a movie grossing tens of millions, those who could get half a million were considered the best scriptwriters.

Most editors only made a few hundred US dollars a month, and even surviving was a problem.

Standing up from the chair, Reesi asked:

"Shall we go find this Mr. Pearson next?"

"Of course!"

Luo An gestured for Michelle to stay in the office area and continue searching through Group Leader Owen's office supplies, then proceeded to the equipment room with Reesi:

"Let's go pay a visit to Mr. Pearson and inquire what exactly he's chatting about with Group Leader Owen during their monthly phone tete-a-tetes?"