Legendary FBI Detective

Augustus's words caused the brows of all the agents in Unit 5 to furrow, and Luo An directly asked:

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

Augustus shook his head, the NYPD had only mentioned the crime scene and the horrific condition of the mutilated genitalia of the deceased, they had not investigated the specific condition of the body.

"OK."

Without any further comment, Luo An immediately turned and said:

"Leyd, Mona, you two go and bring back Magdalena right now.

I'll go with Reesi to this new crime scene."

"No problem!"

Mona and Leyd got up and quickly walked into the equipment room, followed closely by Reesi, while Luo An took out his phone and called the Forensic Evidence Department.

Forty minutes later, a villa area in the Upper West Side of New York.

"The victim is Carl Zoff, a senior lawyer from a law firm."

The NYPD officers waiting on the scene exchanged a few pleasantries with Luo An and his partner and then led them to the victim's death area:

"According to the law firm, Carl Zoff took a few days off due to illness four days ago, but he didn't show up to work this morning and couldn't be reached by phone, so his boss asked us to check on him."

Going up to the second floor of the villa, the death scene of Carl Zoff was in the study, the cause of death also being a large number of stab wounds to the chest, with the genital area equally too ghastly to bear.

Reesi glanced at it and turned her head to start looking for other clues, while Luo An began to carefully examine the area around the body, at the same time asking:

"Does this house have a security system?"

The NYPD didn't answer, but a forensic evidence agent nodded, picked up the laptop in their arms, and said:

"There is one, and the surveillance camera at the back of the house captured the silhouette of the killer."

Luo An stood up to look at the laptop held by the other party, on the screen was a man with a similar build, also dressed in black clothing and wearing a black hoodie, even the method of picking locks was the same.

But the surveillance camera also failed to clearly capture the face of the killer.

"The four victims' times of death are respectively 15 days ago, 10 days ago, 4 days ago, and yesterday; this killer is really..."

After the video ended, Luo An clicked his tongue, not knowing how to describe this serial killer.

Turning back to continue examining the study, Luo An found half a bloody footprint next to a piece of carpet, called the forensic evidence agents to have it properly collected, and was just about to stand up and leave when he suddenly noticed something odd about the posture of the corpse.

According to the forensic evidence analysis as well as the earlier description from the NYPD, the victim Carl Zoff's time of death should be around 3-4 days ago.

Within 2 to 3 days, a body begins to rot from the abdomen, decomposing and leaving gases behind, thus the body starts to bloat; from 3 to 4 days, the decay spreads from the abdomen, with veins becoming faded.

At this point, Carl Zoff's body indeed began to bloat, but the extent seemed to exceed what was normal.

Luo An scratched his head, just about to speak to the forensic evidence agents in the study, when Reesi's voice suddenly came from a bedroom not far away:

"Luo An! Come here for a second!"

"OK."

Entering the bedroom, a forensic evidence agent was examining Carl Zoff's laptop, while Reesi stared with a bizarre expression at a large black box.

Upon Luo An's arrival, Reesi showed the contents of the large black box to Luo An, and looking down, Luo An saw the box filled with all sorts of toys.

"..."

The corner of Luo An's mouth twitched, and he turned to look at Reesi:

"Is it because of your lesbian trait? Why do you always find these things?"

Last time when I went to steal the bomb from Kaden Smith's sister's house, Reesi also found a bunch of eye-watering items under the bed in Kaden Smith's basement.

"Hmph!"

With a displeased glance at Luo An, Reesi took out a small box from the big black box and said:

"This is the latest model that just came out this year, the kind that can be remotely controlled.

I thought I could find the remote control here with Carl Zoff, but I didn't find it."

Luo An's mouth twitched, as if he thought of something, Reesi didn't see the expression on his face, and pointed to a forensic agent nearby, saying:

"We just found some chat records and screenshot photos in Carl Zoff's laptop, and then..."

"Okay, okay, no need to say more."

Luo An waved his hand with a complex expression, seeming to understand why the body had swollen to such an extent:

"So, Reesi, are you saying Carl Zoff was a bisexual playboy?"

"It's possible, but it's also hard to say."

Reesi nodded then shook her head:

"I don't understand the thoughts of these rich people; maybe he just wanted to try something new."

"Alright."

Luo An nodded, he didn't understand these people's thoughts either, so he turned to instruct the two forensic agents in the study to be careful when moving the body later on, and then took out his phone to call Mona:

"How's it going, have you caught Magdalena yet?"

"Uh, things have gotten a bit complicated."

Mona on the other end of the phone looked bewildered:

"We've successfully brought Magdalena into the interrogation room, but before I and Layde could start the questioning, Special Agent Supervisor Vireness rushed to our Unit 5.

Vireness said that just now, an NYPD bureau chief, a leader from the Homeland Security Department, a leader from the Ministry of Science and Technology, a DEA leader, the deputy mayor of New York City, a New York City Council member, and our FBI New York Branch's deputy director, all gave her a call, inquiring about the details of this case.

So now, Vireness won't let me and Layde interrogate Magdalena, insisting on waiting for you to come back."

Luo An: "..."

After hearing Mona's description, Luo An's face twitched, feeling a headache coming on.

He was reminded of a news story from his past life.

In 2008, a federal grand jury indicted a middle-aged white woman named Palfray, nicknamed "Mrs. Washington," for operating a prostitution ring.

According to the news at the time, Palfray's "Pamela Martin Escort" company, which she operated in Washington, was accused of providing sexual services.

Palfray herself not only obtained illegal income amounting to over 2 million US dollars, but her clientele included Washington's political elite, including the Assistant Secretary of State, Congressman, Aerospace Bureau officials, Navy officials, World Bank staffers, International Monetary Fund managers, lawyers, and more.

In an attempt to force these "important figures" to provide favorable testimony for herself, Palfray had provided a batch of important client phone records to the media, stating that she would definitely not go to federal prison.

Palfray had also stated: "I definitely won't go to federal prison, whether it's for 4 years or 8 years, if necessary, I will take all those clients down with me!"

Having offended so many people, Palfray's fate was predictable; unsurprisingly, "out of shame and unable to face the situation, Mrs. Palfray chose to commit suicide in prison just 10 days before her court trial."

Whether Palfray actually committed suicide or not, Luo An didn't want to know; right now, he just wanted to find out one thing:

What exactly was going on with this Magdalena?

Now it was 2005; could it be that this New York Magdalena was a predecessor of Washington's Palfray?

If during the interrogation of Magdalena, he dug up something unrelated to this case, then...

In the SUV on the way back to the Jacob Federation Building, Luo An immediately took out his phone and called Vireness.

It was time to ask for the thoughts and opinions of the higher-ups.