Legendary FBI Detective

Seeing Luo An standing not far away behind the pile of garbage, looking pale, Mona hurried over while loudly asking:

"Luo An, what happened?"

"Wait a moment! Mona!"

Hearing Mona's voice, Luo An quickly turned around, waving his hands and loudly gesturing for her not to come over.

But Mona had already quickly walked to the side of the garbage pile and also saw the scene behind it.

A gust of wind blew by, and Mona's complexion instantly turned pale.

In a heap of rotting, stinking garbage, there were two corpses, a man and a woman!

The striped suit on the male corpse had been split in half like a watermelon, while the female corpse had a large hole in her abdomen...

The ground was a mess of yellow, white, and red, a scene too horrifying to endure.

Such a scene was something that even the federal bureau would need to mosaic out.

"Fu-k!"

The combination of yellow, white, and red was too impactful; Mona quickly turned and left the area, cursing softly as she tried to suppress the discomfort rising in her heart.

Luo An walked over to Mona's side and patted her back, saying helplessly:

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Taking a deep breath, Mona got up and shook her head, showing Luo An an ugly smile.

Back in FBI academy classes, Mona had seen this type of corpse in photos, even observing some up close.

But photos were just photos, and the bodies she observed had been processed in advance, nothing like this bloody.

Witnessing such a scene suddenly, Mona truly experienced it for the first time.

Moreover, considering her time, Mona was still a newbie, lacking the work experience of Reesi.

Feeling Luo An's hand lightly patting her back, Mona suddenly thought of something and quickly asked:

"Luo An, did you look so pale just now because of the sight of the corpses?"

Mona previously heard from Reesi that Luo An discussed fast food with the old forensic doctor in NYPD's morgue.

The scene behind the garbage pile was indeed terrifying, but it didn't seem to be enough to alarm Luo An.

"Sort of but not exactly."

Seeing that Mona had regained a lot of her composure, Luo An answered with a slower tone:

"I was just analyzing something based on the state of the bodies."

Mona was quite far from the corpses earlier and didn't see much clearly; but Luo An, standing next to the bodies, had seen a lot.

Both corpses had their feet tightly shackled together, indicating they were unable to leave each other before death.

All the fingernails on the left hands of both corpses had been pulled out, indicating they had been tortured by the killer before death.

And the killer did this probably intending to extract some information from them.

Not only that, there was a small knife beside the male corpse, his right hand also had a small key, and there was an axe directly in front.

Combining the large hole in the woman's abdomen and the shackles on their feet... Luo An speculated that the killer likely had watched the Saw series by a certain director named Wen, released in '04 and '05.

"Son of a bitch!"

Hearing Luo An's conjecture, Mona's expression turned even uglier, and she questioned:

"You're guessing the female victim was killed by the male victim, but then the male victim...?"

"Clearly, the killer deceived him."

Luo An took out his phone and called the trace examination division, telling them to rush over and bring more bags as they wouldn't have enough to fit everything.

Then he explained to Mona:

"If I'm not mistaken, the killer probably told the man that he would be released as long as he got the key from the woman.

But once the man really had the key, the killer directly picked up the axe..."

Mona gasped sharply, then swore loudly:

"****!"

Luo An nodded; clearly, this time's killer had some psychological problems.

"Right,"

Returning to the SUV, Mona took a bottle of water, drank a couple of sips, then handed it to Luo An:

"Is the identity of the female victim confirmed to be Triss?"

Mona didn't get a clear look at the two corpses earlier.

"Yeah, it's her."

After taking the water from Mona and gulping it down, Luo An nodded:

"But regarding the male victim's identity, I'm afraid we will only find out after the Trace Examination Department completes the autopsy."

The watermelon had already been split into two halves; Luo An is not a forensic doctor and simply couldn't determine the original appearance of the face with the naked eye.

Ding Ling Ling—

Just then, Luo An's cell phone rang in his pocket.

He pressed the answer button.

"I'm Luo An."

"It's me, Reesi."

Reesi on the phone immediately said:

"Per your request, I'm now at Triss's architect boyfriend's company.

According to his colleagues, Loel Post hasn't come to work today, isn't answering his phone, and no one knows where he went; they suggest that we check his home."

Hearing this, Luo An's eyelids twitched, and he asked:

"...Ask those colleagues, the clothes Loel Post wore yesterday, were they a gray striped suit?"

A few seconds of silence on the phone, then Reesi's affirmative response came through:

"That's right, it's that one."

Mona, hearing this, closed her eyes and slapped her head, while Luo An sighed:

"OK, you and Reed can head back to Investigation Team Five."

---

A few hours later, at Investigation Team Five.

Reed pushed open the door at the front of the office area, distributed the materials in his hand to the agents, and said:

"This is the autopsy report from the Trace Examination Department.

According to the forensic doctor, the cause of death for both victims is as Luo An described; Triss Perez died from excessive abdominal bleeding, while Loel Post died from that axe next to him."

Hearing Reed's words, all the agents cursed the murderer in unison.

Sitting in a new chair, Luo An spun around with the materials in his hand and then asked:

"Reed, did the Trace Examination Department find any clues at the scene? Any fingerprints of the murderer on that axe?"

"They found two footprints left by the murderer at the scene."

Reed indicated that the Trace Examination Department didn't find any DNA or fingerprints of the murderer, only traces of neoprene rubber on Triss's and Loel's clothes.

"Neoprene rubber?"

Mona and Reesi tilted their heads in confusion.

Reed spread his hands; he also didn't know what that was.

"It's rubber gloves."

Luo An, with an exasperated face, threw the materials onto the desk.

The Trace Examination Department bunch always did that, throwing out a bunch of technical terms.

Mona and Reed, hearing this, suddenly understood, while Reesi beside them frowned deeply:

"That means we essentially can't find this murderer now?"

The footprints discovered by the Trace Examination Department could be used as evidence in court later.

But with no fingerprints, no DNA, no surveillance footage or witnesses, finding the murderer just based on footprints in a city as populous as New York was virtually impossible.

Hearing this, the agents of Investigation Team Five looked at one another and all fell silent.

"No, we still have one clue that hasn't been checked!"

Just as everyone was scratching their heads without a clue, Luo An clapped his hands to draw attention and said:

"Everyone, don't forget, that Mercedes was stolen by the murderer from the garage!"

"Right!"

"Exactly!"

The trio of Mona all nodded in agreement, realizing:

"We might find a clue in that auto repair shop!"

"Yeah."

Luo An stood up, indicating that he and Reesi would go to check the garage for clues next, then said gravely to Mona:

"Mona, stay at Investigation Team Five, and together with William and the others, thoroughly investigate Triss's and Loel's records.

I have a feeling there is a big problem behind this case."

What information did the murderer intend to get using the cruel method of fingernail extraction to interrogate them?

Upon hearing this, Mona immediately nodded in agreement:

"Leave it to us!"