"Guys, I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Harry approached with a cheeky grin.
Lawrence tossed him a cigarette. "The bad news. I don't want to be happy and then upset."
"Makes sense." Harry nodded. "Just an hour ago, the third victim of a home invasion rape case surfaced. The deputy captain and others have gone to investigate the scene."
"What?"
Dean and Lawrence showed shock on their faces when they heard the news.
The first home invasion rape and murder occurred over half a month ago; the second, the day before yesterday. Everyone thought that the killer, like before, would give them some breathing space.
The current outcome was clearly beyond their expectations.
"Now we're in trouble. This spree will terrify the community, and we'll face a lot of pressure." Lawrence took a deep puff of his cigarette, his face showing worry.
Dean then looked at Harry. "Harry, let's hear the good news."
"The good news is that I've got the supermarket security guards' information." Harry leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag. "If you suspect them as the killers, you're probably overthinking it. I got a message from Phoebe. The time of the third incident has been confirmed to be around 10:00 p.m. last night. Those guards live in dormitories provided by the security company. They simply wouldn't have had time to commit the crime."
"FK, Harry, that's just two pieces of bad news!" Lawrence cursed under his breath, then looked at Dean. "Let's go. As a qualified detective, you also need to learn how to examine a crime scene."
Dean nodded and followed Lawrence.
Harry was not pleased.
He blocked the office door, his expression pitiful. "Guys, you're too late now. The deputy captain and the forensics team might already be back. And really, do you have the heart to leave me here alone?"
"Beat it, Harry. Your face makes me want to puke."
Lawrence made a gagging gesture, pushing Harry away and quickly dragging Dean out the door.
"Dean..." Harry, still not giving up, looked at Dean pitifully.
He certainly didn't want to be cooped up in the office.
What greeted him was only Dean's middle finger...
...
Leaving the detective bureau.
Lawrence ended the call with Deputy Captain Old Hunter and turned to Dean in the passenger seat. "The crime scene is in the Ian Community, just like before, also an old neighborhood."
"Ian Community?"
Dean bent down, pulling out a map of the Los Angeles area from beneath him.
For a moment, his brow furrowed.
The three crime scenes formed a triangle on the map.
In the Los Angeles area, there was no shortage of cameras in public spaces.
Considering the time of departure and need for stealth, it was highly likely that the killer's residence was within this triangular area.
However, this area wasn't close to Ross's Gym; instead, it fell within the range of Sam's Supermarket. Could it be the killer was actually picking his victims at Sam's Supermarket?
"Found anything?"
Lawrence maneuvered the car, weaving gracefully through the traffic.
Dean stowed the map. "The three crime scenes are not far from each other. I suspect the killer lives in one of the residential communities in this area."
"Is the area large?"
"Not really. Including the three communities where the murders occurred, there are only five in total. So, I find it strange. The security around here isn't great, and many residents install cameras outside their homes. The killer's choice to target victims nearby increases the risk of exposure, which doesn't align with the criminal psychological profile we had initially made for him."
Dean sighed.
The more clues he found, the more his mind felt cluttered. Cracking cases was much harder than being the Sweeper.
"Haha, rookie, that's what cracking cases is all about," Lawrence, rugged but observant, noticed Dean's mood shift and spoke reassuringly. "We investigate every clue we find, regardless of how reliable it seems. We check them one by one and then try to find a possible breakthrough."
Dean nodded, choosing to remain silent.
The two arrived at the crime scene.
It had already been mostly processed.
Old Hunter and the others had already left, but Phoebe and Robert from another team were still here. In addition, a crowd of journalists and onlookers had gathered outside the police cordon, lingering and reluctant to leave.
Lawrence, with Dean in tow, didn't go straight in but stood outside the crowd, carefully observing the onlookers while imparting knowledge to Dean. "Dean, signature killers often return to the crime scene. Some do so to clean up evidence. Others to observe the detectives' investigations, and thus speculate on the police's next moves. Some are narcissistic paranoids, seeking satisfaction and excitement from the public's panic and the police's response. Some high-IQ criminals might even offer help, enjoying the perverse pleasure while steering the case's direction."
Dean listened intently.
This was all knowledge he had never encountered before.
However, the onlookers—faces curious or uneasy—and the journalists, who were even more visibly excited, revealed no abnormalities to Dean.
He turned his head to Lawrence. "Lawrence, what do you think? Any discoveries?"
"No, let's go up."
Lawrence shook his head. With Dean, he showed their badges to the Keeper patrol officer and entered the yard.
Before entering the house, both donned gloves and shoe covers.
Inside, Phoebe was instructing Robert on some crime scene investigation techniques.
Hearing movement, they stopped.
Lawrence, with Dean, stepped forward to ask Phoebe about the investigation results. "How's it going? Did you find many clues this time?"
"There are some new findings." Phoebe's face flushed with anger. "The killer was even more brutal this time. The victim's lower body was terribly mutilated, and the killer even left some unknown red substance inside!"
This was a provocation!
"Nothing else?"
"No." Phoebe shook her head. "The same method of entry, the same criminal habits. After the murder, the killer meticulously cleaned the room with a vacuum cleaner. The newly discovered red substance inside the victim still needs to be tested. For now, we can only hope tonight's stakeout yields some results."
"This feeling is really frustrating..."
Lawrence's face twitched.
Things were not looking good.
Continuous successful crimes often inflate a killer's ego, leading to increasingly insane and perverted behavior.
Meanwhile, seeing that the conversation between Lawrence and Phoebe wasn't yielding much, Dean decided to conduct his own crime scene investigation, combining his previous criminal habits with the forensic knowledge he'd learned at the police academy.
In terms of crime scene investigation, he was just a rookie.
But when it came to cleaning up crime scene traces, Dean was very skilled.
A typical home invasion murder leaves traces primarily in the method of entry, fingerprints, hair, footprints, and killing methods.
Following this line of thought, Dean began his first investigation.
Such old courtyards, for the sake of lighting, typically have a lot of windows, especially the living room that faces the courtyard.
The killer had come in through the sliding door in the yard.
He had used a tool to cut an arm-sized circular hole in the door near the lock, then reached in to unlock it...
Following the traces, Dean made his way to the bedroom.
The bed was stained red with blood. The outline of the corpse was marked near the wardrobe. The body was in a bizarre position: the upper body seemed to be lying on the floor, legs splayed and propped against the wall in an inviting pose.
Dean glanced at the wardrobe nearby and fell into thought.
When violated, victims would typically struggle wildly, forcing the killer to leave behind some traces of flesh or hair. The paucity of clues in this case stemmed from the killer's method: forcing the victim to ingest a drug before striking. Therefore, this position was likely staged by the killer.
Thinking of this, Dean called out, "Phoebe, does this victim resemble the previous victims in physical appearance?"
"Yes, very beautiful and a good figure. Plus, the forensics team said she was over 1.8 meters tall and regularly worked out. If it weren't for the drug, the killer might not have had his way."
With the answer from Phoebe, Dean immediately went to the bed, closed his eyes, then began to simulate the killer's actions—wrapping his hands around empty air as if grasping something, then pulling and dragging forcefully...
He might have discovered a new clue!