Chapter 183

“Why did she do it?”

York said, “Betty’s mother is a strong woman who focuses most of her energy on her work and has very little time for Betty.

Especially after her parents divorced, Betty saw her mother even less.

Their mother and daughter were in the same city, it was actually very convenient to meet, but Betty’s mother was too busy.

Even when they did meet, they didn’t spend much time together, and her mother either had to leave in the middle of something or was on the phone.

This made Betty feel neglected, angry and sad.

Especially seeing all the other children with their mothers, Betty felt unbalanced.

She was only twelve years old and wanted her mother to be there, just like the rest of her classmates and friends.

Although her father and nanny were both very nice to her, the feeling was not the same.

So …… Betty came up with the idea of blackmailing her mother into giving up her demanding job and having more time for herself.”

“Why would she ask you to send threatening emails?”

York pursed his lips, “Betty didn’t want anyone to know that the threatening emails were from her.

We’re good friends and she knows I’m great with computers. So I was asked to help by hiding the address to which the e-mail was sent.

She was sitting next to me when I sent the email, it was just a prank, nothing to do with me and even less to do with my parents.”

Luke recorded the content highlights in his notebook, “What happened after the threatening email was sent?”

York recalled for a moment and said, “After the email went out, it worked pretty well at first.

Betty soon got a call from her mother who asked if she was safe and where she was.

It was obvious that her mother still cared about her, and Betty was so happy that she was happy for days just because of that phone call.

But then, things didn’t change, her mother was still very busy, she would only call occasionally to check in, or buy a gift and mail it to her home, she still didn’t have much time for her.

I could feel that Betty was sad ……

Disappointed to be exact.”

Luke smoothly asked, “So you guys made up this kidnapping?”

“What kidnapping? I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“It’s come to this and you’re still trying to hide it? Where is Betty?”

“I don’t know, I’m telling the truth, I don’t know anything about any kidnapping case at all ……” York seemed to understand something: “Could it be that Betty has been kidnapped?”

“That’s right, Betty was kidnapped the night before last, right from her own home.”

“Even buy the Karma, this is horrible, how could this happen, have you guys not found out what happened to her yet?”

Luke stared at his expression, “The whole reason we’re here is to find out where she is.”

Cesar Gergil rushed to say, “Hey, there must be some kind of misunderstanding here, there’s no way my son would be involved in some kidnapping case, you guys must be mistaken.” Cesar looked at his son on the side again, “York, hurry up and make it clear, this is not a small matter.”

York was also a bit nervous, “Sir, I assure you, I really don’t know about Betty’s kidnapping, I’m her good friend and wouldn’t do such a thing to hurt her.”

Luke didn’t see any obvious signs of lying on the other side, but he didn’t dare to underestimate this child, children nowadays were smarter than imagined, although their knowledge of the world as a whole was not as good as that of an adult, they were not worse than an adult in certain areas and thinking.

“When was the last time you saw Betty?”

“The day before yesterday, we were classmates and she even said hello to me when she got out of school.”

“Was she unusual then?”

“I don’t think so.”

Luke tentatively inquired, “Has Betty acted in any other unusual way since the last threatening letter was sent, or tried to improve her relationship with her mother?”

“No, she should have just given up.”

“Do you think it’s possible that she might have staged a kidnapping of her own in order to gain her mother’s attention?”

York shook his head, “No way, Betty’s too smart a girl to do something stupid like that.”

Luke was a little unimpressed, how smart could one be to pull off something like a threatening letter?

“Can you reach Betty now?”

“Betty doesn’t have a cell phone, we usually talk on the computer with software.

She hasn’t been in school since yesterday and I asked the teacher.

The teacher said she took the day off, and I even asked her on the computer why she took the day off, but she didn’t reply.”

Luke did not find the computer when he searched Betty’s house and it was likely taken by the kidnappers.

Luke then asked about the chat software the two used, and the name of the account.

Luke finished writing, marking the highlights, and continued, “Does Betty have any other good friends at school besides you?”

“Betty is also on good terms with a couple of her female classmates.”

“Name them?”

“Joanna Sandy, Eshara Boss, and Mavis Caddo, Betty plays with them a lot.”

“Did these three girls go to school yesterday and to-day?”

“Yes.”

“Was there anything unusual?”

“Nothing impressive.”

Luke wrote down the names of the three female classmates, it was necessary to go to the school to investigate specifically, since Betty had a history of sending threatening letters to her mother, there was no chance that she would make up another kidnapping.

A girl that age was very trusting of her friends and would probably tell her girlfriends.

York asked, “Sir, do I need to go to jail?”

Luke said with a straight face, “York, sending threatening letters to others is not a trivial matter, don’t do it again.

Given your good behavior of voluntarily pleading guilty, I will recommend to the prosecution to be exempted from the charges, but be prepared to be questioned, the final decision will depend on the prosecution.”

“Thanks.” York breathed a sigh of relief and showed a look of gratitude, “Have you met Mayor Li Mei?”

“Sure.”

“How is she?”

Luke just smiled and didn’t answer.

“If you see her again, please pass on a message for me.” York cleared his throat and said in a serious voice, “I don’t know if she’s a good mayor, but she’s definitely not a good mother.

If she were to run for mayor, I would never vote for her.”

Luke said, “Wait a couple years, it’s not too late for you to tell her yourself.”

Five o’clock in the evening.

Susan received Deputy Mayor Li Mei in the lounge, accompanied by Deputy Reed.

Susan recounted the threatening letter briefly.

Learning that it was her daughter who had sent the threatening letter to her, Li Mei revealed an incredulous look, “Doubtful, I can’t believe Betty would do this, are you sure that the kid named York didn’t lie?”

Susan said, “On the night of the murder, both York and his parents have alibis, and York and your daughter were classmates, so from what we’ve seen so far, his words have some credibility.

In addition, I have sent people to the school to investigate and further confirm Betty and York’s relationship.”

Li Mei’s eyes were red and her voice choked, “I have indeed been very busy over the years, neglecting a lot of things for the sake of my work and career.

The person I’m most sorry for is my daughter, I rarely had time to accompany her and missed her growth.

In fact, I myself also realize this, I have been telling myself to change, change.

As long as I am busy after this period, as long as my job is stable, I can adjust my time and take out more time to spend with my family.

But it’s not that simple, every day is a new hassle and there’s never a day of adjustment.

I was busy almost all day except for eating and sleeping, without any entertainment, neglecting my family, and my health was out of order, and I didn’t know how long I could be supporting myself.”

Susan, who was also a strong woman, advised, “Mayor Li, I am a bit older than you, and at your age, I also gave up a lot and lost a lot for my career.

This is also one of the reasons why I was transferred to the Robbery and Murder Division.

You should treat yourself and your family well, work is never done, family is the most important thing.

Of course, I’m in no position to talk about you because I’m just as much of a failure when it comes to family.”

Li Mei sighed, “I just don’t want to fail this job, there are a lot of people still waiting for me, I don’t want to let them down ……

I’ve been looking for a more efficient way to work, it just takes time.

I …… all I want now is for my daughter to come back and be safe.

I realize now that she is the one who needs me the most.

I owe her so much.”

Susan handed her a tissue, “Have any suspicious people contacted you in the past two days, because of your special identity, the kidnappers aren’t necessarily after the money, they may also want to obtain other things.”

Li Mei wiped her eyes, “No, everything is normal around me at the moment, and I haven’t told anyone else about Betty.”

“Betty had someone send you threatening letters to get your attention, do you think it’s possible that she went and created a kidnapping to get your attention?”

Li Mei pressed, “What do you mean? Do you think Betty wasn’t kidnapped, but instead directed herself like the threatening letters?”

“It’s just a guess, we have to consider all possibilities.”

“Uh ……” Li Mei pondered for a while, shaking her head, “SORRY, Betty and I don’t interact much, especially during the time I became the deputy mayor, I’ve been worried about not being able to do my job, and most of my energy has been focused on my work on it, and almost seldom asked about Betty’s affairs.

I feel like a failure and I’m sorry for Betty.

What about her father?

Betty has been living with her father all her life, he should know Betty the best, you can ask him for his opinion.”

Susan said, “My colleague contacted Mr. Kenneth, he’s already on a plane on his way back to Los Angeles.”

Susan could see that the woman didn’t know much about her daughter other than that she was filled with guilt and would be of limited help in the case.

Susan stood up, “Mayor Li, let’s talk about this today, if you get a call from the kidnappers, make sure to contact us first.”

“I will.”

Reed and Susan personally escorted Li Mei out of the office.

Luke closed the office door and asked, “Captain, did Mayor Li’s side provide any new clues?”

“No, this case is still on our own.” Susan scanned the crowd, “Everyone say what you think about this case.

The kidnapping scene was rummaged through, the hostages were kidnapped but no ransom call was made, what were the kidnappers’ motives and purposes?”

Xiao Hei stroked his chin and analyzed with a serious face, “I think it’s likely that Betty directed herself.

This kind of child from a rich family has a rich material life but lacks parental companionship, they want more attention, just like the previous threatening letter.

Maybe Betty felt that the last threatening letter didn’t work and wanted to play a bigger game.

This also explains why Betty’s parents never received the ransom call, because Betty’s goal was just to get attention, not money.”

Susan said, “Even if she had staged her own kidnapping to gain her parents’ attention, she would have needed an accomplice, and it would have been difficult for one person to pull off such an operation.”

Jenny said, “Ramon and I went to the school to investigate, the few classmates who were close to Betty went to school normally, and none of them were aware of Betty’s kidnapping.”

Blackie said said, “The babysitter, that babysitter could very well be an accomplice, didn’t she disappear with Betty?”

The lieutenant shook his head, “The babysitter is an adult, she’s not a child, she should know that even a self-directed kidnapping is illegal.

I don’t think she would assist a small child in something like that unless she was out of her mind or had another agenda.”

Susan said, “There are new identification results from the Technical Division, the blood found in the stairway belongs to an Asian woman and has been tested to match the DNA samples from the hair in the 1st floor bedroom and Amy Ma’s rental house.

The blood most likely belongs to Amy Ma, so I don’t think it’s very likely that Amy Ma helped Betty direct her own kidnapping.”

Luke guessed, “A lot of times right and wrong are in the balance, is it possible that Betty did try to direct her own kidnapping play to gain her parents’ attention, but something happened halfway through.

The fake became real.”

Susan pressed, “If the fake turned out to be real, then why didn’t the kidnappers demand a ransom?”

Luke continued his analysis, “Either it evolved into some other form of crime or someone lied.”

“Snap!” The lieutenant clapped, “Luke and I have thought of the same thing, I also think someone lied.”

Susan asked, “Who?”

The lieutenant held out his right index finger and said with a serious look on his face, “Li Mei.

She’s not only a mother, but also a politician, and a woman of Chinese descent is definitely not a simple figure to be the deputy mayor of the second largest city in the United States.

The acting skills of many politicians are no worse than actors.

If she were to lie, it would be hard to detect.

There was a lot of gray income in this circle, with all sorts of networking, compromises of interests, exchanges, and so on.

Even if Li Mei was really blackmailed, it’s possible that she wouldn’t tell the police and chose to solve the problem in her own way.

I think we should launch an investigation into her peripheral relationships, and even tap her cell phone if necessary.”

Susan revealed a difficult look, “Not a bad idea.

However, I’m afraid that to tap the Vice Mayor’s cell phone, we need Chief Reed’s consent, and it’s no longer my decision to make.”

The lieutenant spread his hands, “I told you earlier, it’s the damn Rule Z!”