Chapter 33
The following morning, Friday.
Robbery and Murder Division, Squadron One.
It was Friday again and the atmosphere in the office was becoming tense, with the possible kidnapping of Alisa, it showed that the suspect in the ‘Taser Robbery’ wasn’t going to stop.
Who knows if he’ll strike again tonight.
The invisible pressure made Susan’s face look even more serious.
“Everyone, meet in the conference room.”
Luke and the others walked into the conference room one by one.
Jenny was kind enough to pour coffee for everyone.
Luke nodded slightly in greeting, “Thank you.”
Susan took a sip of her coffee and put down her coffee cup, “Anyone have any new investigative developments regarding the case?”
Ramon said, “I’ve been looking into cases from twenty years ago, one of which was also a robbery using a taser, but the suspect has been arrested and returned to the case, a different life path than Tony’s.
Also, there were some robberies and kidnappings back then that were not solved, and I compared those clues to the Taser robberies, and I haven’t found any common threads yet.”
The vice squad continued, “In fact, I think the Taser robbery case is different from ordinary robberies or kidnappings, first of all, the first two victims were robbed, but the suspect’s purpose is not clear.
As for the case of Eliza’s disappearance, if it is a kidnapping, it can’t be categorized as an ordinary kidnapping case.
If it was an ordinary kidnapping case, the suspect would definitely notify the family for ransom at the first instance, but the reality is that the family did not receive the ransom call, and Alisa’s family situation is not wealthy.
I prefer it to be a personal vendetta.”
Luke said, “I agree with the vice squad.
In addition, we speculated before that the suspect was a single person, so there is no possibility that the suspect is a gang, and the three cases were committed by different suspects. That makes the alibi aspect manipulable.
Harry, the member of the biker gang, both knew Tony and had a run-in with Eliza, so I don’t think he can be completely ruled out as a suspect.”
Susan nodded, “David, keep an eye on your informant.”
Jenny hesitated for a moment, “Uh …… if Alyssa was really kidnapped by the suspect, then a week has passed and the kidnappers haven’t demanded a ransom, doesn’t it mean that she might have met an untimely end.”
The room fell into a brief silence.
If Alisa had already been killed, then it would take a different kind of search.
“Knock knock ……”
The door of the conference room knocked from outside, and Matthew pushed his way in, sensing that the atmosphere was a bit depressing, “Uh …… did I come at a bad time.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Ah, re-investigated Alyssa’s finances and found out that she had a cash transaction not too long ago for a whopping fifteen thousand dollars.”
“That’s not a small amount of money for Alyssa.” Susan pressed, “What was it for?”
“Alyssa rented a mercantile store in a pretty good location, 103 Milne Avenue.”
“When was it rented?”
“February 11th.”
The lieutenant said, “A week between renting the mercantile on February 11th and the first Taser robbery on February 18th, I feel the need to check this mercantile.
Matthew, send me the landlord’s phone number.
Luke, David, come with me.”
Susan grimaced, but didn’t stop.
Half an hour later.
Luke’s trio arrived at 103 Milne Avenue.
The store was tightly closed, with blinds covering the inside of the glass door, so it was hard to see to the inside.
No. 102 was a cafe, and No. 104 was also for rent.
On the way here, Luke had been wondering why Eliza wanted to rent a store. Did she really want to quit her job.
That was a strong possibility, after all, dancing at a club was not something to be glamorous about, plus the pressure from her family.
Could the resignation text really be from her, and where had she been? Why didn’t she contact her parents?
David called and contacted the landlord.
A few minutes later, a middle-aged white man with a big belly approached, “Hey, was that you guys on the phone?”
David flashed his badge, “I’m Detective David and this is Lieutenant Vince.”
Luke was skipped right over.
“My name is Kalman, what did you mean earlier when you said my stores were involved in a kidnapping?”
“The tenant of the stores was kidnapped.”
Kalman gave a surprised look, “When?”
“Last Friday.” David pulled out a picture of Alyssa, “Is that the house she rented?”
“Yes …… and no.”
The lieutenant pressed, “Yes it is and no it isn’t, why would there be two answers?”
“Uh …… exactly, it was her husband who handled the lease, and her husband used her identifying information for the lease in order to surprise her.”
Luke flipped Steven’s picture from his phone, “Is that him?”
“Yes, that’s him.”
The lieutenant asked, “Did the wife show up during the rental process?”
Kalman spread his hands, “Is that still a surprise?”
The lieutenant pointed his right thumb at the store, “Open the door, we’re going to go in and search it.”
Kalman was in a bit of a bind, “The stores are rented out, and from a legal standpoint I can’t just enter without the tenant’s permission.”
The vice squad said, “Alisa may have been kidnapped, the case is in the investigation stage and the police have the power to investigate the store in her name.”
“OK, your call.” Kalman opened the store and made a gesture of invitation, signaling Luke and the others to enter.
Although the door was locked from the outside, Luke’s three men nevertheless pulled out their pistols on guard as a matter of habit.
“Clear.”
“Secure.”
The store wasn’t big and was divided into two parts, the front part was more than twenty square meters and the back place was only a dozen square meters.
Luke asked, “What are they going to rent this store for?”
“Restaurant.” Kalman followed and walked into the store, “The location of this store is excellent, the neighborhood has a lot of traffic and a lot of tourists, it’s very suitable for a restaurant.”
The lieutenant put on his gloves and touched the blue wall on the east side, “What color was this wall before?”
Kalman replied, “White.”
“The walls look like they were just painted recently.” The lieutenant wrinkled his nose, “Do you guys smell anything specific?”
Luke walked over and sniffed as well, “It smells like disinfectant.”
The lieutenant frowned tightly, “Call and have the technical division send a site survey team over.”
Half an hour later.
The Technical Division’s site survey personnel arrived at the store.
The vice squad talked to the person in charge of the site survey team for a few moments, then the technicians launched a comprehensive survey at the store.
The site survey was completed an hour later.
The person in charge of the site investigation team was called Mary Sue, an Asian woman, about thirty years old, medium, with a somewhat thin figure.
The lieutenant asked, “Mary, what’s the situation at the scene?”
“We found a large amount of sprayed blood on the walls and floor, the blood was treated with disinfectant and is not visible to the naked eye.
However, after spraying with Luminol reagent, the areas with blood stains emit a blue fluorescence.” Mary Sue drew the blinds, sprayed the agent on the walls and floor, and took out a long tube of light to shine it on.
“See these blue swirls? Those are blood stains that someone tried to wipe off the wall.”
“Can you confirm it’s human blood?”
“Yes.”
“That’s enough blood to kill an adult!” The lieutenant sighed softly and turned to Luke and the others, “I’ll call the captain and have her get a warrant for Steven’s arrest.
You guys get to Steven’s house right away.”