Chapter 605
The Porta neighborhood.
This was a New York upscale residence.
Perhaps because of the seasonal climate, the architectural style of the houses here was somewhat very different from Los Angeles.
Luke and Amir drove into the community, and after walking not far, they saw seven or eight TV station cars parked on the community highway, and a group of reporters with long guns surrounded a mansion.
Luke got out of the car and frowned, “Which big shot was killed this time?”
“Olenna Barker.” Amir finished the name and saw Luke’s lack of response and spread his hands, “Come on, don’t tell me you don’t know Olenna Barker.”
“Is she famous?”
“Here’s a hint, little Bundchen from New York.”
Luke shook his head, “Man, don’t give me a hard time as a half New Yorker.”
“If you don’t even know Bunchen Jr. you’re a quarter New Yorker at best, no more.”
Luke guessed, “Is she a model?”
“That’s right, she was previously a contracted model for Veep and a favorite of the New York fashion world.”
Luke looked at the reporters who outnumbered the police, “This damn murderer has a knack for picking his targets, killing someone and hating that the whole of New York knows about it.”
Amir sighed, “Not just New York, she had fans all over the globe, and in some ways her death is no less sensational than Grace Bloomberg’s.”
“FBI, move over.” The two pushed their way through the throngs of people and entered the courtyard of a modern, two-story villa, the main body of which was brightly lit by tall, floor-to-ceiling windows.
Lois stood in the doorway and waved, “Gentlemen, you’re late.”
Luke asked, “Where’s the body?”
“Follow me.” Lois led the two into the house, the living room was spacious, there wasn’t much furniture, however, every piece of furniture was exquisite, stylish and looked expensive.
In the living room, there were sporadic spatters of blood, extending all the way to the back of the living room.
The three of them followed the bloodstains to the storage room, pulled open the cabinet door of the storage room, and the light behind it automatically turned on, revealing the steps leading to the underground, while a strong smell of blood hit their noses.
Louise said, “This morning, the cleaning staff in charge of cleaning found blood in the living room, then she called the deceased, but no one answered.
The cleaning staff then called the police.
The police arrived at the scene and followed the blood trail to the basement where they found the body of the deceased, Olena Barker.
The case was then turned over to the FBI.”
Luke nodded and walked down the stairs towards the basement, which was not dim, on the contrary the basement was spacious and brightly lit, with coat racks and shoe cabinets everywhere, displaying all kinds of clothes and shoes, like a large checkroom.
A female body was lying on the floor, with a lot of blood spattered on the walls, clothes and shoe cabinets around it, and circular blood symbols on the shoe cabinet not far from the body.
Two uniformed forensic pathologists had already begun the autopsy.
Luke stood around the body to check it out; the deceased was a woman, in her mid-twenties, her delicate features appeared a little distorted from shock, her long brown hair, naked, and the entire upper half of her body was soaked in blood.
The legs of the deceased were cut off and were already unknown, looking very bloody and cruel.
Seeing this scene, Amir couldn’t help but frown, “What a pervert.”
Louise added, “That’s right, still a heavy-handed pervert.
The deceased had a pair of near-perfect, heaven-defying long legs, not to mention that men like them, women also like them.
Supposedly, she had insured those legs for nearly a billion dollars, and now the murderer has chopped off her legs and taken them away.
The hell knows what the murderer was thinking?”
The tech team arrived in the basement as well, making the basement full of clothes seem a little crowded, and Luke and the others left the basement and returned to the floor.
Luke began to search the house, there were no security cameras installed inside or outside the house, however, security alarm systems were found in the windows and the front door, “Nothing unusual about the house’s alarm system?”
Lois replied, “The police contacted the security company and the security system at the deceased’s house was normal last night with no break-in alarms.
I suspect it was most likely an acquaintance who committed the crime.”
Luke said, “There are no traces of rummaging or burglary in the room, the murderer’s goal is clearly murder.
Were any of the deceased’s belongings or cell phone found?”
Lois said, “A bag was found in the living room, which should be the deceased’s carry-on, but the deceased’s cell phone was not found.”
Luke walked outside the house and found a pair of red high-heeled shoes on the lawn in the yard. Luke put on his gloves and picked up the heels to check them out; there was dirt on the soles, most likely the deceased’s shoes.
Luke looked up and into the distance and saw a white Maserati sitting in front of the garage.
Turning to Lois, who was off to the side, he asked, “Were there any car keys in the deceased’s backpack?”
“Yes.” Lois brought the car keys and opened the door.
Luke entered the car and searched it, vaguely smelling a smell mixed with alcohol and perfume, there were quite a lot of decorations inside the car, and some female products, Luke found an Apple phone in the gap under the passenger side.
Amir said, “The cell phone was under the passenger seat, and it was most likely accidentally dropped by the deceased. That means the deceased should have been sitting on the passenger side.
This, coupled with the high heels that fell off, suggests that the deceased was most likely being held hostage at that time.
And the person who drove her back is most likely the murderer, all the clues are connected.”
Lois picked up her cell phone and played with it, “There are multiple missed calls on the phone, so maybe we can find some clues, but the phone has a code and can’t be opened.”
“Wait.” Luke took the phone and went into the house, by the time he came back out again the screen was on.
He handed the phone to Lois, “There are a total of four missed calls, one from the cleaner and the other three are unfamiliar calls from the same number, so call back as the dead man and try it out.”
Lois took the phone and thought for a moment before calling back the unfamiliar caller.
A few moments later, the phone connected and a man’s voice came through, “You finally remembered me, huh?”
After a moment’s thought, Lois replied, “Sorry, I was drunk last night and I was just checking my cell phone this morning.
Which one are you?”
“I know you were drunk or you wouldn’t have gotten a chauffeur, but you were already driving away when I got to the appointment.
You know what? I hate people who don’t keep their word.”
“Where was our appointment?”
“Marcos Bar, a white Maserati President, and by the time I got to the bar, your car had already left.
I heard from the people outside the bar that some other valet drove you away.
Why did you get another chauffeur if you got me.
Ma’am, you are wasting my time and I hate that behavior.”
“I’m sorry, if I get a chance, I’ll explain it to you.”
“No, I don’t see the need to meet anymore, it’s a pure waste of time.” The man said and simply hung up his cell phone.
Lois, who had been keeping her outgoing on, turned to Luke and Amir, “You all heard that.”
Amir nodded, “Apparently, the deceased went to a bar last night to drink and called for a substitute driver when she was drunk, however, someone picked her up before the real driver arrived.
In the first case, it would be an acquaintance or friend who took her away.
In the second case, someone posing as a chauffeur drove her home, entered the house, and brutally murdered her.” Amir rubbed his hands together.
“I think the second one is a little more likely.
What do you guys think?”
Lois pointed to the Maserati President, “I think we should check the car recorder first.”
Amir bristled, “I bet you won’t find anything.
Because the memory card for that CTR must have been taken by the killer.”
Lois took off the car recorder and removed the memory card from it and laughed, “What do you want to bet on?”
Amir was unimpressed, “The fact that the murderer didn’t take away the memory card means that the car recorder didn’t capture any valuable clues.
For example, the murderer got into the car and turned off the car recorder first.”
Lois inserted the memory card into her laptop and read the contents of the video inside.
The last time period the video was taken was between eleven and eleven twenty-five p.m. The distance traveled was from Marcos Bar to the home of the deceased, Olenna Barker.
The CarLog only had a recording function, but the audio recording function was disabled.
At the end of the video, the car pulls into the home of the deceased Olenna Barker and a figure runs quickly past the front of the car, Louise plays back the video and looks closely to see that it is a man wearing a baseball cap and a yellow vest with a valet logo on it.
The car recorder captured the side of the man’s face, with a thick beard on the lower side of his cheeks, and he was short and somewhat slim.
Louise pointed to the video, twisted her head to look at Amir, and smiled, “Unfortunately, you don’t have the talent to be a psychic.
The good news, though, is that the line camera captured the side of the suspected killer’s face.”
“Wow, a surprise indeed.” Amir looked a little complicated and rubbed his chin, his brow furrowed, “Something doesn’t feel right to me ……”
Louise shrugged and teased, “Indeed it’s not right, the case is going in a different direction than you presumed.”
“Ahem ……” Amir coughed softly, “That’s not what I meant, I know too much about the Bloody Mike case.
The murderer has committed multiple crimes, and each time he has made a thorough setup before committing the crime, and has never had his face captured on surveillance video.”
Lois reminded, “Red Mike has been in prison, and the previous killer of Grace Bloomberg was not Red Mike, but just an impersonator of Red Mike.”
“I know.
What I mean is that the murderer who killed Grace Blumberg had the exact same modus operandi as Blood Mike, the murderer was very strict, should have been well deployed before committing the crime, and left no obvious evidence behind, fitting the profile of a serial killer.
It is a qualified imitator.
Instead, this murderer’s face was captured by the car recorder, and he originally had the opportunity to dispose of the car recorder, but he did not do so.
This murderer made a very low-level mistake.
The murderer left such a big loophole, it’s more like an impromptu murder, not like a well thought out plan.”
Amir concluded, “To put it simply, I don’t think the murderer in this case is the same person who killed Grace Blumberg.
The killer of Grace Blumberg killed to imitate Red Mike.
The killer of Olenna Barker, on the other hand, killed more like he killed and planted it on Red Mike.”