Chapter 484 Unsolved case
Luke asked, "Deputy team, what do you think is the relationship between Jim and the kidnappers?"
"It's hard to say." The deputy team habitually scratched their hair,
"Judging from the previous contact, Jim is a smart man and should not be involved in the kidnapping case.
However, in the face of money, no matter how calm a person is, he will lose his way, and it is not ruled out that he participated in the kidnapping case for money.
I personally prefer the former, because he was too vigilant just now.
Even if he participated in the kidnapping, he should be behind the scenes, and it is impossible to be exposed so easily. "
"We agree." Luke said what he had just guessed.
The deputy team nodded, "It's still a young man with a good brain, and it is very likely that he will purchase this batch of gold as a middleman.
Poor guy, he didn't know he was being tricked by the kidnappers.
What are you going to do? "
Luke didn't think about it either. If his speculation was correct, then it would not be a big problem to contact Jim directly. He was sure to persuade Jim to cooperate with the police and provide clues about the real kidnappers.
But those previous speculations were, after all, just speculations without evidence.
If Jim was really dazzled by money and participated in the kidnapping case, he would not be convinced by a few words, and he might even startle the snake.
Seven thirty in the morning.
The door of the white sloping roof house opened, and Jim walked out of the house, looked around, and then got in the BMW and left.
The BMW drove west along the community road and went to a famous burger restaurant for breakfast.
At eight o'clock in the morning, Jim drove away again after breakfast, and rushed to the strange house antique shop.
The antique shop was already open, but Jim didn't go in through the front door. Instead, he parked his car at the back door and walked into the antique shop through the back door.
However, as soon as he entered the store, he felt something different.
It was too quiet.
It's not like his sweetheart clerk.
"Hi, Boss Jim, long time no see. I heard that you made a fortune recently."
A man's voice suddenly sounded, startling Jim, he pulled out a pistol from his waist, and looked in the direction of the sound.
"Nonono, don't move, put down your pistol." An old man with white hair came out from behind the next shelf.
"Deputy Vincent, why are you here?" Jim showed a surprised look.
Jim saw two more men with guns approaching, and put down his pistol tactfully.
Xiao Hei flashed his police badge, "lapd, Boss Jim, I stayed up all night trying to catch you."
"Sir, there must be some misunderstanding." Jim raised his hands and looked at Vincent aside, "Vincent's deputy, can we talk in another way?"
"Sure, what do you want to talk about?"
"Tell me why you came to my store? If you need my help, just tell me, and I will definitely assist."
The deputy team nodded, "I like your attitude. I don't like beating around the bush either. Where are the hostages?"
Jim looked blank, "What kind of hostage, I don't know what you are talking about?"
The deputy team smiled, "Wrong answer.
We are investigating a kidnapping case where the kidnappers extorted a large amount of gold from the parents of the hostages and asked the hostages father to put the gold under the Kalman Avenue overpass.
Six bags, 5,000 ounces of gold.
I think all the gold should be in your hands. "
"God, I was framed, and I didn't even know the gold was stolen money." Jim explained, "Some time ago, a man named Tom found me.
Said that he had a batch of gold that he wanted to convert into cash, and asked if I could help.
I happened to have some ideas, so I agreed to him.
He called yesterday and asked me to pick up gold under the Cullman Street overpass this morning, and then I sent two men down.
That's the way it is, I don't know anything about kidnapping, and I don't have anything to do with it. "
The deputy team said, "The batch of gold is in your hands, and it can't be solved by saying that there is no relationship. The hostages may be torn apart at any time. I don't have time to argue with you here. I just want to know where the hostages are?"
"I really do not know."
The deputy team stepped forward, pointed at him with his right hand, and said in a stern tone, "If the hostage dies, you are also responsible. You killed her."
"I swear to God, what I say is true.
Where is Captain Li, I want to talk to him. "Jim didn't like dealing with the gray-haired old man.
"Are you qualified to negotiate terms?" The deputy team waved their hands, motioning for Xiao Hei and Jackson to take him away.
"The captain is not something you can meet whenever you want." Xiao Hei held him down, ready to put handcuffs on him.
"I'm not talking about conditions, but a request." Jim relented. He is still on bail. If he is caught in the police station, he will bring a series of troubles.
At this moment, Luke came from the front and said, "Guys, let go first and listen to what he has to say."
"Captain Li, I was really framed.
I swear to God, I had absolutely no idea that the gold was kidnapping money. I can hand over the gold, not a single piece is less. "
"Jim, it's not just about gold, we need to ensure the safety of the hostages. If the hostages die and the kidnappers run away, you should know what the consequences will be."
Jim's forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, "Some time ago, a man named Tom contacted me and said he wanted to exchange a batch of gold, and I agreed.
We agreed that I will take the gold today.
Two days later, hand them six million dollars in cash.
I believe that he should not tear up the ticket before he gets 6 million in cash. "Jim was a little annoyed, "No wonder he would agree to take the gold first and pay in cash later, instead of paying the money with one hand and the gold with the other.
It turned out that he was trying to use me to take away the stolen money. I will not let this **** go, and I hope you can catch him. "
"Do you know where the hostages are?"
"No, I have nothing to do with the kidnapping case. If I knew that the gold was obtained from kidnapping, I would never trade with them.
I know what money can and cannot be earned.
This kind of money can be earned but not spent.
Captain Li, this is not the first time we have dealt with each other. You should know that I am not that short-sighted idiot. "
Luke stared at the other person's cheek, and tried again, "You really have nothing to do with the kidnapping?"
Jim said firmly, "Yes, it doesn't matter.
I just agreed to exchange him for gold. "
Luke stared at his expression, seeing no obvious signs of lying.
"Jim, can I trust you?"
"Yes, I will never lie to you."
"The batch of gold is not allowed to move."
"no problem."
"In addition, I need you to assist the police to stabilize the kidnappers and rescue the hostages."
"I would like to help."
"Very well, let's talk about that man named Tom. Since you can do business, you should know him."
Jim shook his head, "Sorry, I'm not very familiar with this person, and I don't even know his real identity."
The deputy team shook his head, "It's a lie, this is a big deal, and it's impossible to make a deal without someone who knows everything."
Jim sighed, "You're right, I thought the same way before and used this excuse to reject him.
But his tone was very sincere, and he also promised to give me the gold first, and then take the cash away.
I thought about it, no matter whether he lied or not, I will not suffer.
If he really has gold, this business will be done.
If you don't receive gold or fake gold, you can't expect to benefit from me. "Jim clenched his fist and gritted his teeth,
“I had no idea there was gold under the piers of the Kalman Street Skybridge.
I didn't expect to be tricked by them. "
Luke was not satisfied with this answer, "This is not like the smart Jim I know, man, something useful to say."
As the deputy team said, I don't like doing business with strangers, let alone such a large amount of business.
Although judging from the agreement, this business is guaranteed to make money.
But I still felt uneasy, so I asked someone to follow the man named Tom. "
"That's like the smart Jim I know." Luke smiled,
"Where is he?"
…
Tosta Community.
After the car drove into the community, Luke felt a little familiar. The reason why he said he was familiar was not because he had been here, but because the mobile phone signal base station of the technical team tracking the kidnappers was located near this area.
It's just that the situation in this area is more complicated, and the investigation is extremely difficult.
After the car drove into the community, there were white residents, black residents and Mexican residents in the community. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the community is more chaotic.
Jim sat in the back of the police car, pointed to a gray-roofed bungalow on the west side of the community and said, "Tom went to that house."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Luke took out the walkie-talkie and said, "The gray-roofed bungalow on the right side of the road is the house where the kidnappers are staying. Pay attention to see if there are signs of people's activities."
"Yes, sir."
After Luke finished speaking, he also took out the binoculars to observe the situation of the house.
After watching for a while, there was no movement in the house.
Jim couldn't help asking, "Are we going to wait like this forever?"
Xiao Hei asked back, "Dude, do you have any good ideas? Don't hesitate, speak out boldly, maybe this is your chance to make meritorious service."
Jim said, "Why not use an infrared imager to see what's going on inside the house."
Xiao Hei shrugged, "That thing can't go through walls at all, why do you have such an idea?"
"I've seen The Fast and the Furious, and the infrared imager can go through even big iron doors."
Xiao Hei smiled, "Then you should watch Part 9. Two guys drove their car into space and knocked down a satellite. The space suits are still glued together. Musk will be **** off when he sees it, haha .”
Jackson turned his head from the cab and said, "Film and TV series have drama bonus, don't take it too seriously."
At this moment, a green van drove over not far away, with a blue sign 'Carter Cleaning Company' on the side of the vehicle.
The cleaning car stopped outside the gray-roofed bungalow. Several people in cleaning uniforms got out of the car, took tools from the car, and walked to the door of the house.
One of the older white men rang the doorbell, but there was no response.
He knocked on the door again, still no response.
After that, he lifted the carpet at the door of the room, picked up a key from underneath, and opened the door.
Luke and others all saw this scene.
Xiao Hei looked puzzled, "What are these guys going to do? Destroy the evidence?"
Jackson said, "They opened the door by themselves. There is probably no one in the house. Will the kidnappers run away?"
Luke took out the walkie-talkie, "I'll go down and have a look, the others don't move for now, deputy team, you will be in charge."
"receive."
Luke got out of the car, walked to the door of the gray-roofed house, and looked inside. Several people in cleaning uniforms were assigning cleaning work.
"Hi, good morning, I just moved into this neighborhood and just stopped by to say hello."
A white man came over, "I am the manager of Carter Cleaning Company, Jovis Carter. The owner is not at home."
Luke asked, "Why do you clean when the owner is not at home?"
Jovis Carter said, "This is the owner's request. He went to the store to make an appointment yesterday, and told us that the key is under the floor mat at the door of the house, and let us open the door and come in to clean it."
"I'm new here, and my house also needs to be cleaned. Can you come out and talk about it?" Luke guessed that the kidnappers probably ran away, but in case of emergency, the house still needs to be searched for safety.
"Of course." Jovis Carter readily agreed.
After leaving the house, Luke flashed the police badge directly, "lapd, we are investigating the owner of the house, this house is likely to be the scene of the crime, so nothing in the house can be moved, call your people out of the house, Make as little movement as possible, understand?"
"OK."
People from Carter Cleaning Company evacuated the house.
Luke led a team to search the house and found no suspicious persons.
Xiao Hei said, "What I just said, these kidnappers have already run away, and they hired a cleaning company to clean up, in fact, to destroy evidence.
Fortunately, we arrived in time. If we were ten minutes late, it would only take ten minutes, and everything here would be destroyed.
Even if some residual clues can be found, they can no longer be used in court. "
The deputy team pouted, "If Jim wasn't in the police car, I thought it was all thanks to you." When Jim was mentioned, the deputy team asked, "Luke, what about Jim?"
Luke thought for a while, "Let him go."
"Why?" Jackson showed a puzzled look, "This guy is not clean in the first place, and even if he brought us here, it can't prove that he has nothing to do with the kidnapping case.
What if he is also a participant in the kidnapping case, we let him go, and he runs away? "
"You are right, there is indeed such a possibility, but Jim must be let go." Luke explained, "The kidnappers are very cunning, they don't go to get the ransom themselves, but let Jim's people go to get the ransom, just to escape risk.
The gang of robbers will definitely be watching Jim.
If Jim is caught by the police, it means that the family members of the hostages have called the police. The gold is gone, and the kidnappers will definitely run away.
Any decision is risky. In order to ensure the safety of the hostages, we can only let Jim go.
If Jim does run away, the responsibility is on me. "
Luke waved his hand, "Don't be dazed, call the technical team to investigate the scene."
"Yes, sir."
Luke arranged the task.
The deputy team patted his arm, "Luke, let's go over there and talk."
Luke saw his preoccupied look and asked, "Is there any problem?"
“This case gave me a feeling of déjà vu from the beginning.
The case has developed to the present, and this feeling is even stronger. The deputy team looked solemn and recalled,
“Ten years ago, I participated in the investigation of a kidnapping case, which was led by the FBI and we were responsible for assisting.
The victim of the kidnapping case was a ten-year-old girl who was kidnapped in a park near her home.
The victim's father was a diamond merchant. He received a blackmail call from the kidnappers, asking for diamonds worth five million dollars.
Each diamond is required to be more than two carats, with good color and high clarity.
The little girl's father loved her very much, and immediately prepared diamonds worth five million dollars as requested.
A day later, the kidnapper called again, also asking to trade diamonds at night.
That night, the kidnappers changed the trading location several times, and finally asked the hostage father to put the diamonds next to the trash can on the side of the road.
Half an hour after the father of the hostages left, a Mexican man took the diamonds next to the trash can.
The FBI arrested that person, interrogated him immediately, and pressed for the whereabouts of the hostages.
But the Mexican man did not admit that he was a kidnapper. According to his confession, he was only instructed by a black market dealer to come here to get diamonds.
FBI also followed this clue to find a black market businessman. The confessions of the two were consistent. He did not admit that he was involved in the kidnapping case. He only said that someone contacted him to cash out a batch of diamonds.
The FBI did not fully believe what they said, and investigated the kidnapping case while conducting high-intensity interrogation.
But since then, the kidnappers have not been in touch. "
Luke listened very seriously and nodded, "The modus operandi of these two cases is indeed quite similar, one is to extort diamonds, the other is to ask for gold, both of which pass the most dangerous part of paying ransom to black market dealers.
What happened to the kidnapped little girl? "
"The FBI has not located the little girl.
It is said that not long after, the girl's father passed away because of excessive grief.
You're right, Jim should really be let go. The vice-captain sighed, with firmness in his tone,
"That guy is back again, this time, I must catch him!"
Luke said, "It's us."
(end of this chapter)