Los Angeles Detective

Modern Mom Confinement Center.

At the front desk, sat a fat Asian lady in her forties.

The chubby lady is browsing TikTok with her head down. The system recommends fitness videos. The video anchors are all handsome young white men with a muscular body. They want to have a figure and good looks.

like.

"Dingling..." A phone rang.

"Hello, I'm Mary." The fat lady picked up the microphone and said in not-so-standard English, "This is the Modern Mom Confinement Center. I'm glad to receive your call. May I ask what you need."

A man's voice rang on the phone, asking in Chinese, "Do you speak Chinese?"

Too good, the fat lady asked with a little hometown accent, "Sir, I can speak American English and Chinese, what do you need?"

"Uh, I'm a native of China. My wife is pregnant. I heard that the medical care and benefits in the United States are better. I want her to go to California to have a baby. Is that okay?"

"Of course, the United States is a free country. Anyone can come here to give birth, and as long as the child is delivered in an American hospital, it is a member of the United States of America." The fat eldest sister entered a state of deception.

"What about the cost?"

"We have three standards here, namely USD 40,000, USD 60,000 and USD 80,000. You can choose according to your needs."

"Is there any difference?"

"Of course, accommodation, food, medical examination, service, different prices, have different standards. I will send you the details and photos of the confinement center later."

"Is there still a discount?"

"This is already the lowest price."

"Well, I know Mrs Kenneth, she introduced me.

She said that if you know the boss of your confinement center, you can get a better discount. "

"Are you a friend of Mrs. Kenneth?"

"Yes."

"Since you are Mrs. Kenneth's friend, you can enjoy a 10% discount. This is the lowest price."

"Thank you, I also want to ask, what is the relationship between Mrs. Kenneth and your confinement center?"

"Ms. Kenneth is a good friend of our boss. She lived in our confinement center when she gave birth. She is an elegant and kind woman. Every time she comes to the confinement center, she will bring us delicious snacks.

I believe that your wife will be as elegant and noble as her in the future.

It is definitely the most correct choice for you to let your child be born in a free country. "

"Hehe." The man on the other end of the phone smiled, "It's really exciting."

"Sir, I am also looking forward to seeing you and your wife soon."

"Really?"

"Of course..." After the fat lady finished speaking, she seemed to feel something was wrong. The voice just now didn't seem to come from the phone.

Looking up, two men walked in from the door, one was a handsome black-haired young man, and the other was a black man.

"You guys called just now?" Judging from the fat lady's experience, these two people should not be customers, and she faintly realized something, "Who are you? Are you here at our confinement center?"

Luke flashed his police badge, "lapd, I'm looking for the person in charge here."

The fat lady breathed a sigh of relief, "What's the matter with you? Why are you pretending to be a client to deceive me?"

"We want to know something about Mrs. Kenneth."

"I'm afraid I'll disappoint you. Mrs. Kenneth hasn't been here for a long time, and Mrs. Kenneth and I are not very familiar."

Luke waved his phone, "That's not what you said just now, do you want me to play it back?"

"That's just a trick to get closer to the customer. The customer mentioned a common acquaintance. I can't tell him that he is not familiar with it. Doesn't that drive the customer away?"

Luke said, "I want to see the person in charge here."

The fat lady spread her hands, "I am the person in charge."

Little underworld, "Are you kidding me? You are just a receptionist."

The fat lady shrugged, "I am indeed just a receptionist, but I have a husband, and my husband is the boss here.

Besides, what's wrong with the front desk?

The work is easy, answering the phone, sending and receiving express delivery, and there are not many door-to-door customers in a week. I like this job very much.

Why hire an extra person when I can do the job.

If I really want to hire a white girl with blond hair, blue eyes and upturned butt, I won't feel at ease, what do you think? "

Xiao Hei "..."

Fat sister's tone of voice clearly shows that she is not too afraid of the police. There is a saying that one thing is one thing, one thing is brine and some tofu.

Luke took out a few business cards from his pocket and put them on the table one by one, "This is investigator Shakira from the Taxation Bureau, this is Captain Bincy from the Fire Department, and this is Detective Capel from the Immigration Bureau." Member, you choose one."

The fat lady stared at the three business cards, her eyes could no longer be separated, and she lost the ease she had before. She looked at Luke and wanted to open her mouth to get close, but she didn't know what to say.

Luke tapped his fingers on the table, "Why not?

If you have difficulty choosing, I can call them all.

At that time, you can communicate with them one by one, I believe it will be very interesting. "

The fat elder sister was scared, and her fat face was full of smiles, "Sir, I said something wrong just now, for the sake of our ancestors, please give me another chance."

Xiao Hei corrected, "What Sir?

I'm Detective Marcus from the Robbery and Murder Division and this is Deputy Luke. "

"Hello, deputy team. Don't call them. It's really unnecessary. Let's have a good chat. If you have any questions, just ask me." The fat lady led Luke and Xiao Hei to sit on the sofa beside them.

"Please sit down, both of you, what do you want to drink, I will ask someone to prepare it, tea and coffee are available.

The tea is still sent from China, and it costs several thousand yuan a catty. My husband is usually reluctant to drink it, so I will pour you a pot. "

Luke suddenly had a feeling of handling cases in China, and pointed to the sofa opposite the door, "Sit down and talk."

"yes."

Luke shook the business card in his hand, "What do I ask, what do you answer, do you know?"

"No problem, we just do some small business and don't do anything illegal. We have nothing to hide. We will definitely cooperate with the two of you in investigating the case."

"May I have your name?"

"Zhang Wenyan, this is my business card." The fat elder sister handed over a business card with both hands.

Luke took a look at the business card, Modern Mom Confinement Center:

The lobby manager, Zhang Wenyan.

"Who is in charge of the confinement center in this store?"

"My husband is in charge of big things, and I have the final say on small things. My husband is not here, so you can just tell me."

Luke observed the fat elder sister's figure, and secretly thought, it doesn't matter, the elder sister's body shape can't be the front desk.

"Do you know Mrs. Kenneth?"

"know."

"What's her real name?"

"Ma Yanfang, she later changed her name to Amy Ma because she thought it was ugly."

"It seems that you are quite familiar."

"It can't be said, but the Chinese circle is so big, it's not difficult to inquire about a person."

"What's the relationship between your confinement center and her?"

The fat lady frowned, feeling a bit embarrassed, "It doesn't really matter, it's just...how should I put it."

"I know that you have a relationship of interest. I came here just to investigate Amy Ma. I'm not interested in the gray interest chain in your confinement center.

You can now make hypothetical statements and what you say will not be admitted in evidence in court. "

The fat lady breathed a sigh of relief, "Actually, it's nothing, but she will help us introduce customers, and she can get a commission for every customer she introduces."

"How much does she get for introducing a client?"

The fat lady hesitated again.

"Don't hide it at this time. We are not from the IRS, and we don't care about tax evasion between you. We just want to investigate Amy Ma."

The fat lady was still worried, "Then why are you investigating her?"

"Amy Ma has been kidnapped and we are investigating those who have an interest in her."

"Kidnapping!" The fat elder sister showed a surprised look, "When did it happen, why don't I know?"

"Where were you on the night of June 19th between 9 and 12?"

"At home, it was my husband's birthday. I found a group of friends to celebrate my husband's birthday. The show ended after eleven o'clock, and it was twelve o'clock after packing up."

"When was the last time you saw Amy Ma?"

"It's been at least half a month. In fact, I don't like to associate with her very much. You said that she is not too young, and she is dressed up all day long. I don't like dealing with such people very much.

We only contact occasionally for work reasons. For example, if we have a client, she will call me. "

"Is there anything unusual about her during this time? Or has she offended anyone?"

The fat lady thought for a while, "About a week ago, on June 14th or 15th, someone came to see her.

Now that I think about it, that guy was kind of weird.

As soon as the man came, he said that Mrs. Kenneth had introduced him, and that his relatives wanted to come here for confinement, so I chatted with him.

At first, I felt quite normal. I asked about the situation of the confinement center, living environment, food, hygiene, etc. It seemed that I really had this idea, and I also carefully inquired about the current price.

When the conversation was almost over, I shifted the topic to Mrs. Kenneth, and kept asking me if I could contact Mrs. Kenneth so that I could ask her out.

I felt something was wrong, and I thought to myself, didn't you come here through her introduction?

Now why ask me about her again.

I felt there was a problem, so I didn't agree.

Later, he asked Mrs. Kenneth's address, but I didn't tell him.

Later, he saw that I ignored him and left. "

"Did he say why he was looking for Mrs. Kenneth?"

"No."

"Do you have any pictures or surveillance of him?"

"In order to protect the privacy of pregnant women, there is no monitoring inside the confinement center, but monitoring is installed outside."

"Would you describe to me what that man looked like?"

"Asian, thick eyebrows, wearing sunglasses, a little dark, medium build, about 1.8 meters tall, looks in his early thirties."

Following the fat sister's description, Luke compared the man's information with the on-site footprint identification information.

[shoes, lozenge-soled leather shoes

Sex: Male

Height, 175-180CM

Weight, 70-80 kg

Age, between 30 and 35 years old. 】

The height, weight, and age mentioned by the fat elder sister are roughly the same.

Luke pressed, "What shoes is he wearing?"

The fat lady scratched her forehead, "I don't remember clearly, it seems... it's leather shoes."

"How did he get here?"

"Looks like driving."

"What car?"

"A black car, I can't remember the exact brand."

Luke went outside and glanced at the camera above the door, "Call out the surveillance video, I want to check."

Although the fat elder sister was a little reluctant, she didn't dare to refuse. She followed Luke's instructions and tuned out the surveillance video.

Luke began to check the video on the morning of June 14, and the fat lady was also called aside by Luke.

Because the camera is fixed and the target is a parked black car, it is easier to check. Luke quickly found a black car and pressed the space bar, "Is it this car?"

The fat elder sister took a look, "It seems to be."

Luke continued to fast-forward the video, and a man stepped out of the car, facing the direction of the camera.

"Crack!" Luke pressed the space bar again, "Is that him?"

"Yes, that's him." The fat elder sister pointed at the screen with a determined expression on her face.

Luke stared at the screen to check carefully. An Asian man was wearing sunglasses, observed the surrounding situation, and then walked into the confinement center.

From this angle, you can just see the license plate on the front of the car, 8lFb898.

Luke asked, "Did he leave his contact information?"

The fat lady shook her head, "No."

Luke showed a thoughtful look, and this man was very suspicious.

First of all, not long before the incident, he came here to see Mrs. Kenneth, that is, Amy Ma.

Luke guessed that the other party, like himself, probably found this place through advertorial advertisements posted in WeChat Moments.

However, Amy Ma did not send out the address of her community. After all, her identity as Mrs. Kenneth was fake, and she was also afraid of being exposed.

In addition, the physical characteristics of the man matched the footprints found at the scene of the crime, indicating that he may have been to the scene of the crime, and may even be the kidnapper.

Now that the license plate number is known, it is not difficult to find the owner of the car.

...

Police Department.

Office of the Robbery and Murder Division.

There were quite a few people sitting around the office, including Rhett, Susan, the deputy team, deputy mayor Li Mei, Brown Kenneth, and the police officers of the technical team responsible for the monitoring equipment.

Brown's mobile phone was placed on the table, and it had already become the focus of everyone.

Brown glanced at the phone, feeling a little impatient, "It's already two o'clock in the afternoon, why hasn't the kidnapper called yet?"

Reid comforted, "Don't worry, as long as the kidnapper calls, we can track his location.

In addition, the kidnappers have revealed the new trading location, so we can rush to control in advance to ensure the safety of Betty and Amy Ma. "

Even though Li Mei was used to big scenes, she also showed a worried look, "What if the kidnappers don't call all the time?"

Everyone was silent.

Susan said, "As long as the kidnapper wants money, he will definitely call."

"Not necessarily." The deputy team shook his head and recalled, "I remember participating in the detection of a kidnapping case ten years ago.

At that time, the kidnappers also asked for a ransom, and the ransom was paid for the first time. Because the timing of the arrest was not ripe, and considering the safety of the hostages, the police gave up the arrest.

Later, the insatiable kidnappers tasted the sweetness and demanded the ransom for the second time.

This time, the police tried their best to arrest the kidnappers, and rushed to the delivery site ahead of time for surveillance, making full preparations...

But the kidnappers were never seen.

Half a month later, we found the hostage. She...had been starved to death. "

Brown showed a nervous look, and asked, "The kidnapper obviously asked for a second ransom, why didn't he call again?"

The deputy team sighed, "At that time, we were also very puzzled, why the kidnappers asked for a second ransom without any movement, but starved the hostages to death.

Two years later, the kidnapper was arrested for other cases. In order to find out why, I went to the prison to meet him.

According to him, he knew that the risk of getting ransom was high, and he took a big risk the first time. The second delivery of ransom is just an excuse, the purpose is to delay time, confuse the victim's family, and buy more time for escape. "

Brown was completely panicked. He looked at Reed, then at Susan, and finally at the deputy team, "Then what should we do? If the robbers have the same purpose, wouldn't Betty be in danger!"

We can't just keep waiting, absolutely not! "

Li Mei also said, "Deputy Director Ruide, apart from waiting for the kidnapper's call, does the Robbery and Murder Division have any other plans?"

Reid nodded, "Of course, Luke's deputy team is leading people to investigate another clue, and I believe there will be progress soon."