CHAPTER 407: CHAPTER 407: INTERROGATION, SIBLINGS’ CHILDREN

At 8 a.m. the next morning, at the Special Investigation Team office.

Winslow and Chenier were escorting Kelly Hunter from the hospital to the Special Investigation Team, while Reesi and Michelle were rushing Kelly Hunter’s cousin Leona from her home to the Special Investigation Team.

Last night, after hearing Reesi’s words, Luo An followed her back into the apartment, where he had the time to carefully observe the layout of the apartment interior and found it gave off a very warm feeling, filling him with a sense of home.

Kelly Hunter’s cousin Leona was standing in the bedroom on the second floor of the apartment at that time, cursing at several SWAT team members in the room.

Reesi led Luo An into the bedroom’s bathroom, opened the ceiling above the bathroom, and in a hidden compartment, there was a black briefcase. Inside, it contained unsequential old banknotes of one US dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, and twenty dollars, totaling less than $30,000.

It wasn’t hard to guess that this money was the proceeds Kelly Hunter obtained after completing a job, as well as her regular expenses.

Reesi closed the briefcase, indicating that Kelly Hunter couldn’t have gained only this much from one job; there must be other funds hidden away.

Luo An agreed with Reesi’s opinion but didn’t say much, because his attention was on another matter:

There were many pregnancy-specific cosmetics in the bathroom and many boxes of folic acid, all of which indicated that Kelly Hunter’s cousin Leona was pregnant.

However, according to the data Michelle had previously checked, Leona had not been dating a boyfriend recently, and her daily life pace was simple, almost a straight line between home, company, and supermarket, without visits to bars, nightclubs, or other entertainment places...

"Luo An, I’ve found it."

While Luo An was sitting at the office, Reesi’s desk, looking down at the archiving records of Kelly Hunter’s life, Mona suddenly reached out and tapped his arm, saying:

"Four months ago, accompanied by Kelly Hunter, she went to a hospital in Los Angeles for some gynecological and heart rate tests necessary for pregnant women.

I couldn’t find out the specific results, but the surveillance footage from the hospital corridor shows Kelly Hunter and Leona very happy..."

The computer in front of Mona was playing the surveillance video from the hospital corridor that day:

Kelly Hunter and Leona came out from the doctor’s office with joy on their faces; Kelly Hunter first kissed Leona briefly, then knelt down to listen to Leona’s belly, getting gently hit on the shoulder a few times by Leona, before they slowly left the hospital with Kelly Hunter hugging Leona.

"So... the child in Leona’s stomach is Kelly Hunter’s."

After watching the surveillance, Luo An scratched his head with a strange look, and Mona shrugged, saying:

"I just did a careful investigation, Leona and Kelly Hunter’s respective parents are the third generation of the Hunter Family, and the two of them are the fourth generation.

Although the two have a sibling relationship, they are not closely related by blood."

"OK."

Luo An nodded his head. When he was reviewing Kelly Hunter’s file just now, it showed that when Kelly was a child, his parents went to Heaven due to a car accident, and for the subsequent decade and more, he lived at Leona’s mother’s house, so it seemed normal for them to develop a relationship over the years.

Right then, Winslow and Chenier arrived at the Special Investigation Team with Kelly Hunter in custody. Seeing this, Luo An stopped pondering over the fifth generation of the Hunter Family and immediately got up to go into the interrogation room.

Inside the interrogation room, Kelly Hunter, with some bandages on his shoulder and right hand and his left hand tightly cuffed to the interrogation table, sat in the chair silent.

No matter what Luo An and Chenier asked, even if it was about the child in Leona’s womb, he stayed mute with a wooden face, never speaking, at most shifting a bit to change his position when he got tired.

After half an hour of gaining nothing, the two walked out of the interrogation room. Luo An tossed his notebook onto the table, muttered a curse under his breath, then picked up his tea cup and started drinking.

Chenier’s face was also unpleasant; in terms of interrogation work, you can deal with an interviewee who curses or uses foul language, but what’s truly challenging is an interviewee who remains silent.

If it were a common case, you could find a psychologist to grind away slowly at the suspect, bit by bit getting them to open up.

But in this case, with three anti-tank missiles unaccounted for, the Special Investigation Team really doesn’t have the luxury of time for such methods.

Fortunately, it was not long before Reesi, Michelle, and Leona arrived at the Special Investigation Team.

Considering that Leona was currently pregnant and wasn’t the main suspect in this case, Luo An didn’t have Reesi and Michelle place her into the interrogation room but instead took her into the spacious and bright conference room next door, also getting a box of milk for Leona from Reesi’s desk.

Reesi: "..."

In the conference room, Luo An sat opposite Leona, with Chenier seated beside her.

Pregnant women are emotionally sensitive and prone to agitation; having Chenier, a fellow woman, sit beside Leona could quickly reduce her discomfort in the new environment and provide Leona with some comfort, quickly bridging the gap between them.

Therefore, the interrogation was mainly conducted by Chenier, with Luo An responsible for taking notes and providing prompts.

"Good morning, Ms. Leona."

Chenier gently pushed a cup of milk in front of Leona, briefly introduced the case, and asked softly:

"Do you know any clues about this matter?"

"..."

Leona tapped on the cup filled with milk without drinking, and after a few seconds of silence, she countered:

"I want to know how Kelly Hunter is doing now?"

Chenier picked up the cup of milk for Leona and answered:

"He is currently being held and will soon face serious charges of first-degree murder. He’s likely going to spend the rest of his life in prison."

Upon hearing this, Leona, while rubbing the cup, said with a complex expression:

"He’s not talking, right?"

"That’s correct."

Chenier nodded, then added:

"But if you cooperate with us, we can help him."

"..."

Another lengthy silence.

Luo An and Chenier were not in a hurry this time, as Leona’s fidgeting hands on the milk cup and the gradual change in her eyes made it clear she was struggling with the decision.

As time ticked away, Luo An thought for a moment, wrote the word "child" on a piece of paper, and showed it to Chenier from a position where Leona couldn’t see.

Chenier instantly understood Luo An’s intention and began to talk to Leona about pregnancy, children, and the difficulties encountered during the process.

Finally, Leona exhaled and whispered:

"Kelly has always been like this since he was a child. When he does something wrong, he’d rather take a beating and take all the consequences than apologize."

"But this time, he made a mistake that’s a bit too big."

Chenier responded softly:

"In federal terms, it’s very difficult for a woman to raise a child alone, and a child’s growth cannot be separated from their father, can it?"

"You’re right."

Leona nodded vigorously, took a sip of milk, and then said somberly:

"I know some things, I can tell you all of them, but I have one condition."

Chenier furrowed her brows slightly, and Luo An remained composed, asking:

"What condition?"

Chenier had thought that Leona would ask for a reduced sentence for Kelly Hunter or something similar, but unexpectedly, Leona put down the cup of milk heavily on the table and said coldly:

"I want to slap Kelly!"