CHAPTER 617: CHAPTER 617: [THE EXPLOSION SITE HAS THE LUO AN NAME CASE]

"Homicide scene? Luo An’s name?"

Upon hearing Winslow’s words, Mona’s face instantly turned ugly, and Luo An, who was handcuffed beside her, quickly grabbed the phone, signaling Mona to get the keys and unlock him while asking:

"What exactly happened? Where did you see this news?"

"I’m in New York right now."

Winslow on the other end of the phone said that he met the proprietor of a restaurant in New York while he was dining there earlier, and since it happened to be his day off, he went to New York and planned to ask her out for a shopping trip.

While they were on a date, an NYPD officer suddenly popped up, identified himself, and showed him a set of photos on his phone, which were from an explosion that had occurred half an hour ago where Luo An’s name was found at the scene.

"NYPD?"

Luo An furrowed his brows, and Mona quickly found the keys and unlocked the handcuffs on Luo An’s wrists.

Just then, Mona’s phone also rang abruptly, and when she pressed the answer button, Vireness’s voice came through:

"Mona, where is Luo An?"

Mona didn’t speak and directly handed the phone to Luo An, who threw the handcuffs aside and said:

"It’s me, boss."

Vireness asked:

"Why was your phone unreachable just now?"

"I was on the phone with Winslow."

Luo An replied casually, and without asking for more details, Vireness immediately said:

"You need to head to New York right away..."

Luo An’s eyes slightly narrowed as he asked:

"Is it about an explosion case, right?"

Vireness sounded somewhat surprised, and after listening to Luo An’s explanation, she nodded and said:

"Yes, your name turned up at the crime scene, you need to go there no matter what."

"No problem, boss."

"Stay safe."

"OK."

The call ended, and Mona, who had just organized the handcuffs, immediately leaned in and asked:

"What exactly happened?"

"Still unclear, let’s talk when we get to New York."

Closing his laptop, Luo An went upstairs to change his clothes, saying as he walked:

"The person behind the case might be targeting me."

Mona followed him upstairs, and remembering the one hundred percent success rate of the numero trece investigation team, asked with a grave expression:

"Could this be a provocation?"

"Maybe, with federal land so vast, we’re never short of ’talent’."

————

At four-thirty in the afternoon, in a commercial district in Southern New York, a central office building.

Taking the elevator up to the sixth floor, as soon as the elevator doors opened, Luo An was immediately greeted by a thick blackness.

This place was originally a very large office, but now it was a complete mess; the floor was littered with papers, scraps of fabric, chairs, sawdust, and other debris.

Besides the walls being blackened from the explosion, they were also covered with dark red bits of flesh, and Luo An, with his sharp sense of smell, faintly detected a scent of roast meat.

"What a horrific bomb."

Looking at the forensics team processing the tissue stuck to the wall, both Mona and Chenier who had rushed over with Luo An had very unpleasant expressions on their faces.

"Group Leader."

Not far away, Winslow, who had already arrived, was talking with two NYPD officers. Seeing Luo An and the others, he immediately came over to greet them, and then introduced:

"This is Chief Tom from the NYPD."

"Hello, Chief."

Luo An shook hands with the chief, a man with a large belly, somewhat round face, and nearly no hair.

"Hello, Group Leader Greenwood."

Chief Tom nodded his head, and after a brief exchange of greetings, he handed Luo An a white evidence bag, explaining:

"The primary cause of this explosion was a delivery package filled with high explosives.

Besides this bomb package, there was another smaller parcel hidden in the corner by the office entrance.

After the explosion, the office was a mess, but this smaller parcel outside survived.

When we opened the small parcel, we found this inside."

The few people present turned their attention to the clear evidence bag in Luo An’s hand, which contained a common A4 paper with fold marks.

In the corner of the A4 paper was a black [X] mark, and in the center was a sentence, which Chenier read out word for word:

"Roan Greenwood, you are a funny man, let’s play a game."

"..."

After Chenier finished reading the specific content, her expression instantly turned exceedingly grim, and Mona’s demeanor also darkened in a flash. Winslow, standing by, furrowed his eyebrows tightly, while Chief Tom and others had varied expressions as they looked at Luo An.

Chief Tom sighed. They had all heard of Luo An’s reputation before, and if things went as expected, he felt that Luo An would likely have a hard time getting through this ordeal.

Mona was also filled with myriad thoughts in her head. Looking up at Luo An, she was surprised to discover that Luo An showed no sign of panic or anger, his facial expression unaltered, still very calm.

Mona was slightly puzzled and asked softly:

"Luo An, are you..."

"I’m fine."

Luo An waved his hand to interrupt Mona, passing the clear evidence bag to Chenier, and then looked at Chief Tom, asking:

"Is there anything else left by the culprit at the scene?"

"We haven’t found anything else for the time being."

Seeing Luo An’s composed face, Chief Tom was surprised and felt a flicker of admiration inside. He then shook his head in response:

"The FBI’s forensics team is processing the scene, they might find something."

"OK."

After a brief discussion, Chief Tom led his NYPD team to leave first.

Because the scene had been severely damaged by the bomb, the forensics team needed time for a thorough examination, so Luo An led Investigation Team Number 13’s agents out of the scene towards an area of the office that had not been destroyed by the bomb.

As they stood in place, Mona hastily took the clear evidence bag and said:

"Luo An, this guy is clearly targeting you."

"That’s right."

Winslow nodded his head, his face serious as he said:

"This person is either a madman or a mental patient; we absolutely can’t let ourselves be led by the nose."

"Don’t forget the media, everyone."

Chenier’s brow was furrowed tightly as she said:

"We cannot let this incident be reported by the media. Otherwise, the media will pin a "Sherlock Holmes" label on Luo An. If they follow us for the news and observe every move we make during our case solving process, then we will be unilaterally transparent in the eyes of the culprit, making it even harder to find and catch him.

If we ultimately fail, the media will trample Luo An as deeply as they had previously praised him."

Mona kept nodding her head, adding:

"Moreover, once this gets reported, if other cases occur during that period, all of them will be blamed on Luo An by those media.

Even if Luo An catches the culprit, the media will badmouth and ridicule him."

Mona, Chenier, and Winslow discussed with faces growing grimmer by the minute, and their mood also became increasingly somber.

Finally, they all turned their eyes to Luo An and asked:

"Luo An, what do you plan to do?"

"As for the media, I will give Vireness a call and have her handle it."

Becoming notorious would not benefit Vireness in any way, and it would be even more true for Mr. Clement behind her, so Luo An could be sure that either Vireness or Mr. Clement would step in to deal with the media on his behalf.

"I’m mainly thinking about this culprit."

Luo An took the clear evidence bag from Mona’s hand, his eyes narrowed slightly as he asked:

"Everyone, have you noticed that something’s off about the content of the paper?"