This bedroom is on the left side of the entire room, and it’s quite cluttered inside, adorned with numerous Spider-man posters on the walls and plenty of superhero comics on the desk.
It isn’t hard to guess that this is the room of Belinda’s son, Henry, a middle schooler.
Choosing to ignore the tissues by the computer and the pretty girl DVDs under the bed, Winslow and Reesi walked further into the room and asked curiously:
"Luo An, what did you find?"
Luo An pulled a stack of US Dollars from a compartment in the desk, and as Reesi reached over to shake it, Luo An frowned slightly and said:
"About thirteen thousand dollars, Henry couldn’t have that much pocket money."
"Belinda wouldn’t give him that much either; her financial situation isn’t that good."
"So, Reesi, take a look into where this money came from, see if Henry got it from selling illegal drugs or something, and whether it’s related to this case."
Luo An didn’t care much about whether the middle schooler, Henry, had broken any federal laws; he just wanted to know where this mother and son were right now.
Reesi immediately took the money and turned around. Luo An and Winslow didn’t find any useful clues in the room, so they left to check the surveillance cameras and to ask the neighbors.
Unfortunately, due to the building’s embrace of "freedom" and "privacy," the cameras were smashed, yielding nothing.
The neighbors on either side of Belinda’s house also had no clues; they knew nothing about what had happened to the mother and son and hadn’t heard any struggling noises or screams.
Using his "emotional perception," Luo An was sure the neighbors were telling the truth. Just as he and an expressionless Winslow were about to leave, an elderly white lady living on the first floor around the corner suddenly mentioned something.
"Belinda and her son left the building that night with a man."
Upon further questioning by Luo An and Winslow, the elderly white lady mentioned she hadn’t seen the man’s face clearly, only that he was white, taller than Winslow but thinner than Luo An.
Luo An and Winslow left the building and hadn’t driven far when Reese suddenly called:
"You two, I’ve tracked down the source of that money."
Luo An raised an eyebrow, Winslow was very surprised:
Reesi chuckled on the phone, saying:
"Besides Henry’s fingerprints, every bill had another person’s fingerprints—an individual definitely related to this money."
"Who is that person?"
"Jesse, one of Henry’s classmates."
"Good afternoon, Jesse."
In an office of a business school’s high school division in Las Vegas.
Winslow sat near the office door, leisurely drinking a cup of coffee, while Luo An and Reesi sat on two chairs inside, facing a young girl with red hair and a freckled face across the desk.
"It’s been two days since Henry and his mother disappeared, quite a terrible piece of news."
Seeing Jesse looking panicked and at a loss, Reesi pushed a cup of coffee towards her, chuckled, and asked:
"No need to be nervous, we just found out you were very close to Henry and know some things about him, right?"
"I really am friends with Henry."
Jesse swallowed, glanced at Luo An, then at Reesi, and said:
"But I don’t know his business, you know, I’m a girl, there are many things he wouldn’t tell me."
"Like that over ten thousand dollars?"
Jesse was startled for a moment and quickly averted her gaze to take a sip of coffee. She shook her head and said:
"Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about."
Seeing Jesse’s expression and actions, Luo An remained silent while Reesi burst out laughing:
"Jesse, deceiving the FBI and lying to the FBI can violate federal law.
Other than Henry’s fingerprints, each bill has yours on it. So, did you give that money to Henry?"
Jesse lowered her head, at a loss for words. Reesi raised her eyebrows and patted her shoulder:
"Jesse, this is your last chance, tell us the truth, otherwise, we will have to contact your parents."
"No! Don’t contact my parents!"
Upon hearing this, Jesse suddenly shrank her pupils and shouted as she looked up at the expressionless Luo An. Her body trembled violently, then she suddenly bowed her head and started crying.
A few minutes later, Jesse’s emotions gradually stabilized, and she began to explain what she knew.
Henry and Jesse were actually closer; both having good grades in high school, they had already started discussing which universities to attend.
However, in the federal states, tuition is a major issue. Jesse’s family wasn’t particularly wealthy, but they could afford enough for her college expenses.
On the other hand, Henry, from a single-parent family, was in a fairly average financial situation, and university meant taking out student loans.
"A few days ago, Henry suddenly pulled me aside mysteriously and took out fifty thousand dollars."
Jesse swallowed, indicating she was shocked at the time, thinking Henry had done something illegal.
Seeing Jesse worried and frightened, Henry assured her not to worry, claiming the money was legally earned online, and there was absolutely no problem.
With Henry’s repeated assurances, Jesse gradually let go of her anxious heart, and soon after school, the two started living a lavish life in the city of Las Vegas, and in the blink of an eye, ten thousand dollars was spent.
The reason Jesse dared not admit this was because out of that ten thousand dollars, Henry had spent a large portion on her, buying lots of clothes and jewelry.
Of course, Henry also loved his mother, but he couldn’t explain the money, so he secretly saved twenty thousand dollars, planning to give it to his mother under a proper pretext after starting university.
Looking up and exchanging a glance with Reesi, Luo An asked in a calm voice:
"This money Henry claimed to have legally earned online, what exactly is it about?"
"Henry said, someone online told him to call his mother one night, pretending to have fallen seriously ill, asking his mother to come home.
That fifty thousand dollars was an advance payment, and if his mother successfully came home, that person would give him another fifty thousand dollars."
At this, Jesse cried out again.
Jesse knew about Henry’s mother’s job; The Audel family villa case had been so highly publicized, she had heard about it.
Additionally, with Henry losing contact the next day, the intelligent girl instantly made some connections, but due to fear and the muddled thoughts in her mind, she dared not speak out, let alone call the police. She could only suppress herself, living these few days in a state of constant apprehension.
Luo An nodded slightly, his brows furrowed, making no judgments about this 16-year-old girl’s actions and methods. He directly asked:
"Jesse, the person Henry contacted online, do you know who he is?"
Jesse shook her head, then added:
"But I have seen Henry chat with that person on the computer. To prevent Henry from getting too close to other girls, I know the password for Henry’s chat account."
Luo An nodded in satisfaction and signaled Reesi to take Jesse to log into Henry’s chat account, while he pulled out his phone and called Mona:
"How’s the investigation going on your end?"
"Sorry, Chenier and I haven’t found any useful clues yet."
Then Mona changed the topic:
"However, Michelle did find some interesting new clues in that diary."