Seeing the golden badge presented before his eyes, Jono was stunned, then revealed a happy expression and nodded repeatedly:
"Yes, my wife is missing, just last night, I...."
In the middle of speaking, Jono suddenly felt something was amiss. Why was it the FBI who came and not the New Jersey Police Department?
Thinking this, Jono's face changed dramatically, and he hurriedly asked:
"Agent sir, what exactly has happened to my wife? Where is she now?"
"Please calm down, Mr. Jono."
Luo An turned his head and gave Reesi a look, who nodded, walked upstairs, and with a few words, successfully got Jono's daughter to open her room door, easily entering her room.
Lai De then walked out of the room and began to observe around the apartment, trying to find some useful clues.
"Our goal is to find your wife; this is common between us."
Luo An gestured for Jono to sit down, and then said with a serious face:
"So please stabilize your emotions and answer my questions carefully, okay? The more detailed your description, the greater the possibility that I will find your wife!"
Upon hearing Luo An's words, Jono poured a glass of water, gulped it down, and after taking a deep breath, said with a grim expression:
"I married Susan two and a half months ago..."
There isn't a complex backstory; Jono, in his forties, had been married once before, but after his wife died in a car accident, he raised his daughter Hina alone.
In recent years, with Hina growing up and attending a boarding high school, Jono met his now thirty-year-old wife Susan during an incidental encounter.
Jono and Susan fell in love at first sight; their relationship was passionate and after some time, two and a half months ago, they were wed at the nearby Little Saint Phil Church.
Since their marriage, whenever Hina left high school and returned home, she was always temperamental, and the night before last was no exception.
Father and daughter had a big argument and went back to their respective rooms; the next morning, Jono suddenly realized the front door was unlocked and upon checking, his daughter was gone.
He immediately contacted the New Jersey Police Department to report her missing; simultaneously, Jono and Susan drove around looking for Hina.
Listening to this, Luo An took notes in his notebook, then looked up and asked:
"Susan was also looking for your daughter? Did you both search separately?"
Jono nodded his head, speaking gravely:
"About nine-thirty last night, I found my daughter in a small motel.
Then I called Susan, and she said she was near 'Louise Supermarket,' and could be back in half an hour, but by eleven o'clock at night, she hadn't returned home, and no one answered her phone."
Luo An scribbled in his notebook and continued asking, "Did Susan drive a car?"
Jono gestured towards an old red sedan outside, his face looking upset:
"Before marrying me, Susan had always driven this car.
Last night when she went missing, I went looking for her at the supermarket, and the car was parked at a corner across the supermarket, keys still in the ignition. As I couldn't find her, I drove the car back."
Luo An circled something in his notebook, preparing to check the supermarket's surveillance when he suddenly blinked, tilted his head, and asked:
"Mr. Jono, what is your wife's height and weight?"
"1.66 meters, about 45kg."
Luo An stood up from the couch, Reesi also came out from the daughter's second-floor room, waved goodbye to the daughter, and exited the apartment door with Luo An.
"Just a young girl deceived by the school's quarterback."
Seeing Luo An tilt his head looking towards her, Reesi shook her head: "This matter probably has nothing to do with her, at least I didn't see her lying to me."
Luo An nodded, trusting the judgement of Reesi who had come out from intelligence.
He turned his eyes towards Lede, who shook his head:
"There are no clues around the house, and no signs of struggle in the sedan. Clearly, the missing person, Susan, got out of the car on her own will."
No longer hesitating, Luo An decisively took the two back into the SUV and drove towards 'Louise Supermarket'
Louise Supermarket was a small grocery store similar to an Eastern snack shop, run by an elderly white woman named Louise.
Upon hearing Luo An's questions, Louise shook her head indicating her store couldn't afford surveillance cameras, and as for what happened last night...
"The woman had just got into the car when a gray sedan pulled up beside her."
Louise said her age made her eyesight poor, and she couldn't see clearly what happened last night:
"A white man in his forties with curly hair came out of the gray car, wearing an ordinary black jacket.
The man and the woman in the red car talked for a while. The woman got out of the car laughing, the man opened the trunk smiling, and before the woman could react, he stuffed her inside."
Luo An: "Okay... right."
Twitching the corner of his mouth, Luo An noted down what Louise had described in a notebook.
As for why Louise didn't call the police, that could only be attributed to the fact that those marking the bottom of society in America each have a past.
Luo An continued to inquire:
"Did you see the license plate of that car? Or, have you seen the driver before?"
"My eyesight is bad, how could I clearly see the license plate? It's even less possible to clearly see that man's face."
Louise pursed her lips, felt her dentures were slightly askew, adjusted them, and slowly said:
"But I have seen that man before when I went to eat at Little Saint Phil Church.
He never ate, just stood half in the shadow and half in the sunlight, silently watching the newlywed couple in the church and smoking."
Hearing this, Luo An, Reesi, and Lede exchanged glances with each other, their eyes brightening, just about to ask Louise a few more questions, when she suddenly took out three cans of drinks from the side and stuffed them into their arms:
"3 US Dollars, thank you."
Silently paying, Reesi and Lede went around to inquire and inspect the ancient, unconnected cameras, hoping to find some clues.
Meanwhile, Luo An walked towards the location where the red car had been parked the previous night.
"Mona, where I'm standing now, is there any connected surveillance?"
Upon hearing Luo An, the sound of keyboard tapping came from the other end of the phone, followed by Mona's sigh:
"Your area is part of the old town. A large area there doesn't have any connected surveillance."
Passing the color of the car and the time it left to Mona, Luo An continued:
"Then you check the main roads outside this area, ones with surveillance footage, and record the suspicious gray cars that appear during that time frame."
Hanging up the phone, after a short while, Reesi and Lede also came back.
"Most of the surveillance installed by the merchants are ancient and only point indoors."
Reesi's face didn't look too good: "A few cameras pointed outside, but the surveillance area only covers their own store's front doors."
Lede nodded: "Same on my side."
That's typical of America's old town areas, Luo An didn't say much, but took Reesi and Lede back into the SUV:
"Let's go to Little Saint Phil Church to have a look, I have a hunch we might find something surprising there."