Pek nodded, "That should be possible."

"Good. I hope you can take us to that house now."

...

Morleyville Community, No. 304.

Guided by Pek, Luke found the gray house he had described.

Luke stopped the car, looked around for a moment, neither spotting any suspicious individuals nor hearing any noise.

Besides Luke and Hope, there were four accompanying patrol officers at the scene.

Luke ordered two patrol officers to watch Pek and Martha, two officers to guard the back door, and he and Hope entered the house from the front to search.

The door was ajar, not closed.

Luke gently pushed open the door, perhaps due to professional sensitivity, or perhaps it was psychological, he faintly smelled a scent of blood.

Luke and Hope moved in a cross formation to search the room, one to the left, one to the right, one ahead, and one behind.

As they had already known the situation in the house in advance, their movements were agile and did not make much noise.

The house was not too large, containing only three rooms. Luke had already learned about the house from Pek before the search.

Luke and Hope first searched the study and the room where Pek and Martha lived; there was no one in either room. Finally, Luke and Hope moved into the master bedroom for search.

In the master bedroom, a black man lay beside the bed, shot twice, his blood spilled all over, eyes wide open; it was Jamie Brady, the suspect that the police were actively searching for.

Hope holstered her pistol, "Would you say this bastard got what he deserved?"

"Maybe," Luke replied, "right now I'm more concerned about who killed him."

Hope speculated, "Could it have been a robbery-turned-murder triggered by a theft?"

"Not likely. If it were a burglary, the killer would certainly have searched all the rooms and would have disturbed the two children." Luke approached the body and carefully observed, noticing that one bullet had hit the heart, likely the fatal wound.

Besides the gunshot wounds, there were no other marks on the victim's body; it was very clean and neat.

Luke could still faintly smell alcohol; there was a bottle of rum and a glass on the bedside table.

Hope said, "Is it possible that after killing the victim, the killer was so startled that he did not continue the theft and just ran away?"

Luke nodded, "That hypothesis is plausible, but isn't it a bit too convenient?"

"What do you think?"

"Considering the motive, I'm more inclined to believe it was the counterfeit organization silencing him. With his death, the trail of the entire counterfeit ring is cut off," Luke concluded, and took out his mobile phone to report to Susan.

Half an hour later, Susan led a team to the scene.

Interviewed the neighbors.

Checked community surveillance footage.

The survey team and forensic doctor took over the murder scene.

The deputy squad leader looked around the house and said, "I found cash and some valuables inside the house, so it's unlikely to be a burglary.

No signs of forced entry; it is very possible that the crime was committed by someone acquainted."

Raymond said, "We spoke with the neighbors around, and last night nobody heard any gunshots; I guess the killer probably used a silencer."

Jackson speculated, "There is another possibility—this might not be the primary crime scene."

The deputy squad leader objected, "Based on my decades of policing experience, this is absolutely the primary crime scene."

Susan said, "I just spoke with Pek, and from what he described, Jamie's death is very likely linked to the counterfeit money printing organization."

"Printing counterfeit money in Los Angeles and daring to kill people so casually, they are a lawless bunch," the deputy squad leader snorted and continued,

"According to our investigation, the counterfeit money has probably been circulating in the market for a while, and the FBI hasn't spotted a single clue."

Susan replied, "Maybe the FBI has already discovered the counterfeit money; they just don't know it's being produced in Los Angeles."

The deputy squad leader said, "Are you suggesting we should collaborate with them?"

"Why not? Perhaps their intelligence could help find Jamie's killer."

The deputy squad leader shook his head, "I don't want to cooperate with a bunch of rude people."

Half an hour later, the technical team completed the scene investigation.

Mary approached holding a preliminary scene investigation report, "Guys, I've completed the initial survey of the scene."

The deputy squad leader asked, "Is there anything we need to know?"

"Definitely, this should be the primary crime scene.

We found two mobile phones inside a locked bedside drawer." Mary handed the phones, sealed in a plastic bag, to Susan. The deputy squad leader intercepted one phone to inspect.

Susan said nothing but took the other phone to check.

Mary continued, "We also found some biological materials at the scene, which will be sent to the laboratory for testing.

Additionally, we discovered two bloody footprints, likely left by the killer."

Luke reached out for the photographs of the bloody footprints and subconsciously used the identification card; a set of data appeared in his mind.

[Shoes, thick-soled diamond-patterned leather shoes

Shoe size, 44

Gender, male

Height, 145-155CM

Weight, 40-45 kilograms

Age, between 8 to 12 years.]

Seeing this data, a word flashed in Luke's mind, contradiction.

The footprints of size 44 leather shoes should correlate with a height of approximately 180 to 190 centimeters.

However, according to the identification card, the owner of the footprints had a height of around 150 centimeters.

Having been a police officer for many years, Luke had seen instances where a person's foot size did not match their height; some people naturally have longer feet, but this ratio couldn't be that off.

Therefore, there was only one other reason that might explain it, 'small feet in big shoes'.

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