Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

From the existing situation, it's very likely that the kidnapper abducted the child from Maria's home, with the purpose of threatening her to kill George.

With Luke's experience, he guessed that the kidnapper staying at Maria's house was improbable.

The reason was simple, since Maria was coerced, no one could guarantee that she wouldn't call the police.

Even if she didn't call the police, it was very likely that Maria would be arrested.

Therefore, the kidnapper continuing to stay at Maria's house was unlikely.

However, the first direction of the investigation was directed at Maria's house; since the kidnapper had been there, it was very possible that some evidence might have been left behind.

Secondly, the previous statement was only Maria's side of the story, and Luke couldn't possibly trust her without any reservations.

Apart from Luke and Xiao Hei, there were also Raymond, Jenny, and several patrol officers on the scene.

During the interrogation of Maria, Luke had already clarified the structure of the house; it wasn't large, consisting of just one floor, 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchen.

Luke made simple arrangements and took out an infrared thermal imager from the trunk of the car.

The infrared thermal imager uses infrared imaging technology to detect the infrared radiation of a target and identify objects that are generating heat.

Without clarifying the situation inside the house, Luke didn't dare to rashly rush into it because it was quite dark, and he was worried that the officers might get injured.

Furthermore, it was very easy to accidentally harm a hostage without understanding the situation first.

This responsibility would be significant.

Using the infrared thermal imager to scan the house, Luke didn't find any suspicious heat-emitting objects resembling human shapes.

After all, it was his first time using such a device, and Luke was not sure how reliable it was, so he was still cautious while searching the house.

Afterward, Luke began to arrange specific actions.

Four patrol officers kept watch outside the house, and Luke, along with two patrol officers, entered from the back door to search the premises.

"Bang!" Xiao Hei kicked open the door and shouted, "LAPD!"

There was no movement inside the house.

Luke was the first to enter the house and turn on the lights on the right wall, but the house was empty and no one was to be seen.

Then, Luke led his team to search the rooms.

"Clear!"

"No target found."

"Clear!"

...

Soon, Luke and his team had searched the house once over and did not find the kidnapper or the target's presence.

But this search was only a rough sweep; next, they had to investigate the scene for clues left by the kidnapper and hostages.

Luke began his search from the living room, the place where the two children had taken photographs. Based on the angle of the photos, Luke deduced the position of the photographer, who should have been to the left of the TV.

Luke looked carefully but found no obvious footprints, leaving him no choice but to search for other evidence.

The living room left an impression on Luke; it was messy yet clean.

Messy referred to the disarray in the house.

Clean meant that the kidnapper had not left any valuable clues.

The good news was that no bloodstains or bodies were found, indicating that the two children were safe for the time being.

Also, the kidnapper would have needed a vehicle to take away two children.

"Luke, I found something," Raymond called out, holding an album as he walked out of the house.

Luke took the album, which was filled with photos of Maria's family, mostly of her with her two children.

One photo caught Luke's attention; it showed four people, besides Maria and her two children, there was a picture of a black man.

Judging from the age of the two children in the photo, it should have been taken years ago, and the man in the photo looked similar to another man from Luke's criminal sketch.

This was interesting.

If we go by Maria's statement, she did not know George, much less the kidnapper.

The kidnapper abducted her children because she happened to work at the hospital and had the opportunity to encounter and kill George.

Actually, Luke had his doubts at that time.

George was apprehended in the morning, and soon after, the kidnapper targeted Maria, who worked at the hospital, and even found out her home address and her children.

The abduction took place in the afternoon.

Was it impossible?

But to do all this, the kidnapper couldn't just be a single person; behind him, there must be a substantial force.

And the old photo that Raymond found introduced a different direction to the investigation.

Firstly, if the man in the photo was indeed George's accomplice, then he might also be the mastermind behind George's murder.

From the photo, the man seemed very close to Maria and her children, possibly her partner.

Luke had looked into Maria's family background; she was a single mother, and the identity of the children's father was unknown.

Based on this information, Maria should have known the kidnapper.

Therefore, whether she killed George under coercion needed to be questioned.

Luke felt there were two possibilities: first, the man was close to Maria and knew she worked at the hospital treating George, so he disguised himself as a robber and coerced Maria to kill George.

Conclusion, Maria didn't lie.

The second possibility was that the man had a deep relationship with Maria, and to avoid George giving him away, he asked Maria to kill George.

Conclusion, the kidnapping was fake, and the two were in the crime together. Maria claimed to be coerced as a way to lessen her own guilt.

Luke felt the second possibility was greater.

As for why Maria's lie was not detected, that wasn't surprising.

When Maria was interrogated, her emotions had already collapsed, her expression filled with panic and fear, masking other emotions.