"It is obvious that this is where the murderer is looking for prey, and nearby are the three places where the bodies were abandoned, so the place where he tortured and killed the three victims should also be within this range.
Considering the murderer's modus operandi, the murderer's torture lasted for at least several hours before killing the three victims, so this place needs to be hidden enough."
Jack handed the map back to Ma Xidao, "Let's use this center point as the center of the circle to investigate the nearby buildings, what do you think?"
Ma Xidao's original silly look turned into the fierce look of a gangster boss after he frowned, "Then there is no need to bother, except for a bank and a 24-hour pharmacy, there is only a 4-story commercial and residential building."
"Then what are we waiting for? Just check one by one." Aubrey said eagerly.
"No problem, you search the scene and try to find suspicious persons. I have contacted Prosecutor Kim Junhao. The police department can't find the property owner information and lease contract.
We will go to the property management office at No. 50 Hanjiang Road together to see if there is anyone there who fits your profile. If possible, he will directly contact the judge to issue a search warrant."
After Jubal finished speaking, the voice on the phone changed to Jiejie, "So, Jack, are you sure you didn't find any signs of sexual abuse on the victim?"
"No, just like the previous two victims." Jack also had doubts about this, "Maybe the suspect is completely impotent and can only get pleasure by hurting women's faces."
"So the suspect is a pure sexual sadist? Performing plastic surgery on the victim's face to create his own perfect woman to get the pleasure of sexual release and control?
After doing all this, he abandoned her in the garbage dump. This is not very common." Jiejie's tone on the phone was closer to talking to herself.
Jack glanced at Ma Xidao, who was also on the phone, then inconspicuously stepped away. He lowered his voice, "Considering the alarming levels of PDE5 inhibitors in the Han River water, this doesn't seem so difficult to understand.
Remember the warning I gave you three before we left?"
PDE5 inhibitors, also known as tadalafil, are male enhancement drugs with a longer-lasting effect than Viagra. As for Jack's warning, Jiejie's frustration was evident in her equally subdued voice.
"We all thought you were exaggerating until I discovered hidden cameras in the women's restroom at the National Police Agency. This country is... insane."
Nowadays, Korean women, whether shopping or working, are required to carry two types of paper when entering the restroom: toilet paper and small stickers.
The stickers are used to cover the ubiquitous holes in restrooms. In South Korea, whether in subways, public restrooms, hotels, or even changing rooms at shopping malls, hidden cameras are everywhere, a level of perversion even surpassing that of neighboring Japan.
Some voyeurs not only film in public places but have even taken to filming in their own homes and uploading the videos online. Sons film their mothers, brothers film their sisters, and even couples filming each other is commonplace.
"We've checked the shops on the first floor and the residents on the second and third floors. The shops don't seem suspicious, and the residents are mostly elderly or with families. The fourth floor is for offices, and without a search warrant, we can only look around the entrances of those small businesses,"
Clay said, approaching Jack. Following him were Aubrey, Ma Xidao, and two other detectives he had called.
"Is this elevator direct?" Jack waved over to the elderly security guard who was watching from the sidelines, pointing to the locked elevator in front of him. The
elderly security guard looked to be at least seventy years old, slightly stooped, with veins bulging in his thin arms, as if they could be blown away by the wind.
"This is the elevator to Room 412. That office has been empty since last year. No one has been in or out," the old man said, trembling as he walked over.
Jack pulled out a $20 bill and shoved it into his hand, smiling, "Please open the elevator."
"That's against the rules. I'll get a complaint from the owner." The old man clutched the $20 bill tightly, but kept pushing it away.
Jack simply stuffed the remaining $20 bills in his wallet into the elevator. "Please be flexible, old man. We just need to go up and confirm something."
A few minutes later, "Ding Dong!" The elevator doors rang, and Jack, looking at the dusty and trash-covered carpet in the hallway, reached for his sidearm pistol.
Several distinct wheel tracks were visible on the cheap plastic carpet, leading all the way to the door of Room 412.
Following Jack's downward pointing finger, the others noticed the tracks as well. These fine marks were distinctive, caused by the distinctive U-grooved wheels of supermarket shopping carts.
The specially designed grooves on supermarket shopping cart wheels are designed to mate with the raised bumps on the escalator, preventing the cart from sliding down.
Seeing the three FBI agents draw their sidearms, Ma Xidao and the two detectives he had summoned also drew their own revolvers.
South Korean police still use the Smith & Wesson M60 revolver, which holds only three live rounds in its five-round magazine. The first round cannot be loaded, and the second position must be loaded with blanks.
Ma Xidao glanced at the imposing SIG Sauer P320-XTen rifles in the FBI's hands, then at the miniature revolvers in the hands of the two detectives, and angrily pushed his way through the crowd to the front.
Seeing the man's careless demeanor, Clay and Jack, worried about him, quickly rushed forward and leaned against the door.
"Bang, bang, bang!" Ma Xidao pounded on the door with a deafening roar. "Open the door, police!"
"Jack, there's blood!" Clay gestured toward the ground near the bottom of the doorframe, and Jack nodded slightly. He'd already smelled a faint stench of corpses the moment he entered the hallway. No need for a search warrant, they simply broke down the door.
"Bang! Clang!" Before either man could move, Ma Xidao's final, powerful slam cracked the already loose hinges, sending the door tumbling back into the room.
A swarm of flies, accompanied by a strong stench of corpses, filled Ma Xidao's face. He instinctively raised his arms to shield his face and took a long step back. Jack and Clay took the opportunity to pass him, filing in one after the other.
"Clear!"
"No one's here!"
The office was small, a little over 100 square meters divided into two rooms. Barely a desk, not even a desk. Besides debris and trash scattered across the floor, a simple stainless steel examination table sat in the center of the inner room.
The overpowering stench of corpses emanated from this very spot. Blood splattered across the walls, floor, and even the ceiling, much of it dried and blackened, overlapping each other, clinging to the remains of dead flies and maggots.
Ma Xidao's two minions retched uncontrollably, and he waved them away. "Don't mess this up here! If you dare vomit, I'll make you lick it clean."
Jack, who had been fine at first, was nauseated by his words.
"It's a complete slaughterhouse," Aubrey muttered, holding his nose. He carefully stepped around the bloodstains and made his way to the half-open window, trying to get some fresh air.
"Uh, guys, I think you should come over here." He suddenly pointed out the street in surprise. "Isn't that the 'Red Petals' flower shop you mentioned earlier?"
"Yeah, that's right." Ma Xidao waved a fly away and walked over to him, opened the window, pointed a finger at the flower shop, and pointed to the other side of the street.
"This is the nail salon. That's the shop where Elsa Byquist works."
As he spoke, the flesh on his cheek trembled, and he suddenly realized. "Ashiba, this pervert is standing here to observe the situation and select victims?"
(End of this chapter)