Before Zoe Sawyer could answer, she was pulled against a broad chest.
"Who are you? Why are you pestering my friend?" Evan Keller turned, shielding Zoe in his arms.
Sean Hughes also watched Linus and his companion warily.
The woman hadn't expected them to arrive so quickly. She hurriedly waved her hands and explained, "A misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding. We just saw someone bothering her and thought we'd come over to keep this young lady company.
Now that you're here, we'll be on our way."
With that, she grabbed Linus and they quickly left the area.
'Dammit!'
'The merchandise I'd set my sights on just slipped right through my fingers!'
As the woman passed Zoe Sawyer, she couldn't resist spitting on the ground in disgust.
'I knew I shouldn't have bothered with the soft approach. I should have just grabbed her and been done with it!'
'Perfect. Now I've lost one, and I'll have to waste time finding another!'
"Back to the car. I have something very important to tell you." Ignoring her current position, Zoe Sawyer's voice was tight with anxiety as she urged Evan Keller and Sean Hughes to take her back to the car.
'This isn't the place to talk about it!'
'Besides, there were only two of them. What if they chased after them rashly and tipped off the whole group!'
Evan Keller and Sean Hughes understood the gravity of the situation. Without a word, they led Zoe Sawyer back to the car.
In the back seat, Sean Hughes checked Zoe Sawyer over from head to toe. He breathed a sigh of relief only after confirming she was uninjured, aside from being covered in a layer of dust.
"Did you find something else?" Evan Keller asked, his eyes meeting Zoe Sawyer's in the rearview mirror as she leaned against Sean Hughes's shoulder.
At the mention of it, Zoe Sawyer shot upright. She stared at the two men and said, enunciating every word, "Yes! It was another crime scene! I crossed over into it this time. I was practically face-to-face with them!"
SCREECH!
Evan Keller slammed on the brakes.
Caught off guard, Zoe Sawyer and Sean Hughes lurched forward, quickly bracing themselves with their hands to keep from falling.
Evan Keller glanced into the back. "We're at the station," he said gravely. "Let's go inside. It'll be better to talk there, and we can call the others in."
'Judging by the look on Zoe's face, this case wasn't going to be simple.'
The three of them hurried across the lobby, where they saw several family members clustered around Officer Reed, wailing in grief.
Some of them periodically beat their chests, the picture of utter heartbreak.
"What's...?" Zoe Sawyer glanced over and couldn't help but ask.
Sean Hughes explained, "They're the families of the victims from the previous case. We only finished exhuming all the bodies that group buried yesterday."
"Once the medical examiner confirmed we hadn't missed anyone, we notified the families to come and identify the remains."
An expression of pity crossed Zoe Sawyer's face. 'They were still holding on to hope. The hope that maybe their loved ones were still alive.'
'Making them come to identify the bodies now... wasn't that just another form of cruelty?'
'If only I had discovered this sooner, could things have ended differently?'
"Don't overthink it. If you hadn't found them and called the police when you did, they might be receiving a package with their loved one's head inside right now."
"That would be far crueler for them. You've already done a great job, so don't be so hard on yourself." Sean Hughes could tell exactly what Zoe Sawyer was thinking. He patted her on the shoulder, urging her not to dwell on it.
"Yeah."
Zoe Sawyer composed herself and walked back into the office used by Evan Keller's squad.
The rest of the team was already inside and prepared. They were just waiting for the three of them to arrive to start the meeting.
Zoe Sawyer didn't hold anything back, recounting in detail everything that had happened from the moment she "entered" the scene to the moment she "left".
After Zoe Sawyer finished speaking, Evan Keller began tapping his pen absently on the table.
"This gang is unusually smart. And incredibly cautious. They don't overlook even the slightest possibility."
"For a group like this, we need to identify every single member and take them all down in one go. If even one gets away, the consequences will be endless." Sean Hughes looked at the notes in his hand, feeling how thorny the case was becoming.
'They're ruthless, have strong counter-surveillance skills, and a certain level of technical ability.'
'A crew like that won't be easy to catch.'
"Liam, once you've locked onto the tracker's location, pull the nearby surveillance footage. I want to know everyone who comes in or out of that area!" Having already decided on a course of action, Evan Keller rapidly issued his orders.
"Yes, sir!"
After acknowledging the order, Officer Lee's fingers began to fly across his keyboard.
"Sean," Evan Keller said, turning to Sean Hughes, who was sitting beside him. "Look into recent missing person reports. Try to narrow down potential identities for the victim."
'He has an incredible memory for faces; he never forgets anyone he's seen. He's the perfect person for the job.'
Sean Hughes nodded and began contacting his sources outside the office to see if there was any new intelligence.
Evan Keller stroked his chin. 'This gang is no pushover,' he thought. 'We need to make sure they can't slip away, but we also have to be fully prepared before we make our move.'
"No, this isn't enough. We need to find another way in," Zoe Sawyer murmured, staring at the information she had just laid out as she sank into thought.
"There is an opening! Those two people!" Zoe Sawyer slapped her forehead. 'How could I have forgotten!'
'Recounting the whole thing just now had made her relive that initial panic and helpless frustration, and for a moment, she'd completely forgotten about Linus and Tiger.'
'It wasn't until she heard Evan Keller's voice that it all came flooding back.'
Zoe Sawyer patted her cheeks in frustration. Looking at the others in the conference room, she said, "I forgot to mention—that man and woman from earlier... I don't know the woman, but the man was Linus! The one who was moving the body!
And right before you arrived, Tiger also came over, pretending to be a good guy. He told me to go sit with him at the place across from us."
Evan Keller slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet, his eyes alight with excitement.
The tracker's location wasn't far from the mall, but it wasn't right across from it, either.
The place Tiger pointed to must be another one of their hideouts!
'It might even be a transfer point for their operations!'
"I'll have someone pull the surveillance footage from that area right now. We'll get some stills for you to identify," Evan Keller said, looking at Zoe Sawyer. "Miss Sawyer, we'll have to trouble you again."
Zoe Sawyer shook her head, indicating that it was no trouble at all.
'Thinking about how she might already be on their radar, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep soundly until they were caught.'
The other officers weren't idle. They began pulling not only the immediate surveillance footage but also footage from a wider radius, to ensure no one slipped through the cracks.
Soon, a thick stack of surveillance stills was placed in front of Zoe Sawyer.
"Miss Sawyer, we're counting on you."
Evan Keller handed a red pen to Zoe Sawyer, his expression grateful.
Zoe Sawyer said nothing. She took the pen and began flipping through the stills, one by one.
"Found them!"