Legendary FBI Detective
Chapter 474: Clues from the Deceased, Investigation, Discoveries of the Agents

Chapter 474: Chapter 474: Clues from the Deceased, Investigation, Discoveries of the Agents

Receiving the phone passed by Horst from the Monitoring Department, a familiar male voice immediately came through:

"It’s me, Potante Byrne."

"Good evening, chief."

Luo An glanced at Horst without showing any emotion, and asked with a smile:

"It sounds like you’re in good spirits, chief."

"Indeed, not bad."

In a large interrogation room of the FBI Los Angeles Branch Monitoring Department, Potante Byrne looked at the cola burger meal on the table in front of him and chuckled, not dwelling on this topic but directly asked:

"How far has the Special Investigation Team gotten with this case?"

"We just found the assassin’s broker, and he’s already dead."

Luo An briefly described the scene situation, and after listening, Potante Byrne fell silent for a few seconds, then said:

"You guys are doing well, in the next five days the Special Investigation Team must pay extra attention to safety."

"I understand, chief."

A glint flashed in Luo An’s eyes, he understood the implication in Potante Byrne’s words, in five days the latter would leave the Monitoring Department to secretly lead the Special Investigation Team in handling this case.

"Good."

Potante Byrne nodded in satisfaction, chatted briefly with Luo An about some other matters, and then hung up the phone.

Luo An handed the phone back to Horst, and before long, several agents from the Trace Evidence Department arrived at the scene, and after processing the findings, they all returned to the FBI Los Angeles Branch building together.

————

The next day, at eleven in the morning, in the Special Investigation Team’s office area.

Due to the lengthy overtime last night, with Luo An’s permission, the agents of the Special Investigation Team had a good rest for a few hours and did not come to work until nearly eleven.

This was also another reason Winslow and Chenier liked the Special Investigation Team: the working hours were very flexible.

Other regular investigation groups at the FBI Los Angeles Branch did not have this privilege.

First, those groups had many agents, so if one agent took a temporary rest, other agents could cover for them.

Second, the Special Investigation Team was a temporary setup, often a one-man rule by the team leader, some rules were not mandatory for the Special Investigation Team.

Because of this, Horst from the Monitoring Department who also went home late last night, but entered the FBI Los Angeles Branch building at 8 am as usual, waited until 11 am to finally see Luo An and others. He took a deep breath and rubbed his somewhat sore eyes, suppressing the dissatisfaction and swearing in his heart.

After having rested well for several hours, an energetic Luo An patted Horst on the shoulder and passed him a pack of breakfast... lunch, and said with a laugh:

"Thank you for your hard work."

"..."

Serious-faced Horst stared at Luo An for a moment and then took the food:

"Thank you."

Luo An chuckled, raised his hand and pointed to the sofa in the back right corner of the Special Investigation Team office area, signaling Horst could rest there.

"Wait a moment."

At this, Horst frowned, and grabbed Luo An who was about to turn and leave, and asked in a serious tone:

"What’s today’s work plan for the Special Investigation Team?"

"Work plan? What plan?"

Luo An blinked, not understanding what Horst meant.

Horst explained that in the Monitoring Department, every day there is a corresponding work plan outlining each day’s tasks, whether or not they are completed maps to different evaluation standards.

"...It’s also not easy for people in your Monitoring Department to have held on till now."

After listening to the explanation, Luo An’s mouth twitched slightly, now fully comprehending why Horst was so meticulous in his work style.

"My Special Investigation Team doesn’t have a work plan; with investigative work, no one knows what might happen the next second."

Luo An didn’t want to discuss this topic further with Horst, quickly finished his lunch, and walked into the Special Investigation Team office area.

"Good afternoon, everyone."

Luo An walked up to the whiteboard at the front of the Special Investigation Team’s office area, affixed a photo of assassin Ernest and broker cum private investigator Sean Hoffman to the whiteboard, and first turned to look at Michelle, asking:

"How is the forensic autopsy going?"

The autopsy is a complex task that requires writing about many aspects in the formal report, and takes a long time.

However, many times, the Special Investigation Team, unlike other ordinary investigation teams, does not wait for the formal autopsy report to be written; instead, they directly go to the forensic department to inquire about the victim’s cause of death and material evidence found at the scene, and then immediately begin the next phase of the investigation.

"The detailed report isn’t out yet, but the cause of death has been confirmed."

Hearing Luo An’s question, Michelle, who had just visited the forensic department and got a handwritten brief report, stood up and replied:

"The cause of death for victim Sean Hoffman was a gunshot wound to the center of the forehead.

Based on a damaged pillow found at the scene, the forensic department determined that the assassin placed the pillow over the muzzle before shooting, using it as a makeshift suppressor.

There are no signs of forced entry into the villa, so it’s likely the killer was someone Sean Hoffman knew, or had met before.

Moreover, the bullet that caused Sean Hoffman’s death has also been ballistically tested.

Unfortunately, there are no firearms in the FBI internal database that match this bullet; it seems to be a new unregistered weapon."

Luo An then shifted his gaze to the others, and Reesi immediately stood up, frowning and said:

"According to the information found last night, I’ve found the last investigation Sean Hoffman was working on before his death.

It was a divorce case, where Sean Hoffman was hired by a financial institution owner to find evidence of his wife’s infidelity.

However, Sean Hoffman used this opportunity to extort money and sexually harass the wife of the financial institution owner..."

"Son of a bitch!"

"What a scumbag."

After Reesi finished narrating, the other female agents all grimaced and cursed under their breath.

Winslow frowned, sipped his coffee without a word, and seeing that no one else had any findings, Luo An clapped his hands and said:

"Everyone, our next tasks include examining Sean Hoffman’s past, who he met, what he did, and the situation shown by the surveillance around the villa.

At the same time, carefully check all items in the villa such as photos, tapes, disks, listening devices, memory cards, and laptops, and try to find out who exactly is the killer."

"Understood!" x5

Five agents responded in unison and then immediately began to move their chairs back to their stations to diligently investigate the clues as per Luo An’s instructions.

Regarding Sean Hoffman’s whereabouts before his death, because of his private investigator status, counter-surveillance techniques, and always using cash, Mona and Michelle spent a long time and yet could not find any useful information, and often they couldn’t even find his tracks.

However, in the disks, memory cards, and tapes found in the villa, the members of the Special Investigation Team acquired more information than they expected.

Adultery, infidelity, framing, male star’s private lives, female star’s private life photos... a heap of provocative content that would incite a media frenzy if released.

After examining the information in her hand, Reesi’s face showed contempt:

"I always thought the rumors of that Hollywood actress recently involved with some film company’s president were just fake scandals, but turns out they were true."

Chenier looked up, somewhat surprised:

"You follow celebrity gossip?"

"It’s not about following celebrities; I was merely attracted by the independent struggle exterior image that actress projected."

Reesi put the disk aside and shook her head:

"I just knew, in a place like Hollywood, how could there possibly be women who made it purely on ability."

"It’s hard to say..."

Chenier replied casually, and started to discuss quietly with Reesi.

On the other side, Winslow, looking at some backup information he found on the disk, facing Luo An with a face full of emotion, said:

"I really want to know now how much money Sean Hoffman made from all this information during his lifetime."

Luo An frowned slightly, just rising to remind the agents about keeping the information confidential, when Mona suddenly said with a strange look on her face:

"Luo An, I think I’ve found the murderer of Sean Hoffman, and the true mastermind behind this case."

"What?!"