MMB Chapter 117 Undercurrents
Chapter 117 Undercurrents
Chapter 117 Undercurrents
After the assistant bishop left, Lee Ethan began to complain.
"What era are we living in? To still be committing anti-Christian sins is simply ridiculous."
Eric Harris said with a stern face.
"Ethan, don't offend such big shots. Not to mention us, even our superiors, the sheriff, and even the governor, are affected by the parish. They need votes."
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""
This is a stark fact: although the church is a religion, it has long influenced the government through votes.
Eric Harris patted his subordinate on the shoulder.
"If it is indeed an antichrist crime, then hand the case over to them. I'll give you a week to investigate."
"I see."
The unexpected turn of events prompted Li Yisen to take the matter seriously. If yesterday's case was just handled according to routine, now he had to go all out.
Just then, two figures walked in; it was Andy's group, though they looked a bit disheveled.
"Andy, has your group solved the theft case?"
"It's all done. The prisoner has confessed and submitted the evidence."
Li Yisen suddenly smelled a foul odor. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the two people's clothes and hair were a bit dirty. Evelyn, in particular, looked miserable and tried to get closer, but Li Yisen pressed her forehead with his finger.
"Did you guys fall into a garbage dump?"
"Ugh, the prisoner escaped into the junkyard, and we went and got into a fight."
Li Yisen waved his hand dismissively.
"Go take a shower, we'll talk when you get back."
Evelyn and her companion left with resentful glances.
Soon after, the three groups began their first full-team operation. Li Yisen didn't know how long he could remain as the acting group leader, so he could only hurry up.
On the first day, the five of them divided the work. Except for Kaiya, who stayed at the police station to access the town's electronic files through the police system, they had to carefully review each case.
However, this only includes cases from 05 onwards. Earlier files were not all entered into electronic format; only the case list exists, while the detailed information remains on paper.
The four then split up to inquire in the town if there were any other eyewitnesses. Lee Ethan quickly learned from an old man that there was another missing girl two years ago.
"Beta Bryant?"
Li Yisen was taken aback; he hadn't seen this case when he checked the electronic file list last night.
"Disappeared two years ago?"
"Yes, it's a case from two years ago. When you came to ask me about it, I assumed you were talking about Little Beta."
Lee Ethan went directly to the local police station and received a different message.
"It's been withdrawn?"
The middle-aged station manager handed the document to Li Yisen.
"Yes, it was Beta's mother who called the police. At that time, Setwood still had its own police station. The sheriff at the time found out that her father had taken the girl away directly because Beta's mother was a drug addict and had died of a drug overdose the previous year."
"That's against the rules, isn't it? This file hasn't been entered into the computer yet?"
"You can't ask for too much from a small-town police station. If a remote town had funding, it wouldn't have been taken over by our county police."
Lee Ethan nodded. In places with limited funding, even police officers could be criminals. Before leaving, he asked one more question.
"How did the crime rate for similar cases in this town compare to other places?"
The sheriff frowned.
"It should be twice that of the average area, but things got much better after I took office. This is the only case in two years."
Lee Ethan had a hunch that the two cases might be related.
As evening fell, in the three offices, the five people gathered together to summarize the clues they had obtained, and Li Yisen took out a photo of a girl.
"Beta Bryant, the former sheriff claims he left with his father. Evelyn, could you please check with the IT department regarding tax returns, phone calls, spending information, etc.? We need to see them, father and daughter, dead or alive."
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Evelyn took the document and nodded.
Lee Esen looked at Kaia.
"Are the electronic records suspicious?"
The policewoman shook her head.
"There were too few records, so I brought that pile of stuff back from the archives."
The sight of the boxes made the three men's expressions crumble. Getting used to electronic files and having to search them manually was such a hassle. And there were so many of them. Oh well, two years ago the town's police station was still using paper records.
"Everyone, please work a little overtime tonight. I'll treat you to a late-night snack."
The sky began to lighten, and Evelyn returned to the office with slight dark circles under her eyes. Apart from Ethan Lee, the other three were not much better off.
"I have some spending records in this small town, but none outside of it."
Lee Ethan picked up the document, looked at it for a while, wrote an application form, and handed it to Andy's team along with the evidence.
"I went to the court to apply for the right to investigate, and then to the bank to check the bank card records. I suspect that the two people are already dead. If they are really dead, then the former police chief is a strong suspect."
"Let's go now."
Lee Ethan and his team continued their investigation from Sancy Perry's perspective, including the places where prostitutes worked.
When Lee Ethan arrived, he was surprised to see two gangsters engaged in a full-blown brawl, while the women gathered there watched from the sidelines.
The sound of police cars scattered the gangsters who were about to start a fight. Lee Ethan frowned as he looked at the money exchange in front of him.
There were quite a few people, more than 20, and most of them were young women.
Upon questioning the women, it was discovered that they had gathered together from several surrounding residential areas, some of whom were runaways, others were orphans, and there were various other reasons.
When asked about Sancy Perry, a prostitute who claimed to be an acquaintance actually appeared.
"Sanxi left a month ago with a tall, big man. I've only met him a few times. Sanxi said they seemed to have been to a church, but I really don't know anything else."
"Could you come back with us and have a composite portrait drawn?"
A woman's instinct is to refuse, but Ethan Lee has a way to deal with it.
"$500, at most two days."
"make a deal."
On his way back, Lee Ethan asked the woman about the silver shop and received some unexpected news.
For example, the money-selling point was under the protection of the former sheriff two years ago. The girls had to give the sheriff a cut of about 3% of their business. After the sheriff left, it came under the protection of the Baptist Party until recently when the Baptist Party was taken down.
"The Baptist Party?"
"Yes, the Baptist Party. The man in charge and I were classmates; we were both students at the God-protected school."
"A parish school?"
"yes."
Lee Ethan never expected to hear about the Baptist Party again. He investigated it not long ago but found no new progress. Then, his superiors said to completely destroy the Baptist Party, so he stopped paying attention to it.
Nowadays, it is not uncommon for students from parish schools to join right-wing extremist groups.
Do you know any other students from other parish schools who have joined the Baptism Party?
I've only heard of two.
Two is not too few; the origins of the Baptist Party members have truly piqued his curiosity.
The investigation by the three groups progressed slowly over the next two days, but steadily.
Evelyn's team visited all the major banks in California but couldn't find any bank records of Beta Bryant and his daughter. Even the money in the banks was untouched, suggesting the situation was likely dire.
Lee Ethan's team is also making good progress. Putting aside whether the simulated portrait of the prostitute is useful, they have also discovered a new idea.
That is, both Sancy Perry and Beta Bryant graduated from Catholic parish schools in California, and many members of the Baptist Party also graduated from similar church schools.
There are approximately 170 parish schools in Los Angeles County, including well-funded private schools and less well-funded partially-funded schools.
Private parish schools are more relaxed and open because they don't need funding from the church, and students have freedom of religion.
Partially funded schools are funded by the church, have very few teachers, and religious knowledge is a key subject that must be studied.
Now there are three possible directions for the investigation: the former sheriff, waiting for his portrait, and investigating the parish schools to see if many of the missing persons are located there.
The next day, Ethan took Evelyn to the home of former Sheriff Brent Cruz.
As for Kaiya and the other two, they were responsible for investigating along the direction of the parish school to see if the case was a serial murder.
Inside the villa, valued at 80, Li Yisen and his companion questioned Brent Cruz.
"Mr. Cruz, our police have some questions for you regarding the Beta Bryant case."
"What beta? I don't know."
"It's the girl whose father took her away, the one you closed the case for. We've found their bodies."
A fabricated statement caused Brent Cruz's pupils to shrink, his hostility intensifying, confirming to Lee Ethan that this person was suspicious.
"No, they did leave at that time."
"But there's no evidence in the files you left behind."
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'
Lee Esen pressed on relentlessly.
Why did you lie? Who's behind you?
Brent Cruz looked extremely grim. Fortunately, he noticed something crucial: the other side really did have evidence, so why didn't they bring a search warrant or an arrest warrant?
Do you have a search warrant?
"No, because I was lying to you. We didn't find their bodies at all."
"ha?"
Lee Ethan suddenly grabbed Brent Cruz's hand.
"However, I've noticed something important: you're using drugs."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
Lee Ethan opened the TV cabinet and, under the footage from Evelyn's body camera, found a bag of methamphetamine, weighing at least 300 grams. He had gone all out.
"Mr. Cruz, you'll have to come back with us now. We'll also have a search warrant."
'
""
Brent Cruz was driven to desperation; the drugs in his house weren't hidden there at all. Who put them there?
As for the actions of the person in front of us?
Impossible. He was watching the other person the whole time; there was no chance at all.
Lee Esen continued to press his advantage.
"Tell me the answer you want to know, and I can pretend I didn't see it this time. Otherwise, you'd better watch out."
"Body camera?"
"It was not uploaded to the cloud."
Lee Esen continued to bluff the other party.
"I know the case is related to the church."
This prompted Brent Cruz to react again, but he remained silent.
Li Yisen's expression grew somewhat grave. If he didn't speak up, 300 grams would be enough to kill this recently retired old man in prison. The waters inside might be a bit deep.
"Since that's the case, you'll come back with me. You'll be unable to get away with fabricating evidence against Beta Bryant and his daughter to drop the case."
""
Brent Cruz spat.
"Heh, bring it on if you dare."
As Brent Cruz was arrested, a figure outside the villa began making phone calls.
"Brent Cruz has been taken away."
Someone's hand had already touched the large net, startling the predators.