Chapter 267 Collapse
"This is the fastest way we can think of, but no matter what choice you make, we will never give up looking for your daughter." Rosie's tone was sincere, her voice steady and powerful.
"I'm sorry, I can't do it, I'm sorry, Bruce, I can't do it," Mrs. Owen struggled out of her husband's arms and staggered out of the room.
Jack winked at Hannah at the door, and she followed immediately.
No matter how heartbroken the parents on both sides appear, until the truth is found out, the parents are also suspects, and self-direction and self-acting also account for a large proportion in the kidnapping case.
Letting Hannah follow Mrs. Irving is not only to prevent her from having an accident, but also a disguised form of surveillance.
"Kisun, I don't think this is a good idea."
Pat Mannan, a middle-aged fat man who claimed to be Keith Vaughan's friend, kept whispering in his ear, but Keith Vaughan kept a cold face and did not make any response.
Jack cast a sidelong glance at this guy and became curious about his identity. It seemed that Keith Vaughn didn't like this guy very much. Did he really have such a friend? This guy seems a little overzealous.
"Then let's get started."
Seeing that the two fathers did not object, everyone gathered in front of the computer, and Hotchner clicked on the audio file sent by Garcia.
"Stop. Don't stop. Please, stop, dad, dad, help!"
"Don't resist!"
"Oh my God, stop it, help me, stop it!"
"Don't let them know you're scared!"
"Let me go. Don't do this to me. Stop daddy, help daddy help me. daddy help me!"
While Jack was listening to the recording, his eyes never left the two fathers. Pain, happiness, sympathy, and worry were the expressions that appeared on Keith Vaughan's face in sequence.
Disbelief, sadness, pain, heartbreak, disbelief, this is Bruce Owen.
"Play it again." After listening to the recording, Bruce Owen burst into tears.
There is no need to say more at this time, everyone in BAU already has the answer in their hearts.
"Mr. Owen." Hotchner whispered, wanting to say something.
"That's not Katie, I know her voice, that's not Katie, play it again, please, play it again."
Bruce Owen kept shaking his head, trying to deny what he was seeing.
At some point, Mrs. "Bruce" Irving, supported by Hannah, appeared at the door again, crying beyond recognition.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Owen." Emily walked to the door, wanting to comfort her, but didn't know how to speak.
"No honey, it's okay, that's not her, I can hear her voice, that's not her, trust me"
Seeing that Bruce Owen was about to collapse, Keith Vaughan stepped forward and hugged him.
"Blues"
"Kison, that's not Katie, is it? You know. Kisson, that's not Katie's voice."
Bruce Owen's voice was half pleading, half wailing, and finally broke down in tears.
"That's Katie." Keith Vaughn's words finally defeated his last chance.
"No!!! My Katie!!!" Bruce Owen roared in pain and despair like a wounded beast.
"Let's go out, come on, come with me." Keith Vaughn was not tall, but quite strong. He helped a collapsed adult man out of the office with little effort.
After sending the two families out of the office, Hotchner turned to Hannah, who was in charge of assisting, and issued an order.
"Publish the photo of the other girl, Lindsay, immediately. I want her photo to be in every corner of the city and in tomorrow's newspapers and TV morning news before dawn."
"No problem." Hannah nodded.
"Let's go together. I also have a few business cards available for the media." Jiejie took the initiative to step forward and hold her arm.
The two beautiful girls left the office together like sisters who had a good relationship.
Rosie's eyes focused on the evidence board again, "They abused and tortured Katie for a long time, very cruel and violent, and the phone recording tells us that the girl was screaming the whole time."
"But it didn't alert the surrounding neighbors. Why?"
"I have confirmed that there are no relevant records of the police calls made after this period of time." Emily showed the information in her hand.
"Basement?" Jack immediately denied his conjecture.
Due to the sandy soil in California, basements are usually expensive to build. When land costs are not high, few people will dig basements, especially in southern Los Angeles where housing prices are not high.
"I'm done." Rhett, who had been busy silently in the corner, threw away the oil-based pen in his hand and stretched out.
On the transparent map board, there are dense symbols and various lines drawn on it.
"The location where the girls were abducted was on the southern edge of the city, close to the suburbs, and nine miles from where the bodies were dumped. I presume the murder scene was somewhere in between."
Red said, pointing to the large circle on the transparent map board.
"The range is large, but if you take the sheltered and controlled environment into account, you can narrow it down to forested areas, industrial areas, and abandoned houses."
As he spoke, he marked all the places in the frame with crosses.
Although the remaining area is still large, it has been reduced by more than half compared to before.
Seeing that Rossi and Hotchner were looking at him, Jack, as a person from the LAPD, naturally understood immediately.
"Understood, I'll coordinate. The Southeast Branch definitely doesn't have enough manpower. I'll contact the Wilshire Branch and borrow some manpower."
Of course, the FBI can communicate directly with the higher-ups, or simply assign search tasks and let the Southeast District Bureau handle it on its own.
But whether it is the execution effect or search efficiency, it is definitely not as good as Jack's direct contact with his mother's family. This is the advantage of local products.
Hotchner raised his wrist and looked at the time on his watch, "Tomorrow morning, Rosie, take Red and Jack to Keith Vaughn's house to investigate."
"Emily, you and I go to the cinema where the two girls disappeared."
——
The process of contacting the black-faced Superintendent Gray went smoothly, probably because the yacht of a drug cartel was almost sent into low-Earth orbit by an unknown good person. The life of the Wilshire Police Department has been relatively relaxed recently.
Although as street patrol officers, they will always have endless work to do, the old guys are very proud to be present at the scene, and Tim personally leads the team.
After saying hello to Tim and John, Jack went home to rest after arranging the search mission. It was already midnight when he got home, and after four hours of sleep, he got up and started busy.
At 6 a.m., delivery boy Jack delivered more than a dozen steaming chestnut cakes, donuts and large cups of coffee to the LAPD police officers who had been busy all night.
My chest is still tight, especially in the afternoon. Damn it, I will find time next week for a physical examination.