Thursday, 23rd April
They met in Sarah's apartment and took it to their headquarters to research more about her father's disappearance, Mr. Max. She showed him the audio recordings she had found, and then he said: They all seem to be normal calls between merchants, you said that Mr. Tan had sent a message. Can I see it?
She replied: Yes.
"Hello Mrs. James, I am Mr. Tan. I will not talk to you for long. I have information that may be useful to you and through which you will get your answers." Then she said: But there is something strange, this letter was addressed to my mother, while the rest of the previous messages were addressed to my father.
He said: Perhaps he knew that he had disappeared, or perhaps the information he meant was about your father, Mr. Max.
She sat on the sofa and said, "Well, let's say he knows about his disappearance. Why didn't he say anything when we met him earlier?" Why did he say I was Mrs. James' daughter instead of Max's? He said my dad used to work for him so he must have told him about his family before.
He said: To be honest with you, I didn't feel comfortable with this man, perhaps because of my work. In general, don't trust his words.
Then he added: The last call was made in October of 2019, perhaps at this time he disappeared, the audio recordings will take us a lot of time until we reach what we want.
She replied: I know, but what are we going to do now? Where can we search?
He looked at his watch and said, "Now we can start by identifying the places he visited during his stay here, and this is how we will reduce the number of places we have to search, you will have to mark these places on the map, I will ask my friend to find that girl Mary, now I have to go." There is a new case.
She said: OK, drive carefully.
He parked his car and put on his identification card, hurriedly heading to his department. Jan saw him and said sarcastically: Look who remembered his work at last.
Stared at him: Get off my face, I don't have time to quarrel with you.
The commander ordered them to meet to discuss the new case, everyone sat down, and Kyle started by saying: The body of a 30-year-old man named Cheng was found last Wednesday evening after a fisherman in Chao Phraya River noticed a black bag floating on the water. We knew he had come with his wife. The couple arrived in Thailand earlier this March with a group of Chinese tourists, but they preferred to stay while the others went back to their country.
Zhao added, "The police are still looking for his 28-year-old wife, Mina.
Mark: Do we have more information about victim Cheng?
Zhao replied: Yes, he is a famous businessman in China, and he came to Thailand on a tourist trip.
Kyle looked at Mark: Do you think the killers targeted the victim and his wife because of his background?
He replied: If this is true, then this means that his wife is still alive, but this is illogical, if they wanted money, they would have kidnapped the wife and forced the husband to pay the ransom, but he was killed, this means that they wanted something other than money.
The commander continued: If she is alive, we will rescue her or we will have to search. I will inform the local police that an investigation has been conducted into the crime, and arrest warrants are prepared.
After the meeting Mark, alone with Kyle telling him about Mary the Commander saw them and looked at them with strange looks, the members split into two teams of two people, and they visited the places the couple went to last month.
Jan and Mark went to the hotel where the couple stayed, Jan went to the reception staff and showed his identity, saying: We are from the police department, Criminal Crimes Unit, Lieutenant Jan and this detective Mark...
Before he could finish, the receptionist interrupted him, saying: Are you here because of the Chinese couple who disappeared?
She continued: Everyone is talking about these rumors after the news bulletin. It was said that they had found the husband's body in a suitcase after he was thrown into the river, and the search is still going on for the wife. The manager is very upset because of these rumors. After the news spread, the inmates started canceling Reservations.
Mark came forward and said to him: The news spread faster than we thought... (Then he addressed his words to the employee): Can we see the room they were using?
Zhao and Kyle got out of the car and headed toward a restaurant. It was the last place the couple went to before they disappeared. Kyle went to the security department to watch the surveillance recordings, while the other went to the principal's office. He sat in front of him and asked him after taking out a picture of the couple: Do you recognize them?
He put on his glasses and looked at the picture carefully. Then he said: Oh yes, I remember them because they were tourists from China. The husband asked my staff to help him prepare a surprise for his wife on their wedding anniversary.
Kyle saw the tapes inside the restaurant and said, "Are there cameras in the car parks?"
The security guard replied: Yes, but those cameras don't work, the only cameras that work are those inside the restaurant, and the manager put them in to avoid problems that might happen.
After they had finished checking the hotel room, Mark noticed the maid, and she muttered with her colleague: The husband drank a lot of alcohol and often quarrels with his wife.
They went back to the receptionist, and Mark asked her: "We know that the couple stayed in the country after the rest of the tourists who came with them returned, did they stay here, or did they go to another hotel?"
She checked the records on her device and then said: In the records, the couple left the hotel while the rest of the tourists left, I don't know if they moved to another hotel or not.
Then they left the hotel and got into the car. Mark texted Kyle, "The couple changed hotel after the tourists they came with left." Then they sat tracing the couple's footsteps on the mobile device, then Jan grumbled: "We can't find anything that way."
He turned to him and asked: Has the forensic doctor finished the autopsy?
He replied sharply: And how do I know?
He sighed angrily: That old man made me go with you, if only he knew how annoying you become sometimes.
He pulled out his phone and called the forensic center: Hello, this is Detective Mark from the Criminal Division. Has the doctor finished the autopsy on victim Cheng?
The recipient replied: He's almost finished, do you want me to tell him to send the results to the center directly?
He replied: No problem. We are on our way there. We will receive the results in person.
After about half an hour, they arrived at the center and headed to the autopsy room, where the doctor was finishing his work. He welcomed them and said: Please come in, my assistant told me that you were coming, so I prepared the results for you.
Jan took the file and began to turn the papers carefully, the doctor said: the victim died of drowning, he was placed in the bag while he was still alive, and he died because his lungs filled with water , there are no signs of torture on the body only the signs of ropes on his wrists and feet and As you can see there are traces of an old surgery.
Jan closed the file and then said: It is the habit of these criminals to take everything, for them organs are valuable and expensive, worth a lot of money, so why did they let him die?
Mark replied: Because of his bad drinking habit.
The doctor smiled: It seems that you have insight, Detective... (And he continued, saying): That's right, the organs are badly damaged, the brain, the heart, the liver, the pancreas and the kidneys.
Jan asked him: And how did you know about his habit?
He replied: In the hotel room, I heard two maids talking, one of them said that he was asking for a lot of alcohol and quarreling with his wife over this issue.
The doctor looked at them and continued, saying: The medical report of the victim mentioned the diseases he suffers from, damage to the organs previously mentioned due to his addiction to alcoholic drinks and diabetes, and during the autopsy, I found that he had glaucoma and was about to lose the ability to sight.
Jan thanked him and turned to leave; Mark asked the doctor: What about the report of the unknown body that I sent it you?
He answered: What do you mean I have already faxed the report.
Jan noticed them, but continued his way and stood looking at one of the employees while he was checking the suitcase, Mark stood next to him and then approached the employee saying: Sorry, is this the same bag we found the victim in it?
He replied: Yes, I have finished taking fingerprints, but I didn't find anything but strange overlapping prints.
Jan advanced, saying, "Perhaps they are fingerprints belonging to the victim himself.".
Nodding negatively: No, I have already matched the victim's fingerprints to these, but some of the fingerprints didn't match him. I tried with the fingerprints in the database, but to no avail.
As they're talking, Mark catches a piece of paper hanging from the hand of the briefcase saying: it's a data card.
He overturned the card and read the printed information: Name (Max), address California Los Angeles... (Before he could finish paying attention to the name, he exclaimed): Max!
Jan: What's the matter, why are you so surprised?
The employee said: Max? But the victim's name was Cheng, wasn't it?
Jan came towards the bag saying: That's right, there must be a compelling reason for the victim's presence in this called Max's bag. Here's another clue. We'll look for this guy. Come on, we're done here. Let's go back to the center.
***