Chapter 21: The Man in Black

"Craig was indeed with his girlfriend all night," Mona said on the other end of the phone. "The surveillance shows that after he entered her apartment, he didn't go out for the entire night. He only left around eight this morning to go to work."

"OK." Roan nodded, hung up the phone, and turned to look at Craig, whose hands were cuffed and who sat nervously on the bed watching him. After thinking for a few seconds, Roan continued his questioning:

"You just said that Callista left after receiving a phone call. Did you hear anything the caller said?"

"No." Seeing Roan's attitude soften after the phone call, Craig breathed a sigh of relief and quickly answered, "We were both on the bed before the phone rang. After it rang, Callista left the bedroom, but I stayed in bed and didn't move, so I couldn't hear what was said. I only caught Callista cursing at the phone."

"OK." Returning to the room, Lacey noted this information in her little notebook. Roan paused in thought, then suddenly looked up and asked, "When my teammate called you earlier, why did you turn and run?"

"Uh..." Craig hesitated. Roan narrowed his eyes, took out another pair of handcuffs, and shook them. "Think carefully before you answer. Lying to a federal agent is a serious crime."

Lacey, standing nearby, twitched at his words.

"Alright, I thought you were sent by Callista to catch me." Craig pondered for a few seconds and decided to tell the truth, since their focus wasn’t on him. He said directly, "When we were playing around, I installed a miniature camera in the corner of the bedroom, planning to record some videos of us for memories in the future..."

Lacey looked at him with utter disdain. "More like you planned to use those videos to blackmail her for money."

"Say whatever you want." Craig shrugged. He hadn’t blackmailed her yet, so even if he were charged, at most it’d be a fine.

Roan, hearing Craig’s words, noticed something and asked with a puzzled expression, "Where did you install the camera? Our agents searched every room in the villa, especially the bedroom. There’s no way they missed your camera."

"Villa?" Craig was stunned. "Callista’s home is in Lower Town, Levington. There are no villas there."

...

"I hate rich people," Lacey said.

Lower Town, Levington. Lacey stepped down from the SUV, looked at the standalone apartment before her, and sighed to Roan, "Especially the kind who have houses everywhere."

"Think of the upside, Lacey," Roan replied, taking out his Glock 18 with the barrel pointed down, and slowly walked toward the apartment’s front door. "If we rescue these wealthy folks, the gratitude money will be that much higher."

"That makes sense." Lacey nodded. The FBI salary was meager; without bonuses for solving cases or victims rewarding them afterward, she’d be better off dancing at a bar for money.

The two took up positions on either side of the apartment door, exchanged a glance, and Roan counted down with his fingers—three, two, one—then kicked open the door and charged inside.

"FBI, open up!" Roan shouted, Glock 18 in hand as he carefully searched the first room.

Perhaps it was due to memories from a past life, but Roan had become increasingly fond of shouting slogans these days.

"Clear."

"Clear."

The rooms in the apartment were empty. After confirming it was safe, Roan entered the bedroom and, as Craig had described, retrieved a camera from behind a bookshelf.

The camera was still running; when Roan touched it, it was almost hot.

"It seems this place is just a temporary residence for Sabina when she’s out having fun," Lacey said after rummaging around the bedroom. She found a box of toys under the bed, glanced at them, and kicked it back, tilting her head with a sneer, "I don’t see the point of her marriage to Darrin anymore."

"Darrin said it himself—he was only fooling around with that man, but he loves Sabina," Roan replied, extracting the memory card from the camera. "Maybe Sabina thinks the same. She loves Darrin; this wild escapade is just a bit of self-indulgence."

"Perhaps." After a quick search, they found the other rooms barely touched and mostly empty. Roan took Lacey and drove back to headquarters.

"Your turn, Mona." Arriving at the office of Investigation Team Five, Roan handed the memory card he’d found to Mona and asked her to review the video footage.

"Easy," Mona replied breezily, her slender fingers tapping at the keyboard. A few minutes later, a video appeared before everyone:

First, a few minutes of Sabina and Craig frolicking on the bed. Mona hit fast-forward to skip this segment. A male agent sighed involuntarily, only to be glared at fiercely by Lacey.

Roan: "..."

Was that really necessary?

The footage then matched Craig's account: Sabina received a phone call, interrupting their interaction. She left the bedroom to take the call, told Craig to leave, tidied her clothes, and departed.

Everything seemed normal up to this point, until Mona fast-forwarded four hours into the recording.

A man entered the bedroom, dressed in a black jacket, black pants, a black mask, and a black hat.

The masked man rummaged under the bed for a few toys, then opened the wardrobe, took several provocative garments, stuffed everything into a backpack, and left the room. Before leaving, he even closed the bedroom door behind him.

The last scene was Lacey and Roan bursting in with weapons drawn. Mona rewound the footage to the moment the masked man entered and shrugged, "Obviously, this man isn’t a thief."

He took no money or bags—only toys and clothes. It was clear he came specifically for Sabina.

This man was most likely the mastermind.

"Can you try to identify him?" The masked man was shorter than Darrin and much slimmer than Craig, so the culprit was neither of them.

Roan patted Mona on the shoulder, glanced at the clock at the front of the office, and said, "It’s now five in the afternoon. It’s been eleven hours since the victim disappeared."

"I’ll try," Mona replied, her face grim. The perpetrator was fully equipped, exposing nothing but his eyes. She could only hope there was surveillance around the apartment.

Mona’s fingers flew over the keyboard. Roan turned to Lacey and said, "Contact the villa agents and have them bring Mr. Darrin here. Maybe he can identify the man in the video."

"OK," Lacey nodded and went out to call the villa agents.

Everyone was busy with their tasks. Roan sat in a chair and rubbed his stomach, feeling a bit hungry after running around all afternoon. He scanned the room and spotted some unopened food on Ryder’s desk.

Ryder was still out interviewing relatives of the serial murder victims and wasn’t in the office. Roan didn’t hesitate; he sat down in Ryder’s chair, opened a package, and began to eat.

On the desk were files related to the serial murder victims. As he ate, Roan casually opened a folder and began to read.