The world of American TV series: Starting with the L.A. Patrol

Saying goodbye to the medical examiner, Jack and Rosie drove back to the office. Red had hung up a huge map of Los Angeles in the conference room, and marked the locations where the three victims were kidnapped and where their bodies were dumped.

Jiejie and Emily haven't come back yet, and they may have to be busy there all day. After listening to the two of them explaining what they had learned in the medical examiner's office, Rhett introduced the results of his work just now.

"Linda Dean was kidnapped in Hollywood and her body was dumped in Echo Park. Shirley Otto was last seen in the Garman District and was found in Sherman Oaks.

Finally, there is Vicki Hagrid, who was kidnapped south of Torrance and dumped in Westlake. "

In addition to marking these locations with six small flags of different colors, Red also drew various marks and lines on the map that only he could understand.

"This is a huge range. Have you found any patterns?" Rossi found a chair and sat down, going straight to the results.

"The murderer has only committed crimes in the eastern lower city area. Assuming he has a preference for geography, that area is either not in the plan, or it is the final target. But what I am worried about is that the murderer may not have any special preference for locations. It’s completely random.”

"How do you say that?" Jack asked. Red's speculation meant that they were likely to find a murderer who committed a random crime among the population of about 1,300,000 in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The difficulty can be imagined.

Rhett pulled out the photos of the places where corpses were abandoned and said, "Pay attention to these places where corpses were abandoned. These are all 'garbage dumps' in the true sense."

In fact, everyone has noticed this before. The places where corpses are found are either in trash cans or in the corners of dirty streets and alleys, where broken sofas and mattresses are piled up.

"What I mean is that the murderer had no cover and no plan. Whatever he did to his victims, they were thrown away like garbage after they died."

"So you suspect that the randomness shown by the murderer was not due to careful planning, but purely coincidental?"

Rossi summarized the meaning of Red's words. This was barely good news. If the murderer acted so unscrupulously, no matter how clean he cleaned the body, there would eventually be flaws.

"Anything else found?" Jack leaned closer to the map and noticed that Red had also marked some routes with lines.

This time Rhett seemed a little hesitant, "I'm not sure if this makes sense. The three places where the bodies were dumped were all between the 110 and 405 highways, near the north and south directions of No. 5 and No. 10."

Jack looked at the lines he had drawn, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, "Did we ignore the transportation methods of the three victims?"

As soon as he thought of it, he took out his mobile phone and sent a message to Jiejie and Emily each, asking them if there was any progress in questioning the victim's family. Emily soon called.

"Linda Dean's family members said she usually went home from get off work at night through the 'Red Line', but she didn't get off work until 1:05 in the morning on the night she disappeared."

Linda Dean's job is as a bartender. It's normal for her to leave work at 1:05 a.m., but the Los Angeles subway stops running at 1 a.m.

The "red line" in Emily's mouth refers to the Metro B Line in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Rail Transit. There are 6 lines in Los Angeles Rail Transit, namely Line A, Line B, Line C, Line D, Line E and Line K. Wire.

Lines A to E are distinguished by five colors: blue, red, green, purple, and gold. Line B, the "red line" that Linda Dean takes daily, starts from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. , extending to the North Hollywood area, with a total of 14 stops along the way.

Judging from the time, Linda Dean, who got off work at 1:05 a.m. that day, would definitely be unable to catch the subway she often takes.

"She shouldn't be able to walk home, right?" As soon as Rossi said this, he realized that he had said nonsense. Although judging from the route, the security in the areas along the way was pretty good, this was the "City of Angels" after all.

A beautiful young woman walking alone on the streets of Los Angeles in the early hours of the morning? The probability of nothing happening is almost slim.

Then the answer was obvious, "Taxi, I'm going to find Garcia!" Jack turned to leave the conference room, and Red quickly followed.

"Chloroform is controlled and is much easier to investigate than methanol. I will also ask Garcia to investigate whether anyone has purchased or stolen chloroform in large quantities at a chemical store."

The two took the elevator and went downstairs to Garcia's small office.

Just in terms of office conditions, Garcia's salary is unique. Her small office is larger than Rossi's and Hotchner's combined, and the purchase price of the hardware equipment in it is also higher than that of the small arsenal run by Jack. The equipment inside must have at least one more zero.

When the two of them knocked on the door and walked into the office, Garcia's chubby little fingers were flying on the keyboard, and he was chatting with someone.

"Garcia." Jack's voice made Garcia turn around. The weird blue eye shadow and bright red lipstick startled him.

Although she has long been accustomed to her switching back and forth between various punk styles and geek styles every day, her ever-changing outfits still bring visual impact to people from time to time.

"Do you need help? My dear two knights." Garcia closed the chat window and turned around, as if a queen was receiving her men.

Jack walked to her side, put his hand on the back of the chair, turned her back again, then grabbed her chubby hand and put it on the mouse.

"Please sweetheart, it's urgent. I want you to check which taxi companies were providing services near the bar where Linda Dean worked when she disappeared."

Unlike other cities in the United States, most taxis in Los Angeles have stations, and drivers will wait for passengers in these designated areas instead of stopping at any time.

"The Hollywood area? It's a piece of cake." Garcia listed seven taxis in less than five minutes.

"Uh, can you narrow it down a little? Check to see if there are any taxis nearby that charge fares after one o'clock in the morning that night." Jack made a more specific request.

"It's not difficult, it just takes a little time." Garcia's fingers instantly turned into countless afterimages.

Soon, she came to an unpleasant result, "The drivers of these seven taxi companies had not solicited passengers nearby that early morning."

Jack rubbed his temples with a headache, "Is it possible that he solicited customers but didn't use the meter?"

"It's impossible. Every taxi has a GPS location and is shared with various apps. At that time, there were no taxis nearby, including Uber."

"Is it possible that it's a 'Gypsy Taxi'?" Rhett suggested another possibility.

"Gypsy cab" is not a real taxi driven by gypsies, but a general term for all illegal taxis, that is, black cars.

“There are approximately more than 2,300 registered taxis operating legally in Los Angeles, but there are also a similar number of unregistered black taxis, with taxi logos spray-painted on their bodies that look like real taxis, and they shuttle through the streets and alleys.

Even if someone gets in the car, it won't attract anyone's attention. ” Dr. Reed was gushing over the data.