Chapter 27

The way those two ate was pretty similar-they both scarfed down their food like there was no tomorrow.

Robert had been a detective for so long that he was used to eating on the fly. He finished his big bowl of pasta in no time, way faster than Zoey. Feeling satisfied, he looked at her and asked, "We haven't been able to get a single girl to join our detective department for years. They all think it's too tough. Zoey, how'd you convince your parents to let you become a cop? Didn't they freak out?"

Zoey swallowed her last bite and shrugged. "They don't get a say in it."

"You're something else, really impressive!" Robert said, genuinely impressed.

In his mind, he thought Zoey was different from other girls.

Even though they hadn't known each other long, he could tell Zoey was tough, and that was exactly what their detective department needed.

Zoey thought back to her time at the police academy and nodded. "Yeah, I think so!"

Robert laughed and gave her a thumbs up. "I really appreciate young people like you!"

Zoey smiled politely.

By the time they finished eating, it was already dark. After they rechecked the suspicious area and still found nothing, it was almost 11 PM.

Robert told Zoey to get back in the car; the night wind was freezing, and even he was shivering. He was worried Zoey wouldn't be able to handle it.

Sitting by the car window, Robert kept thinking out loud, 'It's really strange; where could those bodies have been dumped? There are just residential areas. Could he have rented a house just to store the bodies?'

Zoey didn't think the killer would be dumb enough to rent a house just to store bodies.

She looked at the planned routes in her hand, crossing off one after another.

She had checked almost all the small roads on the map, and her fieldwork over the past two days confirmed the accuracy of her routes.

She and Alexander had already reviewed the surveillance in the area, and she remembered everything useful.

The person in the suspicious car didn't stop or open its doors to dump anything in the surveillance area of this road. The car always entered the residential area around 8:30 PM and left around 9:30 PM.

This area was almost suburban, with very few young residents, and there were usually no cars at night.

If the car was driving on the street, it wouldn't hit any traffic lights, which meant there was only one possibility: the killer was driving at a constant speed, which was why he was always so punctual.

But if he needed to stop to use the bathroom and found a secluded spot to dump the body, the timing would definitely be different.

Zoey's eyes lit up; she had found a way!

She immediately called Alexander.

Alexander was reviewing notes when his phone rang. Seeing it was an unknown number, he still answered.

Before he could say anything, Zoey urgently said, "Listen up, follow the order I gave you and start with Sunshine Mart. I need you to calculate the time the car takes to travel between these two surveillance points right now. If you're swamped, just send me a segment first."

Before he could ask anything, the call abruptly ended.

Alexander was speechless; he didn't get a chance to ask a single question.

Feeling helpless, Alexander started retrieving the surveillance footage as she requested.

Meanwhile, Zoey hung up the phone and called out to Robert, who was smoking, "Officer Davis, let's head back to the supermarket at the entrance of this street, Sunshine Mart. Then we'll drive at a moderate speed to the last surveillance point."

Robert guessed Zoey had discovered something and quickly put out his cigarette. "What did you find?"

Zoey flipped to a new page in her notebook and started drawing a new route.

"Officer Davis, I'm just speculating right now, not entirely sure," Zoey said.

But Robert had an inexplicable trust in her. Even if it was just a guess, he was willing to accompany her on another round in the cold night.

Robert waved his hand and said, "Let's go, get in the car!"

Zoey settled into the passenger seat. As the car started moving, she continuously gazed out the window, comparing the passing scenery with the route she had drawn and making constant adjustments.

Starting from Sunshine Mart, the car drove almost at a steady speed of 21.7 mph to the abandoned factory. It gradually slowed down until it came to a stop at the last monitored location.

Zoey looked at the stopwatch, noting it took just over twenty minutes.

Based on their speed and time, the distance between Sunshine Mart and the second surveillance point was about 3.7 miles, and the suspicious vehicle took 9 minutes to cover this distance, meaning its speed should have been 24.8 mph.

The distance between the first and last two surveillance points was about 19.8 miles. Dividing by the constant speed, the car would have been driving for 48 minutes, only three minutes off from their previous surveillance calculations.

This meant that if her guess was correct, the suspicious car must have exceeded 24.8 mph at some point to make up for the time spent dumping the body.

At this thought, Zoey's phone vibrated. She saw a friend request from "Alexander."

Alexander's Facebook nickname was his own name. Although the profile picture wasn't of him, it was clearly his style.

His profile picture was a pure expanse of white.

Zoey knew he added her for work-related reasons and quickly accepted.

Alexander sent her all the files she needed, along with a message.

Alexander: [How's the investigation going on your end? When do you think you'll be back at the station?]

Zoey: [Not sure.]

Alexander was silent.

He had helped her, but she still was indifferent. Knowing Zoey's consistent attitude towards him, he was used to it.

At least she replied.

Zoey opened the file he sent, noticing a prominent red mark, with extra ink to make sure she saw it.

She quickly realized that Alexander must have noticed something wrong too.