please don't believe me

October 12, 26:15.

Dai Bowen sat at the dining table, hung up the phone, quickly wrote a few words on the notebook with a water-based pen, and then looked up at the man sitting opposite.The other party was also on the phone at the window, and had already hung up one step earlier than him, and walked over and sat down after hanging up, as if waiting for him to finish.

Dai Bowen put down his pen and looked at the man with a complicated expression on his face: "What?"

"Officer Clark called..."

"Then?"

"The raid failed." Shen Xiuyuan threw the phone on the table, "Regardless of whether the teenagers and girls the informant saw before were Matthew and Katrin, they are no longer where they were seen."

"...What!" Dai Bowen was taken aback, "What's going on?"

He expected that this matter would not be so simple, but the police only announced that they would raid in the morning and failed in the afternoon. This rhythm made him a little overwhelmed.

"I don't know too many details. Now this information is the limit of what the police can tell the family members. You know that." Shen Xiuyuan replied in a low voice.

Dai Bowen frowned: "If there is any relevant personnel, you can ask..."

"No, no, it is said that everyone has left." Shen Xiuyuan tapped his finger on the desktop, "And you have to understand, even if there is, I can't let you go to a group of gang brothers for psychological interrogation."

Dai Bowen smiled.

"Hey, I hope you hear this sentence in your heart." Shen Xiuyuan stood up, leaned over the table, stretched out his hand to pinch Dai Bowen's chin, and raised it slightly.

Dai Bowen looked at him quietly.

"Don't provoke those dangerous people, whether it's for the mission or for Matthew...don't put yourself in it, do you hear?" Shen Xiuyuan looked at Dai Bowen, with a hint of danger hidden in his eyes that he didn't realize ,"promise me!"

Dai Bowen remained silent.

Just as Shen Xiuyuan squinted his eyes, Dai Bowen suddenly moved.He supported the man's hand that pinched his chin, spread the palm, and rubbed it against his cheek.

Shen Xiuyuan's eyes softened unconsciously.

"I promise." Dai Bowen finally kissed the palm of his hand, and then let go.

Shen Xiuyuan's irritable mood was calmed down a lot by him, and the CEO couldn't help pinching his fingers when he withdrew his hand.

He always knows how to handle you and please you... Shen Xiuyuan thought.

Then the man blinked and decided to turn his attention back to what was in front of him: "Do you know what I'm thinking?"

Dai Bowen was puzzled for a while, and then tried to ask: "Uh...why did the operation fail?"

Shen Xiuyuan didn't have any information, so logically he couldn't get involved in this matter.But he asked Dai Bowen to guess, and Dai Bowen's intuition was this.

Sure enough, Shen Xiuyuan smiled and said, "Correct."

Dai Bowen raised his eyebrows: "Are you making a purely theoretical guess?"

"Why not? Anyway, I have nothing else to do." Shen Xiuyuan replied, "The informant saw the child, and the Secret Service broke in, but the person disappeared. Under normal circumstances, what would a normal person think?"

"...The operation leaked the secrets ahead of time." Dai Bowen immediately understood Shen Xiuyuan's thoughts, "You suspect it's James."

Adding James to what Shen Xiuyuan said just now, it becomes "the informant saw the child, James warned not to provoke Carlos, the secret service broke in, Carlos and the children were gone."It is quite normal for Shen Xiuyuan to suspect James under such circumstances.

Dai Bowen thought for a while, and responded in as conservative a language as possible: "He may indeed be involved...but we don't have and don't know any more evidence."

"Tsk tsk..." Shen Xiuyuan sneered, "Listen to this ambiguous sentence pattern, it can become a model for learning how to deal with the media."

This sounded a little harsh, but Dai Bowen knew the reason, and said calmly: "James is supporting the campaign for parliamentarians. If it is really related to him, he will not expose himself like this." He paused, then said, "And if James It really has something to do with Carlos, and I hope you promise me not to put yourself in danger."

His calm tone hides concern, which Shen Xiu will never ignore.They seem to be repeating the conversation they had a few minutes ago, but with a different position.

President Shen Da smiled and held his hand: "I promise you too."

16 points.

An off-road vehicle parked steadily on the side of the road. Dai Bowen and Shen Xiuyuan got out of the back seat, holding a bottle of New Year-themed fruit wine in their hands, which was regarded as a gift for a door-to-door visit.

Most of the Christmas decorations in the community have not been confiscated, just like people don't want to rush the holidays.In the yards of nearby houses, there are children playing in the snow, or adults cleaning the snow on the road in front of the door.A little noisy, a little busy, but very peaceful.

"What are you looking at?" Shen Xiuyuan noticed Dai Bowen stopped on the trail and asked sideways.

"It's nothing." Dai Bowen smiled and followed the man's footsteps. "Speaking of which, you don't need to come with me. I'm just looking for trouble."

Shen Xiuyuan glanced at him, but without answering, he rang the doorbell of the house in front of him.

This is Patrick's house.Patrick was the oldest and relatively reliable boy among the boys Dai Bowen had visited before.

16 points.

The phone rang suddenly.

"Sorry." Shen Xiuyuan patted Dai Bowen on the shoulder, then glanced at Patrick who was opposite, took out his mobile phone and walked towards the door.

"Hi, I'm Shen Xiuyuan..."

Dai Bowen and Patrick glanced at him, and then the conversation continued.However, within a minute, Shen Xiuyuan quickly walked back to the living room: "Hey, excuse me. Bowen, come here."

Dai Bowen saw the seriousness on the man's face, got up and approached suspiciously: "What's wrong?"

Shen Xiuyuan grabbed his arm and put it close to his ear: "Meera received a kidnapping and ransom message."

"What!" Dai Bowen stared at the man in shock, "Wait, the news that came out yesterday, today...?"

"What you suspect is exactly what I suspect." Shen Xiuyuan said, "I'm going to visit Meera. Although there are only text messages, maybe..."

"I understand, honey." Dai Bowen patted the man's shoulder, "Do you need me to go too?"

"No, not for the time being." Shen Xiuyuan thought for a while, and then said, "You're done here, call me, if I'm still with Meera, you can go there."

"no problem."

17 points.

Two men in pipeline maintenance uniforms knocked on the door of Mei La's house, and it was Shen Xiuyuan who opened the door.The two showed Shen Xiuyuan their certificates, but it was written that they were not plumbing repairers.

"The child kidnapping case investigation team of the X City Police Department. After receiving the report from Officer Clark, we took over the case in full." The man standing in front said, "The surrounding area has been fully monitored and protected. I am Tim Hart. From now on Please contact me about this."

Shen Xiuyuan confirmed that the information on the certificate was consistent with what Officer Clark had sent before, let out the door and said, "Please come in."

Two police officers entered Meera's home with boxes.

Meera was already sitting on pins and needles in the living room, but when she saw two "plumbing repairmen" approaching the living room, she was instantly frightened and jumped up: "Who are you!"

"Child Kidnapping Case Investigation Team of City X Police Station." The two police officers showed their IDs and badges again, then put the box on the coffee table and opened it.

The box marked "Pipeline Repair" contains Qian Kun, various instruments that outsiders can't understand, which are more "high-tech" than the boxes Meera saw in Irvine.

They set out their notebooks and attached a thing with a stand.Officer Hart held out his hand to Meera—to the phone in her hand, to be precise. "Can I borrow it?"

Meera was taken aback, and handed him the phone: "5 minutes before you guys came... I received another video."

"Thank you for the information, ma'am." Hart plugged the phone into the dock, and the software started in the laptop immediately began to scan and download the data in the phone, "However, if you can inform the police as soon as you receive the extortion text message, I will Would be more than grateful."

"They refused to call the police..." Meera whispered, "The information said that this would put Matthew's life in danger..."

Meera did not call the police, but made a decisive decision after Shen Xiuyuan arrived at the scene.

Hart glanced at her without further questioning.He has seen all kinds of family members who are unwilling or afraid to call the police, and this is just one of them, and it seems that they may not know more than the man who called the police.

Another police officer checked the messages downloaded from his phone: "A message and a video."

"Check the source." Hart patted him on the shoulder, "I'll go upstairs and have a look."

17 points.

Shen Xiuyuan looked again at the message Dai Bowen replied, locked the phone, and looked at the police officer who was working in front of the computer.

Meera's cell phone received a video before the police arrived, and no one was captured in the frame, except for a cell phone that looked like it belonged to Matthew.The time displayed on the mobile phone was very close to the time when the video was sent. A hand appeared in the back of the video, and the thumb opened the fingerprint lock. It seemed that it wanted to prove that it was Matthew.

"Have you found anything, officer?"

"There is no breakthrough, Mr. Shen." Officer Hart, "Actually, maybe we all know who it is, but we don't know where he is."

A video isn't as easy to send as a message, so when it's recorded, it's emailed to Meera's phone.Of course, emails can be traced by IP, but when it is forged by using an overseas proxy server, it is a bit troublesome.

At the same time, the police are still looking for the source of the information through the base station.

"You're right." Shen Xiuyuan lowered his eyes, "We don't know where they are now." According to the informant, they used to know.

"What are you talking about?" Meera came down from the stairs and walked quickly into the living room, with an unconcealable nervousness and excitement on her face, "Do you know who kidnapped Matthew?!"

"No, ma'am, it's all just speculation." Officer Hart replied, "I hope you stay quietly and wait for our news, okay?"

Meera stood still: "I..."

Shen Xiuyuan's phone rang.

He thought it was Dai Bowen, but when he picked it up, it was someone else.He said "sorry" to several people, then stood a little further away, picked up the phone: "Hi, I'm Shen Xiuyuan... yes." The content on the other end of the phone made him stunned, and then he looked back at the living room people, "...Okay, I see."

He hangs up the phone.

Officer Hart saw his strange expression, and asked out of professional sensitivity: "What happened?"

"'Breakthrough progress', officer." Shen Xiuyuan looked at Meera, "We have our first 'suspect'."

17 points.

The winter sky darkened very early, and when Dai Bowen came out of the home of the kid who had seen the suicide website, the decorative lights on the street had already been lit.Colorful, flickering and flowing, it brings a little warmth in the cold winter night.

There are almost no pedestrians on the street, and occasionally one, who wraps himself tightly in cold clothes and rushes on his way.Standing at the corner of the street, Dai Bowen gathered his scarf, looked at the warm lights from the windows of every house, and smiled.

His cell phone rang.

Dai Bowen looked at the screen and picked it up: "Hi, dear."

Shen Xiuyuan on the other end of the phone said: "Are you done?"

"Yes, I'm waiting for the taxi I just called, and I'm about to go to your place." Dai Bowen was on the phone with one hand, and put the other in his pocket. He lowered his head and kicked the snow beside his feet, "What's the matter?"

"I think you need to come quickly." Shen Xiuyuan said, "The people from the TV station let go, they said that Meera provided the missing information."

"What!" Dai Bowen paused, "Wait, blackmail message! You mean Meera and Carlos..."

"Very likely, I asked her if she knew Carlos, but she denied it, but her eyes were evasive." Shen Xiuyuan said, "The police are investigating her phone records, I think you should come and ask... "

"Give her the phone."

In a few seconds, a woman's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello..."

Dai Bowen didn't talk nonsense, and asked directly: "Do you know Carlos?"

"I, how could I..."

The mobile phone that was still on the phone slammed to the ground, and the loud impact shocked Meera on the other end of the phone.She was stunned for a moment, until Shen Xiuyuan reminded her, and then she incoherently described the strange noises she heard.

Shen Xiuyuan snatched the phone: "... dear? Hey, Bowen? Dai Bowen!!!"