[Comprehensive Anglo-American] A genius report on love

Chapter 13 Auction

Auctions are always the same and there is nothing worthy of attention. Of course, Mia and Sherlock also know that neither the criminal nor the fifth insider can easily appear at the auction under the current situation.

It's just that there should be some clues from the auction process.

This is a jewelry-themed auction, and many of the attendees brought their female companions. Naturally, "A Night in Paris" is undeniably the finale.

Before this, the curse about the "Parisian Night" had been spread. Even though many people were attracted by the dazzling pink color of this diamond, there were only a handful of people who were willing to bid.

In order to express his prudence for this lot, the manager of the auction house on the stage personally introduced the weight, quality and purity of "Paris Night" and its origin history, etc., and then he took control of the scene. The rights were returned to the auctioneer.

Considering its rarity, slight flaw quality, and the rising price of diamonds in recent years, the auction house estimated its price at US$3000 million to US$4000 million, starting at US$2000 million, and increasing the price by 20 each time.

Mia and Sherlock chose a seat in the back row, and she was responsible for recording every bid that was present, while Sherlock made good use of his talent for observing the details, examining everyone present.

Although the person they are looking for will not appear here, but such an important occasion, whether it is the murderer or the fifth insider they are eager to find, will definitely not miss it.

In other words, among the less than fifty people present at the moment, there must be eyes and ears belonging to the two of them.

The auctioneer methodically announced each bid.

2000, 2100, 2200... 3000...

Mia noticed that when the bidding exceeded 3000 million US dollars, a middle-aged man on the sidelines who had never raised his cards suddenly joined the bidding.

Mia winked at Sherlock and pointed at the man.

White shirt, black suit, long windbreaker, very common attire for British men, even if they are international first-line luxury brands, they are all well-regulated ready-to-wear, wearing a gold watch worth a million dollars, and accompanied by a handsome man A good female companion, with a hot body and a very avant-garde fashion style. She looks like she is working as a model or an actress, and her boyfriend's clothes are completely different from her boyfriend's clothes. As for more information, I can't tell.

In this way, if the two of them would bid for a diamond worth tens of millions, they would have to arouse Mia's idea.

Mycroft has already sent all the remaining guest information from the last auction to Mia and Sherlock's mobile phones, excluding most of the unsuspecting people, and that person's information is even more unusual.

"The information shows that Mr. Langman (gman) is the owner of an investment company. The company is registered in France with a registered capital of 2000 million U.S. dollars." This kind of business investment company has neither a production plant nor goods in and out, which is really a good deception Excuse.

"He looks about 40 years old, and he really looks like a businessman. It should be true that the company in the information is his, but looking at the audience, he and his female partner only had a short conversation of no more than ten sentences. Communication, even if it’s holding arms and pretending to be intimate, it doesn’t feel like a man and a woman in love. Most men buy jewelry to please women, but the woman next to him and his relationship are not worth more than 50 Jewelry, let alone 3000 million." Regardless of the strange eyes of the guests around him, Sherlock has already begun to analyze the other person, "His clothing and accessories did cost a lot of money, but it can be seen that the outfit It's all very hasty, it doesn't look like someone with huge assets who can enjoy life at any time or buy a diamond to coax a woman, it is estimated that his company may still have a big financial crisis in the near future."

"Well, Quan Zhong." Mia's cell phone vibrated, and she has received all the information about Longman Company, "His financial report shows that in the past six months, due to the instability of the economic market, His investment suffered a severe loss and he almost went bankrupt. However, two months ago, his company received capital injection from a new investor and finally survived the catastrophe. The new financial report shows that his recent profits have increased If the trend can develop steadily, it should be able to recover the previous losses in less than a year."

"That's right, he couldn't afford the diamond at all."

"But maybe, maybe he just wants to save face in front of beautiful women." Mia joked casually, "Look at that one over there, Mr. Cotton, his father is in the top [-] richest people in the world He is a top rich man, but in fact a few years ago he was already under economic sanctions because he cheated on his father's little girlfriend, and he can only receive the most basic living expenses every month, but he still raised his cards a few times for the sake of face."

Sherlock was not interested in the gossip between rich people that Mia said, he just continued to scan the audience. If Longman was entrusted by the fifth person to come to the scene, then who did the murderer learn about the live auction? ?

During the period when Sherlock and Mia were analyzing the data, "Nights in Paris" had been bid up to 620 million US dollars, and the highest bidder was indeed the dubious Longman, and those who were willing to continue bidding with him There is almost no one left.

Auctioneers are already counting down as they energize the atmosphere in an attempt to finally raise some prices.

"Where's the brand?" Mia suddenly pushed Sherlock beside her.

"what?"

"The number plate that was given to me when I entered the venue." Although the two of them came here through the relationship of the British government's elder brother, they are also eligible for formal bidding.

At this time, Sherlock's attention was all on looking for the clues of the murderer, but he just randomly pulled out the number plate that he almost threw from under the seat.

“三千700万，46号这位女士出价三千700万，62号先生继续出价三千720万。”

The auctioneer suddenly shouted this sentence, which successfully made Sherlock's thinking pause.

Wait, number 46?Isn't this number the card in my hand just now?

Sherlock turned his head and watched Mia raise the number plate again, and gestured for 4000 million.

"4000 million! No. 46 has already asked for 4000 million, is there anyone else bidding?"

Sherlock: "..."

Although he didn't know how much Mia, an internationally renowned expert in art theft and forgery, was worth, anyway, as an FBI agent, she definitely wouldn't have $4000 million.

"If you have time to see me, why don't you tell Mycroft to pay attention to Langman's mobile phone communication, and to make sure if he is the person we are looking for, it is now." Mia looked at the man on the other end and made a Wait a moment gesture, "I guess the reserve price for the auction that the people behind Longman gave him is about 4000 million. I'm putting on this posture that I must win. He will definitely contact his employer if he has no idea. I will try my best to delay the time, and hope that the mysterious person will not give up halfway. I can barely handle the current price, if it goes up..." She paused, and suddenly smiled ambiguously at Sherlock, "You Said that if the price increase fails, Brother McCoff will pay for us, right?"

"..."

Sherlock took out his cell phone and started contacting Mycroft.

As expected, the man surnamed Langman started answering the phone not long after. They didn't talk for a long time, especially as Langman didn't say a few words from the beginning to the end, just nodded his head in response.

Through the signal inquiry, the phone call between Longman and the mysterious insider was indeed heavily protected, but fortunately with the government's high-tech support, they still roughly locked the other party's basic location.

That person is actually in England, not far from London.

"Nights in Paris" was finally sold by Longman for 200 million. Mia and Sherlock left after the auctioneer made a final decision, and McCoff had sent a car to pick them up.

The location of the mobile phone just now can only roughly determine a range based on the strength of the signal. Whether the exact hiding place of that person can be found in such a large area depends on Sherlock's reasoning ability.

The car was driving on the road, and Sherlock also got the recording of the phone call at this time.

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"Good morning sir."

"What happened again, didn't you say try not to contact me?"

"Just now, a lady has already called for 4000 million diamonds, and it seems that she will continue to bid. Look..."

"woman?"

"Yes, a very young lady, never seen before."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, "No matter how much it costs, buy it."

"Okay, I know how to do it."

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The content of the conversation was very simple, and there were almost no clues whether it was from the accent, the wording, or the habits of the words. The only thing that was certain was that the fifth insider was also a man.

However, there seemed to be some unusual noises heard in the background of the phone.

"It will take a lot of time for the technical department to divide and process these sounds?" Mia has also experienced this kind of investigation process in the FBI, and it should be the same in the UK.

"No, that's the sound of the train passing by. It's just because the distance is relatively far away, so I can't hear it clearly on the phone. Call me to check the frequency and the most accurate time of the train passing by there in the past hour... ..."