American homeless people, surviving in the city

"Aside from the fact that the murderer has not yet been found, the investigation process for the Lakeside murder case is complete, and the crime scene can be cleaned up. You can go anytime you want."

"The cleaning supplies were already in the trunk, and the room key..."

As Officer Kayla spoke, she began searching through all her pockets, but after searching for a long time, she found nothing.

"Huh? I thought I had it with me?... Oh no, I think I left it on my desk!"

She looked up, giving a slightly embarrassed smile: "Would you come back with me to get it?"

Lynch shrugged, parked the car again, and followed Kayla back into the police station building.

As Lynch passed the police station lobby, he saw the same group of homeless men again. Having nothing else to do, he curiously asked Kayla:

"These people don't look like they're from your police station, do they? What are they doing lying here?"

"I heard you went on another raid on Third Avenue yesterday? Were they captured by you?"

"Tch, don't talk nonsense." Kayla walked ahead, waving her hand without turning her head. "Those guys just stayed here on their own. We couldn't get rid of them, so we just let them be."

"A few homeless people, daring to stay in the police station? What kind of audacity do they have?" Lin Qi laughed. "Are they not afraid of being shot, or are they not afraid of you 'I can't breathe'?"

"Don't joke like that in the police station, Lynch." Kayla glanced at him, stopping him from speaking. "However, what you said is true, even if it's crude. If we weren't so busy lately, these guys really wouldn't have gotten away with it."

"I have no idea why they're lingering here. Maybe they've gotten carried away? Maybe we should get an intern to kick them out..."

She was clearly not interested in the ideas of those homeless men at all.

Lin Qi laughed and said, "So what have you been busy doing lately? Busy sweeping up homeless people sleeping in various places?"

"More or less."

Kayla scratched her head and glanced back at him: "It's not exactly classified information, but I'm telling you, don't go around telling other people, okay?"

"Don't worry, I will keep my mouth shut." Lin Qi readily agreed.

"That's good," Kayla nodded. "We have indeed organized quite a few clean-up operations of homeless tents on the streets recently, but we don't arrest them or take them to the police station. We just let them leave the streets temporarily. There are many reasons for that."

"On the one hand, Seattle has recently hosted many international conferences, attracting a large number of visitors. The city council has repeatedly pressured us to maintain Seattle's appearance as much as possible."

"Ha, the city's appearance, what a joke."

"What other reasons are there?" Lin Qi asked curiously.

"Another reason..." Officer Kayla hesitated for a few seconds before slowly saying, "is the recent surge in missing persons cases near Third Avenue."

"A missing person case?"

Upon hearing this word, Lin Qi was suddenly startled, and unpleasant memories began to flood his mind. He quickly asked, "What missing person case?"

"It's normal that you don't know about this, but I have to say, you have to be careful when you go to Third Avenue in the future."

Kayla first gave Lynch a few instructions, and then slowly explained:

"During this period, a large number of homeless people have gone missing near Third Avenue. The missing persons are mainly women and children, but there have also been reports of young men going missing."

"The number of missing persons is so high..." Kayla glanced at Lynch, "...so high that even local police departments, which wouldn't normally pay attention to homeless cases, have taken notice."

"But to be honest, with Seattle's current police force, it's really impossible to take care of so many cases, big and small, in Seattle. It's impossible to investigate each of these homeless people's disappearances."

"That's why we've been organizing more street cleanups recently, trying to drive the homeless to remote areas away from Third Avenue to ensure their safety as much as possible... at least, that's what we really think."

Upon hearing Kayla's explanation, Lynch immediately recalled what he had seen and heard on Third Avenue that morning, and his conversation with Raul and old James.

...Why do it seem like there are fewer people on the streets? ...Because of the recent international conference, I did another street sweep last night...

But now it seems that LeBron James's judgment was one-sided.

Among those who disappeared, some may have left the area because of street sweeping, but some may have disappeared forever!

"Have the perpetrators been caught in the mass disappearances?" he asked anxiously.

"If we could catch criminals so easily, why would we bother chasing away homeless people?" Kayla muttered in dissatisfaction, shaking her head helplessly. "Although cases are frequent, we know nothing about the suspects in the missing persons cases, and we haven't even found a single trustworthy eyewitness."

"How could this be?" Lin Qi asked in disbelief.

"Because the missing persons are all homeless people on the streets..." Kayla shrugged. "It's hard to determine whether a homeless person has truly gone missing. Maybe they just moved to another place, or maybe they just fell and are lying unconscious in some corner... Nobody can say for sure."

"In addition, the people who report the crime are often homeless, and a large portion of them have symptoms of drug addiction, mental illness or intellectual disability, and they speak incoherently and incoherently."

"Therefore, local police departments are unable to immediately investigate these missing persons cases, nor do they know which statements and testimonies were provided by the complainants while they were of sound mind."

"The end result was that, despite receiving numerous reports, we ultimately knew nothing about the case or the suspects."

After hearing Kayla's words, Lynch really didn't know how to evaluate Seattle's police system.

While Kayla's explanation did make some sense, it was incredibly incompetent of an official agency to simply watch the case unfold without taking any action!

But then, an even more terrifying conjecture quietly took shape in his mind.

The recent spate of homeless disappearances on Third Avenue bears some resemblance to the story Old James told seven or eight years ago.

Those suspected of being human traffickers and dressed in strange ethnic clothing were indeed extremely dangerous according to the Rat's Detective, and they even followed Sylvia!

Could it be that this unknown and dangerous organization has become active again in recent years?!

Thinking of this, Lin Qi felt a chill run down his spine. He cautiously opened his mouth and tentatively asked:

"Did you guys notice a group of people wearing strange ethnic clothing on Third Avenue?"

"Strange ethnic clothing? That's too general a description." Kayla sounded a little confused. "If we're talking about ethnic minorities outside the mainstream of society, Seattle has quite a few."

"Not far from the city is the Sukwamish tribe's private land, and 30 miles away is the Makshut tribe. The clothing of each tribe is quite distinctive."

"In addition, Seattle has a lot of Indians and Sikhs, and there is a small Amish community in the suburbs... In my opinion, their clothing can all be considered 'strange ethnic costumes'."

Why are you suddenly asking this?

Lynch had no substantial evidence and could only tell the truth based on what he knew: "I just heard that in a baby disappearance case that happened many years ago on Third Avenue, several people dressed in strange ethnic clothing were listed as suspects, but they have never been caught."

"And I have indeed seen some strangely dressed people near Third Avenue recently..."

"Are you serious? Where did you hear this news? Is it really not some drunkard or drug addict who made up this story?" Kayla's tone was full of skepticism.

"This...this news is indeed something I heard, not something I saw with my own eyes..."

"In that case, there's no need to tell me," Officer Kayla waved her hand. "Police stations everywhere are helpless with these cases, and I'm just an ordinary worker, so I'm even more helpless. If you find any more detailed clues, come find me then."

As they spoke, the two arrived at Kayla's office. Kayla went into the office and came out a few seconds later, handing Lynch a finely crafted key.

"Alright, let's wrap up our chat here."

Here's the key to the room at the crime scene. Now, the task is yours.