38: Chapter 38 There's a mole!

"A legitimate businessman? He's slashed more people than you've ever seen as clients!"

Ballard was clearly furious!

She slammed the file directly onto the desk.

The lawyer watched Ballard's anger, his smile completely unmoved.

He replied, "That's your speculation; the court requires evidence."

Ballard wanted to say something more, but another police officer held her back.

It was the head of the Major Crimes Unit, an old man in his fifties named Murphy.

"Renee," Murphy lowered his voice, "calm down."

Ballard shook off his hand.

But in the end, she didn't say anything else.

She just stared at the two lawyers, her eyes looking as if she wanted to skin them alive.

The lawyers calmly packed up their files, nodded at Murphy, and turned to walk out.

As they passed by Shaun, one of the lawyers glanced at him.

The door closed.

A deathly silence filled the office.

"Bang!"

A moment later, a furious Ballard kicked over the trash can nearby.

She couldn't help but curse, "Damn it!"

Shaun walked over and asked, "What's going on?"

Ballard didn't speak.

Murphy sighed and picked up the file, flipping through it.

He said, "Someone has come to bail out Hector."

"They brought a high-powered lawyer from New York, all the paperwork is in order, and the bail was paid on the spot."

Shaun was stunned for a moment.

Being able to walk free on bail even for breaking and entering—how much did they pay?

So he asked, "Paid on the spot? How much?"

Murphy glanced at him, "Five hundred thousand."

Shaun fell silent.

Five hundred thousand.

A number two in a gang, arrested less than twelve hours ago, and someone already showed up with five hundred thousand in cash to bail him out.

Something's not right!

Shaun immediately asked a crucial question: "Did you interrogate him?"

Murphy shook his head.

"We didn't have time. The lawyer arrived too quickly. We had just brought him in; we hadn't even entered the interrogation room before the lawyer arrived."

Ballard let out a cold laugh from the side.

"Didn't have time?"

"Someone tipped them off, didn't they?"

Murphy frowned and said, "Renee, watch your tone."

Ballard ignored him.

She walked up to Shaun and lowered her voice.

"We didn't get anything out of Hector."

"The lawyer followed him the whole time and wouldn't let him say a word. Now that he's gone, the lead is broken."

Great!

All for nothing!

Shaun didn't understand; since the police had already put out a warrant for that guy, how could he still be bailed out?

American law is truly baffling!

Looking at Ballard again, her eyes were bloodshot.

She didn't sleep well last night...

No, she didn't sleep at all last night.

Shaun didn't want to ask anymore, but he had to get a clear answer: "What about Joseph White?"

Ballard shook her head, "That lead on Hector is useless for now."

Shaun felt somewhat helpless hearing this, but he knew the water here ran very deep.

Even he, at the moment... couldn't easily get involved.

After venting, Ballard didn't stop working.

She dragged Shaun and walked into the Technical Team office.

Several technical personnel were busy in front of their computers; seeing them enter, they just looked up briefly before returning to their work.

Ballard walked straight to the computer by the window and stopped next to a young technician.

"Jamie, where's the stuff I asked you to check yesterday?"

The young man named Jamie looked up, pushed up his glasses, and handed her a printed document.

"The call logs, timeline, and location data are all in there."

Ballard took it and flipped through it quickly.

Standing to the side, Shaun saw that it was a densely packed call log, marked with various timestamps and numbers.

Hmm...

He couldn't really understand it.

So Shaun asked directly, "Anything unusual?"

Ballard didn't speak.

She handed the document to Shaun and then said to Jamie, "Pull up the surveillance footage, the one from around 11 PM last night, at the entrance of the Major Crimes Unit office."

Jamie nodded and began operating the computer.

Shaun looked down at the document.

It was a call log of calls made from inside the police station after Hector was arrested, from 2 AM to 8 AM.

Time, number, duration—all clearly listed.

"See it?" As he was studying it, Ballard's voice came over.

Shaun looked carefully but didn't see anything.

Fortunately, Ballard didn't intend to quiz Shaun; she reached out and pointed to one of the lines, "Look here."

Shaun glanced at it; the information showed that at 3:17 AM, a number was dialed, and the call lasted a minute and a half.

The recipient's number was masked, but the notes column contained four words: Encrypted Line.

Shaun's pupils constricted slightly.

Encrypted Line.

That was something only high-ranking police officials could use, connecting directly to certain special departments, or...

Shaun didn't continue thinking; he asked, "Who made this call?"

Ballard looked at him, "The Technical Team can only see that someone used an encrypted line at that time, but they don't know who it was, nor who they called."

She paused, her voice dropping a few decibels, "Records of encrypted line usage can only be accessed by the Chief's office and Internal Affairs."

This is bad!

Shaun understood immediately; this matter was getting bigger and bigger.

3:17 AM.

Hector had been brought in less than two hours before the lawyer arrived.

What does that mean?

It means there's a mole!

However...

Shaun thought for a moment and said, "This still isn't enough evidence."

"I know." Ballard put the document away, "But it at least shows... someone tipped them off."

She glanced around, lowered her voice, and spoke bluntly, "Shaun, I suspect there's a mole in the department."

"The lawyer arrived too fast. When Hector was brought back, only the Major Crimes Unit and the duty officers knew. Yet the lawyer was at the door by seven in the morning!"

"These two New York lawyers couldn't have flown in from New York that quickly. So..."

"The most likely possibility is that the lawyers were already waiting here!"

Shaun's brain was racing.

If the lawyers were already waiting, that means... someone knew in advance that Hector would be arrested.

It means someone was afraid of complications and knew these people had gone to Hill Manor!

A chill went down Shaun's spine.

He said, "When we went to Hill Manor last night, was someone else following us?"

Ballard shook her head, "Not necessarily. It could also be that someone inside their group has been keeping an eye on this case."

Shaun took a deep breath, "What now?"

Ballard glanced at him, "Keep investigating, but be more careful."

As she spoke... not sure what was going through her head, she added, "Right now... I only trust you!"

She pulled the photo of Joseph White and Carlos from her pocket.

"We found this photo at the casino. No one else knows about it."

Shaun looked at the photo.

Joseph White's stiff smile, the way Carlos had his arm around his shoulder.

He thought for a moment and asked, "You want to use this as bait?"

Ballard nodded, "If there really is a mole, they will eventually slip up."

She put the photo away, "Let's go, let's get something to eat first. You can't investigate on an empty stomach."

It seemed... despite the many difficulties, Ballard's mindset was still quite stable.

But Shaun always felt like he was a bit unlucky...

Deep down, he didn't want to deal with whether or not there was a mole in the 5th Precinct at all...