Wrong Marriage and Sweet Love

Luther stayed at the second precinct and did not close his eyes all night.

He kept waiting for the kidnapper to call again, afraid he would miss it.

It was only in the early hours of the morning that he leaned back in his chair and reluctantly closed his eyes, sleeping in a dazed, muddled trance.

Suddenly there was a beep sound and it was a text message. It was like the first thunder of the dawn, and he woke up with a jolt, sat up, and found himself in a cold sweat.

Karl was lounging on his desk for a moment when the same short ringing tone woke him up.

He sprang to his feet and ran to Luther’s side.

Luther opened up the text message, and sure enough, it was the person holding Joyce hostage who sent the latest message.

“We want five hundred million, paid in diamonds, placed in the Phoenix Hill gas station in City A. We will come and pick it up, and you will get your woman back once we get the money.”

“There was only a text message, and no more photos of Joyce.” Karl finished reading the text message and pondered for a moment, “Normally, when the criminals propose a ransom, they will send a photo of the kidnapped person or an audio recording of the kidnapped person asking for help. To show that the person is indeed still within their grasp.”

“You mean that the thugs only sent one text message and nothing else. In all likelihood, Joyce is out of their grasp?” Luther’s heart was vaguely excited, and a glimmer of hope ignited.

He knew she had a gun with her, she was a sharpshooter, so hopefully, she could save herself.

“This is just my guess.” Karl opened the map of City A on the big screen and pointed out the location of Phoenix Mountain, “Look, Phoenix Mountain is here, Phoenix Mountain gas station is here. But I suspect that Phoenix Hill is just a trick, and the ransom demanded by the criminals is also just a trick, they are trying to create the illusion that this is an ordinary kidnapping case. Their ultimate goal is still to kill Joyce.”

Luther looked grave and said without hesitation, “I will order my men to prepare 500 million worth of diamonds and send them to the Phoenix Hill gas station. Whether the criminals really want it or not, I couldn’t take any chances.”

“Hmm. Around Phoenix Mountain, I will send someone up secretly.” Karl nodded his head.

After Luther finished, he called Aaron and carefully explained all the details before hanging up.

“The immediate priority is to find out where Joyce is.” Karl walked to the inquiry room, which was filled with officers who had been working overtime all night to check the surveillance footage.

He stepped forward and asked, “Well, do you have a clue?”

Luther followed Karl to the inquiry room, not wanting to miss any useful information.

One of the officers returned, “Captain, I was just about to call you! We have a lead. We traced the whereabouts of every large truck that showed up in front of DeNox at the time. Excluding the rest of the suspicious vehicles, only one truck remains the most suspicious. Captain, look, here is the gas station that is closest to the border of Khebury, this big truck went in to refuel, but did not come out again!”

“Look here! Look, the big truck drove in!” He pointed at the screen and replayed it once, “Look, but it didn’t come back out!”

“Where did this minivan come from?” Karl pointed out another minivan that was coming in and out.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

The officer shook his head, “I don’t know, maybe it just happened to come for gas.”

“No, what’s this minivan doing driving into a diesel fuel station when it needs gasoline?” Luther also noticed that.