Luo An's father, named Charles Greenwood, was a professor of accounting at Boston University and also an advisor for many companies, so Luo An had a good family condition during his childhood.
His mother was originally named Beverly Sheffield. After marrying Luo An's father, she changed her surname following federal tradition to Beverly Greenwood, and she was a doctor in a children's hospital.
In Luo An's mind, memories related to his father were almost non-existent because Charles Greenwood was killed in a street shooting when Luo An was just 4 years old.
However, he had many memories of his mother Beverly who was both gentle and strict, single-handedly raising Luo An as he grew up.
A week after Luo An turned 18, his mother Beverly was also killed in a street shooting on her way to work. The killer was the same as the one who killed his father Charles and remained at large.
Luo An never put these two incidents out of his mind. From becoming an official agent in the Special Investigation Team, to leading it alone, and then being promoted to Washington D.C., Luo An never gave up on the investigation.
But too much time had passed, there was no surveillance at the time, some witnesses either died of illness or old age, and since shootings were a daily occurrence in Boston, the police hastily concluded the investigation without leaving any useful information, causing Luo An's investigation to stagnate.
Initially, Luo An took Mona back to Boston and bought that old villa, not only out of nostalgia but also hoping to investigate and see if any useful information could be found in the old villa.
Indeed, there were quite a few relics of his mother Beverly, but despite Luo An's meticulous searching many times, he still came up empty-handed.
In the interrogation room, upon hearing Joseph mention his father, Luo An's mind instantly recalled the related situations.
His heart stirred but his facial expression unchanged, Luo An sat down in the chair with a smile and said:
"I'm sorry, Mr. Joseph, but trying to connect with me now seems a bit late."
"It's not about connecting, it's just that seeing you stirs some emotions."
Joseph sat in the chair behind the interrogation table, his hands cuffed, and he shook his head with a smile.
Dressed in a high-quality suit, his forehead and the corners of his eyes bore many wrinkles, yet his brown hair was meticulously styled with a large slick back, giving the impression that he was very astute.
"Let's talk about the case of Deputy Governor Whitmore of Pennsylvania being murdered."
Luo An shifted the topic away from his father and inquired:
"Mr. Joseph, do you have anything you'd like to say about this?"
Joseph didn't beat around the bush, he leaned back in his chair and admitted everything:
"There's not much to say, the person who sent the assassin was me."
"Why?"
Michelle was scribbling furiously on the side, quickly recording Joseph's words, Luo An continued to ask:
"Would you care to discuss it?"
"..."
The room fell silent for a moment. After a long silence, Joseph sighed, raised his head to look at Luo An with a very kind expression:
"I have a son, a little younger than you, just turned 18 this year, but as handsome as you."
Luo An's eyelids twitched slightly, feeling as if Joseph was taking advantage of him.
"But a year ago, my son faced a litigation. "
Without caring about Luo An's expression, Joseph looked up at the ceiling of the interrogation room and continued:
"At that time I called Whitmore, hoping he could help.
But Whitmore didn't answer my call, his idiot secretary did, and the idiot secretary said Whitmore was in a critical stage of the election and couldn't get involved... bullshit!"
Bam—
At this point, Joseph suddenly slammed the interrogation table with a loud bang, yelling:
"Talk of not wanting to get involved is nonsense!
Whitmore, that bastard fostered by fate, could marry into the Morgan family and rise to his current position; none of it could happen without my help!
Now that he's succeeded and become the Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, he turns his back on me? He must pay for his actions!"
Michelle frowned tightly, Luo An's eyes narrowed slightly, understanding the story Joseph had told.
His son was arrested under drug charges, Joseph sought Whitmore's help, but Whitmore refused.
Such matters are not uncommon in the federal sphere, with politicians and businessmen often having a murky relationship; it's routine for them to be caught in a messy entanglement.
However, Luo An was unclear about one thing and asked:
"Mr. Joseph, besides Deputy Governor Whitmore, you surely know other people, right?"
As a retail magnate of Pennsylvania, Joseph was both wealthy and influential, unlikely to know only Whitmore in politics.
"That's right, I do have quite a few other friends."
Joseph understood the implied meaning in Luo An's question and didn't hide it. He explained straightforwardly:
"But not soon enough, I told you, my son was handsome, so he caught the eye of a gangster right after entering prison.
I was contacting others to get him transferred to a better cell, but meanwhile, he was already being tortured by that pervert.
By the time my lawyer saw my son, he had committed suicide."
Joseph, 59 years old this year, had only that one son. He was overwhelmed with grief upon learning of his son's death.
For revenge, Joseph mobilized all his connections, first killed the man who molested his son, and then used other means to get a lot of local law enforcement officials sacked.
In Joseph's eyes, Deputy Governor Whitmore was the root cause of the tragedy.
If Whitmore had taken his call immediately instead of letting that idiot secretary delay with verbal antics, he would have had time to seek help from others.
His son wouldn't have been tortured, wouldn't have committed suicide; even if tortured, his people could have reached there in time to rescue him, and his son wouldn't have taken his own life.
"So, Deputy Governor Whitmore is the chief culprit."
Joseph's eyes were red, glaring fiercely at Luo An as he said resolutely:
"He must die."
"..."
Michelle's brow was tightly locked, Luo An's expression remained unchanged. His son's death had a profound impact on Joseph, and in his perspective, Whitmore's action was akin to a 'betrayal.'
Whether his son really used drugs or not wasn't important in Joseph's eyes. The fault was never his son's; it was someone else's.
After further questioning for a moment, Luo An took Michelle and left the interrogation room.
There wasn't much more to be said about this case; Joseph had admitted everything, and all evidence at the Special Investigation Team pointed towards him. Next, it would be Michelle leading the Special Investigation Team agents in procedural documentation.
After assigning the agents to handle the case proceedings with Michelle, Luo An returned to the team leader's office and called Vireness from his cell phone.
After briefly explaining the background of the case, Vireness was very pleased and after a brief communication, Vireness reminded Luo An not to forget to send over the related documents later, then she ended the call herself.
After a few seconds of silence, Luo An returned to his desk to deal with paperwork and sent a message to Mr. Morgan, informing him that the case had been solved.
In the evening, as the members of the Special Investigation Team left work, Luo An asked Mona to go home first, then he drove to the temporary detention center.
"Good evening, Mr. Joseph."
Having Joseph temporarily brought to an interrogation room, Luo An's lips curled slightly:
"Let's have a talk."