Legendary FBI Detective-Chapter 823 - 825: The Twenty-Dollar Counterfeit Case

FBI Washington Headquarters Building, a temporarily borrowed office.

"The Trace Examination Department has discovered something new."

Seeing Michelle's serious expression as she spoke, Trick Kennedy was momentarily stunned, while Luo An slightly furrowed his brows and asked:

"Could it be that the guy blown to pieces by the grenade isn't the bespectacled man Jenduo?"

Michelle was also momentarily dazed upon hearing this, but quickly shook her head and stepped aside to make way:

"That's not it, the agent from the Trace Examination Department is here to explain the details."

Michelle opened the door, and a man and a woman from the Trace Examination Department entered the room one after the other, first greeting Trick Kennedy:

"Good afternoon, sir."

Trick Kennedy nodded and directly asked:

"What did you find? A new kind of evidence?"

"No, it has nothing to do with the evidence."

The female agent placed her briefcase on the table, slowly taking out a transparent evidence bag containing a twenty US Dollar bill.

"Twenty US Dollar?"

Trick Kennedy furrowed his eyebrows slightly, took the evidence bag, and examined it carefully. Luo An quickly realized:

"Is this counterfeit money?"

"That's right."

The female agent from the Trace Examination Department nodded seriously and explained:

"Last night, after Group Leader Luo An's operation ended, initially, our Trace Examination Department only found those items downstairs in the warehouses.

This morning, one of our agents discovered a secret room in one of the underground casinos controlled by Jenduo's gang.

Besides some chips and cheating devices that a casino must have, there were over five hundred thousand US Dollars. We initially thought that money was the casino's gambling fund.

Upon further inspection, we found that out of five hundred and four thousand US Dollars, only forty thousand were real bills. The remaining five hundred thousand US Dollars were counterfeit, all in twenty US Dollar denominations."

"Counterfeit bills totaling five hundred thousand US Dollars?!"

As the female agent finished her explanation, Trick Kennedy's face immediately darkened, while Luo An's expression remained unchanged as he continued to ask:

"What about the style of the counterfeit bills?"

The male agent beside them looked grave and said seriously:

"They are very similar to real bills, and ordinary people would almost be unable to distinguish them without counterfeit detection equipment.

Even initially, we almost didn't spot the issue without a thorough inspection."

The male agent then took a file from the briefcase and said solemnly:

"Also, three years ago in California, there was another counterfeit money case.

The counterfeit bills in that case were also twenty US Dollar bills, crafted with such expertise that ordinary people found them hard to detect.

However, the total amount of counterfeit bills in that case wasn't large, not exceeding one hundred US Dollars.

For certain reasons, that case was never solved, and very few clues were left, with only a few counterfeit bills preserved from that time."

Trick Kennedy was still seriously examining the counterfeit bill, noticing nothing wrong. Luo An reached out to take the file, and while going through it, he asked:

"Are you sure that the counterfeit bills we discovered today and those found three years ago in California were made by the same group?"

The male agent shook his head and explained:

"We are not sure yet. Our study in the Trace Examination Department on counterfeit bills isn't deep, but given the high quality of both, we have this suspicion."

"OK, thank you for your hard work."

After a brief discussion, the male and female agents from the Trace Examination Department turned to leave the office, while Luo An kept the file and a counterfeit bill.

Looking at the counterfeit bill in Luo An's hand, which he couldn't find any problems with despite examining it for a long time, Trick Kennedy furrowed his brows and asked in a serious voice:

"Luo An, what do you think about these counterfeit bills?"

"With so few clues, I haven't thought of anything yet."

Luo An held the counterfeit bill against the sun but found no issues, even feeling no anomaly in the texture. After a moment of silence, he lifted a brow and smiled:

"Sir, I'll contact California later and have someone bring back the counterfeit bills from three years ago.

Then, I plan to consult some currency experts to verify whether the crafting techniques of the counterfeit bills from back then are the same as the ones we just discovered.

However, I don't know many currency experts, so I hope you can offer some help."

"No problem!"

Trick Kennedy nodded with a smile and agreed without hesitation.

After a brief discussion, Trick Kennedy frowned and left the office first. He had thought the case would end after capturing the gang and the evidence, but surprisingly, new developments had emerged.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Luo An also left the office. In the office area, after hearing Luo An's briefing, all the agents were looking at each other, not expecting to find counterfeit money in the casino.

After examining the counterfeit bill carefully from all angles for a long time, Reesi looked puzzled:

"Luo An, are you sure this is counterfeit? It seems no different from a real bill. Could the Trace Examination Department be mistaken?"

Chenier gave Reesi a side glance, snatched the twenty US Dollar bill, and after examining it for a few seconds without spotting any issues, said oddly:

"Watermarks, texture, and feel, everything seems fine... What kind of gang has such superb techniques? It really doesn't look like counterfeit money."

"Let me see it again."

Reesi reached out again to grab the counterfeit bill:

"This is the first time I've seen such authentic counterfeit money; the other party is incredibly skilled."

"Don't snatch it, it's my first time seeing it too!"

Chenier and Reesi began quarreling over it, while Mona glanced at them, uninterested, and looked at Luo An, asking:

"Luo An, what should we do next?"

Luo An took a sip of coffee and smiled:

"No rush, let's first deal with the flour downstairs, and temporarily detain the evidence dealers and gang members in jail, then investigate this counterfeit money case."

This counterfeit money case appeared suddenly, catching everyone by surprise. Additionally, the nature of the counterfeit money case meant that investigating it would inevitably take a lot of time. Therefore, Trick Kennedy was not in a hurry, and Luo An planned to first handle the current cases.

"By the way."

Luo An's eyes shifted, suddenly recalling something from the file, and clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention, saying:

"When interrogating the criminals under Jenduo these days, ask them if anyone knows where the counterfeit bills came from, aiming to get some clues."

"Understood."

"No problem!"

All the agents nodded in agreement, and after a brief chat and laugh, they resumed handling the follow-up work on the case.

Soon after, a press conference officially began downstairs, and the media, unable to see Group Leader Luo An Greenwood, looked disappointed, which somewhat dampened the formerly lively atmosphere.

Standing in front of the media, Trick Kennedy was a bit speechless, while upstairs in the office, Luo An was in a rather good mood.

In the office, Luo An closed his eyes, pretending to rest, but was actually viewing the light blue system interface in his mind.

After the [Polonium-210 Case], Luo An had also experienced other cases like the [Toy Company President's Granddaughter Murder Case] where the murderer delivered himself; the [Throat Slit Footprint Death Case] related to the Judgment Process Church; and the case of a couple murdered, which started as a minor case and escalated into the collapse of three gangs, known as the [Balloon Case].

After the [Deputy Governor's Heart Transplant Murder Case], Luo An found that the more treasure chests he accumulated, the higher the chance of obtaining the potion he desired later.

Taking several deep breaths, Luo An mentally activated and opened the first treasure chest.