Hannah and JJ, along with their old friends from the Wilshire branch, had also stayed up all night. They needed to draft and review articles sent to various news outlets, and strive for prominent placent or television news exposure.
Hannah might not be as professional as JJ in this area, but she had off-the-ground support. Zoe, who had just beco a city councilor, used a little of her resources to get the local dia on the scene.
But this also left the two girls exhausted. When Jack entered JJ's office with two insulated food containers, he found the two sleeping beauties slumped over their desks.
Seeing that no one was around, the scumbag placed the food on the table, each stealing a bite, before quietly closing the door and rushing off to et Rossi and Reid.
The Vaughn family lived in a top-tier neighborhood in the city center. Having been notified in advance, Keeson Vaughn was already waiting on the porch.
After obtaining his permission, Jack and Reid went straight into the house and searched Lindsay's room.
Throughout this ti, Keeson Vaughn remained silent, leaning against the door, coldly watching the two n bustling about. Beside him still stood his so-called friend, Pat Mannan.
Rossi scanned the room and the few frad photos on the table, then turned and asked, "What happened to Lindsay's mother?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Pat Mannan asked.
Rossi didn't look at him, his gaze remaining fixed on Keeson Vaughn. "It's related to Lindsay."
"This is called 'Criminal Psychology,'" Reid began his daily Q&A. "This will help us understand Lindsay's personality."
Keeson Vaughn finally broke the silence, frowning as he succinctly uttered a single word. "How?"
"It will help us understand how she sees herself, how she socializes with others. The things in each of our rooms reveal our inner personalities."
Keeson Vaughn was clearly unconvinced, stating nonchalantly, "She's no different from any other 15-year-old."
Rossi calmly refuted his statent. "No, she's different."
"What do you an?" Keeson Vaughn raised an eyebrow.
Having spent more than a whole day ticulously touring Zoe's house and having lived with Hannah for almost half a year, Jack naturally pointed out the unusual aspects of the room.
"This doesn't look like a girl's room at all, let alone a 15-year-old's."
"No celebrity posters on the walls, no photo wall, no travel photos, no magazines, no diary, not even a doll on the bed."
Jack shrugged. "Do I need to say more? I can assu she's withdrawn and afraid of socializing, but this doesn't make sense."
"No, she has friends, Katie," Keeson Vaughn retorted.
"Anything else?" Rossi's question left him speechless.
Just then, Reid's phone rang. He answered a video call and walked out of the room. The call seed to be from Garcia.
Garcia seed to have sent him so docunts. The two exchanged a few quiet words, and Reid closed his phone and leaned out to ask, "Mr. Vaughn, may I use your computer?"
"In the study, please." Keeson Vaughn replied casually.
Imdiately afterward, Jack's phone also beeped with a text ssage. He opened it and saw that it was from Reid.
It was a background check on the Vaughn family that Reid had forwarded from Garcia. It looked very clean, suspiciously clean.
Jack took a couple of steps without making a sound, turned his back to the two people at the door, and winked at Rossi.
"Okay, there's nothing else to worry about here." Rossi casually glanced around the room, then slowly walked out and stood in the center of the living room.
"Excuse , let through." A few minutes later, Reid also ca out of the study and stood next to Rossi.
Jack was the last to leave the room, standing in the middle of the four of them, turning to face Keeson Vaughn and Pat Mannan.
The two exchanged glances, their expressions sowhat puzzled, before Keeson Vaughn finally spoke up.
"Any other questions? What else have you figured out?"
Standing behind Jack, Rossi decided to lay his cards on the table, saying directly, "This doesn't look like a ho at all."
"Top-notch security, but the furniture seems to be rented, the walls are covered in cheap decorative paintings, not a single piece of real art."
"There isn't even a family photo on the bookshelves, and a 15-year-old teenage girl doesn't even have her own tablet or laptop,"
Reid continued, "The computer in the study is set to clear its history every day, and it's using a proxy server; Garcia can't even trace its network activity."
"And how do you explain this?"
With that, Reid held up his phone screen to the two of them and started playing a video.
This was a video diary Garcia found on Katie Owen's computer. The girl seed to use it as a confidante, discussing many things about Lindsay.
She expressed her dislike for Lindsay's father, the man known as Keeson Vaughn, whom she described as controlling and abnormal.
Katie even believed that Keeson Vaughn's possessiveness towards Lindsay was more like that towards a wife than a daughter.
"What does this prove? The ramblings of a teenage girl? Since you're all psychologists, you should know more about this than I do." Keeson Vaughn said calmly, unmoved by the accusations in the video.
"Keep watching," Reid said, fast-forwarding a short segnt.
Katie also shared many stories she had learned from Lindsay, such as how the father and daughter moved to Los Angeles six years ago, having previously lived in Maine.
Keeson Vaughn and his three brothers owned a fishing boat, and Lindsay's mother was a housewife. However, tragedy struck; the catch dwindled, forcing the family to sell the boat, and then the mother died in a car accident.
"Doesn't that sound familiar?" Reid proudly held up one finger.
"I've just read the novel, *The Erald Sea Dream*, and the protagonist is nad Lindsay. This is her life story."
"What are you trying to say? Shouldn't you be focusing on finding Lindsay? This is just a joke between two little girls."
Before Keeson Vaughn could speak, Pat Mannan stepped in to explain.
Rossi's face darkened.
"Rember that recording from yesterday? Katie showed the reaction of an ordinary teenager facing death; she begged to live. Lindsay, on the other hand, did the opposite."
"The opposite of what?" Keeson Vaughn beca agitated and asked impatiently.
Reid cautiously peeked out from behind Jack. "Lindsay's emotional reaction and what she said to Katie—these strong implications…"
"She's either been trained or she's been sexually abused."
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