An empty holding cell.
Abby, in a blue T-shirt, was sitting alone on a narrow chair in the center of the room with handcuffs on her hands. Seeing Dean come in, a look of excitement appeared on her uneasy face.
"Dean, I remember what you said. I didn't answer any questions before the lawyer came..."
"Very well, listen Abby, I want to help you." Dean nodded and walked to her, supporting the table with his hands, leaning down to look into her eyes, "But first I need you to answer a few questions honestly."
Abby nodded like a chicken.
"Where were you four days ago, on Saturday afternoon, September 20th?"
"I'm at home," Abby's handcuffed hands grabbed Dean's hand, like a drowning man grasping for life-saving straws, "I've been miserable for a whole week, and I've been lying in bed to recuperate, without even a door. Batistuta and Raj can both testify for me."
Dean observed her expression carefully. It didn't look like a disguise or a performance at all. However, after being educated by a group of police officers, Dean was no longer blind to the law. He had learned that witness statements made by relatives that were beneficial to the parties concerned were legally binding. Far inferior to other evidence.
If it goes to court, the judge and jury will definitely believe the various test reports and surveillance video evidence from the LVPD.
"Are you sure you remember correctly? You didn't take Bucky Fran to the park on your bicycle that afternoon? Abby, I'm on your side... If you have any concerns, just say it and I'll keep it a secret for you. .”
"I haven't been to Booker Park since high school, and I just met Bucky Fran for the first time today. How could I kill him for no reason?" Abby denied very decisively,
"Then what's wrong with you?"
"Dizziness, chest tightness, drowsiness, and fever from time to time." Abby grimaced pitifully, "But the family doctor checked it out for me and said I just had a cold and inflammation, nothing major. He prescribed some medicine and I'll be fine. I'm recuperating at home."
"Where was the day of the crime?"
"I was so burned that day that I was in a daze."
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Much better... I haven't had a fever in the past two days," Abby said, "I just still have a little loss of appetite."
Dean nodded, let go of her hand, and took a glass of water.
"Drink some water to calm down, continue to wait for the lawyer, and then mention the family doctor to him. You should be able to get a piece of favorable evidence. Now I have to go out and see you after finishing my work."
"Dean...I, I didn't kill anyone, believe me, okay?" Abby stood up from her seat, blushed and shouted at his back,
"I believe you are innocent," Dean said without turning around, "But this is the police station. We don't care what we say. Everything must be based on evidence."
"I will try my best to help you find evidence."
Dean's words paused, and the extremely tragic death of the victim flashed in his mind, and he opened the door and left.
…
After leaving the LVPD, Dean got into Holden's passenger seat and drove towards the east block.
"Is there anything gained?" Holden asked,
Dean shook his head, "What do you think of her? Does she seem like a perfect liar?"
"My intuition tells me that Abby was wronged." A trace of confusion flashed in Holden's eyes, "But the evidence doesn't lie, so it can only be people who are behind the scenes."
…
The police car arrived at its destination, the Black Jack Bar, less than half an hour away from the park where the crime occurred. The sign and exterior wall were quite retro-style.
Four police officers entered the cowboy door one after another.
At around five o'clock in the afternoon, a bartender in a black vest was swinging his wrist in front of the bar to practice fancy bartending. At the bar, a middle-aged handsome man wearing a floral shirt, long hair and a goatee was holding a cigarette and was alone. Throw darts.
Under the dim light, he exudes the temperament of a decadent artist.
"Hi, Jack."
"Old friend, long time no see, how about a drink?"
The man came over and gave Karl a warm hug,
"You don't have to drink during working hours. Let's talk about business. Kruger came to the bar and mentioned it to you before," Karl sat in front of the bar. "I'll confirm again. Four days ago, on the night before the 20th, this The short-haired girl in the white sportswear has been here?"
Carl took out a photo and handed it to Jack.
"Yes, that's her. I was standing here throwing darts and thinking about life. This bar has been running for twenty years, but I am an old stubborn who can't keep up with the times and can't think of new things to attract people. Business It's getting worse and worse, and it's time to close down soon..." The bar owner made a depressing joke, returned the photo, and glanced at the four people.
"I was feeling sad when a 'tomboy' came in - among a bunch of rough guys and middle-aged women, a young-looking high school student suddenly walked in. It really impressed me and I still remember it today. new."
Jack threw a dart, and it hit the bull's-eye.
"The surveillance from that day is still there?" Karl asked,
"Well, the tape hasn't been washed off yet." Jack put out his cigarette butts and led everyone through the front hall to the monitoring room near the back kitchen. He took out the surveillance video tape No. 9.20 from the shelf, put it into the equipment, and quickly and skillfully Enter.
Dean, the three policemen and the police officers came to the screen and quickly saw the scene described by Jack before.
"That's Abby from the side!"
The young female high school student walked aimlessly around the corridor in front of the bar several times, looking around as if she was looking for something.
Dean found that her white sports coat did not have a logo, but it had three vertical stripes on the side of the sleeves, which was a very unique shape.
Abby suddenly raised her head and glanced at the surveillance camera, and her young and ordinary face appeared on the screen.
However, the surveillance equipment in this era does not have high definition, so you can’t hear the sound and can’t see the expression clearly.
It could only be roughly determined that it was Abby. She stared blankly at the surveillance camera for three seconds.
"What is she doing? Why is she staring at the surveillance camera?"
Dean pressed pause and frowned,
"It's easy to understand. I just committed a heinous crime..." Karl crossed his hands on his chest, "Being a thief has a guilty conscience, so he will pay special attention to the surrounding surveillance equipment."
Dean released the pause and the video continued——
On the screen, Abby walked directly to the bar owner, looked up at the surveillance camera, and then started chatting with Jack.
"What did she talk to you about?"
Karl paused the video and asked his old friend,
“A rookie who pretends to be fat, a shy and dull girl, asked me to give her a glass of whiskey,” Jack shook his head and sighed, “But I am a law-abiding citizen, how could I use alcohol to poison young people, so I refused her outright. "
"That makes sense." Holden pondered, "Abby just committed a felony, so she came to the bar to relieve her tension."
"There is data to prove that after committing a crime for the first time, many people will drink some alcohol to numb themselves to avoid the condemnation of conscience."
A trace of hesitation flashed across Jack's face as he listened.
"When I was chatting with her, I noticed a detail - her cuffs and collar were dyed red. I have lived for more than 40 years and still have some eyesight. I felt that it was blood."
At this point, Jack frowned and twisted his left wrist, "I asked her if she was injured and if she needed to be sent to the hospital or contact her family or a doctor."
On the screen, Jack reached out and grabbed Abby's wrist, but the latter struggled a few times and threw the man's hand away.
"She rejected my kindness and turned around and walked out the door. She made me feel weird at the time, but I couldn't tell what was weird."
…
"Wait, what happened to your hand?" Dean's eyes were attracted by the twisting wrist of the bar owner Jack. There was a half-finger-long crescent-shaped wound between the left wrist and the tiger's mouth. It was too serious, the bleeding had stopped, but the bright red flesh and blood could be seen inside.
"This little girl scratched me with her fingernail when she threw away my hand. It hurt a lot at the time and caused a lot of bleeding, but it's nothing serious now." Jack explained casually, but Dean felt a A strong sense of familiarity.
He had seen similar wrist scars somewhere, but he couldn't remember them at the moment.
But as they were thinking this way, the investigation progress suddenly jumped from 5% to 10%.
"So this scar is an important clue?"
Next, Jack changed the videotape.
Footage of the bar's exterior corridor on September 20.
Everyone fast forwarded the time to between 7:05 and 7:10 pm - after Abby left the bar, she took off her white sportswear with traces of blood on it and threw it into the invisible place on the side of the corridor. In something.
The white tight-fitting vest in her sportswear was exposed, but she was too thin and not much to look at.
"Is there a trash can on the side?"
"Um."
"Has it been cleaned?"
Holden suddenly pressed pause and looked at the bar owner,
Jack showed a mischievous smile, "You are so lucky. My bar only disposes of the garbage once a week, and the garbage truck will not come until tomorrow. If nothing else, this dress should still be in the trash!"
"Intern, here's your chance to show off," Holden suddenly patted Dean on the shoulder, "Be sure to find this important piece of evidence!"
Karl and Kruger looked over with anticipation and respect.
"I'm going to dig through the trash can?" Dean grinned.
"What's wrong, you're afraid of being dirty and tired? Didn't you ask us to exercise you more? Didn't you swear to clear up Abby's grievances and you can't bear this small crime?" Karl raised his chin with a disappointed look on his face, "So you He's just a 'master of public speaking' with great words."
"Stop talking, can't I just go?"
Dean resigned and left the surveillance room.
The three of them continued to watch the video in reverse. After Abby threw away her sportswear, she walked towards the hotel area on the busy street to the west.
"Go to a hotel to stay? Why don't you go home or hide? Abby's actions are really puzzling." Holden thought for a while, "But guys, you will be busy again."
"Jack, I took these two tapes with me." Karl raised his hand towards his old friend,
"You are the police, you have the final say. But can you reveal a little inside information?" Jack shook his long hair and asked curiously, "What crime did this girl commit? Based on my rich experience, Although she was weird at the time, she didn't look like a bad girl."
"Curiosity killed the cat." Carl put the video tape into a file bag and put it away. "Open your bar honestly and don't ask any questions."
…
Dean came to the trash can and confirmed that no one was around and that it was not within the surveillance range.
Summon "Shadow" to activate telekinesis.
The lid of the trash can flew open automatically without any wind, and an invisible force began to rummage through the garbage.
Dean endured the smell of moldy and rancid food, and activated his mind to direct his mind from God's perspective. In less than five minutes, his mind rolled up a sports coat stained with unknown liquid and colorful stains and floated in front of him.
The three stripes on the sleeves have a white background!
Matches Abby's outfit.
Dean put the clothes into a plastic evidence bag and looked at them carefully, but he hadn't come to any conclusion yet.
The system shook violently, and the investigation progress inexplicably jumped from 10% to 15%.
"The tracksuit is as important a clue as the scar?"
"Well, let's take it back and test it."
Soon after, Holden and the other three walked out of the corridor with the videotape and looked at Dean with surprise in his eyes.
"Okay, you're better at rummaging through trash heaps than a homeless man. You found evidence and you didn't get dirty at all."
Dean gave the three people a middle finger and put away his clothes.
"Where to go now?"
“Westside Inn Hotel Zone.”
…
Night falls.
At nine o'clock in the evening, the police car drove from the bar with dimly lit lights to the brightly lit and bustling streets.
Dean and Holden found the first IKEA hotel on the street, while Carl and Kruger went to the other side of the street to investigate.
Holden walked into the hotel lobby and found the beautiful blond receptionist who directly identified himself and showed his ID.
"Four days ago, you were on duty on the night of September 20th?"
"Yes, it's me."
"Did you see her then?"
Holden showed a photo of Abby wearing a white sportswear,
The girl looked at it carefully for a while, then shook her head.
"Sorry, there are so many customers here every night that I can't remember them all."
"Registered? Abby Clark, eighteen years old."
"Four nights ago?" The front desk flipped through the thick book, "There is no such name."
"Can I see your surveillance video?"
"I have to ask the manager for instructions."
The process went smoothly. Holden chatted with the middle-aged man who came after him for a while, and then was invited to the monitoring room.
Dean felt envious. The FBI ID was not of general use. It would be much more convenient to bring an ID when going out for investigations, even if it was a fake ID!
In the surveillance room, the two found the surveillance video of 9.20. They switched to after 8 p.m. and found the target in less than ten minutes——
Abby was wearing white sweatpants, sneakers, and a close-fitting vest. She wandered aimlessly in the front hall of the hotel for several times without registering with the front desk to book a room.
"Although I can't see the expression clearly, I think Abby is very hesitant in her heart. She is struggling." Holden analyzed it seriously.
Abby walked near the front desk, suddenly looked up at the camera, and looked at it several times.
Through the surveillance video, the two of them could clearly see her face.
"I'm 100% sure now." Dean's face was solemn. "Abby is not nervous, she is deliberately looking at the camera to let the camera catch her. She also behaved the same way in the Black Jack Bar."
"This makes no sense at all." Holden tugged on his tie, "If she regretted committing the crime and deliberately let the camera catch her, she deliberately let us follow the clues to catch her."
"Then why after she was captured by the LVPD, she didn't beat her to death and didn't plead guilty. Instead, she kept making excuses and never admitted her actions that day."
Dean couldn't figure it out either.
On the one hand, it seems that Abby deliberately let the camera capture her state after committing the crime.
On the other hand, she acted as if she knew nothing about the facts of the crime when she was being interrogated by the LVPD.
These two behaviors are completely logically contradictory.
It's confusing.
…
The video continues.
After patrolling the camera for a few times, Abby turned around and left the hotel lobby.
"She didn't enter the hotel just for accommodation, she just wanted the surveillance equipment to capture her!" Dean emphasized again,
"That doesn't make sense."
Holden silently put away the surveillance video tape, put another video tape of the hotel's exterior wall into the device, and started watching it.
Dean glanced at his watch. It was already eleven o'clock in the night, and the process of looking through the surveillance video was not as ups and downs as in movies and TV shows. It was far more boring and boring than imagined.
Even with the blessing of Iron Man talent, Dean couldn't help but yawn.
"I still have to look through at least a dozen videos. I will definitely stay up late tonight. Intern, you should go back and rest first." Holden stared at his bloodshot eyes, "We have a more important task for you tomorrow."
"OK, I'll leave the clothes to you. If you find anything important, be sure to let me know!"
Dean handed the plastic bag to Holden and filtered today's experience in his mind.
In addition to discovering Abby's series of confusing behaviors that were deliberately wandering around in the surveillance video.
The only things that were slightly useful were the sportswear he found despite the stench, and the scar on the bar owner's wrist.
Scars and sportswear, both of which can trigger the progress of events, are clues that cannot be ignored.
"I must have seen similar scars somewhere, go back and look at the records from God's perspective."
…
(End of chapter)
