At noon, Dean followed the large army and returned to the LVPD with the discovery of Abby's house.
"District Attorney Hines from the prosecutor's office is here to see how things are going," Holden said.
"What is the position of a district attorney?" Dean asked, "Shouldn't the Las Vegas Police Department be responsible for this case?"
"It's very complicated to explain. You just need to know that we can't mess with him. He issued an arrest warrant and a search warrant not long ago. Now the evidence is very strong. He wants to file a lawsuit against the 'child killer' to increase his qualifications. By the way , I don’t have a good deal with that guy.”
Holden explained and took Dean and Karl up to the second floor and to another more spacious but dimly lit office.
There were already four people negotiating fiercely inside - the client Abby and her mother Raj, the bald and fat lawyer Luc Will, and another young man with a straight body wearing a dark blue suit.
"Dean Lu, the hero who saved the children in the Lake Mead Incident?" The young man paused when he saw the Asian face who came in through the door. He stood up and walked over, extending his hand to shake Dean's hand very enthusiastically. His palms were warm and full of strength, and his words were full of praise.
"I have long heard that you are working as a volunteer in the LVPD, and not long ago you assisted the department in solving a murder case with a terrible impact. Las Vegas needs young people like you who are full of justice, responsibility and talent."
"You're exaggerating, District Attorney Hines. I'm just a volunteer here to study and listen. I hope I didn't disturb you." Dean smiled at him and glanced at the three people sitting side by side across from him.
Abby immediately became excited and wanted to stand up and say something but was stopped by a look from her mother.
"Where are we talking about? Go ahead." Karl said flatly, and sat on the chairs next to the desk with Holden and Dean.
The district attorney returned to the negotiation table, looked at Abby with sharp eyes, and said half jokingly, half sarcastically,
"Back to the topic, do you like little boys? Abby. On the day of the crime, did you take new drugs, drink fragments, or had hallucinations and schizophrenia to commit such a heinous act on an innocent boy? offense!"
"Stop! Stop threatening my client!" Lucville interrupted the district attorney's question and asked in an explosive tone, "Tell us why Abby was arrested! Tell us everything, otherwise we will go find him Media, tell them, you arrested an innocent high school student, a future celebrity, ruined her reputation, frightened her parents and friends, and only gave us a trumped-up murder suspicion and arrest warrant!"
Facing the lawyer's aggressive rhetorical questions, the district attorney calmly said:
"First of all, fingerprints... We found Abby's fingerprints on the body of the victim Bucky Furlan, on the knife that Abby used to cut him open, and on the bicycle that took him deeper into the park."
"That's not me, I never did it!" Abby's shoulders shook and her face turned red as she retorted,
The lawyer gave her a reassuring look and retorted, "Fingerprint fraud is nothing new."
The district attorney shook his head, "A few fingerprints may be framed, but dozens or hundreds are still bloody fingerprints."
"Although it's a bit troublesome, it can still be framed." The lawyer was a little confused.
"We have several witnesses," Carl next to him suddenly interjected. "Each one of them pointed out Abby Clark in the photo without hesitation. She appeared in Buenos Aires on her bicycle carrying Bucky Fran. Park!"
"You know what an eyewitness is, right, Carl?" the lawyer said tepidly, but very forcefully, "A person who thinks they saw something, no one knows whether they are an alcoholic or a drug addict, who was In a state of addiction. Besides, we have witnesses!"
The lawyer glanced at Ms. Raj next to her, who wiped her tears and said that Abby had been sick at home during the incident.
"Batista and I are both eyewitnesses. The family doctor prescribed medicine to Abby a few days before the incident, which proves that her physical condition is very bad!"
"Conflict of evidence? It doesn't matter. We have other evidence. Please explain to me why the DNA test results are the same." The district attorney placed the photos and reports in the briefcase in front of Abby and the lawyer. , "In the empty eye sockets of the deceased, in the mouth where the tongue was cut out, and in the torn tissue edges, there are all Abby's DNA and traces of bites!"
"It's so scary, that's the devil!" Abby was frightened and screamed with a pale face, "That's not me!"
Raj pulled her into his arms with red eyes, and the mother and daughter cried cheek by jowl.
"Excellent acting skills." Karl said sarcastically from the side, "We also have a lot of surveillance video, which is enough to expose your lies!"
"Wait a minute. If the DNA was tested after the arrest, and if it strictly complies with the testing procedures, there is no reason for the test results to be released so quickly." The lawyer suddenly gleamed in his eyes, "How did you obtain the DNA sample of my client Abby Clark? "
This question stopped both the detective and the district attorney, and Hines looked at Carl.
Karl cleared his throat, "We asked a colleague to obtain Abby Clark's sample on the second day after the incident and obtained her consent."
"Uncle Thomas?" Abby asked with red eyes,
"This is an illegal method," the lawyer's mouth curved slightly, and a hint of joy flashed across his fat face. "This DNA test report is invalid evidence! You must seek my client's consent again and obtain her DNA sample through legal means!"
The faces of the district attorney and Karl both turned ugly.
Dean, who had been unable to speak, had a flash of amazement in his eyes. As expected of a well-known barrister, he completely rejected the DNA test report, the most important piece of evidence in the hands of the police officers, in just a few words.
But in this case, do we have to wait a few more days and test again?
"Then re-test, but besides delaying time, it is impossible to change the results." The district attorney changed the subject and directed his firepower at the suspect.
"Ms. Abby, this is your last chance. We can detain you for forty-eight hours in this state. There is not much time left. If you don't tell the truth before then, then we can only put you in a detention center and wait. If you go to court, it will definitely be big news. The court will be crowded with angry people, the media and their cameras. Your face will appear on countless TV news stations... You will be spurned by the people, which is what you hope. ?"
Detention centers, courts, people's scorn?
These words were full of intimidation, making both mother and daughter panic.
As we all know, among the various types of prisoners in detention centers, those who harm children and those who rape them are at the bottom of the food chain.
"No, I don't want to go to the detention center!" Abby was at a loss and looked at the silent lawyer beside her for help.
"I want to release the client on bail." Lucville said in a loud voice.
"I can help you apply," the district attorney said bluntly, "but the impact of this violent case is too bad, and the probability of being granted bail is low. In short, Abby will definitely have to stay in the detention center for a while."
"No, please do something!"
"Everyone...please allow me to say a few words."
Dean spoke in a calm tone, and both the lawyer and the district attorney looked at him scrutinizingly.
"We found some new evidence when we searched Abby's house... Carl, Holden, can I bring over the sportswear we found last night?"
Carl sighed.
"OK!" Holden, who had been watching the excitement, seemed very happy.
Soon, the three-stripes sportswear in the transparent bag was spread out on the desk, and Dean explained his discovery to everyone.
There was no way Abby could buy this tracksuit, which was only released in Santa Monica in September, and Abby absolutely hates the color white.
"This is a little surprise." The lawyer glanced at Dean with admiration and said casually, "The DNA report has been excluded. Now the murderer wore another piece of clothing that Abby could not have owned on the day of the murder. This provides One possibility is that the murderer is a person who looks very similar to Abby, deliberately killed someone, and then framed Abby!"
Abby and Raj both cast grateful glances at Dean.
"The origin of this dress cannot explain anything," Carl retorted categorically. "It may have been picked up, stolen, or bought by Abby from someone else. It was deliberately used to confuse the situation. It is not important."
"You have to provide evidence. Where are the test results of the clothes? If not." The lawyer shook his head, "You can't slander my client by inferring from thin air."
Karl glared at Dean angrily, "When did you get bribed by this barrister? Are you still a member of the LVPD? Where do you stand?"
This stinky boy who was crawling inside and outside created another trouble for him.
The district attorney was also confused by this operation. Shouldn't this volunteer with a strong sense of justice help him punish the murderer?
The light illuminated Dean's slightly troubled face, and he shook his head.
"I'm only on the side of the truth and I don't want to wrong a good man."
Holden, who was observing quietly from behind, nodded quietly.
The district attorney warned, "Dean, you know, you may be helping a devil escape the justice."
"She may also be a poor person who has suffered injustice." Dean said boldly, "Everyone, please give me time to ask a few questions!"
"Okay, then let us listen to your opinion." The district attorney relaxed.
"Just ask, young man!" The barrister smiled at him, obviously treating him as a teammate.
Dean turned his eyes to his friend,
"Abby, you have a scar on your wrist, right?"
"That's right," Abby was confused about this question, but because of Dean's just words, she reciprocated her trust, "Raj, help me roll up the left sleeve."
The dim light illuminated a half-finger-long dark red wound between the wrist and thumb of Abby's left hand. It was shaped like a crescent and basically matched the one on the hand of the bar owner and drinker in Dean's memory.
Abby said,
"Due to a cold and wound inflammation, I didn't get a good rest during that period. My immunity declined and I had a fever for a week."
"If you think about it carefully, when did your scar start to feel hot and painful?"
"Around the 16th, the pain became more and more severe. On the day of the incident, the pain was the worst on the 20th. After that, it gradually got better. It was a little better on the 22nd. Yesterday on the 24th, the pain was completely gone and the fever went away. "
A trace of thought flashed in Dean's eyes, "So, around the time of the crime, this scar hurt very badly?"
Raj added on the side, "In those days, Abby lay in bed in cold sweat and collapsed, and it was difficult to walk. Our family doctor can testify!"
"This is a powerful confession." The lawyer showed off to the district attorney. "My client's physical condition was extremely bad on the day of the crime, and he was simply not in a position to complete such a complicated murder!"
"But we have more evidence to the contrary," Carl countered.
The district attorney remained unusually silent.
"Abby, can you describe it in detail?" Dean interrupted the tit-for-tat confrontation between the two, "How did your body feel on the day of the incident on the 20th? Was it just a simple fever and pain?"
"It's very uncomfortable. I can't open my eyes. It's dark. My brain seems to be sealed by cement. It's blank and I don't have any ideas." A trace of fear flashed across Abby's face. "For a while, I felt like a stone." Or was it something else that pressed so heavily on my chest that I couldn’t breathe?”
Abby's face flashed with fear,
"Another moment, my body felt light and fluttery, and my hands and feet moved around uncontrollably, as if I was stepping on cotton with my eyes closed. I thought I had arrived in heaven."
"My poor child, how much he has suffered." Raj hugged his daughter tightly as he listened.
A group of people frowned in unison.
A subtle feeling rose in Dean's head. The state Abby described was too mysterious. It was not like a simple fever, but a bit like being hypnotized and sleepwalking.
"Ms. Raj, are you sure that Abby was always at home from the afternoon to the evening of the incident and never left your sight?" Dean looked directly into the eyes of the middle-aged woman, and the hesitation in the latter's eyes flashed away.
"Of course, Batistuta can also testify!"
Dean shook his head, knowing that it was impossible to get the real answer from this mother's mouth.
"Abby, do you remember where this scar came from?"
“I remember it very clearly,” Abby said with certainty. “On the night of July 22nd, when we were celebrating Britney’s birthday on the beach in Santa Monica, someone in the crowd on the beach scratched me, but I didn’t. See clearly."
Dean's pupils contracted——
It’s Santa Monica again!
The three-striped Adidas came from a mall in Santa Monica, and the scar also came from Santa Monica.
Two clues that advance the investigation actually intersect in Santa Monica!
There is no doubt that this location is extremely important in the case, and there may be other core clues!
The system shook.
The investigation progress jumped from 30% to 40%.
"That's enough, Dean, LVPD is not a hospital, and you are not a regular doctor," Carl couldn't bear it anymore, his eyes were full of dissatisfaction, "Stop caring about big butt problems, wasting everyone's time!"
District Attorney Hines also looked at Dean with disappointment and put all the evidence into his briefcase.
"Young man, your question is completely meaningless and has nothing to do with the case. I'm sorry that I can't accompany you."
"Ms. Abby Clark, it seems that you are unwilling to plead guilty, so please leave for the detention center immediately."
Upon hearing this, Karl called in two heavily armed police officers, who surrounded Abby on the left and right.
"Can you not go?" Abby hugged her mother's arm with her handcuffed hands and begged,
"I understand your concerns. You will be placed in a separate room." The district attorney assured, "Other prisoners will not be able to lay a finger on you."
Lawyer Lucville nodded at Abby, "Although Hines and I are rivals, but he promised so, there is absolutely no problem. You can stay in there for a few days with peace of mind. I will find sufficient evidence to clear your name in court." .”
Abby sighed sadly, stood up helplessly and followed the two police officers out, with Raj following closely behind her.
Dean also followed,
Abby paused, turned around and raised her hands towards Dean, wanting to hug him, but her handcuffed hands couldn't do this. She put her hands down again, with a few crystal tears pouring from the corners of her eyes, gratefully explain,
"Dean, no matter whether I can get away with it this time, I will always be grateful to you, and I will remember your help forever."
"Abby, I will rescue you. I already have an idea. Just wait."
The group of people left the office one after another, went down the stairs, and walked silently outside the police station. Suddenly, there was a noise in the lobby on the first floor.
"He has been lying here with you for five days, and I want him back!" A thin middle-aged woman frantically knocked on the glass window of the police station reception desk and shouted hysterically, "Give him back to me! Let me Bury my son!"
A silent middle-aged man stood behind her, his face full of vicissitudes of life and his hair gray.
Are these the parents of the victim Bucky Fran, asking for their child's mutilated body?
Dean's head twitched, and he thought something was wrong.
The policeman escorting Abby also quietly quickened his pace through the hall.
But the woman turned her head unexpectedly, and as fate would have it, she saw Abby walking quickly outside in handcuffs, and immediately rushed over like crazy. Everyone saw her neurotic and terrifying face clearly!
Her eyes were round and bloodshot, and her black hair, which had not been washed for a long time, was draped over her shoulders. She grinned like a madman, revealing her pale gums, and asked loudly,
"Did you do it? Did you kill my Bucky? Did you take him away? Look at me, little bastard, look at me!"
"No, ma'am, it's not me, I didn't hurt him!" Abby slowed down her steps, turned to look at her, and explained anxiously loudly,
"It's you! You butcher, devil, crazy beast, go to hell, I curse you to die badly, I curse you -" the woman roared, waving her arms as thin as chicken feet and pointed at Abby.
The police officers and Abby's mother rushed to stop her.
No one expected that the silent middle-aged man behind her suddenly got mad, rushed over like a gust of wind and punched Abby hard.
Snap!
The fist was like hitting cowhide, and was firmly wrapped in the palm of the other hand.
Dean grabbed his fist with his left hand and held his shoulder with the other hand, looking into his eyes to comfort him.
"Sir, I understand that you are sad to lose your loved one, but you have mistaken the person. She is also a victim!"
The police officers behind Dean took advantage of this gap to escort Abby out of the hall and towards the police car.
"No, you don't understand anything, you are the devil's accomplice, you are a cold-blooded lackey!" The man looked through the glass door at his son-killing enemy who was quickly walking away. He excitedly raised his left fist and aimed it at Dean's chest. It was a straight punch to the chest.
boom!
Dean didn't dodge or block, and his body didn't move like a wall.
The man didn't expect that he could really hit the opponent. He was startled, and then he collapsed to the ground as if his spinal cord had been removed. His cheek was pressed against Dean's thigh, and he cried in grief. The whole hall echoed, "I'm sorry, this is not your fault, I shouldn't hit you. But our Bucky is gone, my son is gone! He was only eight years old, and he died so miserably and painfully!"
"Woooo..."
"I'm sorry for him. I didn't protect him well. I'm not worthy of being a father. I'm an incompetent waste!" the man cried.
The woman on the other side looked at the police car driving away and knocked on the glass like crazy.
"Murderer! Give back my son's life, I want you to pay for it!"
"I want you to pay the price!"
"cost!"
…
a long time.
The hall returned to calm.
The troubled couple helped each other leave under the sympathetic eyes of everyone, and Dean frowned as he looked at their backs.
"What's wrong, kid, do you regret helping Abby? Don't you want to stand on the side of the truth?"
Holden's voice came from behind.
"No, I just thought of some contradictory clues. Holden, how about you use your rich experience to point me out?"
"I've been waiting for your words!"
(End of chapter)
