Chapter 143
Luke and Blackie then returned to Theodore Caine’s house to inquire.
Theodore’s girlfriend opened the door and said coldly, “What else do you guys want? Want to take me along?”
Luke signaled Blackie to speak.
Blackie cleared his throat, he wasn’t embarrassed, it was just that it took skill to say such things, otherwise he could easily be sued for harassment.
“We suspect Theodore is suspected of being involved in a homicide.”
“Bullshit, we haven’t been dating long but I know him, petty theft maybe, but he doesn’t have the balls to kill someone.” Theodore’s girlfriend clasped her hands in front of her and Black felt her eyes sink in.
It was so nice.
“How long have you guys been dating.”
“Two or three weeks, is that a problem? You’re not really trying to chase me, are you?”
“No, I have a girlfriend, I just wanted to ask, do you know Josie Alyssa?”
“Yes, his ex-girlfriend, the two were going steady for a while, I heard they were still cheerleaders at some high school, I don’t care.
It’s the old lady that’s by his side now, I win.”
Kuro froze, this wasn’t like what they knew, “The two of them dated?”
“That’s right, he said so himself.”
“How long have they been dating?”
“I don’t know and I didn’t ask, so why are you giving yourself a hard time? Are you guys looking for him because of his ex-girlfriend?”
Black said truthfully, “Josie Alyssa was killed and we came to find out what happened.”
“Whoa whoa, are you guys serious?”
“Yes, we’re from the Robbery and Murder Division, we’re not interested in shit like burglary and brawling, tell your brother to stay out of the living room, we don’t necessarily give a shit about him even if he’s stealing in front of us.
Of course, it mostly depends on the mood.”
Luke whispered, “Cut the bullshit and get down to business.”
“Your name is Tris Lir?”
“Theodore told you guys?”
“Positive answer.”
“Yes, what’s the problem?”
“Josie Eliza was killed, Theodore had a run-in with him, and we want to confirm his alibi.
Between three and four yesterday afternoon, he said you two were together.”
“That’s right, we were together all day.”
“What were you doing at the time?”
“Drove out for a drive.”
“Driving out where?”
“Highway 1, next to the ocean, great view, everything was pretty good except the car was a little beat up.”
“Where exactly?”
“I can’t remember, but we stopped at a gas station called mourta, you can check for yourselves.”
“According to Theodore you guys were in the car yesterday afternoon ……” Luke interrupted before Blacky could finish, “OK, that’s all the questions, let’s go.”
After the two left, Blacky asked in a small voice, “I haven’t asked about the time?”
Luke laughed, “Just those two or three minutes are meaningless regardless of whether it’s true or not, it won’t delay anything.
It’s not worth the risk of being harassed by this woman suing.
Besides, if Theodore had lied …… it definitely wouldn’t have been two or three minutes.”
“You have a point.
If it was me at least half an hour to start.” Black smiled and pressed, “What about Theodore dating Josie?”
“He must be bragging!” Luke didn’t have to think about it.
They went back to the car to question Theodore again and the time and place of the drive out yesterday afternoon matched.
Plus just as Luke suspected, he had lied about Josie.
A cheerleader wouldn’t even look at him.
Theodore had a new girlfriend, an alibi, and was released with little suspicion, at least as things stood.
After work.
Luke went to his mother’s house for dinner, mainly to see if Fatty was emotionally stable.
During the meal, Little Fatty asked about the shooting.
He briefly described what he could.
Also asked Little Fatty about Josie.
Little Fatty also knew about Josie, the black cheerleader, but he wasn’t very interested in black girls, so it was a good understanding.
After eating, and watching TV with his mom and Little Fatty for a while, Luke went home.
He was going to learn profiling skills today.
When he first arrived in Los Angeles, Luke was holding the idea of muddling through, and was not very interested in investigating cases.
But during this period of time, his life had produced a huge change, and his mindset had also changed.
The LAPD has status and power, and it also brings Luke a good income, he wants to get a firm foothold in the police department, and even become the upper echelon of Los Angeles.
At the same time, he also realized his own shortcomings, the criminals in Los Angeles are more complicated and harder to deal with than those in the country.
Most of the people in the country are running for their lives, the idea is relatively simple, the reason for committing crimes is also more uniform, mostly for the sake of interests or feelings, either screwing money or girls, perverts are much less.
But Americans are not the same, the brain idea is more, this is not to say that Americans are smart, just this side of the high welfare, life is not so stressful.
Once a person is full, it is easy to think of something messy, to put it bluntly, they have nothing to do, they like to play tricks, and their minds are not good at guessing.
There are more messed up cases, and more perverts.
Luke hadn’t encountered a particularly perverted case since he’d crossed over, but there was no guarantee that he would in the future.
Criminal profiling was a powerful skill that could definitely be used in the course of investigating cases in the future.
Luke bought books about criminal profiling in advance, he had read something about it before, but he always felt that it was just scratching the itch and couldn’t be practically applied.
Now that he used the profiling card, he had a refreshing and integrated feeling, and had a deeper understanding of profiling skills.
Eight o’clock in the morning.
“Ringing ……” a cell phone rang.
Luke studied late last night and yawned as he pressed the answer button, “Hello.”
Reed’s voice on the phone, “Luke, Barbara’s awake.” (School bully girlfriend)
“When?”
“Just now.
Luke snapped out of it, “I know, rushing to the hospital now.”
“You owe me a big dinner.”
“No problem.” Luke hung up his cell phone and called Blackie again to come pick himself up.
A quick wash and he was out the door.
Naida West Hospital.
Barbara had just been transferred from the ICU to room 709.
Barbara was a white girl with long brown hair and a somewhat haggard face, her parents stood on either side of the hospital bed.
Luke enters the room and explains his intentions.
Barbara’s father looked a little resistant, “SORRY, Barbara’s body is still a little weak, I hope we can give her some more recovery time.”
Luke said, “I can understand your feelings, but Barbara is the only survivor of the school building shooting, she’s a lucky girl, but the others ……”
Barbara choked back a sob, “Is Chad Kress dead too?”
“Yes, I came here to find out something about Chad Claes.”
“Friggin’ hell, that’s horrible.” Barbara cried.
Barbara’s father advised, “Honey, don’t get excited, you’re not fully recovered yet, Detective, please go outside first.”
Barbara cried, “No, I want to talk to the Inspector, I have something to say.”
“Baby, you should rest now.”
Barbara shook her head, “I can’t do that.”
“OK, baby, you shouldn’t get excited.” Barbara’s father, somewhat helpless, looked aside to Luke, “Please hurry.”
“I will.” Luke sat down on the stool next to Barbara’s hospital bed, “Barbara, were you the first to be shot?”
“I think so, everything was normal around me before I was shot, after I was shot everything around me went haywire, people were running like crazy, I felt like someone even stepped on me and thought I was going to die.”
“Did you see the killer?”
“No, it was so sudden, Josie had gone to the bathroom and I was on the phone with my boyfriend, Chad, who wanted to ask me to go to the movies with him at night, and after that I was shot.”
“Did you know about Chad getting shot?”
Barbara choked out, “Yes, I saw it, I saw it all, it was horrible, they were trying to save me, it shouldn’t have happened like that.”
“What really happened then?”
“Bowen.
After I was shot, there were gunshots going off all around me all the time, everyone ran away in fear, no one cared if I was dead or alive.
Povin was the first one to come to my side and try to save me, he used the clothes in my school bag to block my wounds and woke me up from my coma ……
It was at this time that the accident happened.
Chad also came, he misunderstood Bowen, and kicked Bowen to the ground, he still had a wooden stick in his hand, and then …… “Barbara cried, as if she did not want to reminisce.
After a while, only to continue, “I heard two gunshots, Bowen shot, it was he who killed Chad, oooh ……” Barbara cried again, “I didn’t think it would happen, they were all trying to help me, they didn’t supposed to be like this.
I told Chad a long time ago that he should change his foul temper, but he just wouldn’t listen to me.”
Luke confirmed, “That means that Chad attacked Povin first, and the latter fired the shot.”
“I don’t know if it counts as an attack, Chad just kicked Povin and that’s how it happened.”
“Does Chad bully like that often?”
“Chad’s character is more lovey-dovey and often gets into mischief, he’s more familiar with Povin and used to do this to Povin a lot, but I didn’t expect this …… time.”
Luke pursued, “Why did Chad kick Povin?”
“He probably thought Povin was going to hurt me, I’m not really sure, anyway it just happened that way.”
“What did Povin do after that?”
“I passed out afterward and don’t know anything else.”
“You and Josie Eliza were good friends?”
“Yes.”
“Did you have any signs before you were shot?”
“Nothing that rings a bell.”
“I heard that Josie had been harassed before, do you remember that?”
“Yes. Josie was hot, had a great body, and a lot of guys wanted to sleep with ……”
At this point, Barbara seemed to realize her parents were present and closed her mouth, “There was a young man named Theodore who once drunkenly hugged her on the football field.”
“Did she and Theodore ever go out?”
“How can that be, Josie is too discriminating to look at him.”
“I’d like you to identify the rest of the shooting victims and see if you recognize any of them.” Luke took the photos and showed them to Barbara one by one.
“Lev Kaufft running back on the football team, Hollyp Harding star player on the football team, Herman Vedder nuisance on the student council who was very demonstrative, all famous classmates, were they all killed?”
“Lev is dead and the remaining two are injured.”
“That’s horrible, the last time I saw Lev was when he was running around the field, he was kind of small for the rugby team, but he was fearless and never afraid of players who were stronger than he was.
It’s too bad.”
“Barbara, did you ever speculate or offend anyone about the shooting encounter?”
“No.”
“Has Chad bullied anyone else besides Bowen?”
Barbara sighed, “It’s true that he’s not very nice to be around …… likes to joke around with people, and he does offend a lot of people, but …… that’s about it, nothing too out of the ordinary.
I really can’t think of anyone who would retaliate with such drastic means.”
Barbara’s father said, “I told you long ago not to be with that rude boy, he doesn’t deserve you.”
Barbara cried, “Please don’t say any more of that, Chad is dead …… oooooh ……”
Barbara’s mother soothed, “Barbara, don’t be in a hurry dear you don’t have to say anything either.” She then looked aside to Luke, “Inspector, can we stop here for today? Barbara’s body hasn’t fully recovered yet, so we’ll continue with the statement when she’s feeling better.”
Luke left a business card, “Get well and call me if you remember any clues.”
After leaving the hospital room, Blackie asked, “Where are we going now?”
Half an hour later.
Bowen’s house.
When Luke and the others arrived, Povin was sitting in the yard, staring.
Luke greeted, “Povin, can we talk?”
Povin stood up and looked at Luke and the others, a somewhat complicated look on his face.
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Barbara.”
“What happened to Barbara?” Bowen’s voice held a tremor.
“She woke up and told me to say hello.”
“That’s good.” Povin responded faintly.
Luke felt like the other man was breathing a sigh of relief.
“Cluck ……” The door to Povin’s house opened and Povin’s father stepped out, “Inspector Luke, what brings you here again?”
“We need to talk to Povin?”
“Why, didn’t we talk last time?”
“There are new witnesses and testimonies and we need to re-take Povin’s statement.”
Povin’s father stepped in front of his son out of habit, “What do you mean by that?”
Luke squared his shoulders, “Povin, it’s time to tell the truth, this matter concerns not only you and Barbara and Chad, but also the other dead people, including the one who has been in love with you, Fanny.
You can’t hide it for the rest of your life, you always have to face it.
And it may not be as serious as you think.”
Povin took a deep breath, “You’re right, I won’t run away this time.”
Povin’s father was a bit surprised, “Son, what’s going on?”
Half an hour later, Povin and his father were taken to the Detective Bureau interrogation room.
Povin’s father looked around, “Why were we brought here, what the hell happened?”
Luke sat behind the interrogation table, “That should be asked of Povin.”
“Povin, what’s going on?”
“I ……” Povin let out a long breath, still a little hesitant, “I shot someone out of self-preservation.”
“What!” Bowen’s father was shocked, “You can’t just say that, how could this happen? It’s impossible, don’t just admit to this kind of crime, it’ll ruin you.”
Luke advised, “The eyewitness, Barbara, has awakened and has already told the truth of the matter, it is in Povin’s best interest to take the initiative to confess now, dragging it out will make things more complicated.
Even the originally innocent may be found guilty.”
“What the hell is going on?” Bowen’s father was still in a daze, “Inspector, I request to speak with Bowen alone.”
“Povin, what do you think?”
Povin hesitated for a long time, “No, I want to make my own decision this time.”
Povin’s father looked at his son with some surprise, “Povin ……”
“Dad, I’ve grown up, I have to face everything bravely.” Povin finished as if he had made a final decision, “Inspector, I’m willing to tell the truth about what happened, but I’d like to reach an agreement of innocence.”
“What not guilty agreement?”
“Self-defense, I was acting in self-defense.”
“If you felt you were acting in self-defense, you should have just told the police at the time, why did you put it off until now?”
“It was a complicated situation, and I was shocked to have killed a man with my own hands.
I’ve never been in this kind of situation before, and I can’t be completely sure if I really don’t have any responsibility at all, and I don’t dare to check …… online so, I want to wait and see.”
“Wait for what?”
“Barbara.
If Barbara wakes up, things will come out, she can prove my innocence, and I’ll have to face it.
If Barbara doesn’t wake up, there’s also a chance that no one will know what happened …… at the time,” Povin sighed longingly.
Luke is able to understand Povin’s hesitation, the United States has the Castle Act is not false, but this Castle Act in each state’s scale is different.
Texas belongs to the typical strong castle law, the homeowner can actively shoot at the intruding strangers, and someone forcing open the door can also be shot.
California is a classic weak castle law, where a homeowner can only shoot defensively if they have been warned first, backed down, have been violated, are desperate, and only in their own home, not in their own car.
Of course, even with the weakest castle laws, it’s legal to preemptively shoot an armed robber.
With each state being different, everyone treating the Castle Act differently, and a different culture of propaganda, it’s easy to understand why Bowen made the decision he did.
It’s hard for an unadulterated, world-weary teenager to hold that scale.
Luke took the initiative to inquire, “Where did you get the gun you killed with?”
“Fanny’s.”
“The girl who liked you?” Povin’s father was a little taken aback.
Povin shook his head, “No, she’s FBI.I realize now that she wasn’t into me at all, but was spying on me.”
“When did you realize she was FBI?”
“The day before yesterday, the afternoon of the day we were shot at, I was so scared out of my mind when I heard the gunshots that I hid in the classroom and didn’t dare to go out.
Then Fanny came and said she was FBI, pointed a gun at me and told me to put my hands up.
I was all confused, my mind went blank, and all I saw was her pointing the gun at me.
Then she suddenly turned around and ‘bang, bang, bang, bang’ three times the gun went off and I closed my eyes and shivered in fear.
When I opened my eyes again, she was already shot down on the ground, blood pouring out ……”