Chapter 144

As Bowen described, Luke’s mind was restoring the scene.

After the gunshot on the third floor of the school building.

Fanny should not have been in the teaching building at that time, otherwise with her experience she might have been able to determine that the location of the shooting was the third floor.

Fanny should know about Bowen’s classes and know that Bowen should be in the 201 classroom of the teaching building, which was very close to the place where the shot was fired, and she mistakenly thought that Bowen was the shooter.

After all, the reason why Fanny had infiltrated the school to investigate was because someone had reported that Bowen might shoot up the campus, and now that it had happened, Fanny was obligated to verify Bowen’s suspicions.

Fanny rushed to the classroom where Bowen was at the first opportunity.

Of course, after seeing Bowen’s state at that time, Fanny might have some suspicion before she did not shoot immediately, she should want to control Bowen first, routine search, and rule out the other party’s suspicion.

But when she shouted out the FBI slogan, it was likely to be heard by the real murderer, who shot the attack from behind.

Fanny, being a former Marine and experienced in combat, likely heard someone behind her before she turned around, but it was too late.

Three shots rang out, two hit Fanny, and one missed.

Fanny was dead, the gun fell to the ground, and the killer left.

Of course, this speculation was based on the fact that Povin hadn’t lied.

In Luke’s experience, it was unlikely that Povin had lied.

Previously, the police had been speculating why Fanny, a combat-experienced ex-sea and land team member, had been easily shot, but now it seemed likely that it was because of a mistake in judgment.

She mistook Povin for the killer and focused her attention on Povin, leading to the attack on her back.

The fact that she was able to notice and turn around in time was enough of a sign of her keen judgment for the bullet to hit her forehead.

So far, the description was perfectly logical.

Bowen took a deep breath and said again, “I was stunned, the first time I saw a dead person, I didn’t think it would be like this.

I knew it wasn’t safe here anymore, I wanted to run, and then I saw the gun on the floor, and I wanted to protect myself from what had just happened, from being held at gunpoint like a fool, and having to hide under the table and cower.” Bowen pounded his chest, hard.

“I didn’t want to be bullied again, not by anyone.

I grabbed Finn’s pistol and I was ready to leave the school so I could have an extra layer of security as well.

I got out of the classroom and heard a woman’s wailing call for help, it was close, but there was no one around, I felt like I was upstairs.

If it had been before, I probably wouldn’t have dared to go up and check it out.

But now that I had a gun, I had the power, and I wanted to do what a man should do.

I went upstairs and saw a female classmate down in a pool of blood, Barbara.

I knew her, Chad’s girlfriend. I couldn’t say anything good or bad about her.

But she was down in a pool of blood and I couldn’t not save her.

I walked over to her, took the shirt out of her bag and held it down over the wound.

Just then, I heard a footstep and turned my head to see Chad rushing over and kicking me over.

I was so confused by the kick that I forgot to fight back.

Then I watched as he held a wooden stick, like a wooden chair leg, in his hand to beat me.

It was only then that I instinctively took out my pistol.

‘Bang Bang!’

After that, he fell to the ground and I hit him.

The man was also stunned.

I wiped off the fingerprints on the gun, and there were a lot of potted plants under the school building, so I hid in one of them and went home after that.

That’s what happened.”

Luke heard it carefully, restoring the scene in his head, and didn’t find too many holes in it, as to why Chad had happened to arrive, Barbara had mentioned it before.

Barbara was on the phone with Chad when she was shot, and the other man should have heard the gunshots and known something was wrong with Barbara.

From this point of view Chad, although he liked to bully other students and had a flawed character, he was still true to his girlfriend.

Luke organized his thoughts and asked, “Did you see Fanny’s murderer?”

“No. At that time, Fanny blocked my view, and after the gunshot, I was so scared that I fell on the ground and didn’t dare to look at all.”

Bowen’s father grabbed his son’s arm and comforted, “Son, you did the right thing, you didn’t do anything wrong, if it were me, I would have made the same choice as you.

Detective, my son certainly acted in self-defense, he was within his rights to shoot when he was attacked in that crisis situation.”

Luke nodded, “You’re right, if it were me I would have chosen to shoot as well. I also feel that it was self-defense, but ultimately the decision to prosecute or not is up to the prosecution.

Also, Bowen’s attitude during the investigation is important, and as long as he cooperates with the police, we’ll fight for him as well.”

“Thank you, I’m willing to cooperate with you guys, what I’m saying now is true, you can ask me again if you have any questions.”

Luke once again took out the photos of several of the remaining victims for Povin to identify, and Povin didn’t come up with any valuable clues.

But Povin’s guilty plea was good news for the police and a huge step forward in the overall investigation of the case.

By figuring out the cause of a shooter’s death and eliminating a gun as a distraction, the case will become much clearer and easier to investigate the true culprit’s true purpose in committing the crime.

Bowen pleads guilty and Luke leaves the interrogation room.

Just as he returned to his office, there was a round of applause.

The vice squad laughed, “Luke, congratulations on getting that Povin kid to confess.”

“Thanks. It was thanks to Barbara’s confession.”

The lieutenant pressed, “How did you know that Barbara had awakened and happened to arrive?”

Luke laughed, “With the help of a nobleman.”

The lieutenant sighed, “I’ve been good at everything in my life, but I’ve just been unlucky enough not to have met a nobleman.”

Luke secretly said, “It’s not that you haven’t met a nobleman, it’s that no one dares to be your nobleman, Reed is not a person who is jealous of the virtuous, as can be seen from the fact that he promotes Luke.

In that case, why didn’t he promote the vice team who knew him earlier and had a better relationship with him?

That must be because the vice team itself had some problems.

To Luke’s understanding of the vice team, this old man is a violent temper plus bad temper, when he was young, he might be even hotter than David, who dares to easily promote.

If something goes wrong, he himself will have to be jointly and severally liable.

Luke will be much more worrying, their own progress, and capable, but also able to assess the situation, Reed is naturally willing to promote.

See the crowd congratulate Luke, black some not taste, I also went to the hospital to Barbara to make a statement, Bowen confessed to also have me a credit, why no one congratulate me?

Why?

Two o’clock in the afternoon.

Robbery and murder division large conference room.

Reed sits in the center of the conference table and presides over the meeting.

“Guys, tell us about the new developments in your investigation. Luke, you’re the first to speak.”

Luke organized his words, “After Barbara, the injured person in the school building, woke up, I gave her a statement, and based on her confession, we learned a part of the crime scene.

This includes the murder of school bully Chad Claes by Bowen Pilton, and Bowen has confessed to killing Chad Claes for reasons of self-defense.

It also explains why FBI Agent Finney’s gun killed school bully Chad Claes.

I think it might be a good idea to take this case off the table for the time being, and it might clear up the trail of the shooting.”

Reed nodded, “What do the others think?”

The lieutenant said, “I agree with Luke, if you remove the FBI agent’s gun, there are only two handguns left in the shooting, the B gun and the C gun.

One of the bullets from the C gun was only found in the music building.

Whereas the B gun had shooting scenes in the Academic Building, Music Building and Science Building.

This suggests that the suspect who used gun B was most likely the mastermind and gun C was an accessory.

Also, Gun B went to the academic building first, and then to the music building, and finally to the science building, very much like a purposeful pursuit of someone.”

Squadron 2 Lieutenant Cline said, “I also feel that the killer was after someone.

But I have a feeling that Gunner B’s trajectory was not the Academic Building, the Music Building, or the Science Building; it should have been the Academic Building, the Science Building, and finally the Music Building.”

The lieutenant countered, “But when you root out the statements, the shots in the music building preceded the school building.”

Cline said, “Don’t forget there was Gunner C, who likely rushed to the music building to shoot, after which Gunner B rushed over from the science building to provide support.

The main reason I came up with this analysis is based on the school police officer’s statement.

According to the school police officer, he rushed to the school building at the first opportunity after hearing the gunshots, and in the process he saw Gunman B heading in the direction of the science building, after which Gunman B chased a black man in the science building, and there was a gunfight between the school police officer and Gunman B. The school police officer said that Gunman B had been in a gunfight with a black man in the science building.

Afterward, the black man was killed on the rooftop and was the only person killed in the science building, as for the wounded man, he was stabbed in the head by the glass that was broken in the gunfight.”

The lieutenant shook his head, “This campus cop is really …… too.”

Cline said, “He’s just a campus cop, you can’t expect too much from him, and he fulfilled his duty.”

Luke listened to the two men discussing and pondered in his mind.

In his opinion, there should be three people that the murderer really wanted to kill, the first one was Josie, the cheerleader who was killed in the restroom, the second one was the man who was killed on the rooftop, and the third one was Herman, the student council member, if he figured out the connection between these three people, he might be able to find out the murderer’s purpose of killing people, so that he could find the murderer along the way.

Barbara, Chad, Lev, and Hollip are all ruled out for their own reasons, and they are most likely not the real targets of the killer.

In Barbara’s case, the killer could have just patched up the gun if he wanted to, but he didn’t.

The fact that Chad was killed by Bowen has nothing to do with the killer.

Lev and Hollip were both part of the hot-headed, active involvement of the shooter.

Just then, Mary from the survey team came into the conference room, “Chief Reed, the bullet mark traces from the C-gun have been identified, and the owner of the gun is named Rachel Ferris.

The bad news is that he reported it stolen a while ago, and the gun’s whereabouts are now unknown.”

This news was quite an upsurge, tantamount to saying that the found gun was once again missing.

Reed said directly, “Luke, Marcus, the lead on the gun is yours to investigate, any questions?”

“No problem, sir.” Luke agreed with alacrity.

There are benefits, the leadership thinks about you, there are hardships, you have to be able to solve them, otherwise what does the leadership want you to do?

Downtown Los Angeles.

Berska Apartments.

In the impression of many people in the country, downtown housing prices are higher than suburban housing prices, and this is not necessarily true in Los Angeles.

A lot of rich people in Los Angeles are living in the suburbs, good neighborhoods and supporting facilities are also in the suburbs.

Downtown, on the other hand, seems a bit run down.

This also creates a phenomenon where downtown is busy during the day and cold at night.

Many of the run-down downtown apartments are rented out to the black poor.

That’s where the owner of the gun, Reacher Phyllis, lived.

The two men followed the address and found apartment 105, where Reacher Phyllis lived.

“Knock knock ……”

The door opened, and at the door stood a fat, white, middle-aged man, frowning, “You guys want to rent an apartment?”

Blackie flashed his badge, “No, I’m Detective Marcus and this is Detective Luke, we’d like to talk to you.”

“Is it possible that I have a lead on my theft?”

“We’re here for the purpose of investigating the theft, are you Rachel Ferris?”

“Yes.”

Black asked rhetorically, “Do you intend to keep talking here?”

“SORRY, come on in.” Rachel stepped aside and invited Luke and Blackie inside.

Luke scanned the environment of the apartment, the area was about fifty to sixty square meters, entering the door was the living room, there was a kitchen and a bathroom, on the right side of the living room was the bedroom, there was no separation between each other like a big open room.

Luke sat on the sofa and opened the door, “Reacher, when did you lose your pistol?”

“It must have been half a month, I haven’t seen you guys before? You guys are really cops, you can’t be crooks.” Reacher Phyllis carefully surveyed Luke’s two men, revealing a skeptical look.

“We are police officers, you don’t need to doubt that.”

“Then why aren’t you guys wearing police uniforms.”

“We’re detectives, we don’t need to wear police uniforms.”

Reacher was a little surprised, “I’m kinda flattered that my case has alerted the detective bureau.”

Luke said truthfully, “We’re investigating other cases and happened to stop by yours.”

“Wow wow, you guys are really hot.” Rachel said conspiratorially.

Luke squared his shoulders and said, “Reacher, if the Detective Bureau can’t solve your case, then your case will become unsolved in the future with no one to solve it.”

Reacher didn’t seem to get his hopes up, “Just tell us what you want to ask.”

“You describe the theft?”

“I don’t want to remember, it’s not a good memory.”

Luke asked back, “Do you still want your stuff back?”

Rachel thought for a moment and said, “Are you sure you can still find it after all these days?”

“Not sure.”

“At least you’re not lying.” Rachel was lost in memories.

“Half a month ago on my birthday, there was a knock on the door about seven or eight o’clock in the evening.

I opened the door to see a birthday cake on the doorstep that said ‘Happy Birthday, Landlord!’ I was so touched, I’ve rented my house to a lot of people and it was the first time someone remembered my birthday, it was a great feeling.”

“Then I ate the cake, when I was halfway through, I felt a little dizzy in my head, after that I passed out, when I woke up again ……” Reacher showed an excited, angry look, “I found myself lying on the ground , with something stuffed in my mouth, it felt so smelly, I spit it out and saw that it was actually poop.

Someone mesmerized me and then stuffed poop in my mouth, I’m going to be furious, what kind of person can do such a thing disgusting.”

Blackie’s mouth opened wide in a look of surprise, suddenly he kind of didn’t want to talk to him anymore and moved his butt to the side.

Luke asked, “Why did the cake say ‘Happy Birthday, Landlord!”

“I have a dozen apartments for rent, I’m a second landlord to be exact, and it’s perfectly legal for me to sign up houses from apartment developers and rent them out to clients.”

“Have you offended anyone recently? Like tenants of some sort?”

“Too many, a lot of the renters are black, they don’t know the first thing about gratitude, they think I’m exploiting them by subletting the house, when in fact they don’t know the first thing about it, they’re just a bunch of lousy people in the eyes of the apartment developer, and if I didn’t vouch for them, no one would rent the house to them.”

Blackie bristled, talking about black people to my face, pretending I don’t exist? “I know why I put shit in your mouth, because your mouth stinks.”

“I’m telling the truth, if you’re not mean enough to keep those rotten people in check, it’s not easy to collect rent from them, I did.”

Black scoffed, “Uh huh, is the poop good?”

Rachel looked aside to Luke, “Inspector, does that count as a personal attack when he says it?”

“I’m here to solve problems, not to listen to you guys bicker, how about getting us back on topic?” Luke didn’t answer positively.

From the conversation, it could be heard that Reacher had deep stereotypes about blacks, he wasn’t targeting Blacky, but he was exuding an instinctive distaste for most of the underclass blacks.

Blackie, as a black community, was right to retort, just saying that the perspectives and interests of each other were different.

Luke continued, “Rachel, is there surveillance in the apartment?”

“No.

It used to be installed, and I thought that might keep the black ……” Reacher noticed Black glaring at him and hurriedly changed his story, “keep the tenants honest, installed some surveillance, and the next day it was vandalized by masked men.

After that, it was repaired a few times, each time it was damaged in less than a week, and then, I gave up.

I had to take care of my own protection, so I bought a pistol.”

“Why did you eat cake when you knew the tenants were upset with you?”

“I have a special sweet tooth.” Said Reacher, gulping, “I was hesitant, I cut the cake and found nothing wrong with it.

It was my birthday and I wanted to eat it, and not all the tenants were bad, there were some good ones too, I was on good terms with them and thought it was from them.

So I ate it.”

Rachel showed an angry look, “That bastard is too shameless, using this method against me on my birthday, it left a shadow on me, I love eating sweets, but now I want to vomit as soon as I see the cake ……”

Xiao Hei said in a serious manner, “I can understand, having a cake in your mouth a moment ago, and then when you wake up and realize that your mouth is stuffed with poop, it’s really a sad thing. I don’t even dare to think about it.”

“Inspector, he’s targeting me again!”

“I’m not, I’m just describing the facts.”

“STOP!” interrupted Luke, interrupting the two, “Reacher, what items have you lost.”

“A gun, a Rolex, and a few hundred dollars in cash. Also broke the limited edition Scarlet Witch hand puppet, that’s what broke my heart the most.”

Luke confirmed, “What kind of pistol?”

“Colt Python.” Reacher approached with a stack of photos, “These are the photos of the lost property the police department asked for, I thought they could find it, but no news after all this time.”

Luke took the photos and examined them, a silver colored wooden handled revolver, “Where was the gun kept, any fingerprints?”

“It was locked in a drawer, the police said they only found my own fingerprints and I’m depressed.”

“Was there anything characteristic about the gun?”

“The gun had my initials starting with D on the wooden handle.

I’m super into that gun, have you ever seen The Walking Dead?

I’m sure you have, the main character Rick uses a Colt Python revolver, slung around his waist with his right hand holding down the stock, it’s super cool.

I often patrol the corridors with that gun, that group of black …… tenants are much more honest, it really helps.”

Black scoffed, “Your waist is thicker than a large oil drum, and you still have the nerve to compare yourself to Rick, I think you are more like Shrek.

That’s right, you are Shrek.

It was right to help you give up your sweet tooth, otherwise you would have fattened up sooner or later.

Maybe you’ll thank the guy who shoved shit in your mouth later, haha ……”

Rachel looks over at Luke, “Detective, can I get this asshole out of here? I’ve had enough.”

Luke was somewhat helpless, Los Angeles was a harmonious mess on the surface, but the Z race problem did not disappear, Reacher belonged to a more typical one, his own status was not high, the more so the more he despised the blacks, but on the contrary, his livelihood could not be separated from the blacks, which was a contradiction in itself.

It is also because of this contradiction that the case was triggered, and to a certain extent there is a causal relationship.

This kind of problem for hundreds of years, dozens of presidents can not be solved, Luke is even lazier, look at the next photo of the lost property, a Scarlet Witch hand puppet, very save fabric.

The last photo is a Rolex watch, green dial, silver metal strap, looks a little familiar ……

Luke recalled someone.

Theodore Caine.

He had an identical Rolex on his hand.

Luke pointed to the photo and asked, “Is there still a purchase receipt for this watch?”

“No, this watch has been with me for many years, model number 116610LV from the Submariner type series, it was given to me by a good friend, please make sure you get it back for me.”

“Does this watch have any special markings?”

Reacher thought for a moment, “There’s a scratch on the lower left side of the dial that I accidentally touched when I took the watch off, it broke my heart at the time.” Reacher pointed to the photo, “You can still see some of it from this angle.”

Luke nodded, noting the location of the dial scratches.

“Did the police in charge of the case get any leads on the burglar?”

“No, they didn’t find out anything, but according to one of my tenants said that they saw a man sneaking around with a cake standing in the corridor that day, the other person was wearing a hat and a mask to see his face, but his hands were black, so he should be a black man.” Reacher added, “That’s why I hate them.”

Luke thought for a moment and said, “Was the poop you stuffed in your mouth ever identified?”

“I offered, but the police refused, saying it wasn’t human, it was supposed to be a dog’s, that there was no need for an appraisal, and that they didn’t have the funds for it.

I would have paid for the identification myself, but it was a little too much to take ……fuck, how could he be so unethical, it would be a shadow over me for the rest of my life.” Rachel clenched her fists, still very angry that it was brought up again even though it was a long time ago.

Blackie tried to laugh, and when Luke glared at him, he hurriedly turned his face away, stifling a whimper.

Luke said, “I want to see the list of tenants.”

“No problem, I’ll get it.”

After a while, Reacher handed Luke a thick book, “All the tenants are written down on it, it’s definitely more complete than what’s on the computer.”

Luke began to look through the list of tenants, he was very observant, almost at a glance.

After flipping through a few pages, he found a familiar name, Tris Reel.

She was the girlfriend of two-point fast guy Theodore Caine.

“Tell me the exact date of your birthday?”

“April 29th.”

This time was close to the time Theodore had been dating his girlfriend, Tris Riel.

“Do you have any recollection of the tenant, Tris Riehl?”

Rachel thought for a moment, “Yes, she lived here for a while, I have the impression that she was often behind on her rent, and refused to leave.

Thank goodness she finally moved out some time ago. That house can be rented out to other people again.

I even hired someone to specially clean it before renting it out, and that room was so dirty and messy that it was a disaster.

If the contract with the developer hadn’t expired, I would have wanted to change jobs and never deal with them again.

They’re a bunch of parasites.” Rachel finished her question as if something had occurred to her, “Did she have anything to do with this theft?”

“You don’t have to think much about it, it’s just a routine inquiry.” Luke said perfunctorily.

He said so on his lips, but in his heart, he felt that this case was probably related to Tris Riel and her boyfriend Theodore.

Theodore and his girlfriend, Tris Riel, should have just met not long ago when the burglary occurred.

Luke guessed that Theodore was probably trying to please his girlfriend before he took revenge on Reacher, while robbing Reacher of his gun, watch, hand-me-downs and cash.

These items are likely still in his home.

Further speculation is that if Theodore Caine was the burglar, the gun, a Colt Python, would have been in his possession.

He is most likely one of the suspects in the shooting.

This asshole lied.

Theodore’s house.

A Ford Explorer and two police cars pull up to the front door.

Getting out of the cars, Luke and Blackie put on their body armor and four patrolmen approached.

Luke made a simple deployment, two patrolmen guarded the back door and two patrolmen were in charge of support.

He took Blacky to the front door.

“Knock knock ……”

No one responded.

“Knock knock ……”

“Who’s out there?” Sounded a young man’s voice.

“An old friend is here, Theodore, open the door.”

A few moments later, the door opened and Theodore stood in the doorway, looking at Luke and then at Black, “What are you guys doing here again?”

“We just happened to be passing by and stopped by to say hello to a friend.”

Theodore gave a wary look, “We’ve only met once, I don’t think we’re friends.”

Luke stared at his left wrist for a moment, causing Theodore to look a little shaken and shrink, “Whoa oh, what the hell are you guys doing?”

Luke pointed to Theodore’s left wrist, “Can I see a watch?”

“No, it’s my personal item.” Theodore refused dryly, “You’ve already said hello, so if there’s nothing else, please get out.”

Luke had just observed that there was a scratch on the lower left side of the Rolex watch, exactly the same as what Reacher had described, and exactly the same as the picture of the lost item, and flashed a search warrant, “Theodore, we suspect you are related to a burglary, we are going to search your house, please cooperate.”

Theodore revealed an angry look, “What the hell are you guys up to? Last time, you said I was a murderer, and this time, you’re saying I stole something, why are you guys targeting me?

I’m innocent.”

Luke once again flashed his search warrant, “We are here to prove it, please cooperate.”

As the words fell, Luke entered the house with Blackie, and the four patrolmen cooperated with the search, keeping Theodore’s three under guard.

Tris Riel looked furious and shouted at Luke and Blacky, “Are you guys finished or not, why are you always interrupting our lives, are you purposely targeting us just because we are black.”

“SHUT UP! put away that trick of yours, I’m black too, this bullshit doesn’t work on me, understand?” Blackie shouted.

The only one of the six police officers present, Blacky, was black, and this accusation was serious enough that he had to dislike it unequivocally.

This was also the helplessness of many black police officers, it was an indisputable fact that blacks had a higher crime rate.

Black police officers are not just African-American, they are part of the LAPD, and this scale must be grasped.

This is also the reason why Luke likes to bring Blackie to investigate the case, even if he doesn’t do anything, as long as he follows Luke, he can still bring Luke a lot of convenience.

Advantage of minority groups.

This advantage was most obvious in the blacks, who were the best at getting things done.

It was also true that they fought for a lot of benefits.

Luke and Blackie did some searching in the house and soon found the Scarlet Witch’s hand puppet, I don’t know if it was his illusion, it always felt that some parts of the witch’s color was not quite the same, it was a bit lighter.

Luke put the Scarlet Witch’s hand puppet and watch on the table to take a picture, “Theodore, these two items are exactly the lost property of a burglary, explain why they are in your house?”

Theodore blushed a little hard, “I don’t know.”

Luke looked to the black girl on the side, “Tris Reel why don’t you say it?”

Tris Leary also looked a little hard, “I have nothing to say.”

Luke spread his hands, “In that case, I’ll just have to take you guys back to the police station, Reacher, an old acquaintance, can’t wait to see you guys, he misses you.”

“He deserves it!” Just then, Tris Reel’s brother shouted, “He deserved it!”

Luke smoothly asked, “How did he deserve it?”

Tris Lir’s brother yelled, “His stinking mouth just knows how to curse and spew shit every day, and he deserves to be punished.”

“So, you just shoved your own poop in his mouth?”

Brother Tris Lil corrected, “It wasn’t mine, it was shit! It goes best with his stinking mouth!”

Luke signaled the patrolman to take Theodore and Tris outside.

The only people left in the room were the cops and Tris’s brother.

Luke yanked a chair and sat down, “Did you do this?”

Seeing Luke’s gaze, Brother Tris first shrunk back, then took a deep breath and took a step forward, “I shouldn’t have left at that time, I should have stayed there to see his face when he woke up, it must have been wonderful!”

Luke nodded, “I’d love to hear that too, why don’t you start at the beginning.”

“Put away your swindling ghost tricks, I have no fear since I came forward. Don’t you want to know the facts of the case? I will tell you all, if you release Theodore and my sister.”

“As long as your description of the situation matches the scene, I will naturally release them.”

“A promise?”

“Of course.”

“I’m still underage, is it possible to get a lighter sentence.”

“If you cooperate with the police, I can help you fight for it. My coworkers aren’t very fond of Reacher either, and you have something in common in that regard.”

Brother Tris gave Blackie a look, “Glad you still know who you are?”

Blackie said, “Kid, I’m a LAPD first and foremost, got it?

Cut the crap and explain yourself.”

“I hate Rachel, he’s an asshole, he’s a cusser every day, he’ll often come to our house and cause trouble, he’ll yell at us if we can’t pay the rent, he’ll talk down to my sister, I hate him, I want to beat him up so bad.

We moved out of his apartment six months ago, but I haven’t retaliated against him, I’m afraid that if I retaliate against him right away, it will make him suspicious of me.

So, I was waiting for the right time, his birthday.

I bought his favorite matcha cake and added sleeping pills to it, and the idiot fell asleep after eating it, with quite a bit of cream in his mouth.

Then I shoved shit in his mouth and stole his watch, hand puppet and revolver.

I hated that revolver, he bought that pistol to use against us and flaunted it all the time.

He likes to think of himself as Rick, the main character from The Walking Dead, so what are we?

The Walking Dead?

Or the walking dead?

It’s a mercy I didn’t kill him.

He got what he deserved and I have no regrets.”

Black looked at him with a slightly complicated look on his face, “How did you come up with the idea of shoving shit in his mouth?”

“I think his mouth stinks worse than shit, is there a problem?”

Black shrugged, “No, I’d say good job!”

Brother Tris looked at Luke, “Now, will you let my sister and Theodore go?”

“I’d like to release them too, but the problem is that there is one missing lost item that revolver. Tell me where that gun is and I’ll let them go.”

“That gun I gave to Theodore.”

“Why? The watch to him and the gun? Are you so giving?”

“He bought it from me.

I didn’t think of stealing the gun at first, but I happened to hear that Theodore wanted one, but he wasn’t old enough to buy one, so I brought it along.

Theodore gave me five hundred dollars.”

Luke confirmed, “That means Theodore has the gun?”

“Yes.”

Luke recalled, “The last time we came to arrest Theodore, the reason you ran away was not to distract the police, but because you were afraid they would arrest you for the theft?”

“That’s right. Then you guys let me go and I thought I could get away with it. But I don’t regret it, and I can laugh now at the thought of Reacher with shit in his mouth.”

Luke then had the patrolman escort Tris’ brother back to the station.

Black sighed, “You know what? I’m glad I became a cop, otherwise …… I wouldn’t dare to think about it.”

Luke patted his shoulder, “It’s not the time for emotions, Theodore is the main character.”

One hour later.

Detective Bureau.

Interrogation room.

Theodore was handcuffed to the interrogation chair, looking at Luke and Blackie with an angry face, “What do you want? I’ve said it all, I didn’t steal anything, much less kill anyone.”

“According to Tris’s brother Capo Reel’s confession, he sold you the pistol for five hundred dollars, didn’t he?”

“I can’t remember.”

“That’s all right, we’ll confront him, and if he lies, then we’ll add another perjury charge to the list, what do you think?”

“Why do you guys have to force me?”

“No one’s forcing you, you’re the one who’s been lying and putting yourself in a bind, telling the truth is the only way you can save yourself.”

“I sold that gun.”

“Sold it to who?”

“I don’t know him, we were a cash deal, he gave me the money and I gave him the gun.”

Luke flipped open his journal, ready to record, “How was the connection made? How much was the sale for? Where was the transaction made? Don’t lie to the police.”

“It was traded on the street, I watched a guy in a mask sneaking around, so I asked him if he wanted to buy a gun, and he said yes.

Then I sold it to him for seven hundred dollars. Everyone gets what they want and there’s no trouble.”

Luke laughed, “You applied the cell phone selling stolen goods routine to a handgun, you think the police are stupid? That they can believe anything they say?”

“I’m telling the truth, and I told you I was with Tris when the shooting happened, I didn’t even have time to commit the crime.”

“The police went to Highway One to check it out according to your and Tris’s statements, and they did see surveillance of the Toyota at the gas station you said you were at, but the time shown at that time was two-thirty in the afternoon.

The shooting happened at 3:20 p.m. You had all the time in the world to get back downtown and commit the crime.”

Theodore defended, “I told you, I was with Tris applauding love and couldn’t have gotten back that fast.”

“You did say, like, two minutes or so, I’ll give you three minutes rounded up, 2:33 to 3:20 p.m., 47 minutes is just as much time to make it back.

If you want to prove you didn’t have the time to commit the crime, say exactly where you were during that time.”

Theodore blushed slightly, “I’m telling the truth, if you don’t believe me you can check for yourselves.”

“LAPD is not Superman, it takes time to investigate a case, we can only investigate one by one, your own affairs, you know best, if you have a clear conscience, why don’t you cooperate with the police?”

Theodore bit his lip, showing a hesitant look, and took a deep breath, “I have nothing more to say.”

“Then let me make a hypothetical guess.”

Luke stood up and paced, “You can’t forget Josie, the cheerleader, you felt that she looked down on you and called the police on you, so you were angry, and after you bought the gun from Capo Rielle, you got the idea of revenge, and then you teamed up with someone else to plan the shooting.

When you got to the school, you didn’t find Josie, but you saw her best friend Barbara.

You then shot towards Barbara, wounding her, knowing they were good friends and hoping to draw Josie out that way.

After that, you saw Josie coming out of the women’s restroom and again took the gun and held her hostage into the women’s restroom, shooting and killing her.”

Theodore showed an angry look, “No, I wasn’t doing that, you’re accusing me wrongly.”

Luke spread his hands, “I’m just making hypothetical speculations based on the available evidence and clues, you can refute it if you think it’s wrong.”

Theodore clenched his fists tightly, his cheeks held red, “I want to see a lawyer.”

Luke was a little sorry that there were actually holes in his reasoning, the gunman must have been able to hear them.

Too bad Theodore didn’t have a clear reaction to that.

It suddenly occurred to Luke that if he also knew about micro-expression analysis, he might be able to tell Theodore’s true reaction at this moment.