Chapter 212

“Mrs. Smith, how is your relationship with your husband?”

“Pretty good.”

Luke pulled out a picture of Shirley, “Have you seen her?”

Zoe Smith took a look, “I think I saw a picture of this woman the last time I gave a statement?”

“That’s right, have you seen the photo in person?”

“No.”

Luke stopped hiding, “She was at the scene of the crime the night your husband died.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Do you know why your husband went to Mount Carbon?”

“I don’t know, isn’t that something you police should be investigating?”

“Yes, the results of the investigation are in, would you like to know?”

“Of course.” Zoe Smith’s expression remained bland.

“Your husband went to Mount Carbon that night just to have a car sex with the woman in the photo, and the two of them were robbed while doing so, and your husband was wearing only a pair of socks when he died.”

Zoe Smith frowned slightly, “Lieutenant Luke, while I appreciate you telling me what really happened, that’s a brutal description you’re giving and it makes me feel unkind.”

“SORRY, but I’m just saying, your husband actually did it, did you know about it?”

“No.”

“Suppose, hypothetically, you knew about it what would happen?”

“You suspect that I killed Barron?”

“I don’t suspect, but I have found out the evidence, which is why we asked you to come to the station.”

“What evidence? With that photo taken at the hotel where only the hat is visible? You’re going to convict me with a photo that doesn’t even show my face?”

“Mrs. Smith, the police did a thorough investigation of your situation and we found not only that you left the hotel, but also that you had two rental car records with Herez.

The first rental car record, from June 25th at 8:00 a.m. to June 26th at 8:00 a.m.

Pickup location, downtown Los Angeles.

Car, black Audi A6.

Second rental car.

Rented from June 28th to June 29th, 8am.

Pick up location, Long Beach.

Car model, gray BMW 5 series.

How do you explain the timing of the two car rentals, which coincide with the time of the two car-jacking robberies and murders?”

Zoe Smith was silent for a moment and took a deep breath, “I did rent a car, that doesn’t make me a suspect in the robberies.

The reason I rented a car was because my BMW X6 broke down and I needed to use it, simple as that.”

Luke took a sip of his coffee and said nonchalantly, “Rental car companies install location tracking devices on their cars to prevent them from being scammed, stolen, or having other accidents.

We investigated the trajectories of the two cars and found that both cars had been to the crime scene during the time period of the crime, how do you explain this?”

Zoe pursed her lips with both hands, “Even if I’ve been to the scene, it doesn’t mean I’m the murderer.”

Luke continued, “On June 28th, you drove a gray BMW from Long Beach to Caporal Hills to commit the crime, and after killing your husband Barron, took a detour back to Long Beach.

When we investigated the trajectory of the car, we found that you stopped for ten minutes on the way back.

I located the scene based on the driving tracks and found that it was a wasteland. We searched around the parking spot and found an area with digging marks more than a hundred meters away from the parking spot.

We dug and found a black plastic bag with a revolver, plastic handcuffs, masks, and fake goat gear.”

As he spoke, Luke walked over to the interrogation chair and pulled out a couple of photos to show Zoe, whose face immediately changed drastically.

Luke continued, “You’re a doctor you should know very well, as long as the contact must leave traces, even if you wiped the surface of the fingerprints, but also may leave other biological samples, such as dander, hair, secretions and so on.

These items have been sent to the Technical Division for identification, and your DNA samples have been sent for comparison, do you still think you can escape the law?”

“Whew ……”

Zoe let out a long sigh, took off her glasses, wiped the lenses, and was silent for a long time

“Yes, I killed Barron.

I thought it was perfect enough, but I didn’t think you guys would still find out. In that case, there’s no point in denying it any longer.”

Luke pressed, “You did the June 25th car robbery too?”

“That’s right.”

Luke pulled out pictures of the two victims, Abal and Maxine, “Were they the two?”

“Yes. I robbed the man and recovered a revolver from the car, the same tool I used to kill Barron.”

Luke pointed to the picture of Maxine, “Did you also rape her?”

“That’s right, I thought of doing it in such a way that the police would mistake the suspect for a man in order to avoid suspicion.

I thought to myself that I shouldn’t have revealed anything, how did you guys find out?”

“I can only blame your bad luck in meeting an expert.” Luke continued, “Why did you rob them?”

“This is just an attempt, I have no grudge against them and I don’t know them, it’s hard for the police to find out about me. Even if this attempt fails, it will be hard for the police to track me down.

If this modus operandi succeeds, I will use it against my husband.”

“You knew about Barron’s cheating for a long time?”

“Yes. It’s ridiculous that he thought he could fool me. You can’t just work hard to be a doctor, IQ and talent are important too.

I bet I surpass most people when it comes to IQ, including that idiot husband of mine.”

Blackie was curious, “Why did you kill him? Is it because you still love him deeply?”

“It’s true that I still love him, but that’s not the reason why I killed him. If you have to ask me why I killed, I can only say that it was the laws of California that prompted me to do so.

The legal system in California is faulty and disgusting.” Zoey gave a disgusted look.

Black asked, “You killed your husband because of alimony?”

“That’s right, California is a no-fault divorce state. As long as one party files for divorce, they don’t need to give a reason.

This law was originally intended to help women who have been victimized by broken marriages to be happy again, but it’s getting left of center.

Cheating also falls under no-fault and can’t even be brought up in court, and you have to go out of your way to be generous and understanding and tolerant of the other person’s true love.

I have never understood, obviously California has a well established integrity system, is cheating not considered a breach of integrity?

Isn’t it irresponsible and a betrayal of the marriage?

Why doesn’t it need to be penalized in any way?

FUCK!”

Zoe Smith revealed an angry look, “If I don’t kill Barron, do you know what will happen?

The first one, I acquiesce to Barron cheating on me, I work hard at the hospital every day and face all kinds of patients, while he can take my money and dash around to find more women and let those women spend my money together.

In the second, Barron and I had a big fight, and Barron asked me for a divorce, and I could only be forced to agree.

What’s even more annoying is that I have to pay him alimony.

I make over a million dollars a year and have to pay him at least over three hundred thousand dollars a year in alimony, after taxes.

To ensure that he can live a materially equivalent life after the divorce as he did before the divorce.

Bullshit law.

He cheated on me and I have to pay $300,000 a year in alimony until he gets married.

You know what the result will be?

He won’t even have to get married or work, and the $300,000 in alimony I’m paying him will be enough for him to dash around the world looking for all kinds of women.

It’s not fair.

He’s like a disgusting vampire.

I don’t want to support him for the rest of my life, it would make me feel like a fool.

So the best and only way is to finish him off.

No betrayal, no alimony, no shame, I’m free.

Truly free!”

This was a good reason to kill, and left both Luke and Black speechless.

California did have some left.

Speaking of alimony, before Luke came to Los Angeles, he had heard of alimony being paid in divorces in the United States, but back then, he mostly heard of men paying alimony to women.

When he came to L.A., he realized that it wasn’t like that; it was the higher-income party paying the lower-income party alimony.

If a couple had been married for more than ten years, they had to pay alimony for the rest of their lives unless the lower-income partner remarried.

This was one of the reasons Luke didn’t really want to get married.

There are so many things involved in getting married that it’s a hassle.

It’s fun to be married, but there are always times when two couples fight, and women in the U.S. are more independent and divorce when they say they will.

Once you get divorced, you have to pay alimony.

If they don’t get married again, but just live with their boyfriends, you still have to pay alimony, and maybe the rent is paid with your alimony.

Don’t you think that’s disgusting?

Luke said, “Actually, the first time I met you, I suspected your motive, and I had been observing your reaction at that time, but I didn’t find any signs that you were lying.

Can you tell us why?”

Zoe said slowly, “Most people are caught lying, not out of guilt, but out of nervousness.

If it’s a small, inconsequential thing that you don’t care about and the other person doesn’t care about, even if you lie, it doesn’t matter, you won’t be psychologically burdened and you won’t be nervous.

Before committing the crime, I thought that the police would question me.

I had killed someone, and once the police questioned me about the case in question, there was a good chance that I would be nervous, and if I was nervous, I would make a mistake, or even be recognized by an experienced police officer.

In order to avoid this situation, I have done some research beforehand.

There are some methods, such as enhancing your mental quality, having a strong heart, and when you don’t care about the matter of killing, you won’t be too nervous.

This method couldn’t be done by ordinary people in a short period of time.

I can only choose another method, record the questions that the police may ask, then, practice the simulation over and over again in front of the mirror, recite all the questions and answers backwards, then I can minimize the nervousness.

Plus, with my husband dead, it was normal for me to have some mood swings.

It seems to have worked pretty well, I made it.”

Hearing the other person’s explanation, Luke understood why the two questions he had asked earlier were inconsistent.

In the first question, Luke asked her if she had left the Dragon Milan Hotel on the night of the murder.

She said no.

Luke found no signs of lying.

Afterward, Luke pulled out a photo of her leaving the hotel wearing a yarmulke and asked if it was her.

She said no.

This time Luke clearly saw the signs of lying.

In fact, she lied both times. It’s just that Luke didn’t see it the first time.

Because Zoe had thought of the first question and practiced it so many times that she wouldn’t be nervous about answering it.

But when she saw Luke take out the surveillance photo of her leaving the hotel, she got nervous and showed her foot, which is why Luke could tell that she lied.

On the side, Blackie, coldly asked, “Zoe, if you were given another chance, would you still marry Barron?”

“No, absolutely not.” Zoe answered dryly, “I also fantasized about love when I was young, Barron was very handsome at that time, talked with humor, and was very attractive to girls.

In fact, compared to money, most women are more easily mesmerized by male sex.

When we first met, my parents were against it, I was a promising intern doctor, and he didn’t even have a serious job at that time.

But …… he was really handsome, sweet mouthed and good at coaxing women.

I thought that was love, romance, much more noble than money, and ultimately …… nothing more than a chicken feather.

Marriage, is not suitable for everyone.”