Chapter 649
Luke had solved many murders, but this “just kidding” sent chills down his spine.
Making friends with such a person was like walking on the edge of death.
“Who was the mastermind of the prank?”
“Sharon Frank.”
“Who supplied the tools of the trade, such as duct tape, rope, and headgear?”
“Sharon Frank.”
“Was her reason for doing this really just a joke, or did she have some other agenda?”
“I don’t know. Out of the four of us, she’s always been the one who gets the ideas, and I’m just used to listening to her.”
“Have you guys done pranks before?”
“All four of us are a little more active and sometimes we do pranks, but nothing this serious.”
I swear, this time it really was an accident.
None of us thought it would be this serious, and we’re very sad about Ellie Bergman’s death.”
“Sad?”
“Yes.”
Luke looked aside at Jackson and asked, “What would you do if your friend had an accident like this?”
Jackson thought for a moment, “First of all, I’m not a doctor, I’m not qualified to pronounce her dead. So, I’d call 911 for emergency first, and then the police.”
Luke looked at Lacey Wayne again, “What did you guys do?”
“I was in shock, my whole body was confused.”
I was going to call the police, but Sharon Frank wouldn’t have it and took my cell phone.
She said that Ellie was dead, and if we called the police now, they would definitely treat us as murderers and we would all go to jail.
I got even more scared and ran out of ideas and had to listen to her.” Lacey Wayne showed a remorseful look, recalled for a moment, and continued, “She suggested burying the body, and as long as the three of us didn’t say anything, no one would know that we had done it. Then we did what she told us to do.”
Luke made a note in his book, “What exactly did you guys do?”
“Sharon Frank said that I had been sitting in the back of the car, that the road surveillance couldn’t catch me on camera, and that the police wouldn’t know that I had been at Ellie’s house even if they investigated, so the police wouldn’t be suspicious of me, so they would just let me go home and drive and take charge of dumping the body.
My first reaction was fear, and I was reluctant, but ……
Sharon Frank threatened me with jail time for all three of us if we didn’t do it.
I didn’t want to go to jail and I didn’t want to leave my parents, so I agreed with her.
She drove her car around my neighborhood and then told me to get out of the car and go home and drive the Toyota from my house, then she moved the body from the Tesla to the trunk of my car and put me and Marissa Hocking in charge of burying the body.”
“What did you do with the body?”
“We put the body in the trash.”
“Why didn’t you bury the body as Sharon Frank had instructed?”
Lacey Wayne cried, “I was so nervous I forgot to bring a shovel ……”
Earlier, Luke had listened to Lacey Wayne’s confession and had been under the impression that she had intended to put the blame on Sharon Frank, but now it seemed that ……
she might not be so resourceful after all.
“Did the victim have any clothes on him when you dumped the body?”
“Sharon Frank said for us to take off our clothes before burying the body so that the body would not be easy to identify the deceased even if it was exposed later.
Marissa Hocking then undressed Ellie.”
“What was Ellie Bergman wearing at the time?”
“Pajamas and panties.”
“What did you do with them?”
“Marissa Hocking then threw the clothes on the side of the road.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I have no idea.”
“Were the three of you the only ones involved in this case?”
“Yes.”
“But according to the forensic tests, the deceased was violated.”
“I don’t know then, but ……,” Lacey Wayne said thoughtfully, “when we went to Ellie’s house, she was lying on her bed, wearing only her pajamas. Could she have been having sex with someone at that time?”
Ellie Bergman was violated after her death, so naturally it couldn’t have been that time, but Lacey Wayne didn’t look like she was lying?
A possibility suddenly occurred to him ……
“When you guys went to kidnap Ellie Bergman, did she resist?”
“Yes, but the three of us held her down …… so it didn’t work.”
This is different from Luke’s speculation, that is to say, Ellie Bergman is probable to be violated after dumping the body.
“What position was the victim in after you dumped the body?”
Lacey Wayne thought for a moment, “I can’t remember, I was so nervous that I rushed off with Marissa Hocking as she carried the body into the trash can.”
“Was there anyone else around at the time?”
“I don’t think so, at least not that I saw.”
Seeing that the other man didn’t look like he was lying, Luke turned the tables, “Would you be willing to identify Sharon Frank and Marissa Hocking?”
Lacey Wayne hesitated for a moment and nodded at her parents’ encouragement, “I do.”
Craft neighborhood.
Sharon Frank’s house.
It was a pretty little blue building with a blue Tesla sitting outside the garage, and a middle-aged man was carefully scrubbing the car.
“Wooo……”
A few cars drove in on the east side of the neighborhood and happened to pull up in front of Sharon Frank’s house.
Luke opened the car door, stepped into the yard, and greeted the middle-aged man, “Mr. Aled Frank, good evening.”
Aled Frank looked at Luke and the others with some complexity, “It’s so late, what are you guys doing at my house?”
“It’s so late and you’re still washing your car.” Luke ran his hand over the body, “It’s already clean.”
“I don’t have time during the day, so I can only scrub it at night. What brings you guys to my house?”
“We’d like to meet Sharon Frank.”
“To see her about what?”
“We’ve got a new lead on the murder of Ellie Bergman and would like to ask her a few more questions.”
Aled Frank glanced at his watch, “I’m sorry, it’s too late in the day, Sharon Frank has school tomorrow, another time.”
Luke smoothly asked, “When do you think would be a good time?”
Aled Frank thought for a moment, “Like I said, Sharon has school tomorrow, at least until after she gets out of school.
Also, she’s still a minor and needs my presence to be questioned by the police, so it’ll depend on what I have scheduled for tomorrow. Why don’t we make another appointment tomorrow.”
“I don’t think that there’s any need to complicate things.” Luke flashed the arrest warrant, “I’m taking her away now.”
Almost at the same time, the vice squad also led the arrest of Marisa Hocking.
The police questioned them overnight.
The following morning, at eleven o’clock.
Office of Squadron One, Robbery and Murder Division.
Last night, the people were busy until the latter part of the night before they went home, so Reed purposely postponed the people’s work hours for today.
Perhaps because of staying up late last night, Luke felt that his eyes were burning, like he was a bit on fire, he poured a cup of green tea and walked out of the captain’s office.
“Guys, it’s the middle of the night after yesterday’s interrogation, and we haven’t summarized the case yet, so let’s all talk about it.”
The lieutenant said, “Marissa Hocking has confessed to the manslaughter of Ellie Bergman, her statement basically agrees with Lacey Wayne.”
Jackson said, “Sharon Frank’s mouth was so stiff that she refused to admit it even after we produced the evidence.
It wasn’t until we told her that two of her best girlfriends were ready to identify her.
Only then did she confess that the prank accident caused Ellie Bergman’s death.”
Luke said, “I was also involved in the interrogation of Sharon Frank …… I always felt she had something to hide.”
Jackson said, “Sharon Frank won’t admit to being the mastermind of the case, it feels like she may be hiding something on this.”
Matthew asked, “Guys, now that we’ve caught the killer, can’t the case be closed and we can have a nice drink tonight?”
“Wait, it’s a little early for that.” Blacky interrupted Matthew, “There’s another suspect in this case, the asshole who violated the victim.”
Jenny said, “That means there is a fourth person in this case.”
Jackson snapped his fingers, “I’ve been thinking about that too, and I think that that fourth suspect most likely found the body after it was dumped and violated it.”
“Hey, I’ve said that inference before, I said it first.” Black interrupted Jackson and looked to the side at the lieutenant, “You guys remember the homeless guy from earlier? I thought he was suspicious. He even refused to let go of the clothes of the dead, if he saw the dead body …… this kind of thing he must have done.”
The lieutenant was a bit disgruntled, “Are you accusing me that I shouldn’t have let him go?”
“Guys, there’s no point in arguing like this, since there’s doubt, let’s investigate.” Luke’s voice drew up and he looked over at Black, “Marcus, if you suspect that there’s something wrong with the homeless man from before, then go talk to him again.”
“Understood, I’ve already thought of what to say to test him.”
“That’s good.”
“Lieutenant, take someone to investigate near the scene of the body dump and extend the walk to see if anyone has touched the body.”
The vice squad grumbled, “This fucking asshole, why would he do such a sick thing when it’s obvious that a hundred dollars would solve the problem.”
“Snap!” Luke clapped, “OK, let’s split up.”
After the crowd left, Luke didn’t stay idle, after returning to his office, he laid out all the clues and evidences on the table and started combing the case from the beginning, not sparing a single detail.
At noon, he only ate a sandwich and a cup of coffee.
After half a day of research, Luke smoothed out his thoughts, identified the holes in the investigation, and formulated a plan of action for the evening.
The victim was violated after death, the last possible was after dumping the body, the body was found and violated by someone, the vice squad took people to investigate near the dumping site, but there has been no new clues.
If, however, this line of investigation is not correct, then there are two other possibilities.
The first possibility is the parking lot near Dawson’s Bar.
At that time, the three girlfriends went to the bar to have fun, the victim was left alone in the trunk of the car, could someone have taken advantage of this gap to open the trunk of the car and violate the body.
If that were the case, the situation would be more complicated. The three suspects had been at the bar for almost two hours, and a lot could have happened in those two hours.
Suppose, at that time, the victim was not yet dead, and made a commotion in the trunk that attracted the attention of others, and someone took the opportunity to open the trunk, saw the bound victim, and not only failed to carry out the rescue, but also had bad thoughts.
In the process, the victim resisted fiercely and died accidentally.
Afterwards, the murderer violated the body and put it back in the car.
Later, the three girlfriends came out of the bar, found the victim dead, and then made a plan to dump the body.
If this were a possibility, the whole case would be thrown out.
But given the fact that the victim was violated, Luke is also forced to continue his investigation to find the fourth person who committed the crime.
Luke also finds a clue when he investigates the route Sharon Frank took after leaving the bar in her blue Tesla.
After Sharon Frank dropped off Marissa Hocking and Lacey Wayne in the Angelus neighborhood, she drove off alone.
According to the timing of the surveillance video at the intersection, the car was stationed for a period of time between Volt and Culpeper Streets, a period of time when she was alone with the bodies, and no one knows if she was in contact with anyone else.
To know that this girl is not young, found the victim dead not only did not panic, but also immediately formulated a “two clear and one dark” plan to dump the body, not simple.
Luke suspected that there may be a “mastermind” behind her. And this mastermind, is it possible to be the fourth person?
Seven o’clock in the evening.
The team members who went out to investigate returned one after another, Luke called all the people together and said his own speculation.
The crowd also expressed their opinions on the two possibilities, but because of the lack of empirical evidence, no one could convince anyone, and they still had to rely on the field investigation.
Subsequently, the 1st Squadron split into two groups, Blackie and Jackson went to Volt Street and Kalpoe Street to investigate and look for new clues.
Luke led the team to the parking lot near Dawson’s Bar to investigate if there were any suspicious people around when the suspect vehicle was parked.