mesbooks Chapter 116 Strange Case
Chapter 116 Strange Case
Chapter 116 Strange Case
Near a bridge in Compton, Los Angeles, Lee Ethan and his team of three examined the body of a woman who had died from a gunshot wound to the forehead. The extra member was a white man in his twenties.
The patrol officer in charge of the preliminary investigation explained.
"We received a report early this morning, and it appears to be a murder case."
After examining it carefully, all three shook their heads in rejection.
"I think it was suicide."
"suicide?"
The two patrol officers were stunned. Was this a suicide?
What about weapons for suicide?
Lee Ethan crouched down and sniffed the deceased's gloved hands.
"The smell of gunpowder lingered on his fingers; he fired a gun before he died."
Kaiya pointed to a tiny mark on the bridge railing.
"The marks from the friction of the thread could be from fishing line or steel wire. If I'm not mistaken, the handgun was tied to a heavy object. After the suicide, the handgun would be dragged along the fence by the heavy object and fall into the water. Sending out frogmen to search should find the murder weapon."
The young white male pointed to the distance from which the deceased had fallen.
"It's too close, less than a meter. If the murderer wanted to kill the victim, he would have to be completely pressed against the fence or even stick his arm out. I see a lot of dust on the fence, it doesn't look like anyone has been near it."
"6
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The two patrol officers didn't know what to say, and they didn't seem to notice anything.
"You guys are really impressive, no wonder you're detectives."
The blond white man gave a smug smile.
"I'm just a trainee detective. Boss and Kaiya are the real experts."
The man's name is Chris Murphy. He is a new prospective detective at the police station, which is why he was assigned to a full two-person team. Whether he can be promoted in the future depends on Lee Ethan's evaluation. If he passes, he will stay in Team Three.
Lee Esen looked at the other two and gave them instructions.
"If the suicide weapon is found, split up to investigate whether it was caused by coercion, instigation, or long-term abuse, and see if there were any accomplices. If there are no problems, we can close the case after the forensic examination."
After a busy day, the result came out: she was troubled by love; her boyfriend not only broke up with her but also swindled her out of her money.
So Li Yisen arrested her boyfriend on charges of fraud. However, without a decisive witness, it is hard to say whether she will be prosecuted in the future, because the other party can also insist that it was a gift between lovers and that it is impossible to accuse her boyfriend of murder.
With the case largely closed, Chris Murphy spoke from the heart in the police car.
"The deceased trapped himself in a fantasy world because of his emotions; otherwise, he wouldn't have met such a terrible end."
As Li Yisen drove, he answered, noting that the file of this subordinate, who was close to his age, was indeed impressive, but it described him as having an eccentric personality.
"Maybe so. Emotions aren't something you can easily control."
"Philosophically speaking, I am a pessimist. I believe that human consciousness is a tragic mistake in evolution. It is because we know ourselves too well and do not question that our consciousness has become part of nature that we make some wrong decisions."
"6
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Li Yisen was a little nervous; this wasn't the first time a newcomer had said these things.
"Maybe."
"From the perspective of the laws of nature, we should not exist."
"That sounds really scary."
Kaia interjected.
"Since it already exists, it's part of nature, so why think about it so much?"
Chris Murphy froze and shut his mouth. Lee Ethan's lips almost twitched. "Hey, don't interrupt your colleague's fun!"
Soon, Lee Ethan's team received a new case. The crime scene was in a somewhat remote location, inside the Los Angeles National Forest, and not on the west side, but on the east side, 50 kilometers away from Lano.
In a relatively open meadow inside the forest, a naked woman knelt on the ground, her eyes covered by a white cloth, her hands bound in a prayer pose, her skin already bluish, clearly having been dead for at least two or three days.
What intrigued the three most were the patterns painted on the deceased's body with some kind of paint. There were many of them, resembling tattoos or totems, and there was also a strange pattern made of powder at the feet.
Unfortunately, it has been destroyed, but a small trinket woven from palm leaves and seashells is hanging on a tree not far away.
"It looks like a religious symbol."
"It looks a bit like a Native American totem."
"I think it's more like voodoo."
Lee Ethan did not name the suspect, and he had to admit that he did not know much about the American religion.
The scene of the deceased was somewhat eerie, but the three people present were not to be trifled with. They naturally put on gloves and prepared to get to work, while the police officers searching for clues around them were a little uncomfortable.
Killing someone is one thing, but to pose in a religious manner is quite disturbing in a country where faith is prevalent.
Kaiya lowered her head and examined the deceased's genitals with her fingers to confirm.
"The deceased had been assaulted before her death, but there was no residual fluid."
Chris Murphy also took a look around, even examining his scalp closely.
"In addition to animal bite marks, there were also ligature marks from being tied up, and the initial assessment is that the abdominal wound was fatal."
Lee Ethan noticed some skin problems on the corpse, and upon closer inspection, saw severe gum problems in the mouth.
"Perhaps she's a prostitute."
Finally, Li Yisen and the other two came up with a preliminary plan.
"It could be the work of a cult, or it could be a revenge killing. The former is more troublesome because there is no clear causal relationship. The latter would be easier to handle because it would prove that the killer has certain fetishes. We can request police dogs to conduct a large-scale search to see if we can find any evidence."
"Um.
""
Preliminary investigation results showed no useful clues, and the other party did not leave any fingerprints, indicating that they came prepared.
Now, the forensic doctors can only look for clues on the deceased, while they will investigate this person.
The deceased was quickly identified, thanks to the presence of facial recognition equipment.
Sancy Perry, 23, lives in Setwood, a small town on the edge of the Los Angeles National Forest. She is a drug-addicted prostitute, and it's fair to say that few prostitutes would refuse to use drugs.
Ethan and his two companions then located the deceased's pimp boyfriend, Gabby Kelly.
"Sanni Perry is dead, did you know?"
The other person was taken aback for a moment.
"How could she suddenly die? Not long ago, she said she was converting to a religion and wanted to turn over a new leaf, and even said she wanted to become a nun. I thought she had ruined her brain with drugs, so I just ignored her."
"Are you religious? Is there a church in this small town?"
"I don't know, I'm not religious."
Where in town does Sancy Perry usually do his business?
Gabby Kelly shook her head.
"I have no idea."
"Is he genuinely unaware or is he feigning ignorance?"
Li Yisen exchanged glances with the three men. The pimps had already inquired about the location, and it would be a joke to say they didn't know it. Only in this location were there a large number of prostitutes conducting transactions, and if the police found out, they would lose their livelihood.
"Chris, go out and keep watch."
Chris Murphy didn't refuse and went straight to the door to watch.
Lee Ethan looked at the policewoman beside him. Since that day, their relationship had changed. They were closer, no, more distant.
He understood Kaiya's thoughts. If the two of them were discovered by their superiors or reported, one of them would probably have to leave the homicide division, or even the criminal investigation bureau.
"Kaiya, why don't you go out too?"
Kaiya shook her head.
"You don't trust me?"
"Alright."
Lee Ethan shoved the pistol into Gabby Kelly's hand, and Kaia naturally raised the gun.
"Assaulting a police officer and stealing his gun."
"5
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Gabby Kelly looked like he'd swallowed a piece of rice; he never imagined the police would frame him.
How could you do this?
"Tell me your address, or we'll send you to meet your maker. It wouldn't be surprising if a pimp assaulted a police officer and stole his gun."
Gabby Kelly yielded when faced with a gun.
"I'll talk, I'll talk."
The team quickly learned the location from Gabby Kelly, and even that Sancy Perry had no friends. Or rather, he used to have some, but they broke up after a fight when he was under the influence of drugs. However, he did have a mother.
The police car continued to move, and Chris Murphy suddenly spoke up.
"Boss, you don't need to hide anything from me. I understand that you need to use some methods to investigate cases."
Li Yisen glanced at the other person.
"Okay, come next time."
77
I won't let you down.
The three first went to the church to see if Gabby Kelly's claim of being Catholic was true, but unfortunately they were told it was not.
"I have never seen this girl. If you don't believe me, you can check the security camera footage at the church entrance."
"monitor?"
The old pastor looked angry when he talked about this.
"Yes, recently someone has been disemboweling a black cat and nailing it to the church. This is a very serious act of blasphemy. I want to catch him and install surveillance cameras outside."
"Don't the believers have any objections?"
"They knew it was blasphemy and accepted it."
From a Christian perspective, churches are sacred. In the 13th century, Pope Gregory IX portrayed black cats as messengers of evil in his "Voice of Rome," so nailing the corpses of black cats to churches was a very serious issue in Catholicism.
"Perhaps the two cases are related."
Lee Ethan did not deny it, but the direction of the investigation will be discussed later.
Thank you for your cooperation.
It was very late that day, and Lee Ethan and his two colleagues drove back to Los Angeles to finish their get off work. However, when they planned to continue their investigation the next day, something unexpected happened.
A refined-looking middle-aged white man appeared, led by Deputy Section Chief Eric Harris.
"Ethan, Kea, Chris, this is Frank Jenkins, the assistant bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He is responsible for the northeastern part of the county."
"Bishop Jenkins, they are the police officers in charge of the case."
"Thank you for the introduction, Officer Harris."
Frank Jenkins got straight to the point.
"After seeing Sancy Perry's tattoos, coupled with the frequent desecration of Setwood Church, I strongly suspect that this is a very serious antichrist crime, so our church wants to invite some experts to form a special task force to investigate."
Li Yisen frowned; this was someone trying to steal the case from him.
"Who?"
"FBI California field office, I'm not saying you guys are doing a bad job, I just want to solve the case quickly. These guys have solved many religious cases before."
Li Yisen looked at the deputy section chief.
"Sir, what do you think? Should we really transfer the case to the FBI?"
Eric Harris hesitated. The Los Angeles Archdiocese was indeed very powerful, boasting 400 million members, but he couldn't just hand over the case so easily.
"It would be better if they were involved, since the parish values it highly. We can also conduct the investigation together, or if we're too busy, we can delegate it to the FBI."
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You've said everything, so it's clear that neither of you is satisfied with the answer.
Frank Jenkins suddenly reached out his hand to Lee Ethan.
"This case is definitely not simple, so please understand, thank you."
Faced with the assistant bishop's outstretched hand, Lee Ethan had no choice but to reach out and grasp it in full view of everyone.
"I understand."