1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 12 A High-Risk Profession Leads to Death
Because of the seven-month deadline, Theodore was extremely eager for the case.

However, Felton is not New York. The police department here only has five precincts: east, west, south, north, and central. It is a small city with a small population. Although the local people are tough, murders do not happen all the time.

Life in the homicide squad began to get boring, and Theodore's main activity each day started to become training.

A few days later, Diane's husband, Reese, arrived at the police station, looking travel-worn.

He came to claim the body.

Reese was an honest-looking middle-aged man. He silently led his wife and son away and met Brian and Sit at the door.

Sit had previously been detained for assaulting a police officer, but the detective did not intend to pursue the matter, so he was released the next day. He dropped the charges against his father, hoping to get his sister released through his father's intervention.

The three men looked at each other in silence, and after a moment they started fighting. The truck driver, Reese, took on two of them, dominating Brian and his son.

The three were then taken back to the police station and re-detained...

May 23rd was an ordinary Monday, except for the death of a prostitute.

The homicide squad reacted indifferently, and didn't even activate the 'special task force' mode.

After Wenner finished reporting the situation, he handed the case over to Theodore, the only one without a backlog of cases who had nothing to do. So the office continued to be filled with smoke, and everything went as usual.

Bernie peeked over, let out an ambiguous chuckle, and then went back to studying his oil well miner case.

He didn't even offer to accompany Theodore to see the body.

Theodore went to the medical examiner's office alone to see the deceased.

After hearing Theodore's purpose, the veteran forensic pathologist Samuel Douglas looked at him strangely and asked, "Are you a regular customer of hers?"

Theodore shook his head, feeling bewildered.

Samuel limped toward the morgue and asked again, "Do you know each other?"

He was a veteran medic who had participated in World War II. He was injured in the foot during that time. After coming down from the front lines, he came to Felton to work as a forensic pathologist, where he stayed for fifteen or sixteen years.

Theodore shook his head again.

Samuel let out the same laugh as Bernie, gave him a knowing look, and took a registration form off the wall to show him.

The deceased's registration information is as follows:

Name: Candy; Cause of death: Death due to high-risk occupation.

A whole string of slashes.

Candy is clearly not her real name; it's similar to Zhenzhen and Ailianlian, just a stage name she adopted for her profession.

The cause of death is also easy to explain. Until the moment Theodore was hit off the cliff, unless the same modus operandi was used repeatedly and in the same location, Emily's death as a prostitute was still considered a 'death due to a high-risk profession'.

Theodore was beginning to understand why Bernie and Samuel were both chuckling.

Unless he has something to do with Candy, his serious investigation seems out of place in this era.

"I want to see the body first."

Theodore kept a straight face, not giving Samuel any room to think.

However, Samuel had an unusual sense of humor, and he pulled out Sugar and asked Theodore, "Are you sure you want to see this?"

Theodore nodded.

Samuel then asked, "Are you sure you're mentally prepared?"

"Aren't you afraid your former glory will fade?"

Then he let out a series of "coo coo coo" laughs, which gave Theodore the creeps.

Samuel's smile faded, and he explained in a serious tone, "You'd better be prepared. You've seen her in all sorts of ways, clothed and naked, but you've never seen anything like this."

Without warning, he lifted the blanket. Tangtang was completely naked, her hands clasped across her chest, as if she were asleep.

It was time to get down to business, and Samuel stopped joking. "Linear bruising on the left cheekbone." There was a faint handprint on Tangtang's left cheek.

"The fatal injury was a linear fracture above the foramen magnum, which resulted in brainstem contusion."

He then came between his legs.

No trace of JY found. No evidence of XJ.

“No strangulation marks on the neck, no restraint marks on the limbs.” Samuel covered her again with the white sheet and concluded, “This was just a conflict caused by a business deal falling through. She was unlucky; she was slapped and accidentally hit her head, and died.”

Samuel pushed the body back, took out the iron flask from his chest, and took a sip. "If you have the energy, go ask Wenner for some funding to buy gloves for your homicide squad. Don't come stealing mine."

Samuel did Theodore's job.

Based on his experience, he offered a conjecture that was not far off from Theodore's.

He also proved his conclusion to be correct—it is indeed 'high-risk occupations leading to death'.

“I need an autopsy report. Thank you, Samuel.” Theodore said as he walked out, grabbing two more pairs of gloves at the door.

"Hey! Hey! We need to get those gloves from that fat bastard!!"

Samuel's furious curses came from behind.

Back in his office, Theodore grabbed his keys and coat, ready to head to the scene, when Bernie, who had been investigating an old case without success, looked up and asked, "Where are you going?"

"on site."

Theodore left after saying a few words.

Judging from how little attention the homicide squad paid to this case, if he had been any slower, he might not have found a single hair.

Theodore knew how difficult these kinds of cases were to solve, and he wasn't obligated to solve them, but he wanted to do his best. Even if his efforts were fruitless, at least he could have done right by himself.

Bernie sat there flipping through the case files, finally sighed, grabbed his badge and pistol, and chased after them.

He came out just as Theodore started the car; a second later and he would have missed it.

He sat in the passenger seat, quickly tensed up, gripped the seat tightly with both hands, and gritted his teeth as he finally arrived at the crime scene.

As soon as the car stopped, he jumped out impatiently, snatched the car keys, and said sternly to Theodore, "Listen, Theodore, from now on I'm the only one driving! Don't touch it!"

As he spoke, still not entirely at ease, he stuffed the keys, which he had been carrying in his pants pocket, into his chest pocket.

Rose Street is much less bustling during the day than at night. Without the women lining the streets, the street seems rather dull and lackluster, although most of the shops are open for business.

The arrival of the two did not attract much attention, except for the previous 'flying car' which drew curious glances from a few pedestrians.

Theodore decided to set aside his argument with Bernie about how far the car should go and headed toward the Starlight Hotel, only to be stopped at the door.

The young trainee police officer who stopped him stood inside the Starlight Hotel and nervously told Theodore to step back behind the chalk line.

Yellow warning lines were not widely used at that time; in Felton, people usually drew lines on the ground with chalk.

Theodore showed his badge, and upon seeing Bernie's badge, the young officer immediately stood up straight, saluted, and greeted him loudly, startling both of them.

Felton's badge did not display his rank, but the badges for different ranks were decorated very differently. Bernie's sergeant badge was easily recognizable.

Theodore returned the greeting politely and went upstairs.

The space on the first floor of the Starlight Hotel is particularly narrow. The already cramped space is divided in two: on the left is a bar with room keys hanging on the wall, and on the right is a staircase that goes up, less than 2 feet wide. The staircase is steep and narrow, giving people a feeling of oppression.

Upon reaching the second floor, they saw an elderly patrolman locking up the room where the incident occurred, preparing to leave. When he saw the two men coming up, he kept glancing at them.

(End of this chapter)