1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 13 Another death caused by a high-risk profession
Bernie showed his badge, and although the veteran patrolman was puzzled as to why the homicide unit was interested in a prostitute's case, he still dutifully explained the situation.

"The body was discovered by the owner of Starlight," the old patrolman said slowly, taking the cigarette Bernie offered him and lighting it.

He pointed to the cleaned bed and said, "When we arrived, the owner had already put Candy on the bed and covered her with a blanket. She looked like she was asleep."

Bernie frowned and asked, "Were you here first? Where's the pimp?"

The old patrolman shook his head. "Candy does it all herself." He looked around. "Several pimps on this street have been trying to recruit her, but Candy has refused. She says this is money she earned with her body, and no one can take a single cent."

The veteran police officer was clearly familiar with Candy, remarking, "Candy has been working on this street for years. She's quite famous in her circle; many prostitutes know her."

Theodore interrupted the old patrolman's reminiscence and asked, "Isn't she afraid of danger? Hasn't she ever encountered danger before?"

An awkward expression flashed across the old patrolman's face, but he quickly replied, "Of course there is. She's encountered this several times. Some people see that she's alone and don't want to pay, while others try to rob her."

"If she had found a daddy, she wouldn't have died like this."

Theodore nodded, unsure whether his hypothesis was acceptable or not. He had no further questions for the time being and began to walk around the room observing.

The room had clearly been cleaned; the sheets, blankets, and pillows had all been replaced, and the floor was spotless. There were no valuable clues left behind.

After circling around several times, Theodore finally fixed his gaze on the wooden trim around the headboard.

That was the only place in the room that could have caused Tangtang's head injury; the only other possibility is that the killer had a weapon.

The fact that the self-supplied weapon and the wooden edging cladding caused two completely different directions of investigation, leading to two completely different results.

Theodore crouched down in front of the bag and examined it closely. He found two hairs on its edge and what appeared to be bloodstains hidden in the wood grain.

The lighting was insufficient, and the light had been wiped clean, making it difficult to see clearly.

Theodore asked the old patrolman, "Do you have a flashlight?"

The veteran patrolman called his partner downstairs to bring up a gun. Theodore used it for illumination and saw that it was indeed bloodstains.

With his flashlight off, Theodore walked slowly, stopping every now and then to look around and begin to simulate the scene in his mind.

Bernie and the old patrolman stopped talking and looked over. Bernie's expression was serious. He quietly pulled the old patrolman outside the door, and, facing the old patrolman's questioning gaze, lowered his voice and said...
"He can communicate with ghosts."

He pointed to Theodore, who was standing by the bed gesturing with his hands, and said, "See? He's talking to Candy right now. Do you want to talk to her?"

The veteran patrolman was filled with respect, a mixture of admiration and trepidation, and ultimately shook his head in silence.

Bernie saw this and put his hand on his shoulder to encourage him.

Theodore had no idea that Bernie was spreading rumors like a missionary. He paced back and forth a few times, then shook his head and left the room.

Bernie looked at him questioningly, and Theodore silently shook his head. He then asked the old patrolman, "Is the trash still in this room?"

The veteran patrolman thought Theodore's communication with Candy had failed and was somewhat disappointed, but he also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "They're gone. The rooms here are cleaned up every morning before seven o'clock, and then the Italians collect them together and sell them to the oil company."

"Where are Candy's belongings? She should have a bag for her cosmetics, where is it?"

The veteran patrolman said, "The murderer must have stolen it."

Theodore finally asked the old patrolman, "Didn't the hotel owner see the killer's face clearly?"

The veteran police officer shook his head and explained, "Candy and her group have a partnership with Starlight. They use Starlight's rooms, and guests need to pay an extra room fee to use them."

He pointed downstairs and said, "The keys are all hanging on the wall. They can take them themselves. The boss won't be watching them all the time. When Candy came yesterday, the boss was sleeping."

The last lead was lost. Theodore said goodbye to Bernie, the old patrolman, and returned to the police station.

Bernie was driving, and he insisted that Theodore not touch the steering wheel. Seeing that Theodore remained silent, he comforted him...
"You've only just arrived, and you've already solved two cases in a row. You might have the mindset that you have to solve every case you encounter. But as time goes on, you'll understand that some cases are destined to remain unsolved."

"For example, a prostitute being murdered."

He asked Theodore, "Do you know how many prostitutes are killed in Felton every year?"

Theodore looked at him.

“At least thirty.” He held up three fingers. “Every year we receive at least thirty bodies of prostitutes. Some died of illness, and others died from all sorts of strange causes.”

“There are cases every year, and you simply can’t keep track of them all. The bureau won’t allow its manpower to be wasted on them.”

Theodore shook his head and said, "This case could have been easy. But no one paid attention to protecting the crime scene. When we arrived, it had even been cleaned up."

Theodore said, "If crime scenes can be protected immediately in the future, and everyone entering and leaving the scene wears shoe covers and gloves and doesn't touch things indiscriminately, perhaps solving many cases will become much easier."

Bernie looked at Theodore, wondering if this was the price Theodore paid for communicating with the ghost.

He thought to himself that there is indeed no gain without a price in this world. Theodore possessed the talent to communicate with ghosts, which often made him somewhat mentally unstable. Did he really think there were many people in the world who could communicate with ghosts?
He secretly resolved that once Theodore went completely insane, he would visit him more often and not let him be locked up alone in the sanatorium.

Back at the police station, Theodore went to the medical examiner's office again, but the autopsy report Samuel gave him contained no new information, so he could only lock the case away in a cabinet.

This case solidified Theodore's determination to return to DC.

Instead of going back to admit defeat, joining the army, and running around pulling things, we should go back and use our connections to promote technological development, make people value technology, and at the very least, prevent people from cleaning up the crime scene after the police arrive.

In this case, Theodore's analysis of the crime scene yielded zero results.

Crime scene analysis is one of three ways to understand the personality of a criminal; the other two are to analyze the victim and the perpetrator.

Crime scene analysis mainly involves clarifying three questions: what, why, and who.

Theodore now has no idea what happened, why it happened, or who did it.

Just because the scene had been cleaned up!
It's also highly likely that the murderer didn't clean it!

Theodore asked Bernie about the path to promotion to sergeant and tried to find out if there was any way to get promoted within seven months.

Bernie and several detectives who had been engrossed in their work turned to look at him.

Bernie took a deep breath and nodded. "Of course you can. You can fall asleep now, or I can knock you out with one punch. You can dream about anything, even becoming president."

One of the detectives pointed at Bernie and said, "He only took six years to become a sergeant, that's the fastest I've ever seen. Keep it up."

………………

Felton seemed to have settled into a period of calm, with no new cases emerging.

Theodore is still receiving Bernie's training, and he's exhausted every day, but after feeling a significant improvement, the exhaustion doesn't seem so bad anymore.

On Friday afternoon, just as Bernie was inviting him to his home for the weekend, a police officer came in and placed a document on the table by the door.

“A prostitute has died; please collect her body.”

(End of this chapter)