1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 215 The Repentant Defendant

Friday afternoon, May 19th.

after get off work.

Bernie prepared to drive to Boehring Air Force Base.

After being urgently recalled last Friday, Bernie contacted that colleague again and arranged a "free ride" for him today.

At 7:30 p.m. that evening, Bernie boarded a military C-47 transport plane bound for Texas.

Late at night, the plane landed in Dallas.

Bernie took a pre-arranged ride to Felton.

Bernie appeared at his doorstep at daybreak.

When Mrs. Sullivan opened the door, she could hardly believe her eyes.

She covered her mouth, looked Bernie up and down, and then excitedly hugged him tightly.

Bernie smiled wearily, gave Mrs. Sullivan a tight hug, then bent down to pick her up, slammed the door shut, and rushed into the bedroom.

The two were deeply in love when a loud knocking came from outside the bedroom door, accompanied by wailing cries.

Sullivan was anxiously kicking the door and shouting:

"Mommy! My little sister wet the bed! Mommy, Mommy! My little sister wet the bed!"

Bernie shuddered and froze.

The call is still coming from outside the door:
"Mommy, Mommy! Come quick! My little sister is crying! Mommy, Mommy..."

Bernie glared at Mrs. Sullivan, who was trying not to laugh, and then turned away, somewhat embarrassed and angry, and snapped at her.

There was a few seconds of silence outside the door, then Sullivan's excited voice came again:
"Daddy! Mommy! Mommy! Is that Daddy?!"

After a moment of silence, Mrs. Sullivan kissed Bernie's sweaty cheek.

Bernie rolled over onto the bed, let out a long sigh, and answered Sullivan outside the door.

As soon as Mrs. Sullivan opened the door, little Sullivan rushed in, yelling as he ran into Bernie's arms...

Sunday noon.

The Sullivan family arrived in DC.

Even after not seeing each other for half a year, Sullivan still remembered Theodore and recognized him at first glance.

He loosened the leash of the dog, yelled, and rushed toward his uncle, who had secretly lent him his service pistol to play with, grabbing his leg tightly.

Theodore patted little Sullivan on the head.

…………

Monday.

Bernie was radiant and full of energy, exuding joy from the inside out.

He was in this state all day. After getting off work, he said hello and rushed home.

Theodore, however, was kept behind by Ms. Gandy.

Director Hoover was going to take him to a banquet.

Theodore, who had attended similar banquets with Hoover many times, had accumulated a wealth of experience in dealing with such situations.

He reached out to Ms. Gandy, took the dress and changed into it, then followed Ms. Gandy to the parking lot and got into Hoover's car.

After waiting a few minutes, Hoover and Tolson came down.

Hoover spoke quietly with Tolson the whole way, smiling, and seemed to be in a good mood.

This positive feeling didn't change after seeing Theodore.

He simply stood in front of the car door, stared at Theodore for a few seconds, and then gave a soft hum.

Hoover got into the car and handed Theodore a newspaper.

This is a Washington Star newspaper.

The front page of the newspaper featured news about David Bezeron.

The news report mentioned that after three days of brewing and fermentation, various radio stations, newspapers and other media outlets have successively received more than ten complaints from parties or their families regarding cases judged by David Bezerlong during his career.

Most incredibly, one of the defendants in the case was also involved.

According to the defendant, David Bezeron's assistant contacted him after the trial, asking him to publicly express his gratitude to Bezeron. Reporters have asked the defendant why he made these revelations.

The defendant claimed that he was initially delighted by David Bezeron's favorable verdict and was very willing to cooperate with David Bezeron's publicity campaign.

But by repeatedly reciting those manuscripts every day, he gradually began to have a deeper understanding of their content.

He began to sympathize with the plaintiff and felt deeply ashamed of his actions.

His purpose in speaking out was to appeal to those defendants who had been misled by David Bezeron, hoping they could truly understand what genuine repentance is.

Repentance and making amends should not be just words, but should be put into action.

The newspaper published what is said to be the defendant's original statement:

“At first, I was very grateful to Judge Bezelon.”

“He gave me a sentence far shorter than I expected, and his assistant even prepared a splendid speech for me to recite in front of the camera—about forgiveness, rebirth, and a second chance.”

“They even promised that the more I talked, the more sentence reductions I would get, and the easier my parole process would be.”

"In order to get a reduced sentence and parole, I memorized those scripts countless times, every day, every single word."

"But strangely, the more I memorized, the more disgusted and ashamed I felt."

“Those beautiful empty words were like a layer of paint, whitewashing my crimes, but they did nothing to alleviate the suffering of the victims.”

“I gradually realized that what Judge Bezeron wanted was not my repentance, but the ‘narrative’ he wanted.”

“He needs me to play the role of someone who is influenced by his ‘humane justice’ to enhance his personal reputation, rather than actually pushing me to make amends.”

"True repentance is not about performing confessions in front of a microphone, but about silently accepting the punishment you deserve and repaying your debts through your actions."

"I'm standing up now to scrape off this layer of paint."

“I urge everyone who has been ‘arranged’ by Judge Bezelon to stand up with me!”

"We must reject this hypocritical performance. True justice doesn't need a director; it needs the courage to take responsibility for our actions!"

After reading it, Theodore turned to look at Hoover.

Hoover stared at him for a few seconds, then snorted.

Thorson told Theodore that David Bezeron's associates had been taken into custody by the FBI for investigation on suspicion of obstruction of justice, bribery, perjury, and mail fraud.

Theodore glanced at him, then continued to stare at Hoover.

He unfolded the newspaper, pointed to the last paragraph of "the defendant's words," and asked Hoover:

"Who wrote this?"

Hoover looked at Theodore with some surprise.

He didn't answer, but pointed to the newspaper:

"Isn't it written there?"

Theodore shook his head and said firmly:
"This wasn't written by the defendant named Daniel."

Hoover became interested and asked him why.

Theodore organized his thoughts and pointed to the word "narrative":
"This is not a word a criminal would use."

"It should be changed to 'story,' 'line,' or 'show.'"

"This is a highly theoretical term that belongs to the fields of political propaganda, literary criticism, and academia."

He then pointed to the passage using the metaphor of oil paint:

"This should be changed to 'Those sweet words made me feel like I wasn't so bad, but it was all useless; the victim was still just as miserable.'"

Thorsen couldn't help but ask him:

"why?"

Theodore paused for a moment, then offered an explanation:
"This statement sounds more like a bystander's summary than the personal feelings of the person involved."

He then pointed out a whole host of problems, and finally concluded that the person who wrote this passage simply did not understand criminals, did not know how criminals would speak, or what they were thinking.

A real criminal could tell at a glance that something like this is fake.

Hoover and Tolson looked at each other in bewilderment.

(End of this chapter)