1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 222 We need river experts!
At 8 p.m., Theodore was organizing his notes in his apartment when the technician called.

The technician's voice was weary:

"The caller ID number has been found: FE 3-4567."

Theodore thought for a moment and asked the technician:
"Public telephone?"

This doesn't sound like a normal private phone number; only public phone numbers have this structure.

The technician paused for a moment, then gave an affirmative answer:

"Yes, it's a public phone number, and it's right next to the National Mall."

He read it aloud from the text:

"At 8:43 a.m. on Saturday, May 20, the call was made and lasted less than three minutes. The call was disconnected at 8:46 a.m."

After confirming that Theodore had received the message, the technician quickly ended the call.

And it's as if Theodore is some kind of plague that can spread remotely.
Theodore picked up the receiver with a puzzled look, hung up the phone, returned to his desk, and continued organizing his notes.

Over this period of time, he finally finished reading all the psychology journals he could subscribe to, and gained a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the current cutting-edge developments in psychology.

Next, he plans to organize his thoughts, then choose a direction and publish some theoretical research results.

The following morning, in an office on the basement floor of the Department of Justice building.

Theodore conducted a brief analysis of the clues he had gathered.

Billy Hawke found a map and hung it on the whiteboard.

Theodore circled the area around Cape Haynes Park and Cape Greenleaf with his pen:

"According to statements from the Maryland State Police, the Virginia State Police, and the DC 7th Precinct, the body was found here."

He then drew a broken line across the Potomac River on the map, which eventually connected to the south of Jones Point Park.

"This is the drifting trajectory of the body on the water."

A brief silence fell over the office as the three men stared at the map, frowning deeply.

Theodore tapped the map, breaking the silence:
“We need a river expert to help determine the origin of the body.”

Bernie and Billy Hawke nodded in unison.

Theodore skips the dispute between the three law enforcement agencies and fast-forwards to the person who called the police:
"The caller made the emergency call at 8:43 a.m. and claimed that he saw the body an hour earlier."

"That is to say, he saw the body at 7:43."

Billy Hawke raised the question:

Why didn't he call the police when he saw the body?

Theodore guessed that the person who called the police might not have been able to make a phone call at the time.

Bernie, however, suggested another possibility:
"He might be on the ship."

Theodore and Billy Hawke looked at him, puzzled.

Bernie went to the map and drew a route on the river with a pen:
"There are sightseeing boat services on the Potomac River."

"The passenger ship departs at 7:00 a.m., with one ship departing every hour, traveling between Georgetown Pier and Alexander Pier in Old Town, passing Theodore Roosevelt Island, Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Memorial Bridge, Washington Monument, National Mall, Pentagon and Washington National Airport."

He paused for a moment, then gave his assessment:
"The scenery along the way is beautiful."

Billy Hawke asked Bernie curiously:

"How did you know?"

Bernie shrugged:
“This is a sightseeing route; I’ve taken Carl (Bernie’s eldest son) on it.”

Theodore asked him:
How long does a one-way flight take?

Bernie thought about it, unsure:

"About an hour."

Theodore then asked:
Does the sightseeing boat stop at the pier midway?

Bernie shook his head:
"No."

He drew lines on the map with a pen, starting from the Alexandria Quay in the Old Town, along the road all the way to the National Mall:

"The caller who called last night, which AT&T helped locate, was from a public phone booth, which is right next to the National Mall."

"If the person who reported the incident saw the body while traveling on a sightseeing boat from Georgetown Pier and passing by here."

He used his pen to mark the circle that Theodore had drawn representing the corpse:
"The person who reported the incident disembarked at the Alexandria dock and took a car to the National Square."

"Use a public phone booth on the National Mall to call the police."

“Although the road is not far, the caller made the call during a time of heavy traffic, so it is reasonable for it to take 30 or 40 minutes.”

Billy Hawke objected:

Why didn't he call the police at the Alexandria dock?

Bernie offered an explanation:

"The public telephones at the Alexandria docks were broken; they didn't even have receivers."

He also presented another piece of supporting evidence:
"The caller dialed the central emergency call center at the DC Police Department headquarters, which is different from the reporting habits of DC residents."

“Residents of DC are used to calling the local branch office directly.”

"This suggests that the person who called the police may be a tourist, or at least unfamiliar with DC."

Bernie was inspired to this conclusion by his wife.

Theodore glanced at Bernie with surprise and added to his point:
"Or someone familiar with how the DC Police Department's emergency call system works."

Bernie realized what was happening and asked Theodore for confirmation:
"If the person who called the police is familiar with how the emergency call system works, they would know that calling the local police station about finding a body would be transferred to headquarters, so why did they call headquarters directly?"

Billy Hawke offered a different opinion:

"But if the person who called the police is a police officer, shouldn't they cooperate with the investigation? How could they just leave without saying a word after making the call?"

Theodore, recalling the technician who had called last night, looked at Billy Hawke:

"People who are familiar with how emergency calls work are not necessarily police officers; telephone company technicians may be more familiar with how they work than operators."

"The person who called the police confirmed with the operator before describing the condition of the body, and their description was not professional."

"He hung up the phone immediately after finishing his statement."

"The person who called the police should just be an ordinary tourist or someone from out of town."

“He was very busy and probably in a hurry, but he still chose to call the police after seeing the body.”

After a pause, Theodore looked at the two of them:
"I think we should go and check out the sightseeing cruise company first."

"Find the person who reported the crime, or other witnesses, to find out where the body went, and then find river experts to locate the original crime scene."

Bernie and Billy Hawke nodded in agreement.

Bernie made a phone call home and asked Mrs. Sullivan to find the stub of the sightseeing boat ticket and obtain the operator of the sightseeing route.

The operator is called the Potomac River Sightseeing Cruise Company.

The three drove to Georgetown Pier, stopping by the Third Precinct along the way to check on the autopsy progress.

Detective Thomas was not present; according to his colleagues, he was investigating a theft case in which stolen goods surfaced on the black market last week.

Theodore and his group went directly to the forensic lab, where they met the professor from Howard University's medical school in what was described as a luxurious lab.

When they arrived, the professor had just come out of the anatomy lab and was taking off his mask and gloves and throwing them into the trash can.

He remembered Theodore and Bernie and greeted them.

Before Bernie could speak, the professor turned and pointed to the autopsy room, then walked toward his office: "The body you brought is in there. We should have the autopsy report this afternoon or tomorrow morning."

He paused for a moment, then changed his words:
"Tomorrow morning, I have a class to teach this afternoon."

Inside the autopsy room, several young forensic doctors were gathered around the autopsy table, frantically handling the corpse on it. One of them was holding a camera and taking pictures of the body.

Click, click, click...

The camera never stopped rolling, and the film seemed to be free.

This is quite different from the frugal style of the Fourth Precinct.

The professor waved his hand at the group:

"Come pick up the autopsy report tomorrow morning."

After leaving the third precinct, the three men headed to Georgetown Pier.

Georgetown Pier is quite far from Theodore's apartment, and Theodore and Bernie had never been there before.

The dock was bustling, and the river was filled with all kinds of boats.

These boats are not large. The largest one is a sightseeing boat, which is only about 65 feet (about 20 meters) high. Among all the wooden boats, and even rowboats, it is already a huge behemoth standing out like a crane among chickens.

There were many tourists on the deck of the boat, and the boat was painted with the logo of the Potomac River sightseeing boat company. The paint on the logo was very new and bright, so it must have been painted recently.

Theodore and his group pushed through the crowd, causing a commotion. Some people opened their mouths to curse, but after seeing Billy Hawke's physique and the identification in his hand, they chose to shut up.

The group arrived at the ticket booth for the sightseeing route.

This is a small wooden cabin, the planks of which have turned black and give off a rotten smell.

The ticket booth window was open, with a handwritten ticket price sign and flight schedule hanging above it, and a simple sign next to it that read "Potomac River Sightseeing Tours".

Inside, two young ticket sellers in red and white uniforms were busy.

The ticket seller handed the tickets to the family of six in front of them, wearing a standardized professional smile, and said in a warm but mechanical tone:

Welcome to the Potomac River cruise!

"The boat to the Old City of Alexandria departs in fifteen minutes. There's just enough time to buy your ticket now!"

"Adults get it for just $2, and kids get it for half price. You can see all the landmarks in the capital for a pittance. There's no better deal than this!"

In response, he received an FBI agent's badge.

Billy Hawke retrieved his identification and inquired about the company's location from the ticket seller.

The ticket seller hesitated for a moment, then poked his head out and pointed to a three-story building next to the pier.

The exterior of the building was painted in red and white, and the logo of the Potomac River sightseeing cruise company was painted on the side.

The three entered the small building, showed their identification, and were quickly led to a middle-aged man with a protruding belly.

The middle-aged man was very cooperative. After seeing Bernie's identification, he immediately had someone find the passenger record and ticket stub from May 20th.

Unfortunately, apart from advance bookings and group purchases, individual travelers are not required to register their information; the company only records the number of people.

The Potomac River sightseeing boat company's earliest boat departs at 7:00 AM and the latest at 5:00 PM, with one boat per hour, for a total of 10 boats per day.

May is peak tourist season, and since it was a Saturday, the cruise company had a very high volume of passengers, receiving a total of 897 people throughout the day.

Theodore flipped through the passenger record statistics table and asked the middle-aged man:

What is the passenger capacity of your cruise ships?

The middle-aged person replied:
"Around one hundred people."

Theodore looked at him and asked again:

Are all the cruise ships designed to carry one hundred passengers?

The middle-aged man nodded affirmatively.

Theodore repeatedly confirmed with him:
"The early morning ferry on May 20th also carries 100 passengers?"

The middle-aged man looked down at the unfolded passenger record statistics sheet, and his face froze.

Theodore nodded, took the statistics sheet, and opened it:

"It says here that there were 74 passengers on the early morning ferry on May 20."

"Based on a passenger capacity of 100 people, the occupancy rate of the early morning ferry reaches 70%!"

He asked the middle-aged man:
"Were these 74 passengers a group booking?"

The middle-aged man shook his head and answered with difficulty:
"No, they were all individual travelers."

"I bought the ticket at the ticket booth at the pier."

Group bookings and phone reservations both leave passenger information and create records.

He couldn't possibly produce such a record.

The middle-aged man swallowed hard and forced a smile:
"That day was a Saturday, and it was May, the weather was warming up, it was a great time for tourism, and there were a lot of tourists."

He took the statistics sheet, eagerly turned to the page for the early morning ferries, and pointed to the statistics for other flights that day for Theodore to see:

"look."

"At its peak, there were 110 passengers on board!"

"It's not unusual for 74 people to be on an early morning ferry; it's quite common."

Theodore remained silent, simply watching him quietly.

A brief silence fell over the office.

Bernie broke the silence:
"We just want to know who was on the early morning ferry that day; we have no interest in the extra 'passengers'."

The middle-aged man remained silent.

Bernie paused, then said:

"Or should we go back first, apply for a search warrant from the court, and then come back with people from the IRS, the Coast Guard (USCG), and the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)?"

The Potomac River Cruises operates across state lines, and to prevent monopolies and unfair pricing, the Interstate Commerce Commission will oversee the reasonableness of its fare rates and operating schedules.

The Coast Guard is responsible for ensuring that the structure and safety equipment of ships meet federal standards, for certifying and assessing key crew members such as captains and engineers, and for developing navigation rules.

Both of these are directly managed by the Potomac River sightseeing cruise company.

The middle-aged man shook his head repeatedly and asked Bernie in a dry voice:

How do you expect me to cooperate?

Bernie looked at Theodore.

Theodore asked him:
Where are the crew members of the early morning ferry on May 20th?

The middle-aged man was silent for a few seconds, glanced at Bernie, and then called his assistant to fetch today's work schedule.

There are usually six employees on a cruise ship operated by a cruise company.

One captain, one engineer/engineer, one deckhand/ticket collector, and three service personnel.

The crew works in three shifts, while service personnel work on board the ship.

The assistant quickly retrieved the work schedule.

The crew of the early morning ship on May 20 had just left port, while the three service personnel should have just arrived in the old city of Alexandria.

The middle-aged man wiped the sweat from his brow and tentatively asked Bernie if they should wait for them to return.

(End of this chapter)