1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 268 New Case

Bernie and Billy Hawke secretly observed Agent Bourne during the next few days of training.

Nothing unusual was found.

Bernie also contacted Ronald Scott to inquire about the situation.

Ronald confirmed that the tricks and schemes mentioned at the dinner table that day regarding the bowling league were indeed true.

But when asked about Agent Bourne, Ronald was unable to give a clear answer.

He simply told Bernie that there was a reason why some relatively weaker bowling divisions in recent years preferred to finish at the bottom rather than recruit members from outside.

Bernie took this as a reminder.

On Wednesday, Martin Joseph Cronin was led by Deputy Director Thorson to the basement office and officially joined the team.

However, he is not yet able to join the team for field missions.

He failed several field assessment items, including shooting, combat, and sprinting.

Bernie volunteered to train Martin Joseph Cronin, hoping to help him pass the test as soon as possible.

He thought training Martin Joseph Cronin would be as easy as training Theodore.

Unfortunately, Martin Joseph Cronin would start panting heavily after running less than a mile (about 1.6 kilometers), and he was even more prone to missing the target during shooting training.

This gave Bernie a huge headache.

The next day was another match day.

There were no games scheduled for the basement level teams today, which allowed Theodore and his teammates to sit in the stands and watch the game properly.

They chose the competition from the Criminal Investigation Department.

Martin Joseph Cronin somehow learned that their next opponent would likely be the Criminal Investigation Department.

The Criminal Investigation Department's adversary is the laboratory.

There were many people watching the game, and the rest area behind the fairway was packed with people.

In addition to the family members of the players on the field, there were also many detectives.

The agents refused to sit down and all stood huddled together, craning their necks to look out onto the fairway.

They were basically all there to cheer on the Criminal Investigation Department.

Whenever a member of the Criminal Investigation Department makes a good shot, it elicits a great response.

The tall detective played exceptionally well, making two perfect shots and numerous putbacks throughout the game.

The other team members also performed exceptionally well.

This kept Martin Joseph Cronin very busy.

He held a notebook in one hand and wrote furiously with the other, being jostled about by the crowd.

Unfortunately, the people in the lab performed consistently, either hitting all the targets or getting extra hits. After several rounds, they silenced the cheerleaders behind them.

The competition ended quickly, with the laboratory winning easily.

The detectives were filled with regret and sighed deeply.

This was the first time Theodore and his team had watched a competition in the lab.

I had only heard about how powerful they were before, and now that I see for myself, they really are formidable.

Billy Hawke quietly told the others that the lab's results were comparable to those of several professional bowling teams he had watched, and he even wondered if he was watching a professional competition.

This game left Billy Hawke and Bernie worried, fearing they wouldn't be able to beat the Labs.

Theodore reminded them that they should think about the next game before considering whether they could beat the lab.

The fact that the Criminal Investigation Department lost to the Laboratory doesn't mean they weren't strong.

In fact, it's quite the opposite.

They showed much stronger performance in the match than they had in training.

Based on their current performance, it would be difficult for them to defeat the Criminal Investigation Department.

Three days later, in the afternoon, the FBI Entertainment Association released this week's schedule.

As expected, the team on the basement floor was facing off against the Criminal Investigation Department.

The team on the basement level had a tough time in this game, and the result was rather disastrous.

It was even worse than the field assessment Martin Joseph Cronin had taken the day before.

The Criminal Investigation Department beat them up just like the lab beat them up last week – an easy victory.

The day after the game ended, Theodore began receiving packages from all over the country.

These packages had already been opened and inspected before being delivered.

The packages were all very thin; some felt so thin that you wondered if they were empty inside.

Theodore unpacked the packages one by one, gathered the case briefings inside, and quickly glanced through them.

The case briefings were almost all handwritten and mostly very brief, with spelling errors being common.

After briefly registering the cases, Theodore handed them over to Martin Joseph Cronin.

After waiting a few more days, Theodore received more than a dozen cases.

This is a very large number.

Given the frustratingly slow pace of the Federal Postal Service, there are likely many more cases on the way.

Furthermore, considering that police departments in most remote towns may not even subscribe to the Law Enforcement Gazette, or even know what the Law Enforcement Gazette is...

After speaking with Martin Joseph Cronin, Theodore held a brief briefing on the case.

Martin Joseph Cronin has been in poor mental condition lately.

He took the fieldwork assessment twice in a row, but failed both times.

After Bernie found out about his shooting score from the agent in charge of the assessment, he even secretly approached Theodore to ask if Martin Joseph Cronin could be prevented from going on field missions.

He was genuinely worried that in case of an emergency, they would have to be wary not only of the enemy but also of their own allies.

Martin Joseph Cronin pulled over the whiteboard, wrote down a series of case numbers, selected one from the file folder on the table, handed it to Theodore, and then opened his notebook to prepare a case briefing.

It had only arrived two days ago. Theodore remembered the contents, glanced at it to confirm it was correct, and then handed the documents to Bernie and Billy Hawke.

This is a case from Harper County, Kansas, that occurred 18 years ago.

John Miller, a 55-year-old rancher, was found dead in his ranch barn.

The deceased had blunt force trauma to the head, and there were signs of struggle inside the warehouse, but no valuables were missing.

After the incident, the local police investigated the deceased's neighbors and employees, but no results were found.

It was the busy farming season, and the hired laborers were working in the fields, while most of the neighbors were harvesting their crops.

Everyone has an alibi, but the alibi is not very certain.

People were busy harvesting crops, their attention was entirely focused on farm work, and they didn't have much time to pay attention to others.

This case once caused quite a stir, giving rise to various strange legends in the local area.

However, as time went on, the investigation made no progress and was eventually shelved, remaining shelved for 18 years.

Harper County is a remote town with an agricultural population of about 2000.

The Harper County Sheriff's Department has only a few people, and the most serious cases they handle are fights and brawls; murder is beyond their scope.

At the beginning of the month, when the police chief went to the city police department, he happened to see Theodore's article published in the Law Enforcement Gazette. After returning home, he wrote a brief report, put it in an envelope, and sent it over.

Martin Joseph Cronin believes the case meets the screening criteria set by Theodore.

After listening, Bernie pointed to the document and asked:
"Aside from what's written here, are there any other clues?"

Martin Joseph Cronin shook his head.

Bernie was somewhat incredulous:

"There aren't even any photos from the scene?"

Martin Joseph Cronin looked at him, his gaze gradually filling with affection: "No."

Bernie pressed further:

"What about your statement?"

"You gave statements to the neighbors and employees at the time, right?"

Martin Joseph Cronin shook his head:
"No."

He pointed to the file folder in Bernie's hand:
"These two pages in your hand are all that the Harper County Sheriff's Department sent."

Bernie wasn't giving up and asked him:
"Have you contacted them to confirm that this is the whole story of the case?"

Martin Joseph Cronin stared at Bernie for a moment, then sighed:
"Theodore clearly states at the end of the article what documents need to be included with mailed cases."

He emphasized:
"They only gave us these two pages, and wrote the address and phone number on the back of the second page."

"There isn't even a map."

Bernie flipped the file over and sure enough, he saw a string of numbers.

He shook his head and picked up the phone next to him:
"Maybe they forgot to send it."

He dialed the number above and quickly contacted the Harper County Sheriff's Office.

The Harper County Sheriff was surprised to actually receive a response from the FBI.

Bernie asked him about the other leads they had, and the result was the same as what Martin Joseph Cronin had obtained.

They not only had no photos or statements, but they didn't even have a list of suspects.

The detective who initially took charge of the case has been dead for nine years.

The case briefings sent to the FBI were even passed down orally from the detective who was in charge of the case back then.

Bernie looked at Theodore.

Theodore took the briefing and studied it repeatedly, trying to glean some clues from between the lines.

However, aside from formatting and polite remarks, the core content related to the case consisted of only a dozen or so lines on the two pages.

Finally, Theodore put down the documents and shook his head at Bernie.

Bernie spoke with the sheriff, saying that there were too few leads and he was powerless to help.

The sheriff had no regrets and accepted the result with pleasure.

The call was made decisively, and the office fell into a brief silence.

Martin Joseph Cronin picked up a pen and crossed out the case, then wrote a second number on the whiteboard.

The second case comes from Laramie County, Wyoming.

Seven years ago, a 28-year-old primary school teacher in the area mysteriously disappeared.

His car was found parked near the school, and everything inside was intact.

Local police and community organizations conducted several searches, but the complex mountainous terrain made no progress.

Police suspect she may have left voluntarily, but her family insists she was kidnapped.

His wife, three children, parents and siblings... all his relatives are locals.

Where can he go?
Due to the lack of professional search and tracking resources at the local police department, and the lack of new leads for a long time, the missing person was never found alive or dead, and the case was classified as a cold case in 1956.

The missing person's family somehow learned about the article in the "Law Enforcement Gazette," and at their repeated requests, the county police department sent the case to them.

The situation in this case is much better than the case in Kansas.

The local police station sent a map with the letter, which showed the routes taken during the previous searches.

But that's it.

Theodore did not believe that criminal profiling would be of any help in the case.

Bernie contacted the Tyreme County Sheriff's Department as usual to inquire if there were any further leads.

The police department's response was the same as that of the Harper County Sheriff's Department.

We sent them everything we could.

Martin Joseph Cronin crossed out the case and wrote the third number.

The third case comes from WQ County, Arkansas.

In August 1957, a local convenience store was robbed.

The shop owner was knocked unconscious, and the cash register was emptied. A passing driver discovered the unconscious shop owner and called the police.

The police investigated local individuals with prior criminal records, but found nothing.

The case was therefore shelved.

Theodore listened to the beginning and then shook his head at Martin Joseph Cronin.

Martin Joseph Cronin paused, then began to introduce the fourth case.

This is a warehouse fire case.

The incident occurred in Adams County, Mississippi, in October 1956.

The county's economy is mainly based on cotton cultivation, and it has a small population of just over 1600.

The fire department confirmed the presence of accelerants at the scene and determined it to be arson.

After the police investigation yielded no results, the case has been shelved until now.

The Adams County Sheriff's Department went to great lengths to cram in all the case-related documents as Theodore requested.

Unfortunately, they didn't have much to begin with.

This is one of the few cases where photos of the scene were sent.

The group became interested in the case and discussed it enthusiastically for a while. However, based on three photos of the ruins after the fire, several testimonies from people who had grudges against the warehouse owner, and a brief case report, they felt that they were only scratching the surface.

Billy Hawke asked Theodore for his opinion.

Before Theodore could speak, Martin Joseph Cronin looked at him with affection again.

Martin Joseph Cronin has been looking at him and Bernie with similar eyes lately, and they've gotten used to it.

"We traveled all this way just for a warehouse fire case?"

Billy Hawke met his gaze:

"If it's not worth it, why pick it out in the first place?"

Martin Joseph Cronin's eyes were practically overflowing with affection:

"This case meets Theodore's requirements."

He showed Billy Hawke the screening criteria that Theodore had provided.

Billy Hawke looked at Martin Joseph Cronin with the same gaze:

“We don’t need to go; we can still offer them advice.”

Martin Joseph Cronin withdrew his caring gaze, concluding that Billy Hawke was beyond redemption.

He shook his head, and out of consideration for their being on the same team and as colleagues, gave Billy Hawke one last reminder:
"They don't even know what an accelerant is."

Billy Hawke proudly recounted the classification of arsonists to Martin Joseph Cronincopciodor.

Martin Joseph Cronin was skeptical.

Bernie wasn't as optimistic as Billy Hawke; he looked at Theodore.

Theodore pushed the file to Bernie, asking him and Billy Hawke to try to profile the killer.

Because the police department had so few leads, Theodore did not require their profiles to be as detailed as in previous investigations; he only needed to provide a general direction for the investigation.

Bernie tidied up the documents, put them in a file bag, and handed them to Billy Hawke.

Martin Joseph Cronin picked up a slightly thicker file folder and handed it over, writing down the fifth string of numbers:
"This case comes from Virginia..."

(End of this chapter)