1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 3 Didn't she tell you the murderer's name?
Bernie and Theodore didn't leave; they arrested Brian on charges of abuse.

Brian yelled at them not to step into his house and to let them go.

The commotion was quite loud, attracting many onlookers. Soon, someone recognized Bernie, and then rumors of Brian killing his wife spread. People started pointing and whispering about Brian's house—all of this happened so quickly that Theodore and Bernie hadn't even driven out of the neighborhood yet.

Brian kept cursing the whole way, which infuriated Bernie. He turned around and threatened him menacingly, "Shut up! If I hear you utter another word before I tell you to, I'll send you to jail!"

Police officers have the power of temporary detention, which allows them to detain people unconditionally for 24 hours. This type of detention is usually carried out in the police station's detention room, but sometimes the detention room is overcrowded, and people are sent to prison for temporary detention.

Prisons typically designate a section of the prison area specifically for temporary detention by the police. However, occasionally, prison guards make mistakes and send temporarily detained suspects to the regular prison area, or even the area for serious offenders.

Brian immediately shut up.

Upon arriving at the police station, Brian's second arrest drew the attention of some team members. Bernie grabbed someone and had Brian taken to the interrogation room, then excitedly dragged Theodore into Wenner's office.

"Boss!" Bernie rattled off the whole story like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, pointing towards the interrogation room and saying, "He's right there! That bitch who's begged us countless times, with crocodile tears streaming down her face, to catch the murderer who killed her wife!"

Bernie's account was almost identical to the facts, and he did not try to take credit for anything.

Wenner's gaze swept over the two of them twice, and he said with a smile, "This is the best news I've heard this week. Since you two are working together, you two will be jointly responsible for this case, how about that?"

Bernie quickly refused, feeling he hadn't been of much help and that doing so would be stealing Theodore's credit. Theodore, however, didn't seem to mind.

“Alright, go and interrogate that bitch!” Wenner spoke up, interrupting the two of them. He pointed at Theodore, his eyes filled with a smile, “Looks like what you said is going to come true.”

Emerging from the office, Bernie excitedly whispered, "We can't just go in like this. We need to be fully prepared. We might only have one chance! We absolutely can't waste it. Theodore, bring the boxes over; let's see which ones we can use."

Theodore looked at the excited Bernie, but he wasn't as optimistic as Bernie.

The fact that no signs of domestic violence were found on the deceased's body (such as repeatedly healed and broken fractures) indicates that she acted as a mediator very well, successfully calming Brian down and keeping him at the level of verbal abuse, preventing it from escalating to physical violence. Although today's conflict shows a tendency towards physical violence, it has ultimately not yet reached the point of resorting to physical violence.

However, physically assaulting someone is still a far cry from murder or hiring someone to commit murder.

In this era, people consider domestic violence a private matter between spouses, a minor issue, and haven't yet conducted professional research on it. Theodore, however, is well aware of every evolutionary step of domestic abusers.

Brian's actions were all aimed at maintaining his absolute power over his children and emphasizing his absolute control over the situation. Therefore, his chasing people, resisting arrest, and incessant cursing had nothing to do with murder.

Things unfolded exactly as Theodore had predicted.

After four hours of searching, their only finding out was where Anna was when the incident occurred—she was locked in the basement.

It was already 10 p.m., but the homicide investigation office was still brightly lit and filled with smoke.

Bernie wasn't doing well. He had several blisters in his mouth, which made him hiss in pain. He unbuttoned his collar, panting heavily, and stared at Brian across from him with bloodshot eyes.

Brian was terrified. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his face was pale, and his lips trembled uncontrollably. He suspected that if it weren't for the young policeman, this bear-like cop would have eaten him alive.

Bernie, in a final burst of sanity, ended the interrogation, ordered Brian to be detained on charges of abuse, and then left the police station.

The feeling of almost catching it only to have it slip away tormented Bernie, driving him to the brink of madness.

Theodore watched Bernie leave, his feelings a mix of emotions.

You can't say Bernie was irresponsible; his excitement when discovering new details was genuine. But with such a huge secret, he investigated for a month and found nothing. Theodore realized that Bernie genuinely wanted to solve the case, but also genuinely didn't want to use his brain.

And like Bernie, there are more than a dozen homicide squads, thousands more in the Felton Police Department, throughout the state, and around the world.

If you don't value technology, are unwilling to use your brain, and don't summarize your experience, but just blindly work hard without sparing any manpower, the results will be far from being twice the effort for half the result; even if you do 10 times the effort for 1/10 of the result, it will still be good.

Whatever his motivation, he had to achieve something as soon as possible and build himself into a golden brand. Even if it was just to promote his technology and force a tiny bit of it into those muscle-bound brains, it would be good.

Theodore had a lot of wild thoughts, and went to bed quickly after getting home.

The following day, Bernie and Theodore had a disagreement. Bernie wanted to continue stalling with Brian, but Theodore insisted on going to the crime scene.

Bernie stubbornly believes that Brian is the murderer and that he hired someone to kill his wife, but Theodore believes that the murderer is someone else and that Brian is just a scumbag.

Theodore pointed to Brian in the interrogation room and said to Bernie, "Brian was spoiled as a child and got whatever he wanted. As he grew older and had more contact with the outside world, he realized that he couldn't completely control everything. This made him psychologically unbalanced. He could only find balance from his family." "The more control he lost outside, the more he would demand from his family."

“To maintain this control, he must always maintain absolute authority in front of his family. But when he is away from his family, he becomes taciturn, timid, and highly obedient. Therefore, he resisted when we took him away yesterday. But he was very cooperative in the interrogation room.”

"So, even if you argue with him for another hundred hours, nothing will change. He's telling the truth. If you want him to admit to hiring someone to kill, just tell him that if he doesn't admit it, he'll be sent to the hardened criminal ward."

What Theodore was actually referring to was his profile of Brian, and he concluded by suggesting a way to verify it: "You can go in and ask him a question."

Did any important relatives pass away during your childhood?

Bernie hesitated as he entered the interrogation room, and a moment later came out with a strange expression. Without saying a word, he picked up his keys and went to drive.

Upon arriving at the scene, Theodore got out of the car with the photo in his hand, walked slowly around the lawn, stopping occasionally to mutter to himself, tossing the photo aside, and finally standing motionless where the deceased had been lying.

Just as Bernie was about to go over and call him, Theodore started moving. He began walking towards the center of the lawn from all directions, gesturing wildly as he went, looking like a madman.

Finally, he approached Bernie and said, unable to contain his excitement, "She fought with the killer."

Bernie looked on expectantly.

Theodore continued, "The killer should be a woman who lives in this community, white, and in poor health, similar to the victim."

"The murderer knew the victim. She was invited inside, and the two then had an argument that continued from inside to outside, escalating into pushing and shoving, and then a physical fight."

"They wrestled from the edge of the yard all the way to the center of the lawn. The murderer smashed the victim's head with an object he was carrying, and the victim lay there motionless."

"The murderer panicked, and fortunately no one saw what happened. She picked up the murder weapon and ran away."

Bernie asked, "So who is she?"

Theodore looked at Bernie with a puzzled expression.

Bernie: "Didn't she tell you who killed her? Didn't she reveal the killer's name?"

Theodore: "What?"

Bernie: "Aren't you communicating with the deceased?"

Theodore was speechless.

Bernie looked puzzled. "Then how do you know that Brian's parents died in a car accident when he was young? Didn't his parents tell you? And all this, if it wasn't told to you by a ghost, did you see it with your own eyes? Otherwise, how do you know so much detail?"

Theodore opened his mouth, but was speechless.

Bernie kept reminding him that this was an era when psychology was still considered a religion, and was only involved in government-secret telekinesis programs.

“All you need to do now is clap and cheer, there’s no need for so many questions.” Theodore could only change the subject, muttering, “I need a female partner, not a clueless guy like you who believes in ghosts and monsters.”

Bernie scoffed, "Women? You'll need to stuff your car with more paper bags; they'll throw up as soon as they get there."

Theodore rolled his eyes, packed up the photos, and called to Bernie, "Let's go ask Anna; she should know who the murderer is."

Bernie was taken aback. "She knew? Why?"

Theodore rang the doorbell and explained, "The deceased and the murderer started fighting on the inside of the lawn and continued until they reached the center, where the deceased was killed."

To prevent Bernie from mistaking the clues for those from a ghost, Theodore added, "Entering the lawn from other angles, the victim's final posture is incorrect. The basement is right by the door; if the killer made any noise, she should have heard it. And the killer was likely invited inside."

As they were talking, the door opened, and it was Sit who opened it. When he saw the two of them, Sit trembled and turned around to call out, "Anna, Officer Sullivan and Officer Dixon are here."

Snapped!
The sound of a plate breaking came from the kitchen.

Theodore and Bernie exchanged a glance, and even the oblivious Bernie could see that something was wrong.

(End of this chapter)