1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 35: You can't say that to the boss!
The young man was about to rattle off a string of technical jargon to demonstrate his expertise, but after seeing Bernie's impatience, he swallowed the jargon that was on the tip of his tongue.

“He was strangled; there were obvious ligature marks on his neck,” the young man said, pointing to Billy in the river. “He was strangled and then dragged into the river to make it look like he drowned.”

"The body smelled of alcohol, and a bottle was found nearby. It is not yet possible to determine whether the deceased had been drinking."

"More details can only be obtained by transporting the body back to the forensic lab for a detailed autopsy."

Bernie let go of the trembling young man, went to Theodore's side, and asked him, "Did you find anything?"

Theodore walked toward the car. "Too much."

Bernie glanced back at the babbling water and exchanged a look with Sam.

Back at the police station, Theodore wanted to go straight to Wenner, but Bernie stopped him.

“You need to tell us first, and we’ll help you analyze it.” Bernie had already guessed why Theodore wanted to talk to Wenner, and lowered his voice, “Otherwise, what if the boss asks you for evidence, like the last two times?”

Sam, confused, looked at Bernie.

Bernie nudged him with his elbow and winked at him, "You'll see in a minute, this is the moment of truth!"

Theodore sensed that Bernie had started acting strangely after reading those outrageous reports, and he secretly resolved to reduce Bernie's contact with the newspapers.

"In case 600113, the murderer chose to strike at the derrick because it was his daily work area, and he knew the terrain, the location of the tools, and the workers' schedules very well. He tried to strengthen his control of the situation by leveraging his 'home advantage,' and believed that he could use his familiarity to cover up his crime, even though there was a risk of witnessing it."

"But our investigation revealed that the oil field had become a dangerous area, forcing Belgium to find another location."

"It was also because of our investigation that the killer decided to kill Billy. He was afraid that we would quickly find out about Billy. In fact, we were only half a step behind the killer."

At this point, Bernie and Sam both fell silent.

Theodore continued, “Killing Billy is different from killing Hank. This time, the killer was very passive; he was in a hurry to prepare.”

"In 600113, the killer disguised Hank's death as an accidental fall. This time, he planned to disguise Billy's death as drowning due to drunkenness. But clearly, this time he didn't have time to plan as meticulously as before."

"This led to the contradictory clues of the ligature marks on the victim's neck and the wine bottle found in the water,"

"The murderer's act of killing was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather the result of a cost-benefit analysis."

"The reason for killing Hank may simply be that Hank made the killer feel threatened, so he had to do it. But killing Billy was to silence him and eliminate a witness. This is an evolution from 'defensive silencing' to 'proactive elimination of hidden dangers.' The killer is in a state of anxiety and he is gradually losing control."

This time, Theodore's analysis was different from the previous ones, which made Bernie frown.

After analyzing the killer's psychological evolution, Theodore said, "Based on the above analysis, I have the following guesses about the killer."

Bernie, ignoring the analyses he couldn't understand, pulled out his notebook and sat up straight.

Seeing that Sam was still listening blankly, he nudged him and told him to take out his notebook and prepare to take notes.

"The killer was a white male, between 30 and 45 years old, physically strong, and capable of subduing the equally strong victim on his own."

"The murderer was familiar with the structure of the derrick, the use of tools and safety loopholes, and was also familiar with the actual night patrol situation of the night watchmen."

"This requires the perpetrator to be at least a grassroots manager in the oil field, such as a foreman, team leader, group leader, union representative, or something similar."

"The murderer was very familiar with the victims, and both victims trusted the murderer."

"The murderer was meticulous and methodical, but he also had a gambler's mentality, and he was very likely involved in gambling as well."

"There was a conflict between the murderer and the victim, and this conflict may have been going on for a long time."

"The killer had a strong desire for control and acted decisively. Upon realizing that conflict was inevitable, he decisively killed Billy to resolve the conflict completely." "The killer was likely in a state of anxiety. He knew he had 'messed up' in killing Billy, which meant that killing Billy not only failed to eliminate the threat but also created a greater vulnerability."

"The murderer is currently paranoid. I think as long as we make a show of going to the oil field, the murderer will come out on his own."

"Do you have any suspects?" Bernie asked after quickly finishing his notes.

Theodore hesitated for a moment, then said, "I suspect the killer is Roy Carter."

The result was so unexpected that Sam couldn't help but exclaim "Ah!"

Bernie looked at him with confusion, not understanding why it was Roy Carter.

He raised the question, "Roy and Hank have worked together for decades, and it's not just an employer-employee relationship; many people can attest that they are true friends."

Theodore said, "Roy repeatedly showed obvious disdain for the oil field workers; he looked down on them. Some of those workers had worked for him for decades, so why was Hank the exception?"

"Most importantly, old Tom moved into Hank's house shortly after his death, and Roy didn't care. If they were truly friends, who would continue to hire someone who slept with their friend's wife?"

Sam also objected; he was probably the one who couldn't accept that Roy was the murderer.

For the past five months, every time he went to the oil field for investigation, Roy was the one who ran around helping him.

If Roy is indeed the murderer, it would be a blatant insult.

He questioned, "Roy probably doesn't have that much control. He can't even control the workers smoking while they're working."

Theodore shook his head.
"It seems that Roy couldn't manage issues like tools and workers smoking, but in reality, these were all the result of his indulgence."

"Do you remember how he reprimanded the workers?"

What was the reaction of those two workers?

Theodore explained, "They're all afraid of Roy. Because Roy can decide who stays and who leaves immediately."

“If Roy says that the tools must be put in the tool room or they will not get paid, the workers will obediently put the tools in the tool room and arrange them neatly.”

"If he announced that anyone who smokes while working on the derrick would be fired immediately, the workers would definitely not dare to smoke so blatantly anymore."

Bernie posed the ultimate question, "But why is that?"

He asked, "Roy and Hank went through the cold nights of childhood together, they almost froze to death, and he finally climbed up from an oil field worker to a foreman."

"Even if he looked down on Hank, even if Hank gambled all the time and even took advances on his salary, you could have just kicked him out. Why kill him?"

That's a very good question.

Theodore couldn't answer. After a moment of silence, he said, "I'm afraid only the three of them know the answer."

"I think this is related to the funds of unknown origin belonging to the two deceased."

Bernie shook his head and steered the conversation back to the beginning, "You can't say that to the boss."

He said, "The boss will definitely ask you for evidence. But we don't have any."

Theodore stood up. "As long as we make a show of force, the killer will inevitably slip up."

(End of this chapter)