America: The Gear-Up Detective

Watching Kerry Emerson lost in his memories, Hank in the observation room wished he could rush into the interrogation room and beat Kerry up.

Hank crossed his arms, gripping his arms tightly, and gritted his teeth as he spat out each word, "Look at that bastard! He's still lost in his memories!"

Look at that smile, it's obvious that this bastard did it!

Hank became more and more excited as he spoke.

Rod looked at Hank's reaction and found it rather strange. This reaction couldn't be explained by a typical doting father; it seemed more like...PTSD?

Rod wasn't sure; perhaps Hank's female family members had also suffered some hardships? It wasn't appropriate to ask Hank directly about such a thing.

Standing beside Hank, Jose patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "The judge and defense attorney won't accept his smile. Relax, Hank, we have plenty of evidence, and we're sure we can prove his guilt!"

Inside the interrogation room, Evan and Connor were still engaged in a psychological battle with Kerry.

Over here in the observation room.

A detective suddenly opened the door to the observation room, looked at Jose and Jackson, and said, "There's a Ms. Linda Brooke in the lobby. She said she has an appointment to give a statement to Detective Jose from the Sixth Murder and Heist Division?"

Jose slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot about Linda."

Then, he pressed the microphone button in front of the observation room.

Inside the interrogation room, Jose's voice came through the miniature earpiece behind Connell's ear, "Captain, Linda's here..."

Seeing Kerry fall silent again, Connor sighed almost imperceptibly and said to Kerry and his lawyer, "You two should discuss this first. You should know that silence won't solve anything. The fact that we were able to obtain the search warrant and arrest warrant means that we already have some evidence."

After saying that, he gestured for Evan to come out of the interrogation room with him.

Outside the interrogation room, the six team members waited for Connor.

Connor thought for a moment, then looked at Jose and Evan and said, "You guys keep an eye on this side and watch out for Kerry's movements inside."

"Rhodes and Jackson, you two go and take a statement from Linda Brooke."

Then, looking at Hank, whose face was flushed, he shook his head helplessly, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Hank, you can go and rest."

Hank shook his head and said, "No need, I'll go with Rod and Jackson to give my statement."

Connor nodded. "Alright."

......

First floor, reception room.

Linda Brooke, 58 years old, with a full head of white hair and a face covered in wrinkles, sat on a pink sofa, her hands clenched tightly together, her brows furrowed, and she kept looking toward the door.

A few days ago, someone claiming to be a detective from the Murder and Robbery Division of the police department contacted me, saying that the police department had reopened the investigation into the case of Sofia Grant's disappearance and murder, and had identified a suspect, asking me to come and help identify him.

Sofia... such a strange yet familiar name. I haven't heard this name since I was eight years old, but almost every now and then, this name, that little girl with big eyes and a bright smile, would appear in my dreams.

There were no complaints or questions; he simply watched quietly, smiled, and waved, just like the night she had called him out to play.

......

"Knock knock knock".

A knock sounded at the door, and Rod pushed it open, carrying a file folder. Jackson and Hank followed behind him. Hank's expression remained tense, but he took a deep breath before entering to calm himself down.

"Ms. Brooke? I'm Detective Rhodes, and these are Detective Jackson and Detective Hank." Rhodes sat down in the chair opposite Linda and placed the file folder on the table. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Linda shook her head and said softly, "I should thank you. After all these years, you still gave me the opportunity to find the murderer from back then."

Rod raised an eyebrow and then took out a set of photos from the file folder.

Eight black and white photos are lined up on the table. The people in the photos are all different, but they are about the same age, and they are all looking at the camera with their heads tilted to the side.

"Take a close look at these eight photos and see if you recognize anyone."

Linda knew what that meant: the murderer who killed Sophia Grant was among the eight people in the photo.

Her gaze swept across the row of photos one by one, lingering on the first one for a few seconds before moving on to the second, the third...

Linda's gaze gradually locked onto one of the photos, but she seemed somewhat hesitant.

Rhodes and the others followed Linda's gaze and saw that the person in the photo was Kerry Emerson.

Rhodes thought for a moment, then said softly without giving any hints, "Don't the people in the photos match up?"

Linda shook her head. "I will remember that person's face for the rest of my life, but unfortunately..."

As she spoke, she wiped away her tears, reached for Kerry's photo, and said firmly, "It's him, Johnny!"

Looking at Linda's slightly red and swollen eyes, Rod didn't take the photo. Instead, he asked, "If I may ask, when this happened back then, didn't a detective take you to identify the location?"

Linda froze. She bit her lower lip, closed her eyes in pain, and said in a low voice:

"It was my fault. On the first night, the officers only asked me what the man looked like, what he was wearing, and what he said. I answered all the questions."

I thought that was the end of it, that Sofia had just gotten lost, and that she would reappear tomorrow, and we would play games as usual.

Then, in the middle of the night, I was woken up. My mind was still foggy. The officers gave me some photos to identify, and I was a little scared, so I just pointed to one randomly...

After a pause, Linda continued to explain, "I was very scared, I didn't know what was wrong. The next day, the police said it wasn't that person and asked me to confirm again... but I still couldn't find the right person."

After a few times, the police officers stopped believing me.

Until one day, I saw him on the streets of the Secarmore neighborhood, Johnny...

I ran home and told my parents about my discovery, but based on my previous behavior, they just assumed I was upset again. In the end, they only made a report to the police and didn't care anymore.

Later, I heard that the police had cleared him of suspicion, so I thought I had really made a mistake.

Rod realized that this was similar to the story of the boy who cried wolf, and that the case file from back then showed that the police first focused their attention on Kerry because of an anonymous tip-off call, which now seemed to have come from Linda's parents.

Hank, who had been silent since entering, sighed deeply.

Jackson shook his head, finding the story somewhat absurd—an opportunity to catch the murderer immediately was missed by a careless detective and a young eyewitness.

Rod put away the photos, told Linda that she would be giving testimony as an eyewitness and attending the trial, and then left.