American forensics, but the gourmet system

Chapter 74 Choosing Your Own Ability (First Update, Please Subscribe!)

Ulster County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff Monroe was in a very good mood today. As the head of the county criminal division, he had finally completed the paperwork to send Am Fabian, who murdered Dr. Simmons, to the detention center.

Once a prisoner is sent to a detention center, it means that the initial stage of securing evidence in the case is essentially over.

All that's left is to finish the paperwork, wait for the prosecutor's signature, and then bring the murderer to court.

Monroe walked into his private office on the second floor of the police station, humming an off-key tune, and poured half a cup of water on the cactus on the windowsill.

He had been a police officer in Ulster County for 23 years, and this was only the fifth murder case he had handled.

To be honest, the case is progressing much more smoothly than he had imagined.

Chief Hunter of Highland found the murder weapon and identified the suspect in less than 24 hours.

I heard that the temporary medical examiner from Brooklyn also played a significant role, but it doesn't matter. When the police department reports upwards, they'll definitely attribute the biggest credit to Chief Hunter.

Monroe, on the other hand, would be ranked second in the report.

Monroe was in charge of interrogating Fabian. To his surprise, Fabian did not try to find a lawyer. Instead, he readily confessed to the whole process of how he killed Dr. Simmons because he could not repay the money.

It went incredibly smoothly.

A murder case in the wild was initially solved within 72 hours, which is quite remarkable efficiency, not only in the Ulster County Sheriff's Department, but also in the entire NYPD.

Monroe thought smugly: the current county sheriff is retiring next year. If he could add this experience of quickly solving a murder case to his resume, his chances of running for Ulster County Sheriff would increase even further.

Don't underestimate the power of a mere county security officer; there's a lot of money to be made in that position.

He has coveted this position for a long time.

Just as Monroe was about to brew himself a pot of tea and think about what to have for lunch, the phone on the table rang.

"It must be the prison van transporting prisoners to the detention center," Munro muttered to himself. "They're pretty quick—"

He answered the phone after it rang three times.

"This is Monroe, head of the Ulster County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division. You are—what? Suspending transport? Why? Were you notified? Who notified you?!"

The person on the other end of the phone said a few words to Monroe.

Monroe's relaxed brows furrowed tightly: "The culprit has other cases on his record? Then have the detective in charge of that other case contact me! I don't have the authority?! What makes you say—oh, you don't have the authority either—damn it."

He hung up the phone and slowly leaned back in his chair.

He had only handled five murder cases and had never seen a situation where the transfer of a murderer was interrupted midway.

Could it be that Fabian committed crimes elsewhere, leaving behind DNA that was matched by police in other places?

Will detectives from out of town come to the Ulster County Sheriff's Office to interrogate Fabian in a while?

Or is it that—

The last thing Monroe wanted to see was that there was more to the story in Fabian’s murder of Dr. Simmons than the truth.

Fabian's fingerprints were found on the murder weapon, and Fabian readily confessed to the crime.

Monroe felt increasingly uneasy and even lost his appetite for lunch.

Sheriff Monroe wasn't the only person in Ulster County who didn't eat lunch.

Andy Elliott is packing his bags at home.

He had just returned from the funeral home, where the old caretaker, Mr. Fitch, told him that the young couple had indeed gone to the funeral home last night to check the surveillance footage.

And it received permission from Sheriff Monroe.

Although the stated reason was to fill in the gaps in the death record, Andy glanced at the record and immediately realized it was forged.

Ever since Andy was tricked and lured by his cousin Simmons into disposing of bodies for $6.5 each, Andy has been memorizing all the death records in Ulster County.

That death record must be fake.

But Andy couldn't tell anyone about this; that would be tantamount to walking into a trap.

Andy was really scared.

It seems his intuition was correct; the two young men had indeed noticed what was happening between the morgue and the funeral home.

The fact that he scattered three-pronged nails on their route last night was just a warning; Andy hoped they would back down.

But those two guys even forged their death records—

This was a well-prepared trip.

He absolutely must be sent to prison.

Fortunately, Andy had saved up some money. As long as he left Ulster County and the eastern United States, he could buy a piece of land in Colorado or Mississippi, grow some corn, soybeans, and potatoes, and live just as well.

Andy decided to run away; he was really scared.

He had seen the two young men from a distance while transporting Simmons' body and secretly following them.

Andy could see in their eyes that they were completely different from the lazy, unambitious cops in Ulster County.

He must leave this place.

Andy even began to hate Amy Fabian in his heart.

Why did he kill Simmons?

If they continue to make money the way they always have, their shady dealings may never be discovered.

But Andy didn't dare hate those two young men, because he had once been like them—

Andy carried his luggage out of the house. He threw his backpack and suitcase into the trunk. He was going to drive to the nearest airport; he had already bought a flight to Denver.

With that money, Andy believed she could live a comfortable life for the rest of her days.

Russell took out a piece of paper and wrote on it:

Body number one: Ian Williams, male, 45 years old, died six months ago, cause of death: traumatic brain injury. Then, Russell placed this paper under Ian Williams' skull.

Russell was certain that there was more than one body in the pile of garbage. Numbering the bones and noting their specific characteristics is a common method used by forensic experts when identifying multiple bodies at a scene.

"Are we still going to look for body number two? Do we even have time for lunch?" Jesse's face had changed, turning somewhat dark, probably because he didn't want to dig for bones in the garbage dump anymore.

Oh, his face was already a bit dark-skinned—

"We definitely need to find body number two." Russell nodded. "There might be a number three, a number four—lots of them. But you shouldn't need to rummage through the garbage for bones anymore. Any news from Captain Hansen?"

-

"Diaz just messaged me saying they're almost here." Jesse glanced at his phone screen. "Oh—they're here."

The roar of car engines could be heard coming from the direction of the highway.

At the same time, the long-unseen system interface popped up.

[Host detected tracing multiple food ingredients —]

[System Task: Rely on your own capabilities to accurately trace the origins of multiple ingredients from different sources]

[Task Progress: 1/X]

[Task Reward: Selectable Ability (Ability level depends on task progress)]

Russell's eyes lit up.

>