Chapter 836 The Unhappy Sheriff
"This case is getting weirder and weirder." Aubrey complained vaguely while chewing potato chips from the vending machine for breakfast.
"Yes." This time even Alice was called together. Before getting in the car, she handed everyone a newly printed report, "This is the on-site investigation just sent by the 'ERT' team. Report.
They were unable to find any physical evidence in Javier Peretz’s house related to the murder of the three assistant prosecutors, whether it was a submachine gun or .22LR pistol ammunition.”
"So our murderer is someone else." Clay held a few bags of potato chips and distributed them to everyone. They wanted to rush to the scene of the crime as soon as possible.
Prosecutor Skip Hardy did not refuse to listen to Jubal's advice like those characters in Hollywood movies and TV shows who like to commit suicide. He stayed in the District Attorney's Office in the courthouse almost all night, even if he went home on the way. At least two sheriff's deputies were on duty for protection.
However, early this morning, his body was found in his office.
When everyone rushed to Forrest City, which was also the St. Francis County District Court, the place was already surrounded by multiple police cars from the local Sheriff’s Office.
After Jubal showed his ID, he led everyone to the district attorney's office in a familiar manner.
When he first arrived in Forrest the day before yesterday, he and Jie Jie came here to visit prosecutor Skip Hardy and received a large number of files from him.
Wearing a dark blue uniform with a seven-pointed star police badge on the left side of his chest, the brown-skinned local sheriff, who is about 50 years old, is stroking his shiny bald head and standing at the door of the office with a serious look on his face.
Beside him was a young white police officer dressed in the same uniform as him. There was almost no difference between the two uniforms, except for some slight differences in the shoulder straps and collar buttons.
The young white police officer has the letters "Court Officer" on his shoulder strap, indicating that he is a sheriff's aide stationed by the Sheriff's Office in charge of security at the court.
Jack walked to the door of the office. The door was wide open, giving a clear view of the situation inside.
I saw various documents scattered on the floor, a decorative painting that was originally hung on the wall fell to the floor, and a potted plant on the shelf next to the door was also knocked over, indicating that something had happened at the scene. A brief but far from violent fight.
The body of a middle-aged black man in his fifties or sixties fell in front of his desk. There were no obvious injuries on his body. It was obviously the murdered prosecutor Skip Hardy.
“I am Sheriff Simone Long, and he is Officer Duncan Davis who is in charge of the night security of the court.” Sheriff Long, who had a watery face, could not be said to be very friendly, and he pinched his hands. He put his cowboy hat in front of him and showed no intention of shaking hands with the FBI who came over.
The FBI naturally did not ask for trouble and took the initiative to reach out. Jack put on gloves and shoe covers at the door, carefully walked around the mess, and walked to the body. He did not rush to get started, and just squatted there. Observed from the side.
After a long while, he grabbed the hand of the corpse and shook it, then shook his head at Jubal, "The corpse is still a little warm, and the degree of rigor mortis is not obvious. Considering the room temperature, the time of death No more than 6 hours, when did you find out something happened?”
His last words were directed at the young white police officer.
"At 3 o'clock in the morning, I discovered something was wrong when I was on night patrol. When I opened the door, I found him lying on the ground." The police officer named Duncan Davis looked very nervous and stammered a bit.
Although the St. Francis County District Attorney's Office is small, a prosecutor can be considered a local "big shot."
For such a "big shot" to die in the courthouse where he was responsible for security, he cannot absolve himself of the blame.
"You haven't heard or seen anything unusual before?" Jack asked in surprise.
The District Court is located in a small stone castle-style building with two floors. The first floor is the office area including the district attorney’s office and other court staff, and the second floor is Judge's offices and courts.
"No, I will go out on patrol every hour at night. There was no movement before. There was no one in the other offices after 11 o'clock last night." Officer Duncan Davis' fingers unconsciously dug at his cheek.
Hearing this, Jubal stepped hard on the floor of the office. Different from the ordinary plastic carpets spread in the corridors, the wool carpets in the office were much thicker. Even if a potted vase placed on the shelf fell, it would not be affected. It was safe and sound, just a little bit of dirt falling off. "Why haven't the coroner and forensic investigators arrived yet?" Jiejie asked the bald Sheriff, who was still silent, with some confusion.
“They are just as ‘busy’ as you.” Bald Sheriff Simone Long said angrily to Jiejie.
“The death of a few prosecutors and lawyers in New York may not be a big deal, but for my city, it is completely paralyzed.
The entire prosecutor's office was killed one after another, and my coroner didn't even finish the autopsy on the bodies of the three assistant prosecutors. "
When he made this complaint, Jack was pulling away the deceased's tie. After confirming that the cause of death was strangulation by the tie, he stood up and looked at this old guy who was a bit ignorant.< br>
“We are quite busy. After receiving your request for help, we took a plane and rushed here as soon as possible. However, after being busy here for two days, we saw you for the first time. ”
As soon as he said these words, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became a little solemn. The bald Sheriff was temporarily disturbed by his words and was a little unable to get off the stage. The Sheriff’s Assistant beside him, Officer Duncan Davis, stared down at him.
In the end, it was Jubal who stood up to smooth things over.
"Since everyone is so busy, why not let us save these red tapes and blame each other and focus on solving the case. After all, you don't want to see more corpses appearing on your territory, I said Right, Mr. Sheriff?”
The bald Sheriff Simone Long moved his lips, but in the end he didn’t say anything. He just tilted his head slightly and sighed, using this vague body language. expressed his agreement.
At this time, Jack had no intention of testing the crime scene examination skills of others in the school, and directly stated his judgment, although this was indeed a good on-site teaching opportunity.
"The murderer is likely to be an insider who committed the crime, and is even familiar with the deceased. He knows the security arrangements in the court and can easily sneak in at night.
The method of committing the crime is quite rough, it should be Taking advantage of the conversation, he relaxed the deceased's vigilance, then walked behind him and strangled him directly with the deceased's tie
The deceased struggled briefly, but had lost his best chance to resist and was unable to call for help. Therefore, although there were traces of struggle at the scene, the thick wool carpet eliminated all abnormal sounds during the period. "
Feeling that the atmosphere at the scene was still a bit awkward, Aubrey pointed to a small safe placed against the wall and asked the Sheriff's Assistant, "What's in there? "
This safe looks one size smaller than a microwave oven. It is obviously not used to store important documents.
"Oh, that is used by Prosecutor Hardy to store documents in court. Some sensitive evidence is required. "Officer Duncan Davis woke up from a dream, walked to the safe and let out an exclamation, and opened the door directly.
"This is so strange. ”
"What's wrong?" Aubrey walked to him and found that there was nothing inside, "What was supposed to be in there?"
Officer Duncan Davis' face turned dark, "That's it, Prosecutor Hardy’s latest case is about the illegal possession of phenolphthalein. I personally put a small bag in it yesterday, but there is nothing in it now. "
"Who is the defendant?" Jubal? asked.
"A guy named Jimmy Barnett was arrested by me personally before." Sheriff Simone Long frowned and replied, seeming to be very cooperative.
(End of this chapter)