Chapter 35 Section 10

Richard frowned: "Who said that?" "Englun." In an instant, Richard's face turned ashen.He leaned back and fell on the back of the chair. His lips moved, but he couldn't even utter a word.The detective handed him a glass of water, and Richard drank it down. "My God! Did he say that?" "yes." "asshole!" Richard asked for a cigarette.The detectives could see that his hands were shaking so much that it was difficult to get the cigarette between his lips accurately.After a while, Richard said that he wanted to see Chief Prosecutor Corot, and he would see him now.

It was Saturday, May 31, at 1:40 am. At 4 a.m., Inspector Koro walked into another room.The same questioning didn't go well here, with Nathan Leop insisting that Swann Englund had made a mistake. "Of course I remember asking him to fix the brakes, but it definitely wasn't May 21st." Prescription?What can the prescription sign prove? Prosecutor Koro said: "You should tell the truth, your friends have already said it." Nathan laughed and said, "You think I'm so stupid that you would believe this kind of nonsense to lie to children? Besides, what can I do?"

Robert Corot laughed too.He took off his deep myopia glasses as thick as a bottle, took out a handkerchief and wiped them carefully, then put them on, and stared at Nathan through the lenses: "Let me tell you what you can do. For example Say, you rented another Willy Cavalier from the rental car company because yours was so red and eye-catching. For example, you checked in at the Merson Hotel under a fake name. Or, you will The car was parked on Ingleside Road, waiting for Jonny Levinson to go home alone... Your friend said that you planned the whole case and killed Bobby Fanks yourself."

Nathan Leop blushed with anger, with despair, and with bewilderment.He stubbed out a cigarette he had just lit, then lit another.He sat there in silence, listening to the Attorney General narrate what he and his co-defendants had tried so hard to keep secret. Finally, Nathan Leop gave up his last psychological defense.He began to explain at 4:20 in the morning and spoke for a whole hour. Richard Lowe said they had been preparing for the kidnapping and murder at least two months ago.Nathan Leop said, no, in fact, planning started as early as November last year.However, there is one thing in common in the confessions of the two people. These two "young geniuses" plan to join forces to commit a "perfect crime" that will make the police helpless, never be able to solve the case, and will cause a great sensation in the society. Perfect Crime).Money is not their purpose, not even killing itself.Whether it's the ransom or the hostage, it's just a small pawn on their chessboard.Their attitude towards this bloody operation is actually more like playing a game, or in Nathan's words, designing a set of precise chemical experiments.Just the discussions, disputes, plans, arrangements, etc. under the shadows of solitary lights in the dead of night are enough to make them elated and excited.

Nathan and Richard's first thorny problem was who to pick as their victim.After several discussions, they gradually drafted the conditions for the victim: the family is very rich and capable of paying a large ransom; they know them well and can be easily lured into the trap.So from the very beginning, they were ready to tear up their tickets, because they couldn't leave a living person who could recognize them. They once thought of kidnapping one of their fathers, but the reason why they abandoned this plan was not because of family affection, but because they considered that after the incident, as a "victim's family member", they might be placed under strict supervision. Under surveillance, he was unable to move freely and could not continue to ask for ransom.For the same reason, they vetoed the plan to kidnap Richard's 9-year-old younger brother Tommy.

Nathan had mentioned finding a girl and raping her the way German soldiers raped unarmed French girls in World War I before killing her.But Richard said no, because the girls were strictly guarded by their families. At one point they chose Dick Labelle, but Dick's father was too stingy to offer a ransom.They also considered Hanlyn Buckman, who had spread rumors that Nathan and Richard were having a fling, and that killing him would help.But Hanlin was tall and burly. Nathan, who was only 1.73 meters, and Richard, who was just 1.8 meters, might not be his opponents. The safer way, of course, is to kidnap a child.The two criminals proposed and studied in depth no less than ten candidates, including Erwin Hartman, Jonny Levinson and other descendants of rich men.In the end, they decided not to finalize the kidnapping target for the time being, but to play by ear at that time.Or, to use their own original language: "let the victim choose himself", "see who will hit our guns at the last minute".All they need to do is to pre-determine the time of committing the crime—the afternoon of May 21, and the location—near Harvard School.Whoever is an easier and more convenient target will be their hostage.

"So," asked Attorney General Robert Corow, "in your previous discussions, Bobby Fanks was never mentioned?" "No," Nathan replied, "nor any specific goals." "When did you decide to kidnap Bobby Fanks?" "The moment we saw him - a completely random choice, a purely accidental event." How to get the ransom is the second problem they encountered.The two criminals said that they had conceived no less than dozens of plans, but each had its own shortcomings.What was finalized was for the father of the hostage to throw the box containing the ransom money from the train when it passed a designated location.

To this end, Nathan and Richard spent several afternoons at the beginning of that year walking along the railway line outside the city to select spots, but later decided to do it in the city in order to quickly disappear.Their preferred site was Champion Manufacturing on South 74th Street, a large red-brick factory building just east of the Illinois Central Railroad.