Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven

McCarthy looked at the new ten-digit phone number on his legal pad, and it refreshed him, and he felt the world go back to its normal course—talking to those around the victim, finding clues, holding on tight. Hang in there, talk to more people, until you finally get the bad guy out of the crowd, that's what a homicide detective does - and the "past" will be reversed. He picked up the phone and dialed an inside number. "Evidence preservation room." "Hi, Murphy, I'm McCarthy from the murder team." "Hello, Inspector, how can I help you?" "That's right. I want to check the physical evidence file of a murder case that happened last Friday. The deceased's name is Stella Saffirino. Help me see if there is a mobile phone in the physical evidence."

"Okay, Inspector, please wait a moment." There was a sound of typing on the keyboard from the opposite side, and then Murphy replied, "There is no mobile phone, Inspector." "Thank you, Murphy." "You're welcome." McCarthy pressed the end button of the phone, raised his finger again, and the dial tone sounded again in the handset. He entered the ten-digit phone number on the keyboard, and two seconds later, the phone went to voicemail with a "click": "This is Stella, it's not convenient for me to answer your call now..."

McCarthy hangs up the phone—unsurprisingly, since the murderer took Stella's cell phone, he wouldn't be stupid enough to leave it on, and it's likely already been dismembered by the murderer and thrown in the gutter—but It doesn't matter. McCarthy picked up the phone again and dialed the only number in the police station that he could recite without looking in the address book. "Jason Gregg." Jason always gave his name first when he answered the phone. "Hey Jason, it's Ian." "Hey, Inspector, what are your orders?"—they had been friends for many years, and McCarthy immediately recognized the sarcasm in his former partner's words. , Even cross-examining witnesses directly without going through him is somewhat bitter-but this is not the time to worry about these.

"Dude, is Frank with you?" "Yes, he just sent that woman away, what's the matter?" "Can you and Frank come up here? I have some new clues here. I think we need to determine the direction of the next investigation." "Yes, Inspector, we're coming up." "Old boy." "What else is there?" "No offense, I just have a hunch that this is going to be a big case, and you know my hunches are always right. For you and me, we all need a case like this to prove ourselves, don't we—you understand ?" There was a few seconds of silence on the other side, and then Jason replied: "Let's see, buddy-but I'd rather your hunch is wrong."

Damn, everything I'm doing right now is trying to stop my dreaded "hunch" - McCarthy thought angrily as he hung up the phone - and now it's like I want more people killed Like, what the hell is going on? When Jason Gregg and Frank Kepler, the newly paired police detectives, showed up in McCarthy's office together, the detective had put those immature complaints behind him-when the police chief Yes there will be complaints of this and that, but if you keep hanging on to those troubles, it will destroy you one day. Jason sat in the swivel chair facing McCarthy, and Frank stood aside—this is a classic pair of American police officers: Frank looks like a young police detective of the new school, with a fancy Apple iPhone and a PDA Instead of a pad, he is full of energy but lacks experience; while Jason has been a policeman all his life, from a young boy on patrol at the beginning to a second-level detective in the robbery team, he has experienced all kinds of cases.It's just people's superficial impression of him that he doesn't care about anything. In fact, he has already developed a way of dealing with people. His stubbornness, tenacity and years of tempering make him survive this cruel game, but he has also become The obstacles to his career progress in recent years, he missed a few big cases, and given his age, there is little hope of being promoted again, but his ability to handle cases is becoming more and more mature-he is probably the most powerful criminal in the robbery team. One of three detectives who know how to solve a homicide.In time, they would be the best pair in the robbery team, and McCarthy had no doubts about it, but right now, he had to hide everything from them.

"The case has been investigated here, and it is beginning to have some clues," McCarthy glanced at the two detectives, "Jason, tell us what you will do next?" "Needless to say? Of course, check the woman's alibi first, but I don't think that's a problem; then I'll go to the restaurant where Stella works and chat with everyone I see until I find a clue So far—one of them may have just happened to meet the 'Mr. Mystery' who never showed up, or one of the customers is 'Mr. Mystery' himself—if they're playing me, I'll be able to tell."

"Of course you can. By the way, old man, if any of them are very attractive, or if there are Greeks, please pay special attention." "Why?" Jason looked suspicious, "Ian, what didn't you tell me?" "Remember the two coins covering the corpse's eyes?" McCarthy repeated the "inference" he heard from Agent Jeffrey before the "Timequake". Jason seemed a little surprised. McCarthy was never that intellectual detective.Young police detective Frank asked while typing on the PDA: "Boss, where did you know this? I went to the archives to check for information on similar cases, but I couldn't find anything. I'm having a headache!"

The words "CSI: New York" were almost out of McCarthy's mouth, but at the last moment, he changed his words: "From Google, don't think that only you young people can look up information on the Internet." ——The latest episode of "CSI: New York" has not yet been released! "Okay, I think it's time for us to act too," Jason said. "I'll leave you to do the work that needs to be observed. By the way, buddy, can you do this work alone? I still have a clue that Frank needs to follow." "Any other clues?" Jason obviously didn't expect this, "I thought I could teach the young man some basic questioning skills."

"Stella's phone number. Her roommate confirmed that 'Mr. Mystery' called Stella every time on his cell phone to ask Stella out, but I checked the physical evidence records, and I didn't find Stella's cell phone at the scene—obviously Well, the murderer didn't want someone else to find it and took it away, but we still have a chance to find him through this, I want Frank to go to a telecommunications company and pull up the call history of Stella's mobile phone number for the last month , investigate those suspicious numbers, maybe we can use the mobile phone as a clue to find out the murderer."

"You're right. I didn't expect that." Jason turned his head and said, "Boy Frank, you heard what the inspector said. It's time for us to split up." When the frosted glass swing doors closed behind Jason and Frank, McCarthy sank back in his chair with a long sigh of relief, feeling like he'd finally gotten a good night's sleep today.Maybe arrange a long-lost family reunion this weekend — visit Macy’s with the wife, buy myself a new pair of sunglasses, take the kids to the playground — and call it a day.The clock in the corner showed that the time was 4:30 p.m. on January 30th. It was Friday. McCarthy went to the window and raised the blinds. The sky outside was already very dark, and an "anticipated" rain was brewing .