Chapter 16 Chapter fifteen

On the other side of the stream, the forensics team found some fresh marks - footprints, tire marks on the edge of the forest, and car paint rubbed off by branches - which they believed were left by the murderer, who parked the car on the edge of the forest. Wrap the corpse in a waterproof wrap similar to a body bag, carefully enter the forest, cross the creek, and dump the corpse on the side of the stream, and then fake the ground traces of the dump site to make it look like a crime scene ——It’s really a genius plan, the flowing stream will not leave any traces of moving the corpses, and once the police think this is the first scene of the crime, the “opposite bank” becomes a psychological blind spot, and no one would think of being on the other bank There is another scene.

— no one except McCarthy, who traveled back in time in "Timequake." The case that was almost deadlocked gave McCarthy a ray of hope. He believed that new clues would lead him to find the serial killer, and he would be able to change the ending, reverse the fate of the third victim, and at the same time change his own life. - If not, then what is the significance of the "timequake"? The heavy corpse made the footprints very clear, and the forty-four and a half yards of waterproof rubber shoes, the kind most commonly used by gardeners, could not be traced—McCarthy had already expected it.From the size of the shoes, it is estimated that the perpetrator's height is between five feet nine inches and six feet two inches, but it is not very reliable. The murderer is too shrewd. He may wear a size smaller or larger to camouflage the marks. At the scene, the forensic team cast a model of the footprints in plaster and took some soil samples for comparison when the murderer's shoes were found.

On the muddy ground next to the road at the edge of the forest, on-site forensic personnel found two sets of tire marks, one in and one out - 275 mm wide all-terrain tires.They measured the distance between two tire tracks and were lucky enough to find a small amount of scratched paint on a branch of a bush. If they could determine the color and model of the vehicle from this, that would be theirs. The first piece of definite information about the murderer-they passed the data to the FBI vehicle database in Quantico, which is the largest and most comprehensive vehicle database in the world. The agencies are sending requests every second to access this database, and they have to be put on a waiting list, maybe a case as big as a serial killer will get some priority, but the wait is still unbearably long.

Six and a half hours later, the crime laboratory of the Pittsburgh Police Department received a reply from the FBI—what they were looking for was probably a dark green JEEP produced after 2003, possibly a Grand Cherokee, or Commander, in short, is the kind of car that is favored by the middle class who dream of adventure but lack the spirit of adventure.Since the small facelift in 2003, Chrysler has used this formula of paint on all JEEP models until now.Of the 2,620 cars sold in Pittsburgh, 303 were dark green — and that doesn’t take into account the killer’s repaints, used cars, and purchases from other cities to drive to Pittsburgh.

The investigation is still very difficult. McCarthy walked out of the glass cubicle, and the big office was empty. Jason and Frank sat in their respective seats, drinking coffee, looking at two files with the same content, looking tired—it was a Saturday afternoon. Seeing McCarthy, the two put down the files in their hands and stood up. McCarthy motioned for the two to gather around. "Guys, you all saw the FBI's vehicle investigation report. It was a JEEP produced after 2003. Frank, I want you to go to a vehicle management office and check the 303 owners. First exclude women, then Guys who are happily married and living with their families - I don't think it's very likely that the killer had a full marriage given his perverted sexual behavior and he's probably still single or married and divorced soon after , see if any of them have a record of domestic violence and sex crimes, and make them the focus of the investigation. If possible, I would like to see your screening list on Monday."

Frank nodded, and McCarthy turned to Jason: "Old man, I need you to go to the Department of Transportation and make a copy of the footage captured by the surveillance cameras on Highway 92 for the past twenty-four hours—the highway leading to the suburbs across the stream—and then Send it to the video processing center of the crime laboratory, and let them find every dark green JEEP that passes by, whether it is a Grand Cherokee or a commander, and record their passing time and license plate, especially pay attention to those that pass by within 24 hours. I want you to keep an eye on them, prioritize our case, and give me the result as quickly as possible, okay?"

"no problem." "The gap between the murderer's two crimes is a week. Our time is running out, guys, let's act." ——In fact, only McCarthy knew in his heart that until the next body was found, the time left for him this time was only four days.