Chapter 22 Chapter 21

After parting ways with Kako Hamada in the Maybrick underground garage, McCarthy retrieved his car and drove back to the police station.Two minutes ago, he had just turned down a Japanese woman's invitation to lunch.To be honest, on this critical day, he should try to stay with the "quasi-victim" for as long as possible, but today is the fifteenth anniversary of his and Laura's marriage, and in the last reincarnation, he had already Let his wife down, now he has a chance to do it all over again, he has done everything he can for this japanese woman, and almost never thought he could fix something for his wife and kids, when thinking about it He couldn't justify himself, even though no one asked him to explain.

Maybe give Laura a call, ask where she is, and plan a nice dinner with her.But if Hamada Kako still can't escape this disaster, if he still wants to disappoint his wife at night, doing so will only make things worse. After stuffing himself with Kung Pao chicken and rice at a Chinese restaurant near the police station, McCarthy returned to his poor glass cubicle.As he passed the desk of Miss Anne, the administrative secretary, Miss Anne told him that the director had called him once and told him to call him back when he came back; his wife Laura had called to inquire about the progress of the case, and Does he have any urgent tasks today.She prevaricated and said nothing to her.Although the detective was sure that no one else knew about the two meetings with Kako Hamada, when it came to Laura's call, Miss Anne's slightly mocking weird expression still made McCarthy feel a little embarrassed.

McCarthy closed the frosted glass door of the cubicle, and the noise in the big office instantly subsided.There was a cup of cold coffee on the table, which Miss Anne made for him during the morning's work, and he didn't even have time to take a sip.The inspector picked up the cold coffee, took a swig, then picked up the phone and dialed the number of the director.Commissioner Owen's voice rose from another cacophony of background noise—sun, beach, yachts, champagne, and bikini-eyed beauties.With just those cheerful background noises, McCarthy could imagine the stunning scenery of the Florida beach across the phone, and for a moment, he remembered the promise of Hawaii.

"Hi, Ian, I got a call from Sean this morning. He said that the case you have is not looking good, so I want to hear what you have to say, how is the investigation going?" "The progress of the investigation is slower than expected, but everything is going well, Director. The criminal is very cunning, but we already have a lot of clues in our hands, and I think we should be able to catch him soon." "Okay, Ian, that's great to hear. Sean wants me to come back on an early Thursday morning flight, but that doesn't seem necessary now, does it? Hopefully you'll be there when I get back next Monday Bring me good news."

"Okay, sir, I'll do my best." "Listen, watch out for those reporters, okay? Sean said the media has gotten wind of it, and someone has been poking around the police station. Take care of your people, don't mess things up." "Of course, Chief, you don't have to worry about that." "Okay, that's it, don't let me down, Ian, see you at the police station next Monday." "Goodbye, Chief." McCarthy hung up the phone, wondering if he had made the right choice.If Hamada Kako can survive this test--and McCarthy is 80% sure of this at present--then the director will have a rare full vacation, and he will get a good news on the first day back, and he will undoubtedly Seize this position firmly and become a popular candidate for the promotion of the next round of deputy director - that would be the perfect ending.And even if things don't go as smoothly as McCarthy imagined, the director's return to the city will not help solve the case, and will bring back an FBI agent, and things will return to the situation before the "Timequake", the one that couldn't be worse situation.Well, if that's as bad as it gets, any change can be a positive, no?

McCarthy sipped his cold coffee and began to read the case file word by word. For an old-school detective like him, there was no such thing as a perfect murder, and the clues were hidden in the corners of the case file. He hasn't connected them together from the many illusions.But soon he found it difficult to concentrate on the file.Kako Hamada, Laura, Big Z, Kilgore Trout, wedding anniversary...all the related things popped up in my head one by one, and then mixed together, time became difficult, McCarthy He tried to expel the distracting factors from his mind, and re-examined the whole case from the beginning, but his attempt was unsuccessful. Apart from closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he didn't know what to do to clear his mind.After all, he had never faced such a situation before.

The clock in the corner gradually pointed to 4:30 in the afternoon, and he patiently listened to all the interview recordings Jason made in the restaurant where Stella, the first victim, worked.The interrogation was done a little carelessly, perhaps because Frank didn't go with him. Jason hardly used any interrogation skills. The first or second question is often the alibi. After getting a conclusive alibi, he is no longer interested in other possible clues from the interrogated, and directly changes to the next interrogated.Well, although everyone's alibi has been verified, this is still an incomplete interview with the suspect. If it wasn't because of time constraints, McCarthy had to redo this part of the investigation himself.What the hell is Jason doing?

The mobile phone rang at this time, McCarthy glanced at the caller ID, it was from home, Laura must have prepared everything, he picked up the phone, his wife's kind voice came to his ears: "Honey, today You'll be back for dinner, right?" McCarthy wanted to say "Of course, no problem" to his wife, but after a moment of hesitation, what came out of his mouth was: "I don't know, dear. The case is very tense. I just got a call from the director in Florida. Call, he asked me to solve the case before he comes back next Monday." "But today is the fifteenth anniversary of our marriage, have you forgotten?"

"No dear, of course I remember, how could I forget? But listen, I'm not sure if I'll be back for dinner, I'll call you again, I'll definitely be back if I can ,I promise!" But this kind of prevarication will not work for a wife who has been married to a policeman for fifteen years. Laura's tone has changed from disappointment to anger: "Ian McCarthy, do you really feel that your work is more important than this home, Is it more important than me? You're all the same, cover each other up, I call your office and the bitch who answers the phone won't say anything to me; I call your old partner Jason, that jerk It turned off the phone. I have been married to you for fifteen years, and in the end, is this what I deserve?"

"Laura..." "Damn you!" With the sound of the phone being dropped, a long disconnected tone sounded from the receiver, and Laura didn't give McCarthy any chance to explain. McCarthy held the phone and was stunned for half a minute. In the past moment, what appeared in his mind was not the word "sorry" at all.His brain was running fast, and the fog that covered the murderer was lifted layer by layer. Under the guidance of the most critical clue, everything was connected together, a terrifying thought that made the scalp tingle. Blocking flooded into McCarthy's mind.