Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty Six

When Jones and Bill pulled up behind Jackson's car, she was leaning against a mailbox, playing a board game on her cell phone.She nodded to them.She showed no sign of impatience as they spent 15 minutes analyzing what was in the back seat of the car with three members of the crime scene investigation team.Her previous annoyance seemed to have evaporated by this time. "I'm so sorry about that, Dr. Jackson," the sheriff finally came to speak to her, "I realize we've made your life difficult." "It's not your fault," she said, closing the game, "and it's not my fault either...but I don't blame you if you think otherwise...I always seem to be giving you trouble."

"Thanks to Lieutenant Ackland's kindness." "He's the only one other than me who can put the bag in the car. I guess he left it for me on purpose, otherwise he'd tell you about it in the bar. It's almost impossible for me not to notice it. I just have to open it You can see it from the rear door." "Why do you think he did it?" "Scared?" she suggested. "When I recognized Atkins' cell phone, he freaked out ... and wanted to give up on the idea of ​​reporting the police because he thought he would be the number one suspect. I think, with Harry Peele is involved, he feels the same way." She paused, "I've been wondering, actually, why he didn't just throw the bag away. If he had let someone else find this thing, he could have walked away from it all in an instant. "

"Or throw it into the Thames and get rid of it clean?" Jackson nodded. "Yes. I'm not saying I'm happy to take responsibility, but he's doing the right thing. . . even if it's in a roundabout way, it's still commendable." "He told us he had been walking for about 24 hours before putting the bag in the car. Is that time frame possible?" She frowned, "You already interrogated him?" "Briefly. This is an important discovery, Dr. Jackson." "That's not an excuse to mess with a patient." "I agree," said Jones, with blatant defiance of the facts, "that's why we kept the questions to a minimum. When did you leave him yesterday?"

"noon." "Are you sure he'll have the bag when you meet him again at night?" "Definitely." "He said there was something in it that belonged to him. What do you think it could be?" Jackson shrugged. "I haven't seen everything yet. I backed away as soon as I saw Harry Peel's phone. Is there a wallet? Maybe it's Charles's." Jones shook his head, "I don't have the impression that he added anything to it. I think whatever he's referring to, it's already there." He glanced at Bill, who had just joined in, "Do you agree? ?”

The Inspector nodded. "He seemed to think you'd be freaked out by something in it. He said it was his." Jackson looked surprised, "Of course, he should be more worried about your reactions." "He answered the Sheriff's question about why he kept you in the dark. He said he was going to tell you step by step." "The high-voltage stun gun has the potential to scare me," she admits. "Anyone with such shoddy stuff, I would question his motives. Compared to making a woman convulse on the ground for 15 seconds, incapacitated by self-defense, you Can you think of an easier way to subdue her?"

Jones nodded. "We're interested in the stun gun. Also, a wooden club - we think it's a Zulu club - two cell phones - one of which is Harry Peel's - —a pack of baby wipes and some throat lozenges. Could something in it belong to the lieutenant? Did he say anything to you that might give you a clue?" Jackson looked at them. "He said he left some African art in his ex-girlfriend's apartment." She slowly recounted that Akland had looked in through Jane's window. I was thinking about that. Do you think he wants to see if that thing is still there? If he can see it in her room, that means that thing," she nodded "It has nothing to do with him."

Jones had a skeptical look on his face, "What makes you think he's not setting you up, so you can easily repeat his lies? In my opinion, it's a deliberate act of giving the wrong impression. How many circles in London Head stick? Doesn't he recognize his own at a glance?" "It won't stop him from checking. If I find my stuff next to a phone with Harry Peel's name on it, I'll check it too." "Or you'd spend 24 hours making up a story. The Lieutenant isn't a fool. If he says he left a bob in Miss Morley's apartment -- backed up by your interpretation of his behavior -- and Morley Say he doesn't, and then we can't move forward."

Jackson looked at him curiously. "I was obviously off course. I thought it was Ben Russell's bag. Charles said that Jock stole it by chance." Jones also spread his hands in confusion, "We are as confused as you, Dr. Jackson. According to our judgment, this bag has always belonged to Lieutenant Ackland." She stared at him for a moment. "No," she said suddenly and decisively, "if it hadn't been for Charles, you wouldn't have known it was there. First he told you Jock took it...then he left it for me Solve. If this thing is tying him to Harry Peel, why does he keep drawing attention to it?"

"False, deliberate misrepresentation," Bill repeated what Jones had said earlier, "unless you noticed the bag yourself last Friday—and you said you didn't—was it ever in your trunk , we only have Charles' testimony. He accuses Ben and Jock of touching the thing, but the only way to find out is to see if we can find their fingerprints or DNA on the thing. If we can't find it," he said Shrugged. "If only Charles's is found—of course, he can claim he got it in the bag when he searched it yesterday." This time it was Jackson's turn to be suspicious. "If that's the way your brains work, I'm not at all surprised he wanted me to present this thing. He didn't have to do that at all... He could have just thrown it away and cleared the blame... …" She examined their faces. "If he's guilty, why risk his life? It doesn't make sense."

"He was adventurous," Jones mused. "He was obsessed with timing and luck, and that there should be meaning in the occasional event." “If you lost your eyes, your career, your team in an indiscriminate blast that targeted only the first vehicle passing a certain point, so would you,” Jackson said bluntly. "He was very aware of the fate of evil ... probably because he had suffered so much in the past few months." Jones looked at her curiously, "Why did you change your mind, doctor? You almost let go of Charles just now... Detective Kahn said that when he talked to you on the phone, you were about to explode."

"A miracle of modern technology." She opened the phone to scroll through the menu and held the screen in front of the sheriff. "This is not Jock. The face is too thin... and the beard and hair are more gray. I think this person is more like a slender man." A professor with a goatee, and Jock is more like a grizzly bear... a weedy beard, a distinctive square face. I have told Detective Kahn that I will formally confirm it later after viewing the corpse, But I promise this is not the man I saw in the alley." "It was dark," Jones reminded her. "He was in my car for 20 minutes. Even though I didn't get a good look at him as he climbed into the passenger seat next to me, his profile was very clearly imprinted on my car during the 20 minutes of the journey. In the head. Jock's nose was broken. This man didn't." Ahmed Kahn has passed this message on to Jones. "I didn't realize you were so worried about what the Lieutenant would do to Jock," he murmured. "You obviously thought Charles might use violence." Jackson stuffed his phone into his pocket. "I know he has a possibility," she said matter-of-factly, "I've seen him do it to you in the police station, to Rashid in the bar...but he didn't kill you guys Either of those, his only weapon is his fist." She rested her fleshy elbow on top of the mailbox and stared at her car, "Why are you so interested in stun guns?" "Same reason as you gave. This model of stun gun can produce up to a million volts. Anyone attacked will lose the ability to defend themselves for two or three minutes...maybe longer. This stuff in the UK Illegal, so it must have been smuggled in from abroad... From that point of view, both Ben and Jock can be ruled out." "That means it belongs to Charles?" "There's that possibility. He claims there's one of his things in the bag that worries you...and the first thing you mentioned was the stun gun. You said you were skeptical that a man would commit suicide for the sake of raping a woman." Use the stun gun to subdue her." Jackson turned his attention to the sheriff, "Are you implying that Charles would do such a thing?" Jones shrugged, "You told me, Doc. All I know is that he had a real problem talking about the last time he saw Miss Morley...it was shortly after he returned from a training exercise in the Middle East .It's not at all difficult to conceal a stun gun in a travel bag." A few minutes later, Inspector Bill told Jackson that her car would have to be towed to a lab for testing under controlled conditions, and Jackson was not happy.Bill was apologetic about the contamination, "Two people who might have touched the bag were in your car - Jock and the Lieutenant - so we need to be very precise to find the DNA evidence. We also need to look in the trunk for Fibers. If we found fibers that matched the bag, that would go some way towards confirming what Charles said about the fact that Jock took it." "Only to a certain extent?" "He could have put it in the trunk himself when you walked into the bar, too." "And take it out again?" she asked mockingly. "There is a possibility." Jackson sighed impatiently, "You seem to have found Charles guilty. If both you and the sheriff were against him, it would be too difficult for him to prove his innocence. Did you even consider anyone else? " Jock opened one bloodshot eye, the flashlight was shining on his face, and he squinted, "I guess you're a cop, and you better not be. I hate cops!" Detective Kahn shone his flashlight at the two uniformed officers next to him, "I'm afraid you're out of luck, Jock. We've been looking everywhere for you. Will you cooperate with us, or will we have to arrest you ? Either way, you have to come with us." "Who let you in?" "Your girlfriends." "These double-faced sluts!" the corporal raised his voice. "Did you hear that, you fools! This is the last time I'll help a lesbian." Avril Lavigne's voice came from the door, "In my opinion, we are doing you a favor. We just stole some things from the store, you said... nothing outrageous, so how could we be punished?" The last search warrant, eh? How come there are four guys at the gate downstairs? What did you do, Jock?" He shielded his face from the light with his arm, "Trusted a bastard officer," he said, "Puffed up bastard, I knew I couldn't trust him." Standing side by side with Jackson, the sheriff watched as her BMW was towed away by a recovery vehicle and disappeared down the road. "I'm afraid we need to hold you up a little longer," said the Sheriff. "Jock—or a man we believe to be Jock—was found ten minutes ago in a squatted house on Bread Street. .I still need to trouble you to confirm it for us.” "Empty houses occupied by women? How did they let you in?" "They had no choice," Jones chuckled, "to hand over a man tonight, or their house would be searched tomorrow with a formal search warrant. They handed over Jock. They seemed Don't like him very much." "The woman who runs that house doesn't like people she can't control... I guess Jock must be their nightmare when drunk." She stoops to get the medical kit for which she threatened to sue the police department for depriving her of her livelihood After being allowed to take it down from the car, "Is Charles still in the Crown Bar?" "No. About an hour ago he agreed to spend the night in a cell. You are welcome to visit him at the police station. He is not under arrest. I have no problem with you talking to him." Jackson stared at the sheriff thoughtfully, "Why are you so generous all of a sudden? What if I repeat your suspicions to him?" "I don't recommend it, Doctor. If he changes his tune now, he'll be digging a deeper grave for himself." When Jones returned to the police station with Bill and Jackson, Jock was already in the interrogation room.He sat there cursing the uniformed officers around him.They watched him on the monitor. “He’s not happy,” Kahn said. “He’s claiming that we’ve got the wrong person … harassment … illegal detention … anything you can imagine. I’ve provided him with legal representation, but he doesn’t like lawyers either.” Jones turned to Jackson. "Doctor?" She nodded, "This is the Jock I know." "Is he drunk?" Jones asked Kahn. "He said he didn't. Actually it was one of his complaints. He said the women kept hiding their bottles and he hasn't had a satisfying drink in days." He paused, "Except for the bottle of vodka the lieutenant gave him yesterday." "Then he admits to seeing the lieutenant?" "Not that much. He mentioned taking the word of a pompous bastard officer... and then a little bit more, and he said the pompous bastard bribed him with a bottle of vodka. We figured he was referring to the lieutenant." "Hmm. Well, I'd suggest that at this stage we don't make any guesses... other than the fact that he's sober. You're not going to tell me otherwise, Doctor? He seems to me sober enough to answer me perfectly The problem." "If you want a professional opinion that can be used in court, then you have to ask me to check it out for him." "That's a good idea. It'd be interesting to see how he reacts to you. I don't mind if he knows he's being evaluated by someone who recognizes him." The smell in the room was overwhelming. "Don't you know anything about hygiene, Jock?" Jackson asked kindly. "You stink worse than the last time I saw you." He glared at her. "What are you doing here? Where's the lieutenant? The fucking bastard lied to me...he promised me he wouldn't reveal where I was." "He didn't. I said you might be there." Jock spat on the ground, "A nosy woman...can't let a man rest for a while...always fight him...how about that child?" "Still in the hospital, but recovering more or less well." "He's the guy they should be talking to. What the fuck do I know? You help a little piece of shit and then get slammed into some nasty prison. It's not fair. I'm planning to hang out tomorrow Brighton's... I need to go to the sea to get my health back." "Let's hope you're still okay," Jackson said cheerfully. "As far as I know, you're not under arrest." "What's the difference. I disagree with the police on many things." "The sooner you get out, the better. They asked me to assess whether you are now sober enough to answer questions. What's your opinion?" He looked at him through narrow eyelids, a shrewd gleam in his eyes, "Don't know what it's like to be sober...haven't been sober in 20 years. My state doesn't answer questions." "You may find that the results of being unconscious are worse," Jackson warned him. "If the police decide to keep you in jail until the alcohol is out of your blood, you will suffer from withdrawal symptoms. You are in my opinion. Very sober, I'd be willing to give them a clear signal, but if you'd rather hold off, I'd be just as happy to give you a blood alcohol test." Jock raised his palms parallel to the table, "Shaking like a fucking leaf. What I need is alcohol. Tell them this. Give me a drop and I'll be more sober, and I'll give these bastards what they want... reasonable." When Kahn and another agent interrogate Jock, whether on purpose or by accident, Jones allows Jackson to watch the monitor together.She had just visited Charles in the cell, and he had fallen asleep.When she returned, the door of the observation room was open, and she walked in quietly.The other two members of the investigative team were staring intently at the screen, but Bill wasn't there.Even if someone noticed Jackson's arrival, they turned a blind eye. Jock's account contained a spout of long-winded complaints about the police, about domineering lesbians, about lying officers, about ungrateful young men, about the inhuman brutality of "refusing to let people drink."But in essence, his story of what happened in the alley and the subsequent trip to St. Thomas' Hospital confirmed what Jackson and Ackland had said. "You remember how many bags Ben carried with him, Jock?" "Only two...a black rucksack and a Rondis bag." "How many lieutenants are there?" "I guess he also has two...a traveling bag and a duffel bag." "are you sure?" "You say I'm a liar?" Kahn shook his head, "Just to confirm a few facts. You took the Longdis bag, didn't you? Someone told us there were cigarettes and alcohol in it." "So what if it is? The kid was taken to the hospital and couldn't be used. I will pay him back next time I see him." "Where's the duffel bag? Did you take it too?" "Of course not. It's not mine." "Where did that go?" "The lieutenant took it." Kahn stared at him for a moment. "What do you mean? He never got out of the doctor's trunk?" Jock looked like he was going to spit on the ground again, only to change his mind and not do it. "Don't ask me, man," he said nonchalantly, "I didn't look at it . . . but that one is in the lieutenant's possession. It sure has nothing to do with me." Kahn nodded, "We almost think so too." "Then what am I doing here?" Jock looked like he was about to fight, "People like me have rights!" "We know, and we appreciate your assistance. You have corroborated an important piece of evidence for us. As of now, we only have the lieutenant's testimony as to whether the duffel bag was ever in the trunk. All we know is that the doctor never saw it, Lieutenant Made up a bag that never existed." Jock frowned. "I didn't confirm anything." Kahn looked at the notes on the table in front of him, "Why are you hiding in Bread Street, Jock?" "none of your business." "You opened the duffel bag and freaked out when you saw what was in there, didn't you?" "I need a lawyer. Otherwise I won't continue to answer any questions." "Of course," Kahn said briskly, "do you have your own lawyer, or would you prefer to use a paralegal on duty? If you choose a paralegal, he can be here in an hour or two. You are more than welcome to sit Have a cup of tea and some biscuits in this room, and wait for him to come." "I want a beer." "This is not a Hilton, Jock, and we don't have alcohol." He hunched over the table, "I should have thrown that thing in the river," he grunted, grumbling, "actually I almost did. I only took it because I started Thought there was a bottle of wine in it. You should ask that kid. He's out of his mind." "Why do you say that?" "He's an evil little bastard...and got those girls to kick me a while ago." Jock tugged at his shaggy beard, "because I told those girls that if there wasn't a useless pimp Living off them, they would be better off, and he wasn't happy." "The pimp is Ben?" "right." "Then why did you let him sleep with you in the alley?" "At first I didn't know what kind of guy he was. All I saw was a skinny kid who had just been beaten up. He told me the guy who beat him up was a gay guy looking for boys...but I It is estimated that he has been ripped off by someone, and he cannot get rid of that person afterwards. As long as he thinks that someone is chasing him, he will hide in the alley... This is the only reason why he does not let others know about that place. " Kahn folded his hands on the notebook, "Aren't you afraid of him after he attacks you?" Jock growled in disgust: "He and the bitches attacked me in my sleep. I told him that if he did it again, I would break his neck. I never saw him again until that day." By night. The Lieutenant reckoned he was ill...and I, I thought he'd just had a good beating...after I parted with the doctor, I opened his bag and looked, and I thought so." Kahn struggled to understand him. "The duffel bag? Did you see Ben carry it before?" "I don't see any difference. . . That means it's his in my opinion." "Why did you keep it?" Jock gave him a scrutinizing look, as if weighing how gullible he was, "Because I read the papers, that's why. You think a drunk doesn't know what's going on in your world of ants? Army It's not much better - when you're done serving the queen and country they throw you away like a hot potato - but if you're stupid they won't even hire you. I recognize the man Who is it, isn't it?" "Harry Peel?" "That's him. Together with the doctor telling me that a victim's mobile phone was found in the kid's backpack... I knew at that time that I stepped on a landmine. I should only take the cigarettes and alcohol and leave the luggage alone." "All the more reason to throw it somewhere." "If you had a conscience you wouldn't do it, would you," Jock said in a hurt tone, "what makes you think I like killers more than you?" "The fact that you never brought us proof," Kahn said with a faint smile, "I bet you thought Ben was going to pay to get it back."