1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 14 The Beginning of a Serial Killer

The new deceased's 'stage name' was Jeanne. She had short blonde hair, but upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the roots of her hair were red.

According to Samuel's autopsy report, the deceased had ring-shaped fingernail marks on his neck, bilateral conjunctival hemorrhage, and a fracture of the greater horn of the hyoid bone—in other words, he was strangled to death.

Furthermore, the presence of defensive wounds on the body indicates that the person struggled before death.

Samuel could only tell Theodore this much.

This time the situation was even worse than the last time.

When he arrived at the crime scene, the room was spotless and smelled of cleaning agents.

The scene was thoroughly destroyed; this time, not a single hair was left for him.

Even Bernie felt it was a bit too much.

Theodore left the hotel in despair, clinging to a last glimmer of hope as he sought out the old policeman. The old policeman led them to CC, the pimp for the deceased Jeanne.

CC was furious and kept glaring at the old patrolman.

Theodore asked him, "Why did the hotel owner notify you first instead of calling the police?"

“Jeanne went overtime. Old Johnny thought she was sleeping, so he came down to tell me.” He paused, staring at the old patrolman, and emphasized, “Someone is supposed to ensure the girls’ safety!”

The old patrolman turned his head away, pretending not to hear.

Theodore asked him again if he had seen Jeanne's last guest, but CC just shook his head.

Theodore saw through his lie and said, "Jeanne is one of your girls. Every guest should pay you before entering the hotel with Jeanne. You're telling me you didn't see the last guest?"

CC remained silent.

Bernie clenched his fist, grinned maliciously, and pulled out handcuffs, threatening, "You and your girls are all coming to the police station."

The veteran patrol officer also advised, "CC, they're from the homicide squad, they're different from us."

CC was silent for a moment, and then spoke just as Bernie grabbed his arm.

"Wow! Wow! OK! OK! I'll talk, I'll talk!"

CC said, "He was a young playboy who had been drinking and came with some friends. They paid for the prostitutes together, saying it was a birthday present for him as he came of age."

CC said resentfully, "That kid is obviously a virgin. He was extremely excited and nervous, and he didn't even dare to put his arm around Jeanne's waist. He kept stealing glances at Jeanne's chest from the side."

Bernie frowned and reminded him, "Talk about appearance."

CC recalled for a moment and said, "They were very thin, about the same height as Jeanne, with brown hair and freckles on their face. It was too dark to see them clearly at the time. But they must have been quite wealthy, as they drove a Cadillac Eldorado."

The Cadillac Eldorado costs over ten thousand dollars, while Bernie's annual after-tax salary is less than 4,000 dollars.

Bernie and Theodore exchanged a glance, while the veteran patrolman beside them had already pulled his trainee partner back.

Bernie grabbed CC and shoved him into the car. "Okay, come back with me now."

He shoved CC into the car, then looked at the old patrolman, who raised his hands and shouted, "Come on, Sullivan! I've helped you guys! You can't do this to me!"

Bernie grinned at him and waved. The old patrolman, feeling like he'd been granted a pardon, thanked him a couple of times, got into his patrol car, and sped away.

After seeing these people off, Bernie explained to Theodore, "There's only one Cadillac Eldorado in all of Felton. It's registered under the city government and was specially purchased by the city council last year to host the governor."

He got into the driver's seat and said to Theodore, "We have to go back and find Wenner."

Theodore agreed with Bernie's opinion.

The driver in the back of the car scoffed, "I told you who the murderer is, so why didn't you arrest him? Instead, you arrested me."

Nobody paid him any attention. Bernie was pondering the implications of the city councilor's son's murder-for-prostitution scheme, while Theodore was wondering who the killer was.

Yes, he didn't believe the virgin CC mentioned was the murderer. He even suspected that the person who killed Jeanne and the person who killed Candy were the same person. However, he wasn't confident he could persuade Wenner to combine the cases.

Back at the police station, the two men actually brought back someone, which attracted the attention of many members of the homicide squad.

Bernie simply had CC locked in the interrogation room, while he and Theodore went to report to Wenner.

After listening to Bernie's story, Wenner pondered for a moment and looked at Theodore. "What's your opinion?"

Theodore organized his thoughts, "I don't think this young man is the murderer."

Wenner looked up at him, while Bernie quietly tugged at his clothes from below.

Theodore continued, "A young man who came to Rose Street for the first time to buy sex, he respected Jeanne and didn't just treat her as a tool to satisfy his desires. How could such a person evolve to the point of strangling Jeanne with his own hands in just one hour?"

"Besides, this might be his first time. What kind of person takes more than an hour for their first time?"

Bernie couldn't help but chuckle, and Wenner gave a strange smile before turning serious.

"These are all speculations, there's no substantial evidence. That CC was an eyewitness." He paused, suppressing a laugh. "Perhaps young people are just exceptionally gifted."

Theodore shook his head and said, "That doesn't conform to objective laws. Considering the tension and excitement he showed, he'd be lucky to last two minutes."

There was a two-second silence in the office. Wenner coughed and tapped the table. "Alright, now is not the time to discuss this."

He stood up and said, "Whether it's him or not, we'll know once we call him over and ask him."

Wenner didn't send Bernie and Theodore to bring the men back; he didn't even send the homicide squad. Instead, he called the patrol department. "Hello, Deputy Inspector Kahor, this is..."

Bernie and Theodore quietly left the office.

Theodore scribbled in his notebook for a while, then whispered to Bernie, "I suspect he's a serial killer."

Bernie, who was studying cold cases, looked up with a blank expression. "What is it?"

At that time, there was no term for serial killer; they called perpetrators who committed multiple crimes repeat murderers or multiple murderers. Within the judicial system, the term "habitual violent offender" was used.

“A serial killer,” he explained. “My initial theory about Candy’s death was that it was an accidental robbery. Candy’s customers robbed her, caused her death by accident, and then ransacked the place before leaving.”

"But after killing Candy, he put her on the bed and covered her with a blanket."

"This is very similar to Jeanne's death."

Bernie didn't press the issue of the coined term "serial killer," he denied it.
"Wasn't Candy the one the owner of the Starlight Hotel put on the bed?"

Theodore shook his head. "He must be lying."

He explained, “Candy was working alone, and her earnings that night should have been in her bag, maybe with some other things in it. The owner of the Starlight Hotel secretly took them and claimed he didn’t see them.”

Bernie paused for a moment, then asked cautiously, "Did she tell you?"

Theodore was taken aback by Bernie's question and was momentarily at a loss for words.

Seeing Theodore's expression, Bernie felt a little relieved and said, "That's just one possibility. Another possibility is that Candy's customer robbed her, and that rich kid was dissatisfied with Jeanne's service and strangled her."

He shrugged. "The only connection between the deaths of these two prostitutes is that they were too close together, and you just happened to be there."

Theodore had no words to refute it.

If there were evidence, perhaps the owner of Starlight Hotel could be interrogated to verify it, but they have no evidence at all. It's obvious that the owner of Starlight Hotel would not admit to stealing.

(End of this chapter)