1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 21: Will you confess or not?

Mr. Bucks looked a little scared, and Bernie looked bewildered.

Although he was puzzled, he still took out the handcuffs and stepped forward, but was stopped by Theodore.

“Buck, we need you to provide a statement, not to arrest you,” Theodore explained. “Go and talk to your wife and children. Don’t worry, we’ll bring you back soon.”

Despite Theodore's assurances, his seemingly reliable demeanor, and his amiable tone, the Bucks' family was thrown into turmoil by their preconceived notions about police.

His wife came downstairs, followed by a series of cries.

She was a woman much older than Mr. Bucks, her body had changed drastically from repeated childbirths, and her complexion was also very poor.

Mr. Bucks is physically strong and has a masculine appearance.

She and Mr. Bucks don't look like a good match at all; she looks like Mr. Bucks' mother.

But Mr. Bucks didn't mind his wife at all. He hugged her tightly, kissed her dry hair, and gently comforted the frightened woman. He then hugged each of his children before finally getting into the car with Theodore and the others.

Bernie was driving again, and this time he was driving incredibly fast, almost as fast as Theodore. They sped all the way to the police station, and then half-carried Mr. Buck into the homicide interrogation room.

It was already past 10 p.m., and most of the murder squad members had left.

Bernie never asked Theodore why he brought Mr. Bucks back. He pulled someone over to handle the procedures, and then dragged Theodore into the interrogation room.

By this point, Mr. Bucks was starting to panic, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Don't be nervous." Theodore handed over a glass of water and said, "We need you to provide some clues."

As he spoke, he looked at Bernie.

Bernie opened the case file and quickly recounted the details of the three cases.

Upon hearing the dates of the three incidents, Mr. Bucks immediately recalled the time Theodore had questioned him at home, and he was so frightened that he stammered.

He stammered and begged Theodore and Bernie to believe him, insisting that he had absolutely not done it.

“I know you all think I must be tired of my wife.” Mr. Bucks nervously wiped away his sweat. “No, that’s not it.”

"She bore me nine children; she is the mother of my children, and that's an undeniable fact. How could I..."

Theodore waved his hand to interrupt, saying, "I know you're not the murderer."

Mr. Bucks was taken aback.

Theodore revealed his reason for taking him back to the police station: "The killer is in your coaching staff."

"Now I need you to draw up a list of coaching staff, and then filter them step by step according to the conditions we have given you, to identify the murderer for us."

Bernie chimed in, "You're hesitating here, thinking about colleague relationships? Buck, do you really want to be colleagues with a murderer?"

Theodore handed over paper and pen, and Bernie opened the notebook and began reading aloud the profiles Theodore had provided, one by one.

Mr. Bucks wrote quickly, soon compiling a list of thirty-one players, and then rapidly eliminating most of them, leaving only three.

These three people live in the South, East, and North sections respectively. One is the head coach, one is the quarterback coach, and one is the offensive coach.

The head coach is the youngest, only 36 years old. He used to be a quarterback and was quite well-known. He was specifically recruited by the school board and has led the team to championship contention in just one year. He is very capable.

The quarterback coach is 43 years old. He has never been a player and has been working as a quarterback coach at various high schools. He has no special talent, but he has a solid foundation.

The offensive coach is 39 years old. He has never been a player or a coach, but he loves rugby and can talk about tactics in great detail. He was selected into the coaching staff through a community nomination process.

Bernie read the profile aloud twice more, urging Mr. Bucks to think it over, but Mr. Bucks just shook his head, unable to help him eliminate two distracting options.

Mr. Bucks was already aware of the seriousness of the situation and was naturally much more cautious. If Bernie's selection criteria hadn't been so distinctive, he wouldn't have helped eliminate any of them. What if he deleted the wrong ones?

Bernie scratched his head, reluctantly put away the notebook, and pushed the list of three people toward Theodore.

This action left Theodore somewhat amused and exasperated.

He had never even met these three people before, and he only had three names. He didn't know how to tell fortunes, so how could he eliminate them?

He picked up the list, stared at it for a while, and asked, "Are all three of these people married?"

Mr. Bucks nodded.

Theodore continued, "Is anyone getting a divorce? Or are there rumors of one?"

Mr. Bucks shook his head, "We don't usually discuss such private matters in the workplace."

"Come on!" Bernie interjected. "These things always get around to rumors. People won't say it to your face, but they'll always gossip behind your back. You must have heard about it, right, Mr. Bucks?"

Mr. Bucks hesitated for a moment, then shook his head again.

Bernie was about to press the issue further when Theodore stopped him.

Theodore asked from a different angle, "Who among them is selling drugs to the players? Like testosterone?"

Mr. Bucks was startled and shook his head vigorously, denying it repeatedly.

Theodore had previously believed, based on evidence provided by Samuel, that the killer had access to testosterone, and they identified the black market and gyms as potential sources.

But they clearly overlooked the school.

In the sports world, it's common for athletes to undergo drug use to achieve results, and Emily has a tradition of "starting from childhood".

Theodore asked him, "Is it that you didn't know, or that you didn't provide it?"

The rattle-drumming stopped abruptly, and Mr. Bucks remained silent.

Bernie added another assist: "He'll commit another crime tonight. Your hesitation could kill someone."

“Buck, you’re a kind person. You want to protect your players and your family, and that’s not wrong.”

Bernie leaned in and said, “You’re a good man, Buck. But someone’s about to be killed. Right now! She might be being killed right now. The colleague you’re protecting might be slamming her head against the wall.”

"Tomorrow he will pretend everything is normal and go back to school, greet you with the hand that has strangled people, and give orders to your teammates with the mouth that has cursed the dead."

"Buck, look at me!"

Bernie's tone softened, his previous harshness turning gentle: "You have nine children, and you need to be a role model for them. When you go back here, are you going to tell them you helped the police catch a bad guy, or are you going to tell them you said nothing?"

"Think about it, if your team wins the championship this year and the school organizes a celebration party, would you dare let him hug your children?"

Theodore nodded to Mr. Bucks, put down the list, left the interrogation room, and went out to review another part of the evidence report for 600528.

He won't put all his hopes on Mr. Bucks; if Mr. Bucks doesn't speak up, he'll have to be prepared for other things.

Theodore and his team retrieved a lot of evidence, but most of it had already been used, and Samuel provided very few clues.

The only useful thing was that he extracted a few more fingerprints from them, which matched the fingerprint cards they had made earlier. Now they could confirm that the fingerprints on the props at the scene were left by the murderer, and not by other guests.

Once the murderer is caught, fingerprint comparison and verification can be performed immediately.

(End of this chapter)