1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 33 Only Mr., No Ms.

The three of them looked at each other.

This trick really works.

They seemed oblivious to Old Tom's urgency, sitting down on their own and slowly opening their notebooks and files. Bernie even went out to pour the three of them a glass of water.

After fussing for more than ten minutes, Sam finally coughed once.

"We found your tools in your storage room."

Theodore emptied his freshly cleaned tools from the paper bag and said slowly, "After comparison, we found the murder weapon that killed Hank."

Bernie rummaged through the tools, picked out a pipe wrench, and pushed it in front of Old Tom.

"Matia has already admitted it."

Old Tom didn't listen to what the three were saying at all, and he had no interest in the tools on the table that he usually took such good care of.

He kept anxiously asking why Mattia was brought along.

Theodore suddenly spoke up, "Just now, she admitted it."

“She said it was because Hank wouldn’t agree to a divorce, so the two of you conspired to kill Hank. Use this pipe wrench.” Theodore picked up the pipe wrench and shook it.

"Matia said she instructed you to do it."

Old Tom stared blankly into a chair and plopped down in it.

He stood there stunned for a moment, then suddenly lunged forward like a madman to snatch the pipe wrench.
"I did it!"

"I confess! I killed that beast!"

"I did it! It has nothing to do with Mattia! I did it all! She knows nothing, it was me!"

Theodore moved the pipe wrench aside, looked at old Tom, who was still struggling and shouting "I did it!" as Bernie and Sam pinned him to the table, and asked...
"Okay, then tell me how you asked him out."

Without hesitation, old Tom said, "I said I'd pay him whatever he wants."

What time did you agree to meet?

"Nine p.m."

What did you do after you went out with him?

“I was hiding behind the derrick when I saw him appear, so I killed him with pipe wrenches.”

“I did it. Mattia had no idea. Really, I swear, it really was me. I swear.”

Theodore shook his head, signaling them to let go, then gathered his things on the table and left.

"Don't go! Don't go! I did it! I admit it! They really don't know anything!"

Bernie whispered, "I don't really think he did it."

Sam on the other side nodded in agreement.

Theodore ignored them and opened the door to interrogation room number 2. "You can leave now."

Mattia vaguely heard the commotion next door and was just getting into the mood to spit in Theodore's face when she heard this sentence, which stunned her.

Theodore repeated, "You can leave now."

Mattia jumped up, bursting into tears of joy, grabbed the child, and rushed out to hug old Tom tightly.

After the three were sent away, the case seemed to have reached a stalemate.

Theodore brought old Tom back before, and after a day of interrogation, there was no result. Today, he brought back a woman with a child, and in less than ten minutes, all three of them were released.

This sparked a small discussion in the office, even attracting the attention of Wenner.

After Old Tom and his family of three left, Wenner, who was standing at the door with his arms crossed and watching, waved to them.

"Is it at a stalemate?"

In Wenner's office, the chubby Wenner spoke in a gentle tone, as if he were asking about the weather today.

Bernie and Sam nodded together.

Wenner looked at Theodore.

Theodore pondered for a moment and said, "If we rule out the possibility that old Tom committed the crime of passion, the case is actually quite clear."

"Oh?" Wenner was a little surprised. He thought the case had reached a stalemate, and he had even prepared a big pot of chicken soup to avoid discouraging the young people.

This is a process that every newcomer must go through. Right here in this office, those dozen or so people outside have all drunk his chicken soup for the soul before they became outstanding.

“Tell me your thoughts,” Theodore said thoughtfully. “I believe Hank’s death is related to funds from unknown sources.”

Wenner nodded slightly and asked again, "Why?"

Theodore recounted his previous analysis, concluding, "We roughly calculated for the deceased that his salary was around 350, but he spent 700 to 1000 dollars a month gambling."

"And there were signs of growth before he died."

"This is a huge funding gap, and I think anyone would be willing to take the risk for this money."

"You think this was a robbery?" Wenner asked. "When the dead man was found, all the money in his pockets was gone."

Theodore shook his head. "The deceased had participated in the gambling that night; he may have lost all his money."

“I think his death was not only related to the cash he was carrying, but more so to the way he got the money.”

Wenner nodded and concluded, "Your intuition tells you that you should investigate the source of his funds, right?"

Theodore wanted to say no, but in the end he just remained silent.

“Then let’s investigate,” Wenner said. “We haven’t explored this area in depth before. Perhaps we can uncover new clues.”

He earnestly told Theodore, "Every competent detective has an intuition like yours. It comes without reason or basis, but it often guides them to the truth."

Theodore thought to himself, "I don't rely on intuition, I rely on criminal psychology," but he nodded outwardly.

Wenner concluded by saying, "Go ahead, and report any new leads to me immediately. I'll consider reopening the case."

The reopening of the investigation he referred to means that the homicide unit was reorganized into a 'special task force' and formally resumed the investigation.

Watching the three leave, Wenner looked kind, but he still managed to pour out his chicken soup.

The three split up and went to the bank, casino, and oil field to conduct their investigations.

When I returned to the branch office that evening, I saw that many team members were still there, gathered together as if discussing something.

Theodore listened for a while and realized they were talking about Wenner.

In the afternoon, someone saw Kahor's belongings being moved from the deputy police commissioner's office to the patrol department office.

They speculated that this indicated Chief Widek no longer trusted Kahle, and believed that Wenner was likely to be promoted to deputy commissioner.

These guys were acting all mysterious when they left work, and they all gave Theodore a thumbs-up as they passed by.

After most of the people in the office had left, leaving only a few night owls, Theodore and his two companions gathered together to report their investigation results.

Theodore went to the bank and obtained most of the workers' account statements from the bank manager.

Theodore asked the bank manager to review the account statements of these people, and for this, he signed his name and wrote messages all over the bank manager's youngest son's T-shirt and opened an account at the bank.

He relayed the bank manager's observation: "Except for that worker named Billy, everyone else was perfectly normal."

"What's wrong?" Bernie asked Sam.

Theodore produced handwritten data: "Billy has been depositing $200 into the account every month since he opened it two years ago. Starting in February of this year, the month after Hank's death, the amount he deposited began to double."

"As of now, Billy has over ten thousand dollars in savings in his accounts."

Theodore closed his notebook and concluded, "This doesn't seem like the kind of money he could come up with."

"The bank manager asked around for me, and Billy always deposits money on the 9th, which is payday."

Sam, who was heading to the casino, brought them a list of casinos and pointed to a name he had circled.

"According to people at the casino, Billy was on their watch list starting in February."

Fearing Theodore might not understand, Bernie explained from the side, "Small casinos like these usually set a low limit. When a customer frequently exchanges chips exceeding the limit, the casino will pay close attention to them."

"They will try to reach out to customers, offer them discounts or similar incentives, and get them to spend more money."

Sam nodded. "The casino over there has a base limit of 50. Billy has never exchanged more than 50 chips before."

Starting in February, the amount of chips he exchanged suddenly increased to 100.

“And he doesn’t just go on payday anymore.” Sam flipped through his notebook and said, “Billy went three times last month.”

He concluded by saying, "The casino was very impressed with him because Billy only ever exchanged 100 chips each time he went."

When it was Bernie's turn, he stood up proudly and solemnly announced...

"ladies and gentlemen……"

Theodore reminded him from the side, "There are only gentlemen, not ladies."

(End of this chapter)