Chapter 836 The unhappy sheriff

"This case is getting weirder and weirder." Aubrey complained vaguely while chewing potato chips from the vending machine for breakfast.

"Yes." This time, even Alice was called along. She handed everyone a freshly printed report before getting in the car. "This is the on-site investigation report just sent by the 'ERT' team.

They didn't find any physical evidence related to the murder of three assistant prosecutors in Javier Peretz's house, whether it was a submachine gun or a .22 LR pistol bullet."

"So our murderer is someone else." Clay handed out several bags of potato chips to everyone he met. They had to rush to the crime scene as soon as possible.

Prosecutor Skip Hardy did not ignore Jubal's advice like those characters in Hollywood movies and TV series who like to commit suicide. He stayed in the district attorney's office in the court almost all night, and even if he went home halfway, at least two sheriff's assistants were responsible for protection.

However, his body was found in his office early this morning.

When everyone arrived at Forrest City, which was also the St. Francis County District Court, it was surrounded by several police cars from the local sheriff's office.

After Jubal showed his ID, he led everyone to the district attorney's office in a familiar way.

When he first arrived in Forrest the day before yesterday, he and Jiejie came here to visit prosecutor Skip Hardy and took a lot of files from him.

The local sheriff, who was in his early 50s and dressed in a dark blue uniform and a seven-pointed star badge on his left chest, was stroking his shiny bald head and standing at the door of the office with a serious face.

There was also a young white police officer next to him who was dressed the same as him. The uniforms of the two were almost the same, with only slight differences in the shoulder straps and collar buttons.

The young white police officer had two more letters on his shoulder straps: Court Officer, indicating that he was a sheriff's assistant stationed at the court for security by the sheriff's office.

Jack walked to the door of the office, which was wide open, and the situation inside was visible at a glance.

All kinds of documents were scattered on the floor, a decorative painting originally hanging on the wall fell to the ground, and the potted plants on the shelf by the door were also overturned, indicating that there had been a short but not fierce fight at the scene.

A middle-aged black man in his fifties or sixties fell in front of the desk, with no obvious scars on his body. It was obviously the prosecutor Skip Hardy who was killed.

"I am Sheriff Simone Long, and he is Officer Duncan Davis who is responsible for the night security of the court." Sheriff Long, with a gloomy face, was not very friendly. He held his cowboy hat in front of him with both hands, and had no intention of shaking hands and being polite with the FBI who came.

The FBI naturally did not take the initiative to reach out, and Jack put on gloves and shoe covers at the door, carefully walked around the mess, and walked to the side of the body. He did not rush to take action, but squatted aside and observed.

After a long while, he grabbed the body's hand and waved it, then shook his head at Jubal, "The body is still a little warm, and the degree of rigor mortis is not obvious. Considering the room temperature, the time of death is no more than 6 hours. When did you find out that something happened?"

He asked the young white police officer the last sentence.

"At 3 a.m., I found something wrong when I was on night patrol. I opened the door and found him lying on the ground." The police officer named Duncan Davis looked very nervous and stuttered.

Although the St. Francis County District Attorney's Office is not large, a prosecutor can be regarded as a local "big shot".

Such a "big shot" died in the court where he was responsible for security, so he could not escape the blame.

"Didn't you hear or see anything unusual before?" Jack asked in surprise.

The local court is located in a small stone castle-style building with two floors. The first floor is the office area including the district attorney's office and other court staff, and the second floor is the judge's office and courtroom.

"No, I patrol every hour at night. There was no movement before. No one was in other offices after 11 o'clock last night." Officer Duncan Davis' fingers scratched his cheek unconsciously.

Jubal stepped hard on the floor of the office. Unlike the ordinary plastic carpet in the corridor, the wool carpet in the office was much thicker. Even if the potted vase on the shelf fell, it was safe and sound, with only a little dirt falling off.

"Why haven't the coroner and forensic personnel arrived yet?" Jiejie asked the bald sheriff who had never said a word with some confusion.

"They are just as 'busy' as you." Bald sheriff Simone Long said to Jiejie unhappily.

"The death of a few prosecutors and lawyers in New York may not be a big deal, but for my city, it is completely paralyzed.

The entire prosecutor's office was killed one after another, and my coroner didn't even finish the autopsies of the three assistant prosecutors."

When he made this complaint, Jack was untying the deceased's tie. After confirming that the cause of death was strangulation by the tie, he stood up and looked at this old guy who was a little ungrateful.

"We are very busy. We flew here as soon as we received your request for help. However, after being busy here for two days, we met you in person for the first time."

As soon as he said these words, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became a little solemn. The bald Sheriff was temporarily disturbed by his words and was a little unable to get off the stage. The Sheriff's Assistant beside him, Officer Duncan Davis, stared down at his toes as if nothing happened. heard.

In the end, it was Jubal who stood up and smoothed things over.

"Since everyone is so busy, why not let us save these red tapes and blame each other and focus on solving the case. After all, you don't want to see more corpses appearing on your territory, I said Right, Mr. Sheriff?"

The bald Sheriff Simone Long moved his lips, but ultimately said nothing. He just turned his head slightly and sighed, expressing his agreement with this vague body language.

At this time, Jack had no intention of testing the crime scene examination skills of other people in the school, and directly stated his judgment, although this was indeed a good on-site teaching opportunity.

“The murderer is most likely an insider who committed the crime, and was even familiar with the deceased. He knew the security arrangements in the court and could sneak in easily at night.

The method of committing the crime was quite crude. He probably used the opportunity of conversation to relax the deceased's vigilance, then walked behind him and directly strangled him to death with the deceased's tie.

The deceased struggled briefly, but had lost his best chance to resist and was unable to call for help. Therefore, although there were traces of struggle at the scene, the thick wool carpet eliminated all abnormal sounds during the period. "

Feeling that the atmosphere at the scene was still a bit awkward, Aubrey casually pointed to a small safe placed against the wall and asked the Sheriff's Assistant, "What's in there?"

This safe looks smaller than a microwave oven and is obviously not used to store important documents.

"Oh, that was used by Prosecutor Hardy to store some sensitive evidence needed for court." Officer Duncan Davis woke up from his dream, walked to the safe, and let out an exclamation, and pulled it away. Opened the cabinet door.

"This is so weird."

"What's wrong?" Aubrey walked to him and found that there was nothing inside. "What was supposed to be in there?"

Officer Duncan Davis' face turned a little dark, "That's right, Prosecutor Hardy's latest case is about the illegal possession of phenolphthalene. I personally put a small bag in it yesterday, but now there is nothing in it. "

"Who is the defendant?" Jubal asked.

"A guy named Jimmy Barnett was arrested by me personally before." Sheriff Simone Long frowned and replied, looking very cooperative.