Free Web NovelChapter 18: Chapter 18 - Placing back
Back at the victim’s room, Vincent arrived with Dawnstar beside him. Clearly, the tense wall between them was crumbing. Before long, they were going to be fined if they had the time.
When he opened the door, he met Officer Leo who stood in daze.
"Any luck?" Vincent asked.
The officer nodded, shaking Vincent the photo that was copied from the intelligence division.
Jake Goldberg was an attractive-looking man, with short dark hair, a strong jaw, expressive eyes, and a hint of a cleft on his squared chin. A thin scar sliced through his right eyebrow.
"It is a match." Officer Leo said. "Mr Guilt confirmed it. This was the man he saw leaving the building late on Friday night. He even remembered the scar."
"That’s what I thought." Vincent said, clenching his hand into a ball of fist. He then told Officer Leo about the conversation between him and Emily.
"And now I know he did it. Show me his record." Vincent said.
Officer Leo pulled out the information from his phone and showed it to Vincent.
Jake Goldberg. 36 years old. Residing in Peach District, number 109 East street. He worked as a soundman in the West side of the city.
He had been arrested four times in the past five years. Twice for drunk and disorderly conduct and another two for assault. He put an ex-girlfriend into the hospital. That cost him five months in jail. According to the judge who sentenced him, one more strike and he was going to be gone for a long time.
Vincent read carefully and smiled. "I also know why the safety chain was secured in place when you and your partner got here."
"Really? How."
"Let me show you." Vincent had completely put all the puzzles together after reading the report.
The two forensics agents were still working the bedroom but they told Vincent that they had collected the fibers and hairs, together with several fingerprints coming from what looked like two different sources.
They could already confirm that one of those sources was Emma. The second was someone with relatively large hands.
Vincent had no doubt that those prints would match Jake.
"I can sort of picture the scene now. Boyfriend gets dumped just after his mask slipped and doesn’t take it too well, keeps on calling the victim asking for a new chance. The victim keeps on saying "no", but still he doesn’t take the hint. So, on Monday evening he decides to drop by for a little face-to-face chat." The officer Leo shrugged.
"Maybe he knocked and she let him in, or maybe he used his own key, because now we know that he had a set."
Vincent listened, nodding every now and then.
"He probably drank a few drinks before turning up here." The officer Leo continued his deduction. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"Which would make the matter worse. They argue loudly. Some of it was overhead by the neighbors. The victim told the ex-boyfriend that there’s no getting back together and he loses it. He snapped and went to the throat, started choking her. Maybe not with the intention of killing her but nevertheless, she passed out. And he freaked out. Given his record, he knew that he would be out for a long time, if she reported."
The officer Leo paused.
"And no doubt, she will report him. So, he formed a plan." Vincent finished for him.
The officer Leo agreed with a node and took over him again. "He knows that the victim is bipolar, going in and out of depressed states every now and then. Maybe she had even told him that, during one of those states she had considered suicide in the past."
"Possible." Vincent said.
"So he figured that staging a suicide scene was his ticket out, especially if he could make it so it looked like she had been alone, locked inside her apartment. He puts her in bed, undresses her, and slices her wrists."
"Very good, Officer Leo." Vincent smiled. "I don’t think I will come up with a better theory myself."
"Yes, but it still doesn’t explain how he did it. How did he get out and lock the door from the inside?" The officer Leo frowned, scratching his chin.
"Cleverly." Vincent smiled. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Hunter returned to Emma’s wardrobe and slid the door open.
"See how everything was organized?" He said, pointing out.
The officer Leo nodded.
"Look at this." Vincent indicated the black silk blouse that had fallen on top of some shoes.
"What about this?"
"At first I thought that the blouse had just slipped off its hanger," Vincent explained. "But if you check the rack, there are no empty hangers, which means there’s a hanger missing."
The officer Leo frowned.
Vincent reached for another blouse and slipped it off its hanger. "I realized that Miss Emma only used wire hangers."
He exited the bedroom, taking the hanger with him. In the living room, he indicated the small stereo on the TV module.
"Over there, we are missing a speaker."
"Yes, I see that." The officer Leo replied.
"Well,Well, Mr. Jake is a soundman, so I think it’s safe to assume that he knows a thing or two about musical equipment, including stereos like this."
"I’d agree."
"So he would know that these speakers are magnetic speakers, where strong magnets are part of the motor of the subwoofers."
The officer Leo chewed his lips. Dawnstar was surprised.
"I don’t know that."
Vincent quickly went into the kitchen, picked up the trash can, and brought it into the living room.
"Miss Dawnstar found the other speaker here." He said. "Completely pulled apart."
He dumped the trash can contents into the living room floor.
"The subwoofer, as you can see, has been smashed to pieces. And I bet that if we take our time collecting all the smashed-up magnet pieces and putting them back together like a jigsaw puzzle, we’ll find that there’s a small piece missing."
"Some of a bitch." The officer Leo cursed. He was starting to get the picture.
Hunter gloved up, selected a small broken piece of the subwoofer’s magnet, approached the chest of drawers by the east wall, and opened the top drawer. It was full of stationery and office supplies. The topmost item inside the drawer was a tube of superglue.
" And this is the last piece of our puzzle." Vincent said showing up to the officer Leo.
