Elsa needed to talk to Dustin abot Luke’s case.
She had to make sure that Deputy Director Condra wouldn’t vent his fury on Luke and Selina if they didn’t find anything.
That wasn’t entirely impossible.
Nobody would be in a good mood after their niece was killed and put on public display.
Elsa believed in Luke’s capability, but she had to have a contingency plan in place for her most trusted subordinate. While it might affect Condra’s impression of her, getting a promotion wasn’t the only thing that Elsa cared about.
Luke and Selina left in their car.
Soon, Selina grew solemn. “Luke, this case is rather… troublesome.”
Luke said calmly, “Oh? Tell me about it.”
“It happened three days ago. The victims in the first murder are two high school students, a boy called Steve Earls and a girl called Cathy Becker, who is also Deputy Director Condra’s niece. Yesterday, a suspect called Billy Loomis was arrested. He’s the victims’ classmate, and was arrested for assaulting Sandra, his girlfriend,” said Selina.
Luke was confused. “Huh?” How could the case be troublesome when the suspect had been caught?
Sandra said, “However, Maureen, the mother of the suspect’s girlfriend, was killed in a similar way a year ago. At that time, a suspect called Cotton Whirry was arrested, and he’s now still in custody. He’ll likely be sentenced to death if he’s convicted.”
Luke said thoughtfully, “So, the suspect this time might be a suspect in this other case?”
Selina said, “Yes. More importantly, Billy had ample time to commit the previous crime. Of course, he doesn’t really have a motive, but the victim was his girlfriend’s mother, after all.”
Luke nodded. “If he’s a serial killer, we won’t necessarily understand his motives. What other complications are there?”
“Neil Prescott, Sandra’s father and the previous victim’s husband, is supposedly on a business trip, but the police department can’t reach him,” Selina continued.
Luke chuckled. “Interesting, very interesting!”
The primary suspect in most murder cases was the person in a physical relationship with the victim, including but not limited to a spouse, a divorced spouse, a boyfriend or a girlfriend.
It was common for suspects to decide to resolve a family conflict or adultery with violence.
was
In this case, the high school victims were a couple, the suspect Billy and Sandra, who was lucky to have survived, were also a couple, while Sandra’s mother had likely been Cotton’s lover, and now her husband Neil had just gone missing.
It sounded like a case with a lot of family drama.
It was probably the reason why the sheriff of Woodsburg had accepted Condra’s request and allowed Luke to head over.
The longer it dragged on, the bigger the case would become.
This was a serial murder with three victims, one survivor, and two suspects, one of whom might be getting the death sentence.
The case would probably receive national attention soon. After all, it did seem creepy and weird.
If some idiotic young men worshiped and imitated the killer, a dozen copycat psychos might pop up across the country.
Luke had Selina stop reading the case file and get some rest.
The case was too complicated, and reading the case file wouldn’t help much. They would probably have to investigate everything on their own.
The car headed southeast.
Woodsburg was located in Orange County, which was a hundred kilometers southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Due to the traffic jam, it took them two hours to reach the place.
They saw plenty of news vans in town. Many reporters were talking to cameras with microphones in their hands.
Luke counted them.
Good god! He counted eight TV channels along the way, two of which belonged to some of the biggest nationwide stations.
This case had gotten so big? Luke pondered for a moment.
Suddenly, he suggested to Selina, “What do you say we investigate the case as students this time?”
Selina was surprised. “What?”
It wasn’t a problem for Luke, but Selina didn’t look like a high school student, even if she was still young
Luke nodded. “You’re saying that you’re too old for that, right? Eh, fine. You can pretend to be a new teacher trying to get a job here.” Luke realized that he had been on the brink of death just now.
Selina finally shifted her furious gaze away and nodded in satisfaction. “That’s right. I can apply to be a PE teacher.”
Luke was caught by surprise. “What?”
Selina said, “I can teach Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It’s very similar to women’s self-defense skills anyway.”
Luke said, “Then let’s hope that we can successfully get those identities.”
They drove to the local police department but didn’t go in. Instead, Luke called Polk, the local sheriff, who came out to meet them.
Polk was a bald man who was around fifty years old. They met in the woods behind the police department and introduced themselves, before Luke explained his plan.
Polk frowned. “Are you sure that’ll work?”
“The murders were obviously committed by someone who lives in this town and is familiar with the environment. If we investigate the case outright, they’ll evade us just like how they’re avoiding you, Sheriff Polk,” said Luke with a smile.
Pausing for a moment, he continued, “You can tell the school headmaster that we’ll be entering the school as a student and an intern teacher, but keep our real identities to yourself, and just say that we’re distant relatives.”
Polk was deep in thought. “Are you sure about this?”
Luke chuckled. “Sheriff Polk, thank you for your full support, but it’s likely we’ll alert the criminal and they might flee if our identities are made known.”
Thinking for a moment, Polk realized what Luke meant.
By investigating the case in disguise, they would draw less attention and wouldn’t embarrass the local police department.
If they investigated the case openly as help brought in from elsewhere, Polk would be put in an awkward position as the sheriff.