When Officer Patton and Santos had just left for Luke Prescott's villa, Joseph arrived with his lawyer. The lawyer was Mr. Clark Dalton, a sharp forty-year-old man from a local law firm. Dressed in a suit, wearing glasses, and carrying a briefcase, he immediately gave Chief Louise a headache.
"Mr. Dalton, how do you do?" Chief Louise went over to shake hands with him.
"I'd like to see my client now. Is that possible?" Clark Dalton politely asked Chief Louise, "I want to ensure he hasn't been treated unfairly."
"Alright, he's over there. Hey, you, open the door and take them to the interrogation room," Chief Louise instructed a nearby officer, "Ensure our suspect is treated fairly!" This was her retort to Dalton.
"Of course..." The officer nodded, gestured to Mr. Dalton, "Sir, please follow me."
The situation wasn't really complicated. Chief Louise's final response to Mr. Dalton was that Jason would be detained for twenty-four hours and then transferred to the detention center for trial.
This was fair, at least for now Chief Louise had the power to do so. However, because Mr. Dalton personally came, she made an exception and didn't transfer Jason to the detention center but instead kept him in the interrogation room. This was much better than the detention center.
Throughout the process, Jason remained silent. Joseph didn't know how to comfort him. All he did was pat Jason's shoulder and squeeze his hand.
"Did you speak to Mr. Luke Prescott?" Jason asked as he was about to leave.
"I did, but I can't guarantee anything..." Joseph shrugged and spread his hands, "He now thinks he's the winner, so he's not going to listen to advice from a loser. That's just how it is!"
Jason just shook his head and sat down indifferently. Thanks to Mr. Dalton's efforts, Jason was no longer handcuffed. He could move freely within the interrogation room but definitely couldn't leave the police station.
Tomorrow, they would transfer Jason to the detention center and send him to court for the judge to decide whether to keep Jason in custody. This was what Chief Louise had to do. She didn't intentionally want to make it difficult for him, because the only clue at the moment came from Jason's judgment. He accurately determined the burial place of the female corpse. So, anyhow, he was a breakthrough.
There was no reason for him to easily return home. But it seemed that he didn't care. Maybe he really could easily shake off the accusation of this murder. After all, there are currently no direct evidence proving that he killed anyone. There were no witnesses, no physical evidence, and no motive for murder.
As the sky gradually darkened, Chief Louise sat in her office. She planned to work the night shift tonight. After ordering takeout, she looked at Jason in the interrogation room and said to the delivery boy, "Get him a pizza too."
The delivery guy left, and another person arrived at the station - the coroner. He handed a report to Chief Louise and said, "I've also sent a copy to those two jerks. The woman died three years ago, and it seems like my initial assumption is correct... and she was around twenty-three years old."
"I'll read the report. Thank you, you've done a great job!" Chief Louise nodded to the coroner, "Alright, you can go now."
The coroner nodded and left. After he left, Chief Louise picked up the report and read it, frowning.
The identity of the female corpse had not been found, and no matching records had been found. So they needed to check the records of the people who disappeared three years ago. Of course, the easiest way was to arrest the previous owner of that villa directly. Investigating the people he was close to at that time might also provide clues.
There were many possibilities, but for now, they still couldn't find any. Hopefully, those two dumb FBI agents had started investigating the previous owner of the villa. God, those two were so irritating. Chief Louise couldn't help cursing again and then picked up her phone to make a call.
"Uh... Officer Patton, are you at Mr. Luke Prescott's house now?"
"No, I'm still on the road. There was a traffic accident that I'm dealing with. We'll probably arrive soon..." Patton's lazy voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Listen, Officer Patton, I told you to go to Mr. Luke Prescott's house, not to handle a traffic accident. Isn't there anyone else in the station?" Chief Louise became angry when she heard this. "Stop what you're doing, call for backup. You need to get to Mr. Luke Prescott's house immediately, and by the way, find out who the previous owner of that house was."
"Alright, I got it, orders received—chief!" Officer Patton's voice was a bit drawn out, clearly expressing his dissatisfaction. However, before he could say anything else, the "beep beep beep" from the phone rang in his ear, which made him even more irritated.
"I think so too. Let's get there quickly and finish this damn task!" Santos also grunted and then called for backup on the radio.
Soon, a police car drove over. Officer Patton handed over his current task and took Santos in his car to Luke Prescott's house. They complained all the way.
Finally, the car drove into Luke Prescott's house. At this time, they saw Luke Prescott coming out of the living room. As he walked, he complained to Officer Patton: "Look, what's become of my house now? Look at that pile of mud in the backyard..."
"I know, Mr. Prescott, we had to do this to protect the scene. If you want the cleanup to happen sooner, you should write us a report and submit an application, not vent here," Officer Patton said leisurely and then frowned at Luke Prescott.
"You're in your pajamas? Planning to stay here tonight?"
Luke Prescott spread his arms and laughed sarcastically at Officer Patton, "Is there a problem? I'm in my own room, and there's no crime scene tape here, and... there's no corpse anymore, will anyone come to scare me? Ha, Officer Patton, if I were you, I'd be trying to find out who the bastard is that buried a woman under the swimming pool."
"Of course, this is a matter for the police, not your place to comment!" Officer Patton glared at him unhappily and then said, "I'm just here to tell you something, you can't stay here tonight, you should find a motel and a chick... to help you get over the shock of today's events."
"I'll be damned, I'm not that kind of person, do you know how much those girls charge? Three hundred dollars! Even the women in Las Vegas don't charge that much—" Luke Prescott snorted, realizing he'd said too much, he quickly added, "Don't think about scaring me with that again. Have you guys started to believe in that psychic's words? When did the police start relying on psychics to do their work? Isn't this hilarious?"
"Shut up, Mr. Prescott, I can forcibly remove you!" Officer Patton put one hand on the holster at his waist and yelled at Luke Prescott.
"Don't think about getting rough with me. I'm a doctor, a respected profession, and a local celebrity. I'm a respectable person. You want to arrest me like this? No, no, unless you show me an arrest warrant from the court, or a search warrant!" Prescott snorted and chuckled coldly before turning to enter the house.
Officer Patton and Santos followed him in, but to their surprise, they saw Luke Prescott take a double-barreled shotgun off the wall in the hallway and point it at Officer Patton.
"I told you, Officer Patton, if you want to arrest me, then... bring the arrest warrant. If you're just here to ask some questions, you better be nice to me. I'm not afraid of you!"
Officer Patton's hand was still on his holster, but he was frightened by Luke Prescott. Santos was standing by, whispering, "Hey, Deputy Sheriff, we really don't have a legitimate reason to take him away. We don't have an arrest warrant, a search warrant, or anything issued by the court..."
Officer Patton reluctantly pulled his hand back, pointed at Luke Prescott, and turned to walk away. As he walked, he muttered a few words, "Son of a bitch, that damn hooker, they all want to go against me. Damn it—"