North American Detective: I am Proficient in All Kinds of Gun Quick Draws-Chapter 50 Leading the Case, Marcus Woke Up (4200 words, 2-in-1)_1

Conference room.

Captain Monet, the perennial salary thief, still hadn’t come to work.

Old Hunter took the main seat and coughed twice. "Gentlemen, because of our outstanding performance in the serial home invasion stabbings, the chief has granted our squad a bonus of one hundred thousand US dollars. This will be distributed next month based on everyone’s performance and contribution."

"Wow!"

"That’s great! I was just thinking about getting the latest Harley motorcycle!"

Everyone cheered. The title of Homicide and Robbery Division detective sounded impressive, but without bonuses and overtime, their monthly take-home pay, depending on rank and position, was only five or six thousand US dollars.

Old Hunter looked at everyone with a beaming smile and knocked on the table to recapture their attention. "This bonus is just the beginning. It represents the chief’s recognition of our Fourth Squad. In the future, we’ll take on more and more cases."

Upon hearing this news, the crowd wasn’t as excited as before but still smiled. More cases meant the chance to legitimately work overtime and claim overtime pay, a major source of income for detectives. For example, even rookie detectives in other squads earned over ten thousand US dollars a month with everything tallied, not counting extra bonuses. The Fourth Squad was finally, truly on the right track.

After announcing the good news, Old Hunter looked at Dean. "Dean, Daisy told me that you dealt with a case of a suspected indoor death yesterday?"

It was his turn! Dean rose to his feet and began to recount the details of the case. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

After listening, Old Hunter was somewhat disappointed. "So, this was all just a misunderstanding?"

The Fourth Squad desperately needed more achievements to solidify its position. The case involving Harry’s friend, where the suspect had fled to Mexico, was basically going to be shelved to gather dust, with little hope of being solved. Old Hunter had been counting on Dean’s case.

"Yes," Dean nodded. "However, during my investigation, I made a new discovery. After confirmation from the forensic team, we can now assert that at least one murder occurred at Villa 76 over a month ago!"

As he spoke, Dean pushed the report prepared by Holz over to Old Hunter, then stepped straight to the whiteboard and wrote down the names of the Shane Family of four and the handyman, Marcus.

At this moment, all six people in the conference room focused their attention on Dean.

"While surveying the scene, I found blood spatter on the walls of the main hall, the exterior of the fireplace, and the ceiling, so I called in the forensics team," Dean began.

"After testing, the bloodstains in the house belong to three individuals—two males and one female. One set of stains belongs to the handyman, Marcus. His are the freshest and can be immediately ruled out. The blood of the other man and woman is mixed. It’s confirmed they were both left over a month ago. The male blood sample is small and matches the DNA from hair found on Shane’s clothing, likely having belonged to Shane or his son. The female suffered fatal blood loss; her identity is undetermined, possibly Shane’s wife or an unknown third party."

Old Hunter’s spirit revived. "Dean, did you find any useful clues?"

"Yes, but not many," Dean said, pointing at the report Old Hunter was holding. "At the time, I didn’t have legal authorization to investigate, just some information from the Shanes’ neighbors."

Dean glanced at Daisy. He had ’bought over’ Daisy on the phone the day before, securing her help to prepare the basic information on the Shane Family and Marcus early in the morning.

Daisy, very perceptive, took out several folders and distributed them.

After everyone had read the information, Dean tapped the whiteboard and began his case presentation. "Shane’s wife was a devout Christian who didn’t work. She often volunteered at a Christian Church and was well-regarded in the vicinity. Over a month ago, she informed her fellow churchgoers that her family would be going on vacation for some time and she would be unable to continue helping at the church. After that, the Shane Family completely lost contact."

"At least, I couldn’t reach any of them by phone," Daisy added.

Dean looked approvingly at Daisy and continued, "According to the investigation, Marcus, the handyman who triggered the previous case, was hired by the Shane Family just before they disappeared. In the past month, neighbors often saw him working in the yard. But a few days ago, a truck from the Haul logistics company came and took away all the valuable furniture and appliances from the villa. Coincidentally, those pieces of furniture and appliances might still bear uncleaned bloodstains. If we can retrieve those items, the forensic team might be able to analyze the bloodstains and tell us what happened inside the villa at that time!"

Dean looked towards Daisy again.

Daisy, pleased by Dean’s earlier approving glance, quickly took the initiative, producing a sheet of paper. "I came in early today. Based on the information Dean provided on the phone yesterday, I found the logistics company and contacted them."

Dean hadn’t expected Daisy to be so efficient. "What did they say?"

"Those pieces of furniture and appliances were all sent to second-hand shops; Marcus sold them! The logistics company gave me the names of a few of these shops. As long as we have a search warrant, we can retrieve all those items!"

Old Hunter watched the two of them working so well together, a curious expression on his face.

He had a strange feeling. The Dean of the present didn’t seem like the newbie who had joined less than two weeks ago, but rather... like Captain Monet.