Angela, unusually, had little appetite today. She toyed with her wine glass, swirling the remaining wine, her brow furrowed.
"The suspect's burglary was simply to catch Jeff and get the illegal drugs. We can deduce that Jeff either stole these things from him or owed him money."
"But I can't think of any reason for infighting among the suspects. The forensic investigators said they found several kinds of illegal drugs in Bruno's house, indicating it wasn't a conflict over the division of loot."
Jack scratched his head. "Is it possible it wasn't infighting, but that the suspects had other enemies?" But he imdiately dismissed his guess.
"That's too much of a coincidence, happening just a few hours later."
Carrie, listening to Nolan's account of the case, couldn't help but sigh.
"This family is so unfortunate, especially the father. He lost his son over a small bag of pills, and his wife was even…"
Everyone's hearts trembled; even Wesley, who was listening in, raised his hand.
"Is it possible that the father actually saw the suspects and recognized them on the spot? He actually lied to you."
Nolan agreed, directly adopting the father's perspective.
"If anyone dares to hurt my son, I will repay them with blood."
Angela's brow relaxed, and she put down her glass.
"Matt Christine paid for his son Jeff to undergo addiction treatnt. The reason he hid this from us wasn't because he felt ashad, but because…"
"It's because Jeff likely t Bruno at the addiction treatnt center, and Matt, who went to visit his son, likely also saw Bruno there, and then recognized him on the spot during today's incident, deciding to take revenge himself."
Jack continued excitedly, but then seed sowhat disappointed.
"But this doesn't help us find the other killer."
Angela, however, seed to have regained hope.
"Anyway, we'll tell Matt to co to the police station tomorrow morning for another interrogation to see if he knows the other suspect."
The next morning, outside the interrogation room, Jack and Angela glanced at Matt Christine waiting inside. The grieving father still had bruises on his face and looked haggard.
"How do we ask him? Good cop or bad cop? You play the good one or the bad one?" Jack was eager to try; his expert psychology skills were finally going to have a chance to shine.
Angela shook her head: "We're not interrogating a criminal; it should be a sympathetic cop and a stupid cop. You play the stupid one."
She then took a bottle of mineral water and handed Jack a folder.
"Hello, Mr. Christine, I'm sorry to trouble you to co to the police station again. Is Marilyn feeling better today?" Angela asked with concern, handing him the bottle of water.
"Oh, thank you. We didn't sleep at all last night. Marilyn… she… she cried nonstop, you know… what happened yesterday was a nightmare for her."
Matt Christine's eyes were still a little red and swollen. Although he was downcast, he seed very cooperative.
Angela looked apologetic and comforted him, "Please accept my condolences. It's just that according to the case-handling procedures, we still have a few minor issues to resolve. After that, you can go ho and continue to be with her. I know she needs you very much right now."
Seeing Matt nodding absentmindedly, Jack opened the folder with a businesslike expression and began to question him.
"Has Jeff been taking prescription painkillers? We found OxyContin in his room."
Matt explained with a helpless expression. "He injured his knee last year, and that doctor prescribed this stuff. He was addicted for a while afterward, and then I sent him to rehab."
"Malibu New Life Rehabilitation Center? I heard it's expensive there."
"Yes, but I think it's worth it."
Although he readily admitted it without trying to deny it, it was easy to see that he was trying to downplay the matter.
Jack nodded and then asked, "So you didn't know Jeff hadn't completely quit?"
Matt's face showed a tily look of shock and frustration: "No, I had absolutely no idea. He must have secretly hidden those pills. Damn it, Marilyn and I didn't even notice."
Jack handed him a photograph; it showed a mangled, bloodied face.
"Oh, sorry, I think I picked up the wrong photo."
He quickly searched through the files but found nothing.
"This man is Bruno Winch. This is what he looked like when we found him yesterday. This is another case, but we found out he was also a patient at the Malibu New Life Rehabilitation Center. We're preparing to investigate the connection between the two."
Matt stared blankly at the photo, then snapped out of it and quickly asked, "What does this man have to do with my illegal break-in? Is it related to Jeff?"
Jack, ever the 'loose' talker, blurted it all out: "Well, the Robbery and Homicide Division dumped this case on us again yesterday, as if they thought we weren't busy enough. During our investigation, we discovered that this man and Jeff had been in the sa rehab center. So we suspect both cases are related to controlled substances. The other party might have been targeting Jeff, and then they went to find this Bruno. Do you know him?"
Matt quickly denied it, "No, I don't know him. Is he dead?"
Jack shrugged, answering nonchalantly, "He's not dead, but it's not the sa as being dead. The doctor said that even if he were revived, he'd just be in a vegetative state."
Seeing a hint of relief flash in Matt's eyes, Jack and Angela exchanged a knowing glance.
Then Angela glared impatiently at Jack: "Go find this Bruno's photo again and have Mr. Christine examine it carefully. If there's no connection, hand this case back to the Robbery and Homicide Division. We don't have ti to clean up their sses."
Watching Jack dash out of the interrogation room like his pants were on fire, Angela said apologetically.
"I'm very sorry, Mr. Christine, he's just a newbie who's only been with the force for six months. Young people are energetic, but that's inevitable…"
Matt resud his absent-minded deanor, nodding indifferently.
After a while, Jack returned with a normal photo. Matt again denied ever seeing the Bruno in the photo before taking his leave.
Watching Matt Christine's slightly hunched back as he left, Jack suddenly felt no joy at discovering the truth, because he noticed that this unfortunate man's hair had turned mostly white overnight.
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