Chapter 137: Filing a False Report

Chapter 137: Chapter 137: Filing a False Report

Evan Keller looked at his team members, their exhaustion palpable. He then thought about Anne Dawson and the others still in the interrogation rooms, not to mention the elderly men they had just brought in. They needed people for all of that.

Just as he was about to assign his officers, there was a knock on the office door.

Evan Keller and the others looked toward the sound and saw the captain of the Third Squad, followed by several of his team members.

The group was geared up and ready to go, and they looked to be in much better shape than Keller’s team.

But that made sense. With Zoe Sawyer around, the members of Evan Keller’s and Sean Hughes’s teams were running on fumes. The Third Squad was also swamped, but compared to the other two teams, they were in a much better state.

"Captain Keller, let us take this case," the Third Squad’s captain said, his expression sincere. "Your most important job right now is to nail those drug dealers, and then get some proper rest."

He wasn’t trying to steal their thunder. Besides, if Evan Keller and Sean Hughes kept working at this intensity, their bodies wouldn’t be able to take it. They’d surely collapse the moment the case was solved.

Whether as a colleague or a friend, he felt it was the right thing to do.

Evan Keller didn’t refuse the kind offer. After thanking him, they all got back to their respective tasks.

The case was urgent; there was no time for pleasantries.

With a portion of their work delegated, Evan Keller’s team was no longer so shorthanded.

"Two people will be enough to watch the old men. The rest of you, interrogate everyone we’ve arrested. Once you’re done, switch and interrogate them again. We can’t afford to miss a single piece of information," Evan Keller said, rapping his knuckles on the table as he laid out the next steps.

This was to prevent any officer from missing a question, and to catch any of the suspects in a lie. ℴ

"Yes, sir!"

The others answered in unison before grabbing their things and heading out to work.

Officer Lee and Vivian Dunn also returned to their posts.

Evan Keller looked at Heath Hale and his two companions, then pointed to the folding cots in the corner. "You three haven’t slept all night. You should get some rest. Leave the rest to us."

Heath Hale and the others didn’t refuse Keller’s kind offer. They nodded in acknowledgment and, after watching Evan Keller and Sean Hughes leave, walked over to set up the cots and get some sleep.

Meanwhile, Zoe Sawyer was still off to the side, wrestling with her report and groaning inwardly.

’I escaped the novel, but I couldn’t escape the paperwork!’

Everything went smoothly after that. But just before noon, the captain of the Third Squad stormed back in with his people.

Although he tried to control his temper and keep his voice down as he passed the office, the sound of his heavy footsteps and the slamming door still woke Heath Hale and his friends.

"What’s wrong?" Heath Hale asked, sitting up on his cot.

Though he had just woken up, his eyes were clear and his voice was sharp.

"I don’t know. He looked really angry. Maybe something unexpected happened when they went to check things out?" Zoe Sawyer answered, her voice hesitant.

But recalling the scene of them passing by, the Third Squad’s captain had looked furious, and the officers behind him had seemed utterly exasperated. Something must have gone wrong with the case.

Heath Hale straightened his clothes, then tapped on the table, signaling for Zoe Sawyer to go with him and check on the situation.

Since they were in the police station, it was perfectly safe. Besides, it was only a few steps away, so Zoe Sawyer told Barry Quinn and Monkey to stay behind and continue resting.

As the two of them reached the door of the Third Squad’s office, they heard a man’s voice from inside, seething with rage. "If it weren’t for the special circumstances, I would’ve made damn sure they learned the consequences of filing a false police report!"

Heath Hale knocked on the office door and called out, "Captain Lee, is everything all right? Is there anything we can help with?"

Captain Lee, who had been complaining, stopped short. He waved wearily at Zoe Sawyer and Heath Hale. "It’s nothing. Lucky for you it wasn’t your team that went, or you would’ve wasted your whole morning."

"It was that caller! Yelling about how his wife killed his lover. When we got there, the door to their apartment was closed, but we could hear crying from inside. We thought something had really happened, so we forced the door. But once we got in... man, I wish I could unsee it," a young officer standing next to Captain Lee couldn’t help but chime in.

The second he walked in, he saw two lumps of flesh tangled up in some kind of depraved game. The various items scattered around the room made him wish he’d never stepped inside.

Just thinking about what he’d seen made him want to go bleach his eyes.

And because they had been in a rush, thinking something terrible had happened inside, they’d made a lot of noise breaking down the door.

A lot of neighbors had gathered to see what the commotion was about, so plenty of people got an eyeful.

The two people, who were in the heat of the moment, heard the noise, turned to look, and immediately went soft.

Only after hastily wrapping themselves in a blanket could they carry on a normal conversation.

"What do you think you’re doing? Barging into someone’s home like this! Watch it, or I’ll file a complaint against you!" one of them, a rather clean-cut man, shouted self-righteously, one hand on his hip and the other clutching the blanket.

The scene might have been more convincing if one ignored the strange marks on his body and the flushed corners of his eyes.

Captain Lee double-checked the address, then confirmed the identity of the man in front of him, making sure he hadn’t come to the wrong place.

He then presented his badge, his tone serious. "Sir, you’re the one who called the police, claiming your wife had murdered your lover and begging us to come save you."

Upon hearing Captain Lee’s words, the surrounding neighbors, who had been watching the spectacle, cried out in disbelief.

"Impossible! That’s absolutely impossible! Shea’s not that kind of person! Besides, I saw her leave early this morning. How could she have done anything?"

"Exactly! If Shea really wanted to hurt him, how could he be in here... doing... that."

"He’s just spouting nonsense. That Dave used to be a good kid. How did he change into a completely different person?"

"You don’t think... he’s on something, do you?"

"Dave wasn’t like this before. After his parents passed away, it’s like he became a different man. Started bringing all sorts of trash home with him, and his behavior has gotten more and more out of control."

The neighbors chimed in one after another, not a single one of them believing a word the clean-cut man, Dave, had said.

Some even looked like they had the urge to tear that shameless face of his right off and stomp on it.

The man called Dave looked furious as well. If not for the fact that he couldn’t exactly move around freely at the moment, he looked ready to charge out and argue his case with the crowd.

"Mr. Dawson," Captain Lee said, having already guessed what was going on. He pointed to a nearby sofa. "We need to conduct a search. Please have a seat over there and give a statement. You can start by explaining why you called to report that your wife had killed your lover."

And at that very moment, a stunned female voice came from behind the crowd.

"I killed someone?"