1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 91 Theodore: I'll be funny too (Please subscribe)
“My uncle is John Edgar Hoover,” Theodore said earnestly. “My real name is Theodore Dixon Hoover.”

“Dixon is my father’s name.”

Theodore thought the senior superintendent was joking with him, so he joked back.

The humor didn't work well.

The entire director's office fell into absolute silence.

Everyone stared at him in astonishment.

Theodore shrugged. "It's like you, Mr. Flores, asking me to identify the murderer from this list."

The almost stagnant air came alive again, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Deputy Superintendent Burton: "That joke isn't funny at all."

Theodore nodded in agreement and steered the conversation back to the case: "Even sixty years from now, no one will be able to do it."

The senior police superintendent wasn't interested in cases sixty years in the future; he was only interested in the cases at hand.

He asked Theodore if there were any other methods.

Theodore requested the help of the Black patrol officer and Leroy and her son.

The Black patrol officer is an existing member of the police system, and his transfer would not excessively provoke the situation.

The Leroy mother and son are more difficult to deal with.

The senior superintendent needs to discuss this with Chief Widke.

As Bernie left the director's office, he asked Theodore in a low voice, "Those three are a cover, aren't they?"

Under Theodore's gaze, Bernie wore an expression that said, 'I knew it.'

He guessed that Emos had already told Theodore the killer's identity.

Theodore felt Bernie was beyond saving, so he shook his head and headed toward the medical examiner's office.

Gary was drawing a sketch of an unidentified object.

Theodore watched for a while and then asked him why he didn't just take pictures with a camera.

Gary glanced at the camera beside him and said dismissively, "The photos are neither beautiful nor warm."

Theodore glanced back at Bernie, who was explaining the case to several young medical examiners, then at Gary, and silently shook his head.

He felt that everyone he met today was a bit crazy.

Bernie's account of Emos's promiscuous life greatly intrigued the forensic scientists, and even Gary slowed down his drawing.

When Gary heard that Emos had sexually harassed hundreds of women simply by virtue of his position as head coach of the community high school football team, he put down his pencil.

He pulled the body out, lifted the shroud, looked at it, and asked in confusion, "There's nothing strange about it."

…………

Around 10 p.m., a Black patrol officer appeared at the precinct with Leroy and her son.

The three of them standing together gave off a family-like vibe.

Leroy was being pushed in a wheelchair, and he was somewhat frightened.

His mother gripped the wheelchair tightly, looking worriedly at the Black police officer.

They have an ingrained fear of the police.

The Black police officer patted her on the shoulder as a gesture of comfort.

Bernie led them into the homicide squad's main office; Leroy and her son were taken to register, while the black patrolman was left behind.

Theodore and Bernie chose to start with him.

The other party was a patrol officer, who was also their colleague, so their communication was much smoother.

Following Bernie's advice, they opted not to go to the interrogation room, as that would be too formal.

Theodore sat in his seat, while Bernie sat at the table next to him, hooking a chair over with his foot for the black police officer.

It started like we were gossiping.

Bernie spoke first, setting the stage. Theodore then began asking questions once the Black police officer had relaxed.

They worked together skillfully and quickly made a breakthrough with the Black patrol officer.

The Black patrolman was very familiar with gang warfare in the Black community, and he identified more than fifty gang members among the 147 people.

Of these fifty-odd people, seven have died, 18 are disabled, three are seriously injured, and there are more than a dozen whose current situation is unknown to him.

Only seven or eight of them survived intact.

There were two of them who were walking arm in arm with Bernie in the hospital corridor that afternoon, laughing heartily.

These fifty-odd people were not all of the 147 people involved in the gang; they were just a portion identified by the Black patrol officer.

Theodore marked them, with those who were dead or disabled marked as special cases.

After questioning the black police officer, he pleaded with Theodore and Bernie to take care of Leroy and her son, and then went to give them some more instructions before leaving with lingering concern.

There were constant conflicts and tensions in the Black community, and he was worried that something unexpected might happen without his intervention.

Bernie drove him out of the precinct and later remarked, "He's really busy."

Theodore pointed to the table full of documents: "We're busier."

"Let's go." He stuffed the necessary documents into a folder, grabbed the folder, and headed towards interrogation room number 1.

Because Leroy's mother insists on not separating from her son, the mother and son are now living together in the same room.

The black patrol officer's admonition seemed to have an effect, as they behaved much more mildly than Theodore had anticipated.

But this gentleness was quickly destroyed as the questioning phase was about to begin.

Bernie wanted to take Leroy out for the next phase of the conversation, so that it would only take place between the three of them.

The proposal was rejected.

Not only did Leroy's mother refuse, but Leroy himself was also unwilling to leave.

Bernie reminded them that the question might be a bit intense and not suitable for Leroy to hear.

The mother and son were surprisingly in agreement, refusing again.

Theodore glanced at Bernie, feeling he was wasting his time.

He asked Leroy, "How do you know you are the son of Emos Williams?"

Leroy looked like a porcupine, his whole body puffed up.

Theodore: "You idolize him. You respect him. You project all your imagination of your father onto him."

"You've fantasized more than once about how wonderful it would be if he really were your father."

“You’re not angry because your mother has a sexual relationship with him; you’ve known that for a long time. You’re even secretly pleased about it.”

Leroy's face turned red, and he loudly retorted, "I didn't!"

Theodore ignored him and continued his analysis: "What you're angry about is that their sexual relationship started more than a decade ago."

“What you can’t accept is that Emos Williams is actually your father.”

"But your father ignored you for more than ten years."

"Emos Williams is very different from what you imagine him to be."

"So you refused to execute his tactics. And then, seeing the game unfolding exactly as he predicted, you stepped in to disrupt things."

"You'd rather lose the game than have the team's victory be related to him."

"Losing the game will make him take responsibility, and you even secretly hope that he will lose the game."

Leroy exploded on the spot and was taken away from the interrogation room by Theodore's colleagues.

Theodore shrugged at Bernie.

Bernie silently shook his head, got up and lowered the blinds, then called over a colleague to comfort Leroy's mother.

He and Theodore left interrogation room number 1 and walked outside.

Leroy was taken away from the homicide squad and temporarily placed in the patrol department's interrogation room. There, he could shout himself hoarse without his mother hearing him.

Bernie greeted his patrol colleagues with a grin and went into the interrogation room.

The patrol department specially chose a cramped interrogation room for them, which was about half the size of the homicide interrogation room.

Moreover, the interrogation room had no windows and contained only a table and two chairs.

After being brought here, Leroy felt frightened, and all the terrifying rumors about the police station that he had heard from his fellow countrymen came flooding back.

When Theodore and Bernie came in, he turned pale with fright.

Bernie closed the door behind him, and Leroy instinctively raised his arms to cover his head.

Bernie paused, then burst out laughing.

"Weren't you pretty impressive just now?" Bernie tossed the notebook onto the table and pulled out a chair to sit down.

Bernie's sullen face was particularly frightening, perfectly matching Leroy's imagination of a bad cop.

Leroy was terrified.

Theodore shook his head at Bernie and asked, "How did you find out about your relationship with Amos Williams?"

Leroy answered obediently.

The night before the match, after training he felt a lot of pressure and wanted to talk to the deceased.

He ran to the deceased's house and happened to meet the mother who had just finished talking to the deceased and was about to leave.

Leroy's mother hoped the deceased would acknowledge their father-son relationship, but the deceased refused without hesitation.

The deceased threw her, along with her shoes, coat, and bag, out the door.

Leroy witnessed this scene.

After Leroy finished speaking, Bernie glanced at Theodore, went out to get a tissue, and handed it to Leroy.

He sat at one corner of the table and, adopting a kind tone, encouraged Leroy to be strong and not to be irresponsible like Emos.

At first, Leroy was somewhat resistant, keeping his head down and remaining silent.

Bernie patted him on the shoulder, telling him he must remember how hard his mother had worked, blah blah blah...

The conversation gradually drifted to Leroy's school life, and finally returned to the team.

Under Bernie's advances, Leroy cooperated well.

He helped them further refine the classification of the 147-person list.

He knew far better than the Black police officer which students were involved with gangs, which students were being bullied, and which students were doing well.

Theodore eventually reduced the list of 147 people to 73.

This number still far exceeds expectations.

When they returned to the main office with the list, it was already packed with people.

The commissioner, whom I'd only ever seen on television, was leading a dozen detectives to take Leroy and her son away.

After being stopped, he started spouting nonsense.

He claimed to be a commissioner appointed by the mayor and said he was authorized by a senior superintendent of the Felton Police Department. He demanded that everyone here obey his orders.

However, no one listened to him.

The members of the homicide squad stood in front of him with indifferent expressions, showing no reaction to his words.

Enraged, the commissioner grabbed the phone and called each of the senior police inspectors he mentioned, finally dialing the mayor's number directly.

Theodore shook his head, feeling that the commissioner's acting was exaggerated.

After making the call, the specialist suddenly quieted down, no longer jumping or making a fuss.

A few minutes later, Chief Widke, who had received several calls from senior police superintendents and even the mayor, came to the main office to negotiate with the commissioner.

Theodore called Bernie, who still wanted to watch the show, into the interrogation room.

The homicide interrogation room wasn't soundproof, and Leroy's mother knew exactly what was happening outside.

After learning that Leroy was alright, she became exceptionally cooperative.

Based on the profile provided by Theodore, she helped them narrow down the list to 38 people.

Theodore focused his attention on two of them.

Like Leroy's mother, these two had sexual relations with the deceased more than a decade ago, and after the deceased became the head coach, he used sexual bribery to secure a spot for his child.

One of them was named Ruby Lee, and the other was named Ella May James.

Their children have all recently met with misfortune.

Ruby Lee's child joined a gang after being eliminated from the gang and recently became disabled.

Ella May James's child was in poor health, was bullied at school, and died two weeks ago from asthma.

Both of them are recognized as good people in the community.

They are helpful, kind to others, and actively participate in community and church activities.

Both men had high moral standards, but their attitudes toward the deceased were completely opposite.

Ruby Lee frequently harasses the deceased, expressing higher expectations of him and hoping that he can learn to take responsibility.

Ella May James only contacted the deceased once, and if Leroy's mother hadn't happened to be there, she wouldn't have known that she also had a relationship with the deceased.

After the questioning ended, Theodore hoped that Leroy and her son could remain at the precinct for the time being.

Just then, Leroy's mother was wary of what had happened in the large office earlier and felt it would be better to stay.

Emerging from the interrogation room, Bernie was somewhat worried about Theodore's assessment.

Theodore jumped directly from the 38 to Ruby Lee and Ella May James.

Theodore glanced at him and explained in a low voice, "Only the time when their children met with misfortune was closest to the time of the incident."

"Given the deceased's tendency to evade responsibility, two weeks was just enough time for their emotions to erupt and escalate into murder."

Bernie pulled out his notebook and flipped through Theodore's profile, saying, "But this Ella May James only contacted the victim once during the bribery. She doesn't fit your theory about the killer."

Theodore corrected, "It's not that she only looked for him once, but that Leroy's mother only saw her look for the dead man once."

As they spoke, the two arrived at the door of Director Widek's office, knocked, and entered.

The senior police inspector beckoned to the two men: "Any results?"

Theodore nodded.

Bernie hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

He gave a brief report to everyone, and couldn't help but look at Theodore when he stated his conclusion:

"We believe the killer is either Ruby Lee or Ella May James."

The senior police superintendent listened attentively, laughed heartily twice, and stood up to approach the two men:
"Good job!"

He patted the two men on the shoulder, praising them for not letting him down.

Bernie sensed something was off, but he wasn't at his peak and couldn't quite figure it out.

Theodore frowned and asked, "Can we bring him back now?"

The senior police inspector looked at Chief Widek.

Director Widek tapped the table: "No rush."

He checked the time and said, "You haven't had a proper rest these past two days, go back first."

Bernie wanted to ask them what would happen to the killer if they went back, but Wenner stopped him.

Wenner drove them back to the main office and announced that it was time to leave.

“Boss…” Bernie was really getting anxious.

He felt that nothing about this case was normal from beginning to end.

(End of this chapter)