American forensics, but the gourmet system

Russell cleared his throat:

"Joey believes that his mother's serious illness is a punishment from God because Romo's sexual orientation is against Catholic doctrine—"

"—It's considered a sin." Dr. Beckman nodded heavily. "Go on, Russell."

"Joey demanded that Romo break up with Rupert and go to church to confess his sins," Russell continued. "Although Romo was separated from his mother at a young age, he loved her deeply. Furthermore, he is a Catholic, though not as devout as Joey, but that was enough to sway him..."

"So Romo broke up with Rupert?" Dr. Beckman asked, slightly surprised. "Just because of Joey's accusations?"

"Yes, no one knows what Romo was thinking at the time, but the result was that he took the initiative to break up with Rupert." Russell shrugged and said, "Rupert was heartbroken. He pressed Romo for the reason for the breakup, but Romo refused to answer... Rupert had no choice but to accept the outcome."

Dr. Beckman made no comment, but simply took another sip of coffee.

"Joey took his mother back to Mexico, but she eventually succumbed to her illness and passed away at the end of September two years ago," Russell said, taking a sip of coffee. "Joey believes it was because Romo and Rupert still had feelings for each other, and that God punished them by taking their mother's life..."

"Ignorance."

Dr. Beckman shook his head and sighed.

Russell remained expressionless and continued speaking:

After burying his mother, Joey returned to New York and confronted Romo, asking if he had faked breaking up with Rupert while actually maintaining an illicit relationship. Romo vehemently denied it and blamed Joey for not taking good care of his mother. The two had a heated argument, and then tragedy struck…

Dr. Beckman sighed again and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Joey was in a panic and planned to dispose of the body. He cut off Romo's most recognizable right leg, burned it with an alcohol spray gun, and threw it into a sewer more than ten miles away from Romo's house. But then he realized that he didn't have a suitable means of transportation and that it would be too difficult to dispose of Romo's body in pieces, so he dug a hole in his backyard and buried the rest of the body deep in it."

"Throwing it far and burying it nearby fits the psychology of a murderer," Beckman nodded. "It's just rare for both to happen simultaneously in the same case..."

“Yes, so no other wreckage was found in the entire city of New York.” Russell nodded in agreement and continued, “Joey tried to unlock Romo’s phone with facial recognition, and to his surprise, he succeeded easily. He learned about Romo’s social relationships from Romo’s phone and also learned that Romo was a member of an amateur soccer team. Since Joey also happened to have played soccer since he was a child, he decided to impersonate Romo and live in New York.”

"It's a bit unbelievable, but his decision was indeed very successful..." Dr. Beckman said thoughtfully, "So the only loophole is Rupert, who is closest to Romo..."

"Coincidentally, Romo deleted all traces of Rupert from his phone after the breakup." Russell shrugged. "So Joey didn't know Rupert at all, he didn't even know what Rupert looked like... And eight months ago, Rupert almost died on the operating table due to a medication accident, and he decided to find Romo and confess his feelings to him again."

"At Romo's doorstep, Rupert met Joey. Before he could even speak, he realized this man was not Romo. Romo would never have looked at him with that curious, scrutinizing gaze… Rupert suppressed his emotions and began investigating this man who looked exactly like Romo. He had heard Romo mention that he had a twin brother. After a month of covert observation, Rupert became convinced that Romo had been murdered by his twin brother, and that the person now living in New York under Romo's name was none other than his twin brother, Joey."

"That makes a lot of sense." Dr. Beckman nodded in agreement. "When ex-lovers meet again, their eyes may be filled with excitement, indifference, or sadness... but certainly not with curious stares. Rupert's analysis is very insightful."

"He's a smart man," Russell agreed with Dr. Beckman. "However, Rupert still held onto a sliver of hope that Romo might still be alive, so seven months ago he anonymously sent Joey a letter telling him that he knew Romo's true identity and that he wanted Joey to talk to him."

"Joey was terrified. He left his place that very night. He wanted to escape back to Mexico, but he didn't have legal status, and he was afraid of being discovered if he used Romo's identity. So he came to Brownsville, where he lived under an assumed name and worked three illegal jobs a day to make a living. That's why Romo was reported missing seven months ago."

"That makes sense..." Dr. Beckman stroked his chin. "Joey must have been under a lot of psychological pressure while impersonating Romo, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted so strongly..."

"But Rupert eventually found him. He approached Joey under the guise of a neighbor, drank and chatted with him, and finally became absolutely certain that Joey had killed Romo. He decided to avenge Romo..." Russell continued, "That night, Rupert found Joey and confronted him. Under Rupert's pressure, Joey told Rupert the inside story that only he knew. Joey begged Rupert not to kill him, and Rupert pretended to soften. He made Joey write a suicide note, and then he planned to send Joey back to Mexico. In reality, Rupert wanted not only to kill Joey, but also to make it look like Joey committed suicide..."

"Joey believed it?"

“He believed it, he had no choice but to believe it; Rupert was almost twice his size… He wrote the will once, then copied it again.” Russell sighed softly. “But Rupert broke his promise; he grabbed Joey by the neck and threw him off the building…”

The office was quiet. Dr. Beckman squinted, as if he was thinking about something.

"That's the truth of the matter," Russell concluded. "It's certainly complicated, but also very regrettable..."

"Regret?" Dr. Beckman shook his head. "Don't feel that way, Russell. Many murderers, after being arrested, will cry about their difficulties, claiming they were forced to kill... But their first reaction after killing is often to cover up the scene, dispose of the body, bury it, and stage the scene as a suicide... They take other people's lives, yet try to survive and escape punishment..."

“But I sympathize with Rupert.” Russell disagreed with Dr. Beckman’s opinion. He shrugged and said, “After killing Joey, he deliberately left his wallet with Romo’s picture at the scene. He left evidence, and I found evidence too. Even if I don’t understand his feelings for Romo, even if I personally put him in jail, I still sympathize with him.”

  

“Compassion…” Dr. Beckman gave a wry smile. “Alright. But I must say, as a forensic pathologist, compassion isn’t a beneficial emotion… I don’t mean to criticize you, Russell. On the contrary, I’ve lost compassion because of my profession, but I hope you can have it for as long as possible…”

Russell blinked, not quite understanding what Dr. Beckman meant.