Chapter 1812
Chapter 1812
"Ring, ring, ring-"
Adrienne had just completed the autopsy and returned to the office when the phone on the desk suddenly rang. She picked up the receiver and said politely, "Adrienne Carter from the forensic department speaking."
"Adrienne, I don't care if you're done with your work, you'd better come to my room quickly," Quill's voice came from the other side of the phone, sounding both troubled and impatient.
"What is it?" Adrienne asked. However, Quill had already hung up the phone. She put her work aside and hurried to Quill's office. Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.
When she arrived, Quill sat her down in his office chair. Then, he pointed to the computer screen and said, "Can you help me identify who this person is? Is it Mr. Hefner?"
"Jefferson?" Adrienne looked at the computer screen. Quill immediately played it and explained, "It was taken from the CCTV footage of the bar. Jefferson had been to the crime scene and this morning, he had gotten into an altercation with the victim."
"Why would he be in a bar at one in the morning?" Adrienne was puzzled. Generally,
Jefferson only went out so late at night for work. If he went out for a drink, Freddy and the others would definitely accompany him. Who would dare to quarrel with them? "Was he with anyone else? When did he leave the bar?"
"There was no footage that showed him leaving the bar..." Quill stared at Adrienne. "Also, the description of the murderer given by the witness is similar to Jefferson..."
"It's definitely not Jefferson, he would never kill anyone." Although Adrienne saw the video, she still believed in his innocence. She knew him better than anyone else. "Jefferson has a bad temper. If
anyone provokes him, he won't let them go but he would beat them up in the open. He would never hold a grudge and secretly hide in the bar for a couple of hours just to kill a man."
"Adrienne, we are policemen. We must work based on evidence when we are handling cases, not just your faith in him... In fact, with your relationship with him, I can take you off this case." Quill was one of the few people who knew the real relationship between Jefferson and Adrienne. He could have stopped Adrienne from following up with this case, but he did not do so.
Before the evidence was clear-cut, Quill chose to have faith in Jefferson, just as Adrienne
did. "I also believe that Mr. Hefner didn't kill anyone, but what's the point of us believing in him? We need enough evidence to prove that he didn't kill anyone."
"I know. I know what you mean. If he is suspicious, I must find evidence to prove that he is innocent. It is not up to you and me to decide." Adrienne naturally understood what Quill meant. She said her earlier words out of panic.
Quill asked again, "Where is he now?"
Adrienne shook her head. "I don't know either."
"We can't get in touch with him. You try contacting him."
"Okay." Adrienne quickly took out her mobile phone and dialed Jefferson's private number again. However, a cold robotic voice sounded over the phone. "He turned off his phone. I still can't reach him."
Quill was so worried that his eyebrows were furrowed closely. "If we can't get in touch with him and get him back here to cooperate with our investigation, we'll be in big trouble."
"Sergeant Scott, wait a minute, I'll contact a few more people." Adrienne dialed the phone numbers of Freddy and the others one by one, but all of them answered the same thing. They had not been in contact with Jefferson.
They had no idea where he was either.
Since she couldn't find him through his friends, she had no choice but to call the Hefner family. It was Britney who answered the phone. Hearing Adrienne's voice, Britney was very happy. "Adrienne, why don't you come back home with Jefferson for dinner tonight? I'll call Jefferson later and ask him to pick you up after work."
Adrienne did not ask whether Jefferson was at home because she already knew the answer from Britney's words. Not wanting to let his parents worry, she did not tell Britney about the situation. "Madam Yard, I have to work overtime today, so I won't be home for dinner. You don't have to call Jefferson either."
Britney was a little disappointed. "Okay, you can come home for dinner another time then."
Adrienne said, "Okay."
After calling Britney, Adrienne did not know who else she could call. After thinking for a while, she remembered that Jefferson had visited her grandfather alone before. She called her grandfather as a last resort. "Grandpa, is Jefferson with you?"
"Alas, when I saw you calling, I thought you were missing me. It turns out that you just
miss your lover. My heart hurts." Hodge did not know what had happened so he joked around with her.
"Grandpa... Is Jefferson with you?" Hodge was joking, but Adrienne wasn't in the mood. When Hodge heard that something was up, he immediately changed his tone and said, "Adrienne, did
Jefferson do something bad to you? If he did, I'll make sure he pays for it."
In Hodge's eyes, although Jefferson was annoying, he had his merits. Jefferson was known for his bad reputation, but he never played around with women. Because of this, Hodge trusted him with Adrienne.
Adrienne's thoughts were
disrupted. "Grandpa, it's not..."
Hodge continued to say, "Jefferson used to bully you like a child playing pranks on others, but there was no real harm. Hence, I can accept all that. But if he dares to do anything that crosses that line, I will never forgive him. Adrienne, don't worry, I'm still strong enough to beat him up."
Adrienne helplessly touched her forehead and said, "Grandpa, if he isn't with you, then I'm hanging up."
She had contacted everyone she could think of but to no avail. She felt like her heart was in her throat. "Sergeant Scott, I still can't find
him." "You'd better think of another way to get to him, otherwise..." Before Quill finished his words, a police officer knocked on the door and came in. "Sergeant Scott, the fingerprint identification results on the weapon are out."
Quill and Adrienne looked at the police officer and asked simultaneously, "What's the result?"
The police officer said, "The fingerprint on the weapon is an exact match with Jefferson's fingerprint from the system. We can apply for an arrest warrant now."
"How could it be?" Adrienne was so anxious that she stood up and rushed to snatch the report from the police officer's hand. "There must have been some sort of mistake, right?" "Dr. Carter, you know
as well as I how strictly we protect our evidence. There's no mistake." "But we can't rule out the possibility that the real murderer put Jefferson's fingerprints on the weapon and deliberately framed him..." The next second, this idea popped up in Adrienne's mind.