Rob holding a hot dog bought on the street and holding a cup of hot coffee under his arm, he shakes the "Daily News" of the day.
The headline hit his retina with bold and enlarged boldface, and the coffee cup fell to his feet and splashed his trousers. "... Damn it!" He spit out the hot dog, clutching the newspaper and ran to the office building not far away.
When he rushed into the office, he saw Leo sitting at the table looking at the computer screen, wringing a few deep lines between his brows. "It seems that you already know," Rob said gloomily. "Is this the so-called'things will always go in a bad direction"? Even if these dog-nosed reporters are one step ahead-damn they are always one step ahead. —But can you not take this title that seems to be full of conspiracy theories?'The serial killer terminator is secretly arrested, the FBI refuses to disclose the inside story, and the trial is indefinitely.'... There is also the following case introduction, written like a series of violent pornography The novel... What does it mean, "He tried to rape and kill him on the hood of a car, and was stabbed in the neck by his own toxin injection during the scuffle", as if this bitch had seen it with his own eyes!"
He threw the newspaper to the table angrily: "Tell me this is not as bad as I thought, and you have a plan to deal with it. Otherwise, I will find this female reporter named'Lali', and handcuff her for a crime! "
"You have overreacted, Rob." The black-haired agent's expression has calmed down. "The news media don't care about the truth. They only want ratings and circulation."
"But at least they should not be so subjective. Look at the meaning between the lines. It is clear that the suspect we arrested is to be portrayed as an invincible punishment angel and dark hero. This is misleading the public! So what do we mean by birth and death? It is always after the fact. The long overdue dumb policemen and the arrogant government law enforcement agencies shit? They can't violate our efforts like this, after a field agent just died last month!"
Leo was silent for a moment and replied: "Don't care too much about the opinions of others, since you have chosen this career. I will call Prosecutor Mazzini now and ask her to communicate with the judge and set the trial time as soon as possible."
Like dropping the first scoop of water in boiling oil, the media fry the pot. In just a few hours, reporters from newspapers and television stations flocked to the FBI office building, prosecutor’s office, and federal detention center. Rob suspected that if they didn’t leave a few minutes earlier, they would be caught. Only a few bloody bones remained.
They answered countless calls in the Chevrolet, all of them were troublesome and unsatisfactory.
"This is not an accident." Rob said after hanging up the call, "I just heard from a friend that Canning went to MCC again yesterday with a woman, 80% of which is the female reporter named Lali. I heard they With close cooperation, that woman is like a short-legged woman lying on the back of a wolf, plus a profit-only newspaper boss. If they get the exclusive right to interview, other media will definitely make trouble because of jealousy!"
Leo was driving with a Bluetooth headset and said, "Believe me, the news I got is worse than you. The information technology department came from there, and they couldn't find the real name and related files. Pseudonyms and fake documents. As long as it is a social person, there will always be growth trajectories — hospitals, schools, workplaces, bank accounts, etc. of birth — but he did not leave any traces, and DNA and fingerprints were not recorded."
"Sounds like an invisible person, or a ghost that has been resurrected from the dead..." Rob shook the goose bumps on his back.
"Of course he has his real name, but we haven't found it yet." Leo said affirmatively. "Maybe it's a certain name in the dusty file that was falsely reported as dead; maybe it was deliberately hidden by a secret organization. He is on him. There are many doubts, his skill, information network, source of funds... everything is still a mystery."
"So you don't want to open the trial so early and expose the case to the public eye." Rob said.
"It's a pity that we lost the opportunity. I thought it wouldn't be so-"
"High profile?"
"And quick success. I thought that according to his character, he would go to jail quietly, and then find an opportunity or create a chance to successfully escape from prison, disappear into the vast crowd, and continue the killer career he loves-that is his goal in life. But now, he has pushed himself to the forefront of the storm, naked in broad daylight, which is stupid and self-defeating for the killer." Leo said.
Rob hesitated: "Perhaps... he thinks he is sure of his acquittal and plans to wash his hands in the golden basin from now on?"
"That's impossible." Leo stared at the vehicle ahead blankly, "I can feel the desire to boil in him... He can't stop his hands at all, only one thing can completely stop him-death."
Rob whispered: "But I always feel that maybe he is not as crazy as you think..."
"What are you talking about?" Leo raised his eyebrows.
"No, nothing. Where are we going now?"
"Go home to avoid the limelight and pretend that you are not at home." Leo said, "The court decides to open a court session tomorrow to hear this case. The next 24 hours will be the prosecutor's painful time. We are just two members on the witness list waiting to be summoned. It’s not guilty to ask for hardship."
"Actually, you say that because you are more afraid of facing the aggressive faces of journalists than serial killers?" Rob teased, "I remember the last time the chess serial murder in Chicago, they crowded you in the corner. Asking for details, your eyes were both annoying and furious, as if you wanted to take a stun gun to bring them all down."
"Actually, if I had a stun gun in my hand, I would. Those damn news reports didn't know how much information was revealed to the murderer. They adjusted their strategy based on our response, but fortunately they were shot dead in the end."
"When I think about it now, I still think it's really a miracle-I said Leo, you really defeated the two murderers by your own strength, with such serious injuries?" Rob asked suspiciously.
Leo's breathing seemed to stop for a while, and then said coldly: "I don't want to recall the situation at that time."
"Okay." Rob shrugged. "Everyone has a secret. Maybe there is a blue tights embroidered with S under your shirt."
Canning walked into an office of the court. Prosecutor Fanna Martini was sitting on the chair behind the tall and heavy square table. She was a young white girl. She was wearing a dark skirt and her black hair was cut short. She looked capable and feminine.
When she saw Canning, the prosecutor gave a smile that seemed quite kind and nodded at him.
Oh, this expression again: "Let's make a deal." Canning thought to himself, but this time is different.
"I said straightforwardly." Fanna said after he sat down, "If the finale can sign a confession and plead guilty to the prosecutor in court and truthfully explain the crime, I suggest that the judge sentence him to 30 years."
Canning immediately retorted professionally: "It's too long. What's the difference between this and life imprisonment? Do you know how old the average life expectancy of a prisoner is?"
Fan Na put the line in a hurry, "If he has a good attitude to plead guilty, he will confess to the victim in court for 25 years."
"Victims? Do you mean those serial killers with many murders? Oh, if I tell him this, he will go crazy, maybe he will talk nonsense to the media." Canning made a sad look, very sincerely. Said to the female prosecutor: "He is a diehard, but not a killer of anti-social personality. In fact, I believe that everything he does is based on a sense of justice and compassion..."
Fanna almost rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. Out of the level of understanding of a certain lawyer (she did not cooperate with the other party less in some previous cases), she decided to make a quick decision: "20 years, serving two-thirds of the sentence-stop bargaining, I will not regress. ."
Canning listened to her decisive tone, and estimated that this was probably the bottom line of the other party.
Seeing that the other party stopped speaking, Fanner calmed down and said, "That’s the decision. Attorney Canning, bring your client here to sign the confession. Teach him how to speak in court, if he stupidly gets angry in court. Judge, don’t blame me for not keeping my promise."
Canning sighed helplessly: "I want him to sign the confession. In fact, I have strongly recommended it several times, but he just refuses to confess guilt."
Fanna's face suddenly darkened: "Refusing to confess guilt-then what were we doing just now? You wasted five minutes of me!" She got up annoyed and left, and before leaving, she threw a bad tone to Canning: "See you in court tomorrow morning!"
Canning shrugged: "You know how I don't want to offend you, but... well, see you in court tomorrow."
At the same time, the two FBI agents who were on the witness list were in one of the apartments, lying on the sofa while eating the delivery pizza and watching TV.
On the screen, a haggard-looking middle-aged woman was crying into the microphone, crying about how kind and good her son was brutally killed by a serial killer. When the reporter asked her what she thought about the arrest of the "serial killer killer", she yelled without hesitation: "They can't do this! He avenged my son... What's wrong with him? He killed all scum. It's not a pity that those bastards die 10,000 times..."
Rob chewed on a slice of pizza and said, "Look, how sensational... It's tearing and eye-catching. This is the effect the media wants."
Leo picked up the remote control and changed it.
It's still a news program. This time it is a random interview on the street. There are two questions: "Do you think the serial murderers who are killed have human rights?" "Do you think the killing is guilty?" The previous question was 80%. The interviewees all gave affirmative answers, but for the latter question, the answers to “guilty” and “not guilty” were basically half open, and some people said that “although they violated the law, they did not cause harm to society, or even cause damage to society. To a certain degree of purification."
Leo got another one. This time it is finally no longer news, but a hit TV series: "Arrow". On the screen, the handsome and attractive male protagonist is pointing his bow and arrow at the bad guys (he can always find so many bad guys), and he said coldly: "--You have let down this city!"
An arrow shot.
The center mouth.
The wicked gets a reward, and the protagonist leaves in a hurry.
Then the protagonist's lawyer-girlfriend helped all kinds of things, and the girlfriend's police father all kinds of water.
"What's wrong with our society..." Leo murmured.
Rob swallowed his last bite of pizza: "Personal heroism is never out of date. You know, someone has to beat the bad guys, and people think the police are not cool enough, so Spider-Man Batman makes his debut."
"—But he is not a knight! He did this purely to satisfy selfish desires!" Leo replied angrily.
"Then you have to convince the judge, the jury and the people in the court of tomorrow." Rob hooked his partner's shoulder and said, "Believe me, only you can do it except the prosecutor."
Leo was silent for a long time and said, "I have to sleep well."
On the second day, Leo did not arrive at the court early in the morning. After a period of time in court, he quietly opened the door and walked to the back auditorium to sit next to Rob. From here, over the shoulders of the people in front, one can clearly see the figure wearing a navy blue suit on the dock.
As if perceiving the gaze behind him, he suddenly turned his head back, glanced at him, and then turned back, as fast as a startling glance.
Leo didn't see his expression clearly, only found that all the bandages on his body had been removed-he knew how heavy he was doing, and the injury that was done would not heal at all for a while.
He can go to court with a bandage in exchange for the pity of the jury and accuse the law enforcement officials of abuse of power. Why doesn't he do that? Leo thought indifferently.
The atmosphere in the court was tight, and the occasional eyes of the defense lawyer and the prosecutor were blazing, and it was clear that they had already confronted unceremoniously.
Rob leaned to Leo's ear and lowered his voice to explain: "The defendant has just admitted that he was a killer and that he had killed twelve people. The current prosecution's argument is deliberate murder, and the defense's argument is just killing."
Canning got up and asked to show evidence A to the judge and the jury—a pile of horrible and horrible photos of dead bodies, the proud works of serial killers.
"Objection. This is the information of some other cases and has nothing to do with this case." Prosecutor Fanna said immediately.
"This is an important evidence to understand the defendant's motives for committing the crime, and I think it has a lot to do with this case." Canning confronted each other.
Judge Linden rejected the prosecution's objection, and the photo was sent to the jury. The twelve jury members showed shock, anger, sadness, and sympathy.
Canning walked up to the jury and began to condemn the cruel, anti-social, and dehumanizing nature of these serial killers, and then summoned a relative of the victim as a witness, asking them how they felt when they lost their loved ones.
Fanner objected again: "The defense lawyer tried to influence the jury's judgment with personal feelings."
This time her objection was accepted, and the gray-haired, serious-faced black old judge warned the defense lawyer: "No emotional card is allowed."
Canning accepted. The witness returned to the auditorium, but the attitude of the jury was faintly inclined.
Seeing the situation, Fanna made a fuss about seizing the methods of killing people, saying that these methods are no different from serial killers, they are all bloody, cruel, and inhuman.
Obviously this is true. Canning was speechless, avoiding positive responses, claiming that the defendant was a devout Christian, deeply influenced by the Old Testament, and believed in "an eye for an eye". To him, these killing methods are like a religious precept, not from the original intention. This argument can barely stand, but it is somewhat far-fetched and lacks convincing power.
Rob was quite interested in the two sides' lips, but Leo lost his senses, as if his mind was left in another space. It wasn't until the prosecutor called his name that he woke up to the witness stand.
"Tell the court your name, job?" the prosecutor asked.
"Leo Lawrence, serving in the Criminal Division of the FBI."
"In the past year, you have been ordered to hunt down serial killers, that is, to kill, right?"
"Yes."
"He commits crimes frequently, why did it take you fifteen months to arrest him?"
Leo couldn't help but glanced at the dock. Shaqing was staring at him, his dark eyes were like the sea at midnight, calm and dark and deep. Leo forced himself not to look away. He looked at the other person and said word by word: "Because he is smart enough to plan carefully and act decisively, leaving almost no trace."
Rob pondered these words in the audience-they look like commendatory words, but in this place and at this time, it seems that they will only have the opposite effect.
Fan Na raised the corner of her mouth slightly and continued to ask, "Compared to the other killers you have hunted down, he is more cunning, good at escaping, and more sophisticated, right?"
"Yes."
"Last question: As the law enforcer who knows the defendant best, do you think he will never hurt anyone other than the suspected serial murderer he himself identified?"
Rob straightened his waist unconsciously and leaned his head forward. This question is a tricky trap. No one can make absolute guarantees about the actions of others, but once Leo gives a negative answer, it proves that he has the possibility of killing innocent people in the eyes of the front-line law enforcers who know the best.
Leo realized that the prosecutor turned the direction of the debate to "social harm". In this regard, he has a voice and authority that cannot be ignored.
He hesitated for a second, and slowly uttered a few words in a calm expression: "I can't make such a guarantee."
Fan Na asked: "In other words, do you think it is possible for him-even if he never did, he will be able to attack the innocent in the future?"
"...Yes." Leo replied heavily. He knew that he had thrown a heavy weight to the jury and tilted the scale of their judgment towards the prosecutor.
He closed his eyes at this moment, and when he opened them again, the surging emotions had been perfectly suppressed by him.
"I'm finished." The female prosecutor returned to her seat and cast a mocking glance at the defense lawyer when she turned around.
When Vanna observed him before, Cunning deliberately showed a look of thinking about countermeasures, but then stood up confidently, walked in front of Leo, and asked in a relaxed tone: "Excuse me, in the office of the FBI Criminal Division. , Are there any office books? The kind recommended by the bureau and purchased at public expense?"
"No!" the prosecutor cried, "the defense lawyer is wasting everyone's time."
"All of my questions are closely related to the subject and will not be unfocused." Canning retorted.
"Then you better get into the subject right away." Judge Linden warned again.
"Ask the witness to answer my question."
"Have."
Canning asked the judge to show evidence B. It was a stack of books, and the cover looked like a novel. "This is the work of the suspense detective novelist Roy Lee, "The Whispers Before Bed" and "Smashed Pupa", "Death The trilogy of "Butterfly" and "The Last Wing" are also in your office reading, right?"
"Yes." Leo replied unclearly. He doesn't know what this inexplicable question has to do with the case in court today
The members of the jurors also gave each other incomprehensible glances.
"The reason why I recommend these readings is because they are related to your own job, and the reasoning methods and investigative methods in them are helpful for you to understand the psychology of criminals and enrich investigation knowledge, right?"
"Yes." Leo admitted. Of course, it has to do with your own job. Why not put "Playboy" in the bookcase? As for whether it is helpful, this is a matter of opinion.
Canning showed a fleeting smile, "So, is it possible to think that while the FBI is hunting down, while using his works as supplementary teaching materials to improve the detectives' level of criminal investigation?"
The court was silent, and people seemed to be wasting their brains to understand the amazing message conveyed in this sentence—a few seconds later, there was an uproar in the audience! The jury began to whisper, and the female prosecutor widened her eyes and forgot to close her lips with complexion lipstick. Even the judge, who had always had a calm expression, looked surprised. After a while, he remembered knocking the hammer: "Quiet!"
Leo asked Canning startledly: "... Sorry, what did you say?"
"Apply to show evidence C and D." Canning took a deep breath. For this moment, he has been extremely excited and looking forward to it for a few days, and has practiced countless times, to the point that he still cannot calm his inner excitement. Just as when he opened the subway locker and took out the manuscript from the bag inside, he almost fainted in shock. He couldn't wait to go back to find the finale to verify, and then yelled forgively, almost picked up the opponent and went around in a circle, and was severely warned by the prison guards.
"Exhibit C is a manuscript of a novel that has just been finished. It was handed to me by the finalists. The author is Roy Lee. That's right, this is his pen name. Exhibit D is the manuscript's handwriting and the publisher's previous preservation. The comparative identification of Roy Lee’s handwriting confirms that the two parties are indeed the same person."
After receiving the evidence passed by the bailiff, the expressions of the judge and the jury seemed to have gradually fallen from the void to the ground, unbelievable, but they had to believe it.
"The title of the new novel is "Chess of Life and Death". It is a suspenseful detective story based on the Chicago chess serial murder case two months ago. The inner details and the lifelike details make one have to doubt. In real cases, do you also participate in and play an important role?"
"Agent Lawrence," Canning turned to Leo, who looked dumbfounded again, "I have a question that I can't understand. In that case, you and your colleague Robrey Simon were attacked by two serial killers, and you covered your colleague to escape. Go, I was captured, tortured, and imprisoned in the densely covered "Holmes Castle of Horror." How did you escape from your birth when you were seriously injured and inconvenient to move, knocked down and killed two professional fighters? , A murderer of the retired special forces? Can you boast to the judge and the jury, do you rely solely on your own power?"
Leo said nothing. His brain rumbling loudly, like a train that was tumbling rapidly due to derailment, about to fall to pieces under the cliff. He stared at his hands blankly. At that time, the other party was sitting down, face to face with him, but a few meters away, he could not face him squarely, and condemned him with an angry look-I let you go, the only time! In order to protect you, in the report I submitted to my superiors, I didn't mention a word about your appearance! And you, even told the lawyer these inside information, and became a weapon to attack me in the court!
"—Don't forget the oath you made when you pressed the "Bible"!" Canning raised his voice and shouted.
"... No, I can't." Leo replied in a trembling voice.
"So, who is that person? Who is that person who helped you defeat the murderer, saved your life, and also saved countless other potential victims of law enforcement?" Canning asked harshly.
Leo raised his head in pain and despair and closed his eyes.
"You don't have to answer directly. Please read the underlined paragraph in the text—" As he said, Canning shoved the page in front of him.
White paper and black words dangled vaguely in his eyes, like memory fragments mottled with light and shadow, like sighs pieced together with blood and pain. Leo read dryly in his voice: "'Excellent, I think we can reach a temporary united front,' the serial killer said with a smile,'In other words, I'm safe for the time being, don't worry about your use of the barrel. Poke my back and call'Freeze', right?'
'Before I caught the cavalry, yes. 'Federal agents promised cautiously. "
Canning asked: "Does this passage faithfully reproduce the scene at the time?"
"Yes." Leo replied mechanically.
"As a senior FBI agent, did you cooperate with the finalists as a personal act, or was it an act of the bureau?"
No, this has nothing to do with the Bureau of Investigation. You guys want to pull me into the water, don't want to get into the bureau again! Leo quickly replied: "It has nothing to do with the Bureau of Investigation, this is entirely my personal behavior!"
He answered too quickly and too firmly, so that it fell into the eyes of those with a heart, and it became a self-evident desire to cover up. Canning passed a look of "Look, shady is everywhere" to the jury, and said with emotion and in summary: "We have reason to believe that Agent Lawrence and Mr. Killing reached some sort of joint hunt for the serial killer. Based on the identity of the former, I can’t guess where the instigator came from. But obviously, the defendant took it seriously, thinking that he was something like a'non-staff agent', holding a sense of justice, sympathy, and devotion. The positive attitude of the law enforcement agencies to serve has led to the occurrence of a series of cases."
Leo looked like a lion who was forced to a desperate situation. With an unusually sharp and gloomy gaze, he swept Canning's triumphant posture, and landed on the calm and unwavering face.
-From entering the court, until now, he has not spoken or said a word, but he has used a long-planned, unexpected, and outrageously suppressing great force to control the overall situation.
The prosecutor resisted the panic and stood up suddenly, and said to the judge: "The prosecutor has applied for a 48-hour adjournment!"
The old black judge said in a deep voice: "Agree to adjourn the court." With a gavel, the media reporters in the audience almost dispersed in a rush, rushing towards their position at the fastest speed.
Canning couldn't hide his joy and walked over to hug the finish, and said in his ear: "Unbelievable... We will win, I believe!"
"You are the only one who wins." He murmured.
Canning regarded this as a novel compliment and smiled brighter and brighter.
Leo almost tripped over the corner of the table as he walked down from the witness stand. Rob rushed to support him.
"... Rob."
Rob heard his black-haired partner whisper his name.
"I know, I know, it's not your fault... It's a shameless trap, a deliberate conspiracy, and it's impossible to guard against..." He tried to comfort him with all his strength, and there was never a moment when he hated the brutal ruthlessness like this one. .
"Rob," Leo said in an extremely calm, ashamed tone of voice, "I don't want to lose my career. Other than that, I have nothing."