Larry remained silent and asked, "Is Williams the one who was upset because Alicia was pregnant?"
"That's the one." At this point, nothing surprised Jack anymore—Alicia was a box full of surprises that was pointless to try and understand.
After hanging up the phone, Jack knew that now, having one of the killers in custody, it would be easier to catch the second.
"I have a question. How did you find such irrefutable evidence? From the look on your face, something's bothering you."
Larry shook his head. "Did you notice the look in Nelson's eyes when he left?"
Max thought for a moment and smiled gently and politely, then asked, "What's wrong with that?"
"As a detective, I don't think you'd make a living if you truly didn't notice anything…" Larry always felt that once Max was away from an autopsy table, he lost the glow that made him his best right-hand man.
"That's why I'm a forensic specialist."
"Stop annoying me." Larry sighed, slightly irritated, and said, "When analyzing Nelson's expression, I noticed that he looked at the one-way mirror and smiled—a smile he was trying his hardest to suppress."
"He was also very calm."
Blinded by another killer, Jack asked, "Aren't you overthinking it? It's not like Williams is a suspect who doesn't fit the killer's profile. And considering he deeply hated Alicia, it makes a lot of sense that he could be one of the murderers you mentioned."
"You're right about that, but we're not even close to uncovering everything." Larry checked the time and said, "Don't let them go yet. I'll have someone request a search warrant and send a team to Williams's house for a deeper investigation."
In his hunt, Larry could've let Nelson go and then found a way to prove his guilt on his own. But with Jack at his side, making any move would be too dangerous.
Asking Dexter for help to do the job also seemed irrational, considering how far away he was.
That's why he decided to be patient. Surely, he would find the loose thread that was bothering him and pull until he uncovered the truth behind everything going on.
As far as he knew, Nelson had a girlfriend, and he wanted to meet her.
"I want to meet Nelson's partner, but asking him directly would raise suspicions," Larry said as he walked alongside Jack toward the exit, sharing his thoughts.
Jack asked, without giving much importance to where this might lead: "What do you really think?"
"Obsession is something we sometimes can't control, but we always look for someone to help us carry part of that burden. I, too, try to lighten mine, but Nelson, who had a partner, chose to abandon everything."
After saying that, he stopped, took out a cigarette, and before lighting it, added: "What I believe is that Nelson dated one of Alicia's personalities—the one who, coincidentally, treated the victim during her illness. But here's where it gets interesting: does the identity he was in love with find out and decide to confront Nelson?"
"That's much more interesting." Jack was surprised by how far Larry had taken his investigation.
In this case, it opened up a sea of possibilities that changed everything.
"But that doesn't stop us from focusing on Williams for now."
"Well, I'll work on that." After saying that, Larry left.
In this case, Larry was still a bit confused. The result of the DNA comparison had exceeded his expectations.
Two hours later, the agents found a knife in the trunk of Williams's car that matched the murder weapon used on Alicia.
It was wrapped in plastic and secured with duct tape, hidden in a hollow space beneath the trunk mat. If the search dog hadn't found it, the heavy man and his team would have returned empty-handed.
There were no fingerprints on the blood-stained knife—only palm prints and glove traces. The knife was photographed and sent to the lab for bloodstain analysis.
Jack ordered an immediate nighttime interrogation of Nelson, and at the same time, Nelson was released.
When Larry learned that everything was shifting away from Nelson, he left again, with Max following close behind.
Max kept rambling, and seeing that Larry was in a bad mood, he patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, cheer up! You said we shouldn't let emotions guide us in our job and that we should rely on evidence. Look at the evidence now—it's as solid as it gets!"
"You're not seeing everything."
"What else is bothering you? Doesn't all this get resolved with the clues we got from the autopsy and the trace analysis?"
Larry shook his head. "That's not what matters to me! I just feel like we've been led by the nose in this case, and it seems like all the evidence we've collected was fake."
"That's true. Too many coincidences—everything kept pointing us farther away from Nelson."
"In that case, everything must be fabricated." Larry stopped. Suddenly, everything made sense.
"What do you mean?"
"Williams isn't the killer—he's the smokescreen that's keeping us from the real two murderers."