Chapter 161: I'm Back Again! Hit Me, Stupid!
"You know she's dead, right?"
Detective Amy Santiago said, speechless. "Are you sure you want to say that?"
Her tone made Dora sound like a suspect.
After all, there was clear motive.
"Yeah, Dora,"
Chandler said, unable to contain his instinct for wit and jokes. "Don't be mad at me just because you treat everyone like this. You know we all care about you."
"How do you care about me?"
Dora suddenly smiled, looking at Chandler meaningfully. "I wanted to ask you that last time."
Last time at the hospital, Dora had told them to wait, and Chandler couldn't help but keep bothering her. She finally closed the reception window to show she didn't want to deal with him anymore.
And there he was, talking in the tone of a boyfriend coaxing his girlfriend, or a parent soothing a child. He told her to stop being angry, and then told Ross, Joey, and the others that he might have "lost her."
Then he turned around and saw Dora had already reopened the window, staring at him.
He screamed "Gah!" in shock and quickly backed away, not giving Dora a chance to continue the conversation.
"..."
Chandler paused, but couldn't help but shrug and gesture to Chuck and the others, "See? I'm a perfectly normal heterosexual man!"
"Are you sure this proves you're normal?"
Detective Amy Santiago was increasingly confused about reality.
"Tell me more about this girl,"
Chuck asked.
"She's ungrateful and has no sense of family loyalty."
Dora's anger intensified when discussing her stepdaughter. "She's always causing trouble. Will's her stepbrother, and this little tramp actually tried to seduce him! Disgusting! She has no shame!"
"Wow, this plot sounds familiar."
Chandler, his confidence restored, nodded and smiled habitually. Seeing Chuck and Detective Amy Santiago looking away, his smile froze. "I said this plot sounds familiar. Haven't you seen those adult films from the San Fernando Valley? There's a whole series about that scenario."
"We get it. You're a man!"
Detective Amy Santiago looked sympathetically at her friend, who was desperately trying to prove his masculinity.
"..."
Chandler's mouth twitched.
Seriously, you need to work on your acting!
"Did they hook up?"
Chuck asked bluntly.
"What did you say?"
Dora stared at Chuck, her eyes wide.
"I asked, did Christine Jasmine hook up with your son?"
Chuck met her gaze calmly.
Dora's expression was fierce. They stared at each other for a long moment, but seeing Chuck's impassive gaze, she looked away first, venting her frustration at Chandler: "See? That's how a real man acts!"
"Is that even a question?"
Chandler was also irritated, but he didn't dare meet Dora's gaze. He smiled at Chuck and said, "We saw Christine too. Even as a corpse... but the foundation was there. Any man would know what choice to make."
Detective Amy Santiago couldn't help but pat her friend on the shoulder, signaling that he could stop trying so hard.
There was really no need to go through such graphic descriptions just to prove he was a man.
"Of course nothing happened!"
Dora exclaimed. "My son's a gentleman!"
"At first my brother resisted,"
Chandler said playfully.
Chuck couldn't help but glance at him, flashing back to the classic "I'm back again, hit me, stupid!" scene.
Dora glared at Chandler fiercely, her fist clenched and ready to strike, but Chuck's calm gaze forced her to suppress the urge. "Will isn't like that tramp! He knows what family means! Stepbrothers and stepsisters aren't just about blood! That slut would do something like that! Ugh! Disgusting!"
"Okay,"
Chandler said, wiping the spittle Dora had deliberately sprayed on his face. "Now we all understand what disgusting means."
"So why did you call Christine Jasmine three days ago, before she disappeared?"
Detective Amy Santiago's expression darkened.
Looking at Dora's rage, she was growing suspicious.
"Of course I was scolding her!"
Dora was completely oblivious to the change in Detective Amy Santiago's expression, or perhaps she noticed but didn't care. She continued ranting, "What a shameless tramp! She's done so many shameless things. First she tried to seduce Will, and then she was hooking up with some old man. Absolutely disgraceful!"
"That was her choice... Aside from trying to seduce your son, the rest doesn't really concern you, does it?"
Detective Amy Santiago asked carefully.
"Ha!"
Dora scoffed. "Doesn't concern me? Then why did you come to me first when she got into trouble? Even if I don't want to acknowledge that tramp anymore, everyone knows she was once my stepdaughter!"
"..."
Detective Amy Santiago was speechless.
Fair point.
The adoption records were clear.
"Did you see this old man's face?"
Chuck asked.
"Of course!"
Dora sneered, "He's old enough to be her grandfather, and she's still shamelessly flirting with him."
"Can you describe his appearance in detail?"
Detective Amy Santiago's eyes immediately lit up as she asked Dora, then looked at Chuck expectantly.
She remembered Chuck's sketching abilities.
"He's just got a generic face, how am I supposed to describe it?"
Dora complained.
"That's easy."
Chuck pulled out his phone, scrolled through it, and showed it to Dora. "Is this him?"
"Yes!"
Dora recognized him immediately.
"Who is he?"
Detective Amy Santiago leaned over, curious.
"Anything else you want to add?"
Chuck didn't answer immediately, but looked at Dora.
"Yeah, that tramp is dead now,"
Dora said. "Are you saying this old bastard killed her?"
"Not sure, we need to investigate."
Chuck stood up.
Chandler immediately rushed ahead of Chuck, avoiding Dora, who was glaring at him and looking ready to attack.
"Boy! I remember you!"
Dora pointed at Chandler and shouted. "Seems like we're destined to keep meeting. Now that we're seeing each other again, let's discuss the details of your love for me and my love for you."
"...Love in the heart is enough."
Chandler looked at Dora, her fists clenched and her expression threatening, and laughed nervously. "Dora, no need for goodbyes."
He hurried out of the apartment.
"Who is he?"
Detective Amy Santiago demanded.
"Get in the car,"
Chuck said calmly, "The senator's father."
"What?!"
Detective Amy Santiago and Chandler, both eagerly waiting for Chuck's answer, exclaimed in unison, staring at him.
"Did you see that?"
Chuck said, looking at Chandler. "That's what a man's primal instincts would do."
"...Okay, I admit I'm not a real man."
Chandler, who had been desperately trying to prove his masculinity, struggled for a long moment before letting out a self-deprecating laugh. Seeing Detective Amy Santiago still gaping, he reached out and gently closed her mouth, teasing, "Hey, buddy, let me help you with that."
"Let me process this, let me process this."
Detective Amy Santiago massaged her jaw, feeling overwhelmed. "You said Christine was in that kind of relationship with the senator, and now you're saying she was in that kind of relationship with the senator's father. What does that mean... what does that mean?"
She finally didn't dare voice her own conclusion.
"It means exactly what you think,"
Chuck said calmly.
"Holy shit!"
Detective Amy Santiago's thoughts condensed into a classic exclamation.
What a tangled web!
"Why? Why?"
Detective Amy Santiago couldn't understand this situation.
"There's a similar plot in those San Fernando Valley movies,"
Chandler continued to joke, but seeing his friend glaring at him for the first time, he tactfully placed his hand over his mouth, making a zipping motion.
"The senator's father is also a longtime congressman,"
Chuck said calmly. "They're a political dynasty, and normal moral standards don't apply to them. This isn't Chandler's era anymore. If this behavior became public, it would severely damage her electoral prospects and her position would be in jeopardy. That's why she's maintaining a fake marriage and presenting what everyone considers a normal family.
The senator's father discovered his daughter was having an affair with her assistant, and to prove the assistant was worthless, so she could see through him and focus on her career, it's not surprising he'd do something like that."
"Thanks. I look forward to my era,"
Chandler said self-deprecatingly.
"That's incredibly cruel,"
Detective Amy Santiago exclaimed in shock.
As expected, the players in this House of Cards were all twisted beyond belief. Compared to them, Dora, the nurse with her sometimes fierce demeanor and crude language, seemed incredibly righteous.
"What do we do now?"
Detective Amy Santiago was shocked to see no one disagreeing with her assessment. After a moment of stunned silence, she could only ask with a frown. "This involves a senator and a senior congressman. Without solid evidence, the investigation can't proceed."
"That's easy,"
Chuck said calmly. "Dora has confirmed the relationship between the senator's father and Christine Jasmine. We've collected all of Christine Jasmine's belongings at the station and spread word that Christine, being a collector, must have kept mementos from her 'prince.' They're bound to make a move, and we can catch them in the act. And the senator's husband is just a staffer. If he's involved in the crime, we can easily find leverage through him."
"I'm not sure they'll take the bait,"
Detective Amy Santiago asked uncertainly.
"You're overestimating them,"
Chuck said bluntly. "They're professionals at politics, but they're clearly amateurs when it comes to crime. A real professional would never have let this case happen in the first place."
Under American law, no body means no case.
Detective Amy Santiago: "..."
(End of Chapter)
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