Chapter 163: The Son-in-Law Returns, the Cartoonist Contacts a Guardian Angel
Four hours later,
the three members of the Basson family entered the precinct.
"Detective, we're here. What's this about?"
the female senator said, spreading her hands.
"Let me handle this, let me handle this!"
Jake Peralta rushed to speak.
"Go ahead!"
Detective Amy Santiago wordlessly stepped back, making a gesture of invitation.
"Senator Basson, Congressman Basson, Mr. Basson, you..."
Jake Peralta controlled his expression and emotions, preparing to reveal the truth dramatically.
"Your story's blown wide open,"
Chuck said. "The private investigator hired by Congressman Basson has confessed everything."
"..."
Jake Peralta deflated, looking at Chuck with grief and indignation.
"Now you can confess,"
Detective Amy Santiago said, stepping forward.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Congressman Basson, the female senator's father, smiled. "If that's all you have, you can speak to my attorney. Melinda, let's go!"
With that, he tried to drag his daughter out.
"Mr. Basson, what about you?"
Detective Amy Santiago looked at the nervous Mr. Basson. "You're just a contractor in this sham marriage. Do you really want to go to prison for it? If you cooperate, we'll show leniency."
"What kind of leniency?"
Mr. Basson asked instinctively.
"Elliott!"
The female senator stared at her husband in disbelief.
"Sorry, I need to hear the details."
Mr. Basson, avoiding eye contact with his wife and father-in-law, laid out his terms.
"As long as you weren't involved in the murder, we won't prosecute you. You'll have immunity in this case."
Detective Amy Santiago offered the deal according to procedure.
Chuck listened calmly, silent.
This plea bargaining is a reality of the American legal system, not something that can be changed by one individual. He could deny the janitor the chance to "negotiate," but for the congressman and his daughter, without additional hard evidence, his previous work would be meaningless in the face of their power and wealth.
The confession of the senator's husband was the smoking gun they needed!
"Deal!"
The senator's husband immediately caved. "Melinda and I have an arrangement. I agreed to marry her in exchange for financial support."
"That's called being a trophy husband,"
Chandler couldn't help but comment.
Taking the woman's surname after marriage and getting paid for it - isn't that a classic kept man situation?
Detective Amy Santiago shushed her friend.
"Elliott, we had an agreement!"
the congressman threatened, unable to hold back any longer.
"The agreement didn't include prison time!"
Chuck corrected. "Continue!"
"We were the ones who spread the rumors about Christine and me to provide cover for them."
The senator's husband spilled everything: "Christine ended their relationship shortly before she disappeared, and Melinda was devastated."
"The night Christine disappeared, you said you were with Melinda?"
Detective Amy Santiago pressed.
"Yes, but I didn't see her until late that night."
The senator's husband glanced at his wife. "She was in a state of panic, but she refused to tell me what happened."
"I'll tell you what happened,"
Chuck said, looking at the three Bassons. "Melinda discovered her lover's betrayal, and then discovered the other party was her own father. Betrayed by the two people she loved most, even as a seasoned politician, she couldn't handle it. She killed in a crime of passion, and her experienced father handled the cleanup."
"No!"
the senator cried out.
Although she denied it verbally, the panic in her eyes gave everything away.
"Yes, your father was indeed inexperienced,"
Chuck nodded. "His handling was crude and full of mistakes. Everything he claimed he wanted to teach you, that political mastery you might achieve, was all fantasy. The supposed sophisticated maneuvering, the various schemes amid champagne toasts - but his real skill was committing murder and getting caught by police. You know why? Because he's been a congressman his whole life, completely out of touch with reality above and below his station. He told you he did it to prove that Christine was worthless and unworthy of love. His conclusion was correct, but the process and motivation were completely different. He could have paid someone to prove his point, but he chose to do it himself. Think about it - if you hadn't witnessed him with Christine with your own eyes, would you have been so impulsive as to kill her?"
"No..."
Chuck's reminder brought that moment flooding back to the senator, and the overwhelming pain of seeing her father with her lover washed over her again, tears streaming down her face.
And that was indeed the case.
In the world of American politics, not many people are sexually exclusive. She and Christine were just lovers with no binding commitment between them. She did have strong feelings for Christine, but if she dated other people, she would be jealous but would have no grounds to complain.
But when she realized it was her father, she completely lost control, confronted Christine, and in a moment of rage, grabbed a paperweight and struck her in the head.
"Melinda,"
the congressman warned, trying to silence her.
As long as they didn't plead guilty, with their political connections and the best legal team, everything could be managed.
"You really wouldn't have,"
Chuck replied calmly. "No matter how inexperienced you are, you wouldn't kill over this. The irony is that your father claimed he wanted to teach you political maturity and help you reach the pinnacle of power, but he ruined everything himself. Do you want to know why?"
"Why?"
the senator looked at Chuck hoarsely.
This was what had been eating at her.
Although her father had always explained that he did it for her own good, to educate her, and she had chosen to forgive him because he came to help with the aftermath of the murder, she still felt something was wrong. When Chuck pointed out that her father could have hired someone else to teach her the lesson, her confusion deepened.
Why did her father do this personally?
"Because he's a textbook sociopath,"
Chuck said bluntly. "The specific, deeper psychological causes involve complex social factors. For detailed analysis, I recommend consulting a psychiatrist."
"Which psychiatrist?"
the female senator asked, confused.
"Any psychiatrist, as long as they're properly licensed."
Chuck didn't explain that the psychiatrist he was thinking of was someone specific, not just psychiatrists in general. It wasn't that he couldn't offer a professional psychological analysis, but that many things were difficult to articulate in a public setting.
Just like how, despite his deep appreciation for certain philosophical concepts, he could only contemplate them privately, not openly in professional settings.
Everything requires appropriate context.
To summarize, the senator's father wasn't unaware of what Chuck was describing; he simply prioritized his own twisted gratification.
When it came to the relative importance of raising his daughter to be an effective politician, it was clear that his own perverse pleasure took precedence.
Ultimately, faced with all the evidence, the senator, her psychological defenses shattered by Chuck's analysis, chose to confess.
The congressman finally showed the calculated restraint of a career politician, refusing to say anything until his lawyer arrived. Even a guilty plea would have to go through professional legal counsel for plea negotiations. But under these circumstances, a confession was only a matter of time and degree.
Chuck's work was finished, and he returned with Chandler, who had finally recovered enough to walk normally.
"I hate to say it, but Dora was right,"
Chandler grumbled.
"You mean that you two are in love, and Dora's looking forward to expressing that love the next time you meet?"
Chuck said seriously.
"...Yeah right! Dora and I are star-crossed lovers, sure."
Chandler paused, then continued sarcastically, "I'm talking about Dora saying Christine deserved what happened. First, she tried to seduce her stepbrother, then she had affairs with both the senator and her father. She had absolutely no moral boundaries or shame."
At this point, he quipped, "She was in the wrong profession. With her background, she shouldn't have been a political assistant. She would've had a much better future in adult entertainment. After all, many adult films are based on exactly her type of situations. If she'd gone into that industry, her performance would have been authentic. She might even have become a star."
"Do you understand now?"
Chuck asked. "Every case has layers of complexity. If you want to be an effective detective, you have to detach emotionally and try to use logic to examine every piece of evidence."
"You mean you should start by assuming the victim is somehow at fault?"
Chandler complained.
"In this environment, yes,"
Chuck said bluntly.
Victim-blaming is generally problematic, but in the morally ambiguous world of American politics and crime, where "nothing is entirely black or white, everything is complicated, victims often contribute to their situations, perpetrators always have justifications," this becomes a practical investigative principle.
Therefore, Chuck never takes cases too personally, but acts based on evidence and logic. In the eyes of investigators like Kalinda at law firms, his cases lack emotional investment and don't follow vigilante narratives. In Detective Amy Santiago's view, he appears cold and detached.
But in reality, when faced with cases that truly move him, he doesn't intervene directly, because the cases he handles follow normal judicial processes.
What moves him are situations where the American legal system fails to provide justice for those involved.
In the hospital,
the author of "The Signal" comic lies motionless in a hospital bed, a television mounted on the wall playing. Though his eyes are fixed on the screen, his mind is elsewhere.
He's been through multiple surgeries, nearly castrated. The physical pain pales in comparison to the agony of losing his fiancée and their unborn child.
He wanted to scream with rage, but his body wouldn't allow it. He could only scream internally. He felt like he was losing his sanity.
At this moment, a voice came from the TV: "Do you want justice?"
This sentence resonated with him and instantly grabbed his attention. He looked over and saw it was dialogue from a TV drama, a character saying this line.
He wanted to respond, but he couldn't speak.
"If you do, just blink."
Just when he thought it was his imagination, several different images flashed on the TV screen, the words combining to form this sentence.
John McCann was stunned for a moment, then began to blink.
"From 1 to 10, how much would you sacrifice for justice?"
The TV screen flickered again, dialogue from various shows combining to form this question.
After John McCann blinked 10 times, he showed no intention of stopping. He just blinked frantically, tears streaming down his face, unable to stop his determination to continue blinking.
Clearly, he was willing to give everything!
(End of Chapter)
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