Erin didn't hand the documents to her father, but instead gave them to Jack. "The bad news is, we still have two major issues left. Garth Crawford, a copper smelter, has violated a child three times, a first-degree felony. The judge is still hesitating whether to dismiss the charges."
"You mean something like that gets released?" Jack opened the folder, glanced at it, and then, disillusioned, handed the relevant file to Frank.
"What do you think the judge will rule?" Frank took the file and began to flip through it with a frown.
Erin's expression was less than optimistic. "While this guy does worry me, I'm even more worried about this Dick Reed."
Hearing the name, Frank exhaled heavily, clearly impressed.
This was the first time Jack had heard of this man. Three-quarters of the remaining file in the folder was devoted to his case, a serial rapist and murderer.
"So this Dick is his real name, not a nickname?" Jack's question made Erin roll her eyes.
"Three innocent women were brutally tortured before he killed them: stabbing, burning, repeated rape, and sexual abuse. He's also been implicated in several disappearances, but since no bodies have been found..."
Erin glanced at the file Jack had flipped through. Although she'd handled this case herself, seeing the photos and evidence again still made her, as a woman, feel intensely uncomfortable.
"This is just adding fuel to the fire," Frank muttered. He could already foresee tomorrow's headlines.
"We don't have many chips in our hands. He is a very smart pervert and was very cautious when committing crimes. CSI also convicted him through DNA evidence of a small amount of saliva residue on the body. Now the only way is to let Becky Swatch stand up and testify against him in the new round of trials."
When Irene mentioned the name, she looked at Jack and explained, "Becky is the only survivor of Dick Reed. She was tortured for 19 hours and finally escaped successfully by relying on the flame of a candle to burn the rope.
I went to her three times to persuade her to testify in court, but..."
"It's understandable." Jack turned over the photo of the victim. It can be seen that this is a girl with a sweet appearance and a bit of literary temperament. She is twenty-five or twenty-six years old and in the prime of her youth.
The photo in his hand showed two long, bloody slashes on the girl's left cheek, not to mention the scars on other parts of her body. "She's a strong girl,"
Jack said, even though Erin refused to testify. To have endured these injuries for 19 hours and ultimately found a way to escape Dick Reed's clutches was a testament to her strength of will, belying her seemingly fragile frame.
Frank agreed. "It's thanks to her clues that we found Reed. We can't be too harsh on her."
"I'm just sorry that Dick Reed surrendered the moment he saw the police. It seems he's a cunning beast, as you said."
Jack's implication made Erin frown, but she didn't express her disapproval of the police's "excessive use of force" or launch into a sermon about how criminals have human rights, as she had at Jack's first Reagan family gathering.
It seems that the quarrels between Irene and Danny were just a way for the two siblings to communicate their feelings. This young lady has the blood of the Reagan family in her bones and is not the kind of disgusting white left.
"I'll have Danny keep a close eye on Reed, and you, dear, I'm sure you'll find enough evidence to convict him."
Strangely, as Frank spoke these words, his gaze remained fixed on Jack.
The problem was, not a single word the Chief said concerned him. Jack's gaze darted between the father and daughter before him. Frank's expression was grave, while Irene looked just as bewildered as he was.
"Ahem!" Frank coughed softly, opened his desk drawer, and pulled out a wooden box, placing it on the table. "Jack, I heard you'll be leading a team soon. What do you think of this gift?"
Although the sudden change of subject seemed a bit abrupt, Jack curiously opened the box and saw a large gun inside.
"Is this a SIG Sauer P320?" But the size seemed off. Confused, he pressed the magazine release, and the magazine slid smoothly into his palm. Then, with a deft pull of the slide, he held it in the empty chamber, then removed a bullet from the magazine and examined it carefully.
"Is this a .40 pistol round? No, it's a full-load 10mm Auto round, not even the reduced-charge 'FBI load'?" Jack was a little surprised. This didn't seem like something the police would issue.
Frank nodded with a smile. "This gun is a Sig Sauer P320-XTen, a 10mm caliber. Someone tried to sell it to the NYPD, but it was apparently overpowered. Considering the FBI once issued pistols in this caliber, I've left you a batch of samples."
The FBI did once use the 10mm Auto as its standard pistol round. The incident originated in 1986, when eight FBI field agents and two Florida operatives met on the road and exchanged 150 rounds in five minutes.
The FBI ultimately won, but it was a pyrrhic victory. The two Florida operatives were killed, but two FBI agents were also killed in the line of duty, and five others were injured, four seriously and one slightly.
This incident was once considered the FBI's worst operational failure, and it left the bureau with a severe fear of insufficient firepower. They immediately adopted the 10mm Auto as their standard pistol round, issuing the Smith & Wesson 1076 pistol.
However, firearm design at the time wasn't adequate to effectively suppress the recoil of such a large-caliber round, forcing the FBI to custom-make a reduced-charge version of the 10mm Auto, which Jack refers to as the "FBI load."
Smith & Wesson, seeing an opportunity, reduced the cartridge size of the 10mm Auto to create the .40 S&W pistol round.
Glock also jumped on the bandwagon, releasing the 10mm Glock 20. However, the popularity of the 10mm pistol waned after the introduction of the new 9mm pistol round, which offered comparable stopping power and a larger capacity.
From then on, the 10mm pistol round was largely used only for hunting, as it was too powerful for bipeds but perfectly adequate for quadrupeds.
However, with the increasing number of bipeds who have become incredibly powerful after taking drugs in recent years, the popularity of 10mm caliber pistols has resurfaced, and it seems reasonable that someone would try to sell the NYPD a pistol of this caliber.
Jack naturally didn't think that the NYPD's chief was doing any sales on behalf of an arms company. After all, even if his squad was officially established, it would only have a few people. How many guns could it possibly use?
So this was indeed a gift, perhaps a small token of gratitude for his previous help in resolving the NYPD's internal problems, but it was a bit intriguing to bring it out at this time.