Beckett called back the busy duo who were still busy outside. They were currently conducting an in-depth background investigation on the groom, Gret Murphy.
While the Murphys weren't particularly well-known and prominent in New York, they were a prominent family with roots going back two or three hundred years. Gret's grandparents even set up a valuable family trust fund for him.
According to Kevin and Esposito, they had never seen a billionaire heir as low-key as Gret.
"Billions?" Cassel's mouth dropped open in surprise. As the saying goes, some are born in Rome, while others are born to be slaves. Although he was considered wealthy now, he was clearly still far from that figure, and he didn't even know if he would ever reach that level in his lifetime.
"Yes, that's the key, but let's start from the beginning. Remember what Esposito mentioned when he was questioning the guests? Someone mentioned that Sophie almost didn't make it to the wedding," Jack said, standing in front of the evidence board.
Esposito nodded, indicating he still remembered. Beckett added, "I've also confirmed with Kayla. Since Sophie's far away in Los Angeles, their relationship in recent years hasn't been particularly close.
She was invited to be a bridesmaid simply because she and Gretel met because of Sophie, though that seems a bit ironic now."
"Then we noticed something strange. The wedding rehearsal was on Saturday, and with all the other preparations, you'd normally check into the hotel by Friday, but Sophie checked in early Thursday morning.
So this morning we called the bride, Kayla's mean mother, and talked to her about it." Jack raised his hand, motioning for his girlfriend to continue.
Hannah shuddered, seeming to recall the fear she'd felt not long ago at the mercy of a mean aunt who kept complaining about her daughter always mistaking men.
"I don't want to recall that conversation in detail. Anyway, we learned one thing from the bride's mother. Sophie seemed to be in a very bad financial situation. She even called her after the engagement party last year to ask if she could help pay for the flight.
She also mentioned that when she checked into the hotel on Friday, she saw Sophie shopping in the store attached to the hotel. In her own words, this girl seemed to have become a nouveau riche overnight."
"So." Hannah took out a credit card bill and posted it on the evidence board. "Based on my experience as a bridesmaid, I roughly estimated the expenses of Sophie's wedding trip.
The shoes, dress, hotel accommodation and airfare would not be less than $3,000 in total, but there is less than $20 left in her bank account, and her credit card balance has been completely overdrawn in the past few months."
Cassel frowned and looked at the credit card bill carefully. "How did she do it? I didn't find any related expenses on it. And how much did she spend on buying 'FM2' from the drug dealer? $200? Where did she get so much cash?"
"Never mind the cost of the medicine. As someone who's been a bridesmaid six times, I'm even more curious about how she managed to afford the dress." Beckett regretted her words the moment they left her mouth, as everyone's attention was instantly focused on her.
"Six times a bridesmaid? You don't happen to still have those photos, do you?" Cassel's attention suddenly shifted in a strange direction.
Jack coughed lightly, signaling everyone to stay on topic. Although he was also curious, he knew about the little superstitions about being a bridesmaid too many times and not getting married.
"So I decided to follow the money," he said, pulling out a small USB drive. "This is the store security footage I just requested from the Beaumont Hotel, and it led me to the man who paid for it all: Teddy Murphy."
"So, Teddy Murphy is actually Sophie's 'sugar daddy'?" What kind of a fucked-up shared lover plot was this? Cassel just felt a little confused, "When he found out that Sophie climbed onto his nephew's bed in the middle of the night, he killed her in anger?"
Jack found that he still underestimated this guy's wild imagination, and said with a smile, "I am more inclined to believe that he is the mastermind behind the scenes. Sophie was obviously instructed by him to enter Gret's room in the middle of the night in order to disrupt the subsequent wedding."
"Is this his motive?" Cassel's mind was still unable to figure it out, "What good will it do to Teddy Murphy to ruin the wedding? That person is not even of the same generation as Gret. The property that Gret inherited..."
He suddenly reacted as he spoke, "You mentioned the trust fund left to Gret by his grandparents. Are there any prerequisites for this fund to take effect? For example, Gret gets married or has children?"
Jack and Hannah smiled at each other and snapped their fingers, "Bingo, the billions of assets that Gret can inherit are currently only theoretical, but a large part of it, uh, let me see."
He turned out the most The latter document said, "In theory, as long as Gretl gets married, uh, she doesn't need to have children, she can inherit half of the fund, a total of 40 million US dollars. But now there is only less than 15 million US dollars left."
Everyone suddenly realized it, and Cassel, as a wealthy person, understood it immediately, "So Teddy Murphy, as a member of this family and a lawyer, is actually the executor of this family trust fund. He has been stealing money from it all these years?"
Jack spread his hands, indicating that he and Hannah had done their best in less than a morning, and they had to investigate the rest themselves, but he still reminded them.
"Remember to search Teddy Murphy's personal belongings, especially what he wore at the rehearsal dinner. Don't forget those strange scratches on Sophie's back. I bet an accessory on his clothing could be the definitive direct evidence."
"I'll get a search warrant. You two go get Uncle Teddy back to the police station." Beckett gave the two clowns his orders, then hurriedly left the office with Cassel, grabbing the documents.
"Is everything settled?" At nightfall, when Jack and Hannah returned to the 12th Precinct, they found Beckett sitting alone at his desk.
The female detective looked a little absent-minded, and her face did not show much joy from successfully solving the case. "Yes, everything is just as you expected. Teddy Murphy has no way to make up the money.
He took advantage of Sophie's financial difficulties and her lingering feelings for Gretel, and wanted her to ruin their wedding by seducing the groom and recording it on the eve of the wedding.
But when Gretel rejected her, Sophie fled back to her room and ran into Teddy waiting there."
Hannah asked with interest, "What happened next? The two had an argument, and Sophie threatened to expose what he did?"
"Or maybe in addition to silencing him, Teddy thought of another way to ruin their wedding and kill the bridesmaid?" Jack continued.
Beckett sighed, but her eyes kept glancing at the conference room on the left. "We have no way of knowing this for the time being. Teddy chose to remain silent, but whether he pleads guilty or not, the evidence is now conclusive.
We found a platinum tie clip in the briefcase in his room. As you expected, this is the source of the scratches on Sophie's back, the most direct evidence. The remaining epithelial cells on it are enough to convict him.
In addition, we also found Sophie's mobile phone. There was a recording in it. It was the recording of Gret sternly rejecting Sophie's sexual advances. Cassel called Kayla and was playing it for her in the conference room at the moment."
After she finished speaking, she couldn't help but look at the conference room on the left again, her eyes flickering and she asked hesitantly, "Jack, can you use the one you demonstrated before again?"
"Wait." Hannah covered Jack's mouth with her hand, her big eyes turned around cunningly, "You have to promise to show me all your bridesmaid photos."
"Deal!" Beckett glared at her best friend with gritted teeth.
Jack sighed and shook his head speechlessly. "Take me with you."
"Hurry up and read your lips!" If Jack could shoot lasers from his eyes, he'd probably be a sieve by now, because even Hannah couldn't wait to hear what the two of them were talking about in the conference room.
"Cassell was saying that Teddy's plan might have succeeded if he hadn't underestimated someone. Uh, I'm talking about Gretl. I'm not bad either, but, Kayla, he's a good man, an upright person, and he loves you deeply.
Kayla said, I know, and I should love him, but that doesn't mean I won't think of you from time to time.
Bah, you scumbag! Ah, I said that."
Faced with the two women's angry glares, Jack could only raise his hand to signal that he would stop interrupting and continue to peek into the conversation between the former lovers through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of the conference room.
"It was Kayla who said, there are so many cities in the world, so many weddings and so many murders every day, but you walked into my wedding and helped me.
Cassel said, I'm glad I met you. Wow, Kayla said thank you and kissed him on the cheek. Pay attention, she is leaving!"
"Shut up, we can see this too." Seeing the glass door of the conference room was opened, Beckett and Hannah quickly resumed their sitting position, pretending to be indifferent.
There was a sound of cheerful footsteps, and Kayla walked to Beckett's desk with a smile, looking at her without blinking.
Beckett, who was so nervous that he even held the documents in his hand upside down, looked up with a little confusion, not knowing what she wanted to do.
"He is yours." Kayla smiled and left the detective's office with a relaxed pace.
(End of this chapter)