The next morning, after reviewing a stack of files, Jack summoned Aubrey and Jiejie to his office and arranged for them to visit Kerry McMee's sister.
Although they didn't quite understand why they would divert their attention to an old case at this time, they still obeyed. In fact, not only were they puzzled, but Jack himself couldn't see any problems with the files.
The motive, the DNA evidence found in the victim's body, the surveillance footage showing the killer near the victim's workplace, and the witness statements formed a perfect picture.
Aside from Kerry McMee's continued denial of responsibility, everything from the arrest procedure to the trial seemed flawless.
If there was a reason, it was that Jack felt something was amiss when he watched the video of Jubal's interrogation of Kerry McMee.
Of course, this wasn't to say Jubal had done anything wrong during the interrogation; in fact, this case wasn't worth making a fuss about.
Even Jack and Danny didn't often use an interrogation room with a security camera that could never be fixed. Unless it was a critical case or a particularly heinous crime, it wasn't worth risking a Department of Justice investigation.
Jack had already had a vague inkling of this amiss when he saw Kerry McMee's photo in the file, but it only became clearer after watching the video.
Did a Brad Pitt-like guy really need to resort to violence to coerce and ultimately murder a simple coffee shop waitress?
Of course, there are handsome psychopaths out there. American serial killers are also known for their good looks, attracting countless incurable fans and addicts.
For example, Dick Reed, who died at the hands of Frank Reagan, didn't need to be a serial rapist based on his appearance alone, but he proved to be a psychopath. So, appearance alone doesn't tell the whole story. Aubrey and Jiejie, returning to headquarters, presented their findings.
"Kerry McMee's sister admitted to perjury and that the alibi is fake," Aubrey stated bluntly.
Jiejie added, "I also called a few of his friends, and their accounts are pretty much the same. Before he became addicted, Kerry McMee was a pretty nice guy, generous and loving. But everything changed after that. "Asshole" was the word they used most often ,followed by "aggressive."
It was evening, and Jack was packing up for the day off. There hadn't been much progress on the new case that day. Although a number of people had been assigned, the three bodies had been buried at the bottom of the lake for nearly three months, and the vast amount of surveillance footage from every entrance to Central Park was too vast to analyze in a short time.
In addition to Jack himself spending most of the day on Jubal's request, they had only just finished most of the background checks.
The three victims didn't appear to have any major issues. Aside from their slightly unusual appearance, their lives appeared to be normal, with normal work and normal lives. They had no bad habits, and their personal lives were clean; they weren't high-risk for infidelity.
The only one making progress so far is Isobel. She's managed to get the administrator of the website, and though he's very reluctant, he's finally handed over a list of all the IP addresses that accessed the site.
This information has just been submitted to the IT department, and the geeks are likely to be working overtime tonight. As Jack was walking down the hallway, trying to figure out which girl to coax into staying with him in the dorm, he stumbled upon Jubal, ensconced in a small conference room.
"Okay, let's review what you did the night you killed Casey."
"That's unnecessary. I didn't kill her. I've never killed anyone. Why don't you believe me?"
"Chris, continued confrontation will only increase your sentence in court. Explain the whole story, and maybe I can plead your case in front of the judge. We already have the information."
This conversation was familiar to Jack; it was the video of Jubal interrogating Chris McMee that he'd watched several times that morning.
Jack knocked gently on the door of the small conference room, catching Jubal's attention. He walked in and closed the door behind him. "What's wrong? Aubrey and Jiejie's investigation still hasn't convinced you and resolved your doubts?"
Jubal's face was a little grim, as if he was looking back at the past. "Well, I've always felt that maybe there's something... something I overlooked back then."
He turned the laptop screen towards Jack, pointing to the paused screen. "Do you see that coffee cup on the table? It's full of vodka."
"Wow," Jack said with a hint of admiration.
"If I hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have noticed any incoherence in your speech."
Jubal didn't care for the slight sarcasm and continued.
"That night, after the case was concluded, I went to the bar and got drunk. It wasn't to celebrate, but simply to numb myself with alcohol because my life was a mess at the time.
My wife and I separated, and my two kids hated me as a drunken dad. I slept with my partner, and we eventually had to break up."
"Huh?" Jack tried hard not to look too surprised. Yesterday, this guy only said that he had cheated on his wife after separating, but he didn't expect the specific details to be so explosive.
"Yes, yes, I was a jerk at the time, and now it seems like everything is about to happen again. I contacted her yesterday and told her that there might be doubts in the Kerry McMee case.
But she is about to be promoted, and if there is really a problem with this case, it is likely to cause her to lose her job. I knew it was time to let go, but always..."
Jack raised his hand to stop him from saying the next sentence. The "she" Jubal was talking about was obviously his partner with whom he had a relationship, but this was not the point.
"These are two different things. In my opinion, instead of wasting time here and looking back on your past, you might as well focus on the new case with us.
We are facing a serial killer, and new bodies may appear at any time. Regardless of whether Kerry McMee is innocent or not, everything will naturally come to light when we catch the murderer. "
Jubal's expression froze, "What you said makes sense, I just..."
Jack glanced at the time. It was almost ten o'clock in the evening, so he simply suggested, "Why don't we go eat something together? This is not a place suitable for chatting."
An hour later, in a private room of a Chinatown hotel, there was a simple three dishes and one soup, squirrel fish, shrimp tendon, garlic water spinach, and a fish head soup. Jubal wolfed down two bowls of rice, then leaned back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
"If you hadn't reminded me, I would have even forgotten that I hadn't eaten much all day. Jack had only eaten a sandwich that night. He'd originally planned to go back home for a late-night snack and try to trick Hannah or Jiejie into going back to the dorm with him, but now that plan had fallen through, he decided to just sit back and wait for his story. "So, what happened that made you decide to change everything and pick yourself up? Was it just because your partner broke up with you?
You and your ex-wife had already separated and eventually divorced. Morally, it didn't seem like there was anything to be too harsh on. Of course, the bureau's regulations were an issue, but it was obviously not difficult to circumvent them. So,"
Jubal's expression was conflicted, even a little embarrassed. "That was just one of the reasons. My wife and I had been separated for a while at the time, but we hadn't officially discussed divorce. After everything that happened, my partner made it clear to me that she couldn't be a third party, so we broke up.
Meanwhile, something else happened. The night I mentioned, the night the case was over, I drank myself to death. The next morning, I woke up in the driveway behind my car with no recollection of what had happened. "
As he spoke, Jubal lost himself in memories, his eyes gleaming. "Then I noticed a huge dent in the front of my car, and a lot of blood. Lots and lots of it."
Jack's eyelids twitched, and he straightened up. The rest of the story was somewhat unexpected.
"No, no, no, it's not what you think," Jubal explained hastily. "I reported everything afterwards, everything about the hit-and-run.
The ERT team collected evidence afterwards, and it wasn't human blood. They didn't tell me what animal it was, just that it wasn't human."
"And thankfully it wasn't." He paused, still looking terrified, which also relieved Jack. "Anyway, I went to AA and confessed to my wife about what had happened, about my partner. Then came
the pain, the painful divorce, the painful sobriety, and a three-month suspension. Fortunately, everything is over now.
I quit drinking, and although I'm divorced, I have a good relationship with my ex-wife and children, and I've resumed my work, but..."
"But the scars are still there." Jack continued, "This case reminds you of the Kerry McMee case, and it also opens up those scars.
You think you've made a fresh start, but you can't help but worry that those scars haven't fully healed and that something is still inside.
Instinct tells you that you should open the wound, clean it, and bandage it, but you're worried that after you open it, you'll see a rotten sore that's hopeless."
(End of this chapter)