Chapter 49: Investigation
After sending two colleagues out, Beckett walked over to the medical examiner, Renee, who was crouched beside the victim, and asked in a low voice, "Renee, have you found anything?"
The African-American medical examiner, Renee, looked up at Beckett and said softly, "The time of death should be within half an hour after 2:30 AM. The cause of death was this stab wound directly to the heart, which was instantly fatal. As for anything else, I'll have to go back and dissect the body before I can say more."
"Okay!" Beckett nodded lightly and said, "I understand, Renee. Please get the results quickly; I have a feeling this case is unusual."
"I'll put it at the highest Rank," Renee nodded, then waved for her assistant to help put the body into a body bag.
Beckett surveyed the room, her gaze finally settling on the safe nearby. She slowly walked over, carefully examining the marks left by the items inside, then looked down at the scuff marks on the floor from a struggle, and finally crouched over the glass shards scattered on the ground, slowly furrowing her brows.
"Found anything?" Renee had her assistant and a patrol officer transport the body downstairs, then walked over to Beckett, asking with concern.
"Sort of!" Beckett stood up, pondering as she spoke, "I've seen the victim's shoes and clothes; it's clear he came home after a midday jog yesterday. He went to shower upon returning, so the thief must have entered the house around that time."
After a slight pause, Beckett walked to a spot not far from the door and continued, "Look here, because the window was wide open, there's still a trace of water. Look at these messy footprints; it's clear two people had a struggle here. Our victim evidently knew some fighting techniques and was stronger than the thief, subduing the thief here."
Saying this, Beckett led Renee to the vicinity of the sofa, pointing to a few drops of blood there, and said, "Something must have happened here, Renee. When you go back, please help me check the DNA of this blood. I want to know whose it is."
"I understand," Renee nodded gently. These few drops of blood were very likely left by the thief. With his DNA, whether there are relevant clues in the database or not, this case would be relatively easier to handle.
"The next part is a bit confusing," Beckett said, her brows tightly furrowed. "Look, ignoring these heavy impact marks on the floor, it seems that while the victim was interrogating the thief, the glass window was suddenly shattered from the outside, interrupting the victim's interrogation. At the same time, the victim also kicked the thief towards the fireplace. You can see these drag marks, which confirm this."
"But how could the glass suddenly shatter from the outside in?" Renee asked, a bit puzzled, in a low voice. "Could the thief have broken the glass to get in?"
"No, look here," Beckett said, pointing to the heavy impact marks on the floor, her voice grave. "Look, these marks, I don't know how they got there, but the glass was clearly on top of them, completely unaffected by the heavy impact. This means the glass only shattered after the two people had struggled. It was because of this sudden change that the victim started shooting. However, there are also some issues here. According to the marks covered by the glass shards, when the glass shattered, the thief was always by the cupboard, while the victim was by the safe. This doesn't quite add up. Could it be that at the same time the glass shattered, they both moved at an extremely fast speed to the cupboard and the safe?"
"It's also possible that before the glass shattered, the victim and the thief had already moved to the cupboard and the safe. That's not impossible," Renee said, standing by, offering a different suggestion.
"So, it depends on what conclusions you can draw from the autopsy," Beckett sighed softly, saying, "No matter what, if we don't figure out why the glass shattered inwards and how these heavy impact marks on the floor came about, the entire case cannot be solved."
Renee nodded. Based on the marks at the scene, two slightly different conclusions had been reached. At this point, other evidence was needed for corroboration, and now they could only rely on the medical examiner's autopsy findings.
Just as Beckett and Renee were talking, a sudden sound of voices came from outside. It was Espo and a woman's voice. The two walked into the crime scene as they spoke.
Beckett frowned but still went to meet them. Espo walked in with a petite, black-haired woman in her early thirties. Upon seeing Beckett, he immediately introduced her, "Agent Lisbon, this is Detective Beckett. Beckett, this is Agent Lisbon from the State Bureau of Investigation. They are responsible for investigating the Natural History Museum robbery."
"Hello, Agent Lisbon," Beckett began to understand. As she extended her hand and shook Lisbon's, she said, "I heard about what happened there. I didn't expect criminals to so brazenly carry heavy weapons to rob a museum. Such a crime is truly heinous."
"Hello, Detective Beckett, you can just call me Lisbon," Agent Lisbon smiled lightly and said, "I also coincidentally ran into Officer Esposito while interviewing witnesses nearby, so I came up to take a look. These two recent cases happened too close together, only a few blocks apart, and the time difference between the two cases is only about an hour, so I asked Officer Esposito to bring me up to take a look. Perhaps we might have an opportunity to work together."
"Are you suggesting there might be a connection between these two cases?" Beckett understood the meaning behind Agent Lisbon's words. She pondered for a moment, then, as if remembering something, said, "You can just call me Beckett."
"Hello, Beckett!" Seeing Beckett's relatively friendly demeanor, Lisbon breathed a slight sigh of relief. In fact, their California State Bureau of Investigation is an investigative agency under the California Attorney General, belonging to the state police. They are usually only responsible for investigating cases that occur on state-controlled land and cases that local authorities cannot solve independently, so they are not very popular with local police.
The Los Angeles Police Department and their California State Bureau of Investigation are completely different investigative systems, with no subordinate relationship between them. Moreover, the Los Angeles Police Department is one of the four largest police departments in the United States, with personnel, equipment, and funding far exceeding the California State Bureau of Investigation. If Beckett was uncooperative, Lisbon would have no recourse.
"May I come in and take a look?" Lisbon looked at Beckett with a hint of a request. Beckett nodded gently and said, "Please do. Espo, please brief Lisbon on the victim's situation."
"Yes. The victim's name is John Stone, 36 years old. He just rented this apartment half a month ago and was found dead in the room this morning." After a slight pause, Esposito continued, "According to the interview records, neighbors around two in the morning heard several gunshots nearby. However, because the high-strength tempered glass installed here provides excellent sound insulation, they couldn't pinpoint where the shots came from. Plus, since this is Los Angeles, no one called the police."
"According to the medical examiner's preliminary determination, the victim died between 2:30 AM and half an hour later last night, with a dagger directly piercing his heart, taking his life." Beckett said, glancing at Renee. Lisbon also nodded at Renee in greeting and continued to listen to Beckett, "Based on the analysis of the scene, this should have been a shooting incident that escalated from a burglary. The firearm should have belonged to the victim, as there was only one type of bullet in the room, and the only gun was the desert eagle in the victim's hand."
Beckett stopped there. That was all she could say. After all, Lisbon was not a member of their team, nor a colleague from the Los Angeles Police Department. Without official documentation, she found it inconvenient to disclose more detailed case information.