Mysterious Hunting Ground

Chapter 104. 104. Targeting
At the appointment time, Dean Holden followed Lawyer Lukeville to the detention center and entered an interview room divided in half by a glass window.

"Hi, Joan, how was your rest last night?" Luqueville picked up the phone and looked at the beautiful woman in an orange prison uniform inside the glass window.

She didn't have the heavy makeup in the photo, she was a little more delicate and pale.

"Please, barrister, please help me get out of this damn place!" Joan held the microphone in both hands, her face frightened, "The group of women are horrible, as if they are going to eat me, they have been shaking the guardrail and making noise all night long, Threatening me, intimidating me, and laughing at me! God, I am not guilty! Why should I suffer this torture!"

Her voice was hoarse and trembling, obviously she had been frightened a lot last night.

"Don't be afraid, Joan, they can also bluff, they can't hurt you, I assure you of that!" Lucville turned to the two companions comfortingly, "This is Dean and Holden, my partner , They are looking for clues on the day of the incident, and they have a few questions to ask you, I hope you can answer them honestly."

The woman glanced at the two completely unfamiliar men, and pleaded with red eyes,
"As long as you can save me, I will say anything!"

"Don't worry, Joan, I believe you didn't kill anyone." Dean took the phone from the lawyer and clamped it under his neck, smiled, "I have some good news for you, the truth about the murder of Jayne Harden Fierce, we already have some suspected targets, but we still lack key evidence."

Next, Dean asked her about the changes that happened in the room on the day of the incident, and then compared her answers with the statement, transcript, and Jayne Harden's testimony to confirm that they were consistent.

The suspicion of committing the crime was ruled out.

Dean opened the backpack and took out the staff information of the Kovan Hotel,

"Now, I need you to carefully identify it through the photos, and then tell your impression."

Dean pasted a profile page of a black man, including a headshot, on the glass. This man was one of five men after Grace's preliminary screening. "His name is Kenny Foro, one of the employees of the Gawain Hotel. Do you have any impression of him?"

Joan's eyes were instantly attracted by the photo, and her face came closer.

Observing closely, Dean found that she was indeed a rare beauty, with a sexy and charming appearance, which hit the spot of many men. Even the plain prison uniform could not conceal her proud figure.

"I recognize him, but I have only met and greeted him a few times, and I haven't had much contact with him."

"Are you sure, has he ever sent you flowers, confession and so on?"

"No," she said confidently, "I eat this bowl of rice, dozens of customers must not be confused, so I have a good memory."

Is this considered a leader in the industry, with extraordinary talent?
Dean complained in his heart, and changed another photo of Asians,

"Jack Lee..."

"Sorry, I only met him once or twice, without any communication, he is very shy."

"And this one, Barrett Quinn."

A white man with a huge hooked nose, deep-set eyes, and a sinister face,

Joan's face moved closer, then held her breath, her pupils shrank, and a flash of surprise flashed across her face,
Dean knew immediately,

"I remember him, this guy likes to secretly film me with a camera, sent me flowers twice, and tried to ask me out. But his behavior of secretly filming made me uncomfortable..."

She deliberated, and said in as gentle words as possible,

"And he is obviously not good at communicating, and he is not on the same channel as me at all, so I explicitly rejected him."

Joan curled her lips, a trace of helplessness flashed in her eyes,
"But he was not reconciled, and continued to pester me once. I warned him with a complaint, and he left wisely."

Wow…

Not good at communication, stubbornly pestering the goddess, which is almost consistent with Holden's profile.

He also has a camera and knows how to take pictures!
Dean couldn't help but exchanged glances with his companions who were watching, suppressing his excitement and saying,
"You are such a kind person. If you were another guest, you would complain to him once you were harassed."

"That would cost him his job," Joan murmured, pulling her sideburn hair to her ear. "It's been hard to find a job these past few years, and the punishment is too heavy."

"No wonder men are so obsessed with you. Go on..." Dean ticked a red circle on this piece of information with a pen, and took out another piece of information. In order to avoid omissions, he planned to let the other party take photos of thirty men. Go through it again.

Next, in the interview room, only the sound of paper scraping across the glass, and the woman's hoarse description were heard.

Two 10 minutes later.

After the identification was completed, Dean was shocked by the result but also felt incomprehensible.

Of the thirty men who worked at the Kowain Hotel, fifteen had unsolicited affection for Joan Cartree, and most of them had families.

"Are all Las Vegas men this passionate?"

Dean suddenly had a sense of superiority standing on the moral high ground.

"Not all men are like this... they love to think with their lower body." Holden put his arms around his chest and said in the tone of a psychologist, "Faced with the temptation that is right in front of us, [-]% of them will surrender immediately. [-]% will feel guilty and irritated to follow in their footsteps when their peers give in, unless they have abnormal sexual orientation or frigidity, extreme introversion, otherwise there is no exception."

"Ahem." Lucville coughed twice inexplicably, and glanced at his watch, "You two, have you finished asking, the visiting time is coming to an end."

Dean nodded, and checked again the 22 documents highlighted in front of him. If the primary target, Barrett Quinn, the hook-nosed man who harassed Joan, was found innocent, they would investigate the rest of the men one by one.

Moreover, the progress of the investigation has jumped from 60.00% to 70.00%, which shows that the error will not be too large, and the murderer is among them.

"Joan, thank you for your frank answer. I have a hunch that the investigation will soon make a breakthrough. See you next time, and you should come out safe and sound."

"So, you think the real murderer is Barrett Quinn?" The woman on the other side of the glass wall showed a puzzled expression, "He wouldn't do that, would he?"

"It's just a suspicion at the moment." Holden took the microphone, "He likes you, but he is not accepted. He can only watch you, the lover of his dreams, and Jayne Harden frequently go out together. It is inevitable Jayne is jealous. And sometimes men are more jealous than women."

"In that coincidental scenario, that was enough of a motive."

Joan Cartree paled.

The police at the entrance of the audience room began to yell at several people.

"It's almost there, Ms. Joan, see you next time."

Holden hung up the phone.

……

Leaving the detention center, Dean and Holden sent Lucville back to the office first.

"Hey, two, I have to remind you that the conclusion that the current murderer is the hotel employee Barrett Quinn is purely based on deduction and speculation, without any conclusive evidence." Lucville, who just got out of the car, locked the door and glanced at The faces of the two, "We can never convict him based on guesswork alone, and help Joan turn the tables."

"We're going to look for evidence," Dean replied.
"Then remember one thing, to use compliant means and methods," Lukeville said uneasy, "Evidence obtained through threats, intimidation, temptation, and theft are invalid."

"Can't you flexibly transform the evidence?" Dean asked tentatively. He is no longer used to the slowness and inefficiency of conventional methods, and he likes to take unconventional paths.

"Sorry, not this time, the wife of the deceased Jayne Harden will do whatever it takes to send Joan Cartree, the woman who ruined their family, to prison and hire a very luxurious team of lawyers. We must do nothing You can be picky, and you can't leave a story and excuse for your opponent."

"Okay, I see." Dean nodded.

Fatty finally said,
"Audio recordings, photographs and other materials are the best evidence, and they are more effective than other copies."

"Ouke, we will focus on it."

……

At around one o'clock in the afternoon, the car left the office and turned to Strip Avenue.

Dean took out two chocolate bars from the supply bag in the car, threw one to Holden, and tore the other to eat by himself.

"Hmm... Holden, if Barrett is the murderer. Do you think it's possible for him to record Jayne and Joan's performance while he was peeping in the shuttered closet?"

"What equipment was used to record it?" Holden stopped chewing and asked in surprise, "The camera is not small, it may not fit in the closet, and the movement is too loud."

"No camcorder?" Dean made a hand gesture,
"Are you from the future? If there is a place to sell this thing now, I would have bought one a long time ago."

Dean resigned his teeth, didn't even a camcorder be released to the public in 81?

"And what about the camera?"

Holden poured cold water on him again, "The light in the closet is too dark, and the gap in the shutter door is too small, so it's almost impossible to take pictures. If you have to take pictures, how should you cover up the sound and flash of the camera? Unless Joan and Jayne are blind and the deaf, otherwise they would surely have noticed the movement of the camera."

Dean sighed. It seems that it is difficult to find the video data of the room where the crime occurred, but the investigation still has to continue.

"Listen buddy, you go to the Gawain Hotel first and keep an eye on Barrett Quinn. He's on duty tonight until he gets off work. You take the time to check his locker... looking for clues."

"I went to his house to search... um... his home address is on the employee profile."

After hearing his arrangement, Holden raised an eyebrow and showed a weird smile,
"You have a search warrant?"

"What search warrant do you want? Just go through the window and enter the house?"

"Lucwell, the barrister, 10 minutes ago sternly warned you not to use illegal methods, but you insisted on using them. Did you ignore his words?"

"Come on, Holden, when did you become such a well-behaved elm head." Dean said nonchalantly, "Besides, we even use psychics, so what if we search for a home?"

"Sure enough, compared to COP, you are more suitable to be a private detective." Holden sighed,
Dean shrugged, and then casually stated his true thoughts all the time,

"No matter what the method is, as long as the flaw is not discovered, as long as the real culprit can be caught and the goal is achieved, then it is a coup."

The car was parked just outside the hotel.

Holden opened the door and got out of the car and leaned over to stare at the car, his appreciation flashed across his face, and then a bitterness appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"I can't persuade you, then you can try."

(End of this chapter)