The Elegant Corpse

The turning point came at around ten o'clock in the morning, when Marianne once again screened the alibi of the church members like a puppy playing with a beloved bone, and she discovered that Teddy's occupation was "security guard".

She threw the file on Roger's desk, pointed with her fingers triumphantly, and asked, "What do you think?"

After a few phone calls, they further confirmed that the security company Teddy worked for was the same as the one in charge of Roger's residence; what was even more surprising was that he happened to be one of the security guards on duty the week Roger went on vacation. one.

Although this was nothing but a coincidence, Marianne and Roger were eager to bring this man back for questioning, and for this reason they argued with Superintendent Smith for a full hour.

"The night Marchant was killed, he didn't have an alibi, and he happened to be there the week Corso's apartment was dumped," Marianne said.

"And he fit the profile," Roger added.

"Several of our homicide officers fit the bill," Smith said without naming them. "It's just a coincidence."

This pissed off Marianne, who poked her elbows on the table and pouted like a twelve-year-old. "It can't be a coincidence."

"My security company's surveillance system sucks," Roger said.After hours of tedious watching, the surveillance video gave the answer: nothing happened around Roger's house the week the mummy appeared, as if Santa Claus had thrown Gary Williams' body down the chimney It's like going in. "Their messy record storage, I'll have to talk about it at the next neighborhood meeting."

"Surely you're one of those apprehensive, unreasonable horrible owners?" said Marianne.

Roger gave her a meaningful look. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone 'lost' a roll or two of surveillance tape over the years."

"No," Marianne said, "especially when some suspicious security guard is on duty."

So they spent another two hours checking the pile of video tapes one by one, and finally found clues in the log, at least it could make a conscientious homicide detective start to suspect: Teddy Vincent was on duty one night, A roll of tape is missing.

Without further ado, Marian made some informal phone calls without hesitation, including those members of the "Holy Word Church" who were easy to pry their mouths, the secretaries of the security company, and other owners.

"I heard Teddy Vincent threatened Marchant more than once," she told Roger, feeling her excitement across the table.

Smith sat behind his desk, chewing on his bushy mustache, and glared at them both.With the support of Clark Miller, the superintendent eventually caved in; at a time when there was no forensic evidence and no suspects, he had had enough.

Of course Teddy was not invited into the police station happily, but he was obviously used to dealing with the police, and he confessed everything without being frightened.

Roger sat across from him, hands clasped in lap, staring at him with piercing green eyes, unblinking.

"Where's my lawyer?" Teddy said.

"Just coming," said Roger. "There's a traffic jam here. Are you shaving your chest, Mr. Vincent?"

Annoyed, Teddy gathered his unbuttoned shirt over his dirty vest.

"And your arm," Roger pondered, "I think it will be more comfortable when you sweat profusely. Do you need to sweat profusely when you are a security guard?"

"What the hell?" Teddy said. "Whether I shave or not is none of your business?"

"Just a casual chat before the lawyer arrives," Roger said kindly.

Teddy glared at him.The long hands of the clock on the wall moved forward, making a crisp ticking sound.

"Is that all you shaved?" Roger asked. "Be curious."

"Shut up!" Teddy said, flushing from his bare chest to his neck.

"Adam Marchant is shaved all over," Roger said.

Teddy slammed his fist on the table. "You fucking shut up!"

The door opened, and a female public prosecutor rushed in, smoldering and threatening like a puppy. "Don't say another word!" she yelled at Teddy, spitting. "What's the charge against him?" she asked Roger again.

"We just wanted to ask Mr. Vincent a few questions," said Roger.

"Then we won't accompany you." The woman said, leading her client out of the room.

But Teddy obviously didn't want to give up, he followed Roger and cursed all the way; while Roger just stood there with a look of astonishment all the time, letting Teddy shout and declare that he was a heterosexual and so on.

"Mr. Vincent!" his lawyer shouted, and Teddy stopped shouting for a moment.

"You can go now," she said.

Teddy took a few breaths, finally controlled his emotions, and gave Roger a bitter look when he walked through the gate of the precinct.

"Who's that idiot?" Sean asked.He was sitting in Roger's chair at the moment, with one foot on top of his desk.

Roger opened his mouth, not knowing whether to say "Why are you here?" or "How did they let you in?" or "Get your feet off!" so he said nothing.

Sean jumped up, smiling triumphantly, with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "I've come to give you the keys, and by the way I've set the door alarm," he said to Marianne, laying a silver key on the side of her tattered pile. "If you walk away, I'm afraid you won't notice."

"Thank you," said Marianne.

"See you home," Sean said to Roger, and walked away wagging his invisible little tail.

Roger looked at Marianne, who tried and failed to suppress a smile.

While Marianne was busy applying for permission to wiretap Teddy Vincent's phone, Roger perused the suicidal man -- the Tommy Stone he identified in Jay's gelcoat party photos - the archive file.The person's contact details were outdated, and despite having an area code of 213, Roger managed to get through after trying many prefixes.

The gods smiled at the righteous side.A woman answered the phone. She was the dead man's sister, Alice Stone.

***

"Inspector, may I pour you some more coffee?" Alice Stone asked.She told Roger that she had inherited from her parents the beautiful stucco home near UCLA's Westwood campus.After finishing college, she moved back in with her parents and never left.Now it's just her and her 20-odd cats living in the house.

Roger also likes cats, which is human nature.But he didn't like the feeling of being suddenly jumped on his lap by anything.

"Oh, that's Erica, she's cute and playful," said Alice, lifting the thirty-pound cat from Roger's lap with ease, and tossing it carelessly. on the ground.The cat jumped away all of a sudden, and seemed to be unharmed.

"After Tommy passed, I couldn't live without my parents," Alice explained.

Roger said a lot of polite words of regret. "Why did they finally think your brother's death was a suicide?"

"They found the suicide note," Alice said. "He said he couldn't take his life anymore and he apologized to his parents. It's a shame."

"Indeed. Ms. Stone, I know this is very difficult, but can you recall why your brother's life is so miserable?"

"I think it sucks to say that, but he doesn't seem like he wants to be gay."

"You knew your brother was gay then?"

"No, not at the time. I only realized it years later, looking through his stuff and putting things together. Poor Tommy, if only he could see the world as it is."

"His stuff?"

"Mom kept Tommy's room the way it was."

"You don't mind if I go and see his room?"

"Of course not!" Alice became emotional, and led Roger to the inner room.