15: Chapter 12: A New Obsession 15: Chapter 12: A New Obsession Near the end of the workday.
Brian handed over the assay receipt form from the ‘Forensic Processing’ departnt, the death certificate, and so on to Henry, the bald forensic doctor.
This was a clear case of homicide.
Feedback emails.
They had already been sent to the Detective Bureau that morning.
This ant that all the Forensic Bureau had to do going forward was provide so technical support for this case; everything else was no longer their task.
Of course, if the perpetrator were caught,
then at the ti of sentencing, Henry, as the forensic technical support expert for the case, would need to present the autopsy report in court and testify to ensure the fairness of the case.
As for Brian…
He was just an inconspicuous technician without the authority to testify in court.
..
After clocking out from work,
Brian didn’t hurry to leave.
He went to the morgue and offered a cigarette to the ard guard, “Buddy, any sensational bodies co in today?”
“Hey, Brian.”
The ard guard took the cigarette, greeting Brian warmly.
The handso young man in front of him was a known figure in the bureau, with anyone fairly inford aware that he had many high-quality, safe used cars.
In the absence of conflicting interests,
nobody would snub such a treasure of a colleague.
When faced with Brian’s inquiry, the guard didn’t overthink it, pondering for a mont before nodding:
“There was a body that had been dismbered into many pieces and stuffed into trash bags to be discarded separately.
We’ve only found parts of the body so far.
But through the number on a dental implant, the police confird the identity of the deceased, rumored to be a once-prominent lawyer who t so misfortune and ended up as a dismbered holess man.”
Brian found his interest piqued upon hearing that the victim had been a lawyer, “This kind of case should be a revenge killing.”
The intellectual “Gift” of a highly intelligent victim.
I wonder if it will enhance intelligence.
The guard nodded:
“Maybe.
There have been quite a few lawyers in Los Angeles killed or retaliated against with firearms.
The discoverer was a Chinese illegal immigrant and holess person.
The poor fellow initially thought he’d stumbled upon soone’s discarded at, but upon seeing a glans…
He realized sothing was wrong and asked a passerby to call the cops.”
As he ntioned the glans,
the guard flashed Brian a mischievous smile.
Brian:…
I hope that unlucky Chinese compatriot doesn’t spend the latter half of his life haunted by this psychological shadow.
However, it’s quite likely his latter half won’t be very long anyway.
Thinking of the plight of the holess, Brian couldn’t help but express his sentint to the guard, “It seems this case will be hard to crack.”
The guard nodded, “That place is a veritable bedbug camp; every day bedbugs go missing, and the police won’t waste their effort on them.”
You could tell.
The guard had little regard for the holess.
Which was normal.
Both the guard and Brian lived on taxpayer money.
And those holess people didn’t have any money on them.
Brian made so casual conversation before accompanying the guard to the morgue.
The excuse.
Was that there might be an assessnt at the end of the month.
He wanted more exposure.
For Brian’s slightly irregular request, the guard, having received contact information for several high-quality used cars, was very understanding.
They were all their own people.
If they didn’t help out with this small favor, were they even human?
Of course, help was a must!
…
Shortly after,
Brian had toured all of the bodies brought back that day, and afterward stood in the corridor smoking with a sowhat uncertain look.
The collection of his obsession was not going smoothly.
Today the morgue had received thirty-eight fresh bodies along with four rotten, incomplete corpses.
Forty-two corpses.
The only carcass nurturing an obsession was the one the guard just ntioned – the dismbered remains of the lawyer.
The lawyer’s obsession was quite far-fetched: solving the survival problem of the holess in Los Angeles.
Wow.
What a great person.
He ended up as holess himself and even got dismbered.
Before dying, he actually didn’t think about revenge but about the survival issues of the holess…
Thinking about this, Brian felt sowhat helpless.
This obsession was most likely never to be fulfilled.
As ntioned before.
Brian didn’t believe that the undocunted compatriot who called the police would have much longer to live.
This was not a curse he was casting.
It was just that the life expectancy of a holess person in Los Angeles tended to be around three to five years.
And by life expectancy, it wasn’t to say that after three to five years, the holess could turn their lives around.
It ant the real countdown to the end of their lives.
Yes.
That short!
Among n, those who could resist drug addiction, avoid dical experints, and steer clear of won in the gathering areas might live a bit longer.
So with more experience could survive for twenty or thirty years, living past the age of fifty.
Won…
Won among the holess were like public restrooms and incubators of infectious diseases.
This was why it was rare to see female vagrants in the tents of the holess.
Unless there was a fixed safe rest area.
Otherwise, even with a husband’s protection, it was hard for a female vagrant to safely get through the first month or two.
For instance, they might encounter gang assaults with no protective asures and no limit on the number of participants, during which their husbands might have to kneel aside, watching everything happening in despair.
Or they might face theft, drug temptation, infectious diseases…
All these were threats to their lives.
The best outco for these won was to find a gang and sell themselves.
Only the younger female vagrants had this option.
Such a group.
Brian, even risking his life, couldn’t fulfill the dead lawyer’s obsession.
Even the Los Angeles City Governnt could only limit this holess population, which numbered in the tens of thousands, to a few fixed areas by segregating gathering spots, assigning temporary rest zones, providing daily food limits, and then…
Letting them solve themselves.
…
After smoking a cigarette,
Brian prepared to leave the morgue with so disappointnt.
It seed there was no gain today.
Just as he was about to leave the morgue,
A morgue van, pushed by a forensic examiner from the Forensic Bureau, rolled down the corridor towards the morgue.
Following closely behind the examiner was a frowning white man in casual attire.
Brian was really well-liked at the Forensic Bureau.
The pushing examiner, upon seeing Brian, smiled tiredly and was the first to greet him, “Hey, Brian, you look in good spirits today.”
“I’ve been exercising lately,” Brian responded while briefly glancing at the gurney in the man’s hands.
His eyes lit up as he steered the conversation, “A body is being brought in at this ti?”
The examiner nodded begrudgingly: “Yes, a poor guy who died in a hotel room, I was hoping to leave early…”
“Cough, cough!”
The white man in the suit behind intentionally coughed to interrupt the examiner.
The examiner looked at Brian awkwardly and shut his mouth.
Seeing this, Brian didn’t mind and moved forward to make the sign of the cross over the body bag.
He uttered an ‘An,’ greeted them, and proceeded to leave the morgue.
“Is that pretty boy from the Forensic Bureau too?”
Watching Brian’s departing figure, the white man in the suit inquired of the examiner.
The examiner nodded: “Yes, his na is Brian, a forensic assistant in Forensic Affairs, a really good person liked by everyone here.”
Hearing this, the white man nodded.
He didn’t ask further and continued to follow the examiner towards the morgue.
…
Back in the car.
A smile appeared on Brian’s face.
A new obsession acquired!
Seeing no one around, Brian, unable to contain his excitent, rubbed his hands together like a fly, closed his eyes, and began to examine this new obsession.
Reviews
All reviews (0)