Reborn: The Rookie Detective

Rosalind seemed oblivious.

"Oh, how funny. People see me like I'm a monster, and I see them the same way. Killing isn't about cruelty, and saving isn't about kindness."

She maintained a smile until her gaze met Jack's, at which point her expression stiffened slightly.

The young officer's eyes held no anger, no disgust, no fear; he simply looked at her calmly, as if she were an inanimate object.

Rosalind's lips twitched, forcing a smile again, her eyes glancing casually at Tyler Kelly beside Jack.

"Officer Tavelor seems to have a lot of female admirers?"

"Huh?" You can say whatever you want, why are you bothering me? Jack silently shut down the system in his mind, refocusing his gaze.

He had been pondering whether to wait until he had enough system coins to upgrade his rifle shooting skills. He would definitely go to Quantico for training like Hannah; she had told him there were many experts there. He had already mastered pistol and hand-to-hand combat, definitely exceeding half the level of others, but his rifle shooting was somewhat lacking.

"Don't bother me, you're too old for me. I don't like the matte finish."

Taylor Kelly glanced subconsciously at her own arm, her skin smooth and fair.

Rosalind snorted and finally stopped talking.

The group continued their arduous trek through the forest, but this time, less than 10 minutes later, Rosalind stopped under a tree, indicating they had arrived.

Jack clicked his tongue; detective Rossi was something else.

"Ha, this is it. I buried the anesthesiologist at the base of this tree, and I even anesthetized him, put it in iced tea. Isn't that ironic?"

"Then I watched the sunset with him while chopping off his hands and feet, a truly unforgettable day."

Everyone ignored Rosalind's chilling incessant chatter. Commander Grey signaled to get to work, and Nolan, Tim, and the others took out portable entrenching tools from their backpacks and began digging at the base of the tree.

Jack led Tyler Kelly and her cameraman aside. After the cameraman filmed a few shots of the digging, Jack supervised him to turn off the camera, and filming was prohibited from then on.

"Found it." Nolan hadn't shoveled for long when he discovered the skeleton. He forcefully dug away the top layer of soil, revealing a skeleton that was almost entirely white.

"No hands or feet, it's that anesthesiologist." Nolan's expression was somewhat excited, and the other officers, including Assistant District Attorney Delmont, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Something's not right." The most experienced Commander Grey frowned, while David Rossi beside him wore the same questioning look he had earlier on Jack.

"Officer Tavelor, what do you say?"

Jack stepped forward, stood beside the two, and lowered his voice.

"The body was buried too shallow, less than two feet, and there was nothing wrapped around it except clothing. Griffith Park has coyotes at night, and many other small carnivores with a keen sense of smell. If this were the primary burial site, it would have been dug up by these animals long ago, and the bones would be scattered everywhere."

Jack had watched an American TV series in his previous life called *Six Feet Under*, which told the story of a family that ran a funeral business in the United States. Six feet represents the depth of burial, a standard to protect the body from being dug up and eaten by wild animals.

"Ah!" At this moment, Lucy, who was helping to clear away the loose soil not far from Nolan, suddenly screamed and fell to the ground.

Tyler Kelly, who had been curiously watching beside her, also covered her mouth and hid to the side. Everyone gathered around and saw that next to the skeleton that Nolan had found, there was another body, which was in a semi-decomposed state and emitted an indescribable stench.

Commander Grey made a basic judgment with just one glance: "Six months, nine months at most."

All eyes turned to Rosalind, not far away.

"Don't look at me. I've been in prison for the past four years."

The crazy old woman laughed happily, like a chess player who had gained the upper hand.

....

"How is this possible? The only person who knows where Rosalind's body is is herself, and she's been in prison for four years. Why would a body less than a year old appear in the same location?"

On the way back to the police station, Tyler Kelly abandoned the cameraman and squeezed into Jack's police car, bombarding him with questions like a curious child.

Jack gave her a helpless look. "Isn't your haul enough for today?"

"You must know something. I noticed that only you and that old FBI agent didn't seem too surprised."

Tyler Kelly's face was ingratiating; clearly, today's unexpected gains weren't enough to satisfy a journalist's greedy appetite.

"If Miss Kelly wants to be locked up in a detention cell while we're solving the case, I don't mind telling you some inside information."

Tyler Kelly pouted, seemingly disappointed, but then cheered up.

"Call me Tyler, we should be friends now, right?"

Seeing that she finally stopped trying to get information out of him, Jack readily complied.

"Okay, Tyler."

"Since we're friends now, can you reveal some of your thoughts? You can lock me up in your house."

"Ha, woman." Jack let out a cold laugh, deciding to ignore this pretentious little girl.

Back at the Wilshire Police Station, Jack took Tyler directly to Zoe's office, now only able to hope that Captain Anderson could handle this restless journalist.

Just as they left Zoe's office, Jack was stopped by Rossi, who was walking towards them.

"Jack, you don't mind me calling you that, do you?"

"Of course not. What do you need me to do?"

Jack's attitude remained as respectful as ever. As the case took a sharp turn for the worse, the assistant district attorney, Delmont, finally realized that he had been used by Rosalind and stopped trying to assert his presence.

FBI Agent David Rossi naturally took over the case and began issuing orders.

"Commander Grey has agreed to assign you to me as his assistant. Come join the meeting."

Rossi seemed to suddenly remember something and pulled a box from his pocket, handing it to Jack.

"These are the tracking devices you requested. They were just delivered by the FBI's field office in LA. They're all in here."

Jack took the box, opened it, and found more than a dozen small, button-sized black discs and a tablet computer inside.