Reborn: The Rookie Detective

At this moment, a female detective in her thirties strode into the house, her voice preceding her arrival.

"What's going on?"

Angela seemed to know her, turning to face her and replying, "Detective Calderon, we just arrived…"

Before she could finish speaking, she was rudely interrupted.

"Why is he still here? This is a crime scene, he's a suspect!"

Jack, who was examining the body, looked up at the female detective. She had a similar wheat-colored complexion to Angela, was also a Latina woman, and was probably around the same age, just a bit shorter and of average appearance.

Angela was slightly annoyed by her attitude, but still answered calmly, "Yes, mam, we were just about to…"

"Never mind, I'll handle it. You go and inquire around." Detective Calderon interrupted Angela again, then turned and walked towards the still-crying husband, ignoring the three of them.

Seeing Angela's anger rising, her eyes glaring menacingly, Jack quickly stood up. He and Nolan, one on each side, half-pushed, half-carried her out of the house before things got out of control.

They were patrol officers now, and although they had to address detectives as "sir," they weren't afraid of being deliberately harassed as long as they did their jobs well. After all, they belonged to different departments, and if anything happened, Commander Grey would cover for them.

But Angela's status as a detective was still in a state of flux. Although she had passed the exam and often assisted in the detective team, she was still considered part of the patrol officers until her official transfer. A conflict with the detective team now was definitely not a good thing.

"What's going on with that female detective? Did something happen between you two?" Nolan asked Angela in a low voice from outside.

"I don't know. We hardly had any contact in the detective team," Angela rolled her eyes, furious.

"Is it because you and Wesley are always showing off your love in front of people, and today is Valentine's Day?" Jack's nonsense lightened the atmosphere among the three of them again.

An hour later, the three met again, summarized the situation, and had a general direction for the case. However, since there was already a detective in charge of this kind of murder case, solving it was not within their jurisdiction; they could only report the clues.

So Angela stood in front of Detective Calderon again: "We've finished questioning them. The neighbors said they saw a suspicious vehicle driving slowly down this street around 11 a.m."

Nolan added, "The family on the corner said it was a blue sedan, which they had never seen before."

"So?" Detective Calderon shrugged, looking quite disappointed.

Angela was taken aback by the question. "So this is a dead end. No one usually drives here for no reason."

Detective Calderon replied bluntly, "You're terrible, Officer Lopez. This kind of lead is useless, and we've already identified our prime suspect."

"Uh, the husband?" Jack glanced at the middle-aged white man being led into the police car. His face and neck still bore traces of blood, left from their earlier tearful breakdown inside the house.

"In the past three years, the police have mediated domestic disputes at their home at least six times," Detective Calderon said, pulling out an evidence bag.

"I found this withdrawal slip in the victim's wallet. The first thing Mrs. Cook did this morning was withdraw $100,000 from the couple's account. I guess she was planning to leave her abusive husband, but she was discovered, and this time, her husband completely stopped her."

"What about the money?" Angela asked.

"We haven't found it yet. Maybe her husband hid it, or maybe the victim hid it herself and was planning to go home to pack her bags. Anyway, that's all for now. You can all leave."

Detective Calderon turned to get into her car, but Angela stopped her.

"I think it's still necessary to check that car," Angela said.

The female detective said impatiently, directly mocking her, "I'm the detective in charge of this case, Officer Lopez. If I need someone to clean up my mess, I'll contact you."

With that, she ignored the three of them and drove off.

This was a bit much. Although patrol officers were indeed at the bottom of the police system and usually dealt with trivial matters, being publicly mocked like this carried a hint of personal grudge.

"You guys will help me, right?" Angela turned to look at the two of them.

Jack shrugged. "Remember to have Wesley bring a good bottle of wine to the party tonight."

Nolan looked thoughtful. "Is it possible the husband really did it? Isn't it said that in these situations, the husband is the culprit in 60% of cases?"

Jack opened the car door to get in, reminding him, "Have you forgotten the domestic violence case you encountered on your first day on duty?"

"Never mind." Nolan made a zipping gesture, walked around the front of the car, and got into the passenger seat.

"We'll split up and investigate. We'll go to the bank and ask around, inquire about the circumstances when Mrs. Cook withdrew the money, then we'll meet at the police station and check if there are any similar burglaries in the vicinity." Jack leaned out of the car window and said to Angela.

"I'll go track that blue car and see if any surveillance cameras have captured the license plate." Angela waved and drove away.

While Jack wasn't sure if Angela's approach to finding the car was correct, he was certain that Detective Calderon's approach was wrong.

The husband's behavior just now didn't seem like that of a murderer to Jack. An ordinary person wouldn't have such superb acting skills, especially those subtle, unconscious movements that are easily missed.

Moreover, he had briefly examined the body; apart from a fatal head wound, there were no other obvious injuries on the exposed skin, which didn't fit the domestic violence theory.

However, there were skin fragments under the deceased's fingernails, indicating that she had scratched someone before dying. Jack had carefully observed the husband; apart from some fresh blood, there were no scratch marks on his face or hands.

This case wasn't complicated; with a little investment of resources and time, it could definitely be solved. Jack was more interested in Detective Calderon's reaction.

"Nolan, don't you think that female detective's attitude towards Angela was strange?" Jack asked thoughtfully.

"Huh?" Nolan was puzzled. "Isn't that how relationships between girls are? One minute they want to kill each other, the next they're holding hands like sisters."

'Damn, you're right.' Jack was momentarily speechless, then it took him a while to remember what he wanted to say.

"What I mean is, didn't you think Detective Calderon looked at Angela like she was a traitor?"

Nolan slapped his forehead, looking deeply agreeable. "Did you notice her gaze earlier? There was definitely a sense of deep disappointment in it."