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The Record Of Barton's Fantastical Events-Chapter 85 - Court
Chapter 85: Chapter 19 Court 𝑓re𝘦𝔀𝗲𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍.c𝗼m
Translator: Doggotranslation
Farmers around the Grande Funeral Home came one after another. Benjamin led people to the cemetery to the west. It was expected that in another week after the transformation of the werewolf was over, the four sections of the cemetery would be cleared. At that time, the Grande Funeral Home would be buried by a large amount of tombs removal.
Zach glanced at the clock opposite the desk. It was past nine, but Wells still hasn’t shown up. This civil servant has always been very punctual, regardless of his actual work efficiency, at least on the surface, he is very serious.
Zach walked to the desk. Wells left his work notes yesterday. Originally, Zach only thought it was the laziness of the other party, but now... he casually read Wells’s notes. The investigation of the funeral records has almost come to an end. The investigation records of the most recent day are obviously smaller than those of the previous few days. Is it possible that the mind of this civil servant is occupied by other things?
After ten o’clock, the sound of the car came from outside the Grande Funeral Home. Zach opened the curtain behind the desk. It was not Wells’s car. A middle-aged man, also wearing an old formal suit and carrying a worn briefcase, got out of the car and walked towards the Grande Funeral Home.
As indifferent and impatient as the newcomer Wells, the middle-aged man introduced himself like a machine, “I’m here to take over Wells’ task. Is that Wells’ work notes?”
The middle-aged man frowned, looking at the notes spread out on the desk on the side of the office. It seemed that he was very dissatisfied with the attitude of the last civil servant. After the introduction, he didn’t even look at Zach and walked directly to the side desk.
“Where is Wells?” Zach asked.
“I don’t know!” The middle-aged man didn’t even bother to look back, and fiddled with the information on the desk impatiently.
Zach stepped forward, pinching the middle-aged man’s chin with one hand, and used a little force, turning the other’s impatient face towards him: “Where is Wells?”
Red forcibly squeezed out everything in the middle-aged man’s eyes, the middle-aged man’s pupils dilated in an instant, two red lights penetrated into his brain, planting the will to answer the vampire’s questions.
“I don’t know, he resigned!” The middle-aged man had anger on his face, but it was not due to the rude action of the vampire, but a complaint to Wells! “There is no progress report, no notice. He just left half of his job and resigned! Who the fuck would do such a thing! ”
Zach released his hand: “When?”
“This morning! Left some words and then resigned! that’s it! Motherfucker!”
Zach could feel the anger of the opponent, and the red in his eyes faded back to light green. With a smile, Zach arranged the materials on the desk and pointed to only a small part of the funeral records: “He has investigated to this section. If you do it faster, you can finish it in one day today.” Zach patted the middle-aged man on the shoulder, “Wells has completed the most troublesome part. You only need to finish it, and you can get all the credit. It’s a good deal.”
The middle-aged man was stunned, looking at the comfort on the delicate face of the Grande’s master, after thinking about it, it seemed quite reasonable...
The bait was finally bitten.
The warehouse at the bus station was found, the leak of the list of the dead, and the harvest-style ‘persuasion’ of the Gale couple had obviously touched something. Wells, a candidate for a Dead Apostle, was finally selected by the man behind the curtain.
“Put your hand on the “Holy Scripture” and swear that everything you say shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
Behind the brown wooden witness stand, Detective Coulson looked solemn, put his hand on the black cover of the cross printed “Holy Scripture”, and raised one hand: “I swear by the “Holy Scripture” and on my police badge, everything I will say shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth!”
The sharp gavel sounded from the judge in the middle, “Prosecutor, you can ask questions.”
“Thank you, Your Honor.” The prosecutor saluted the judge in the middle and walked to the witness stand, “Detective Coulson, were you investigating the disappearance of a homeless man on XX month XX day, at XX street, with your partner Detective Rance?”
The prosecutor pointed to James in the gallery.
James’s face did not look very good, because at this moment, Revenge in the dock turned around at the same time, and his smiley eyes seemed to express an emotion called disappointment. This did not end. The Gale couple who were also in the gallery also turned their heads and looked at him. Their eyes were empty as dead.
In Connor’s case, because of the solid evidence, the verdict was straightforward and there was no dispute. But for the homeless case, the police did not have direct evidence, so to go through the trial process, the prosecutor must involve police officers in testifying.
What made James the most uncomfortable was that Mr. Hermann smiled at him. Smile? You asked. Yep.
“Yes. Rance and I visited...”
Coulson was interrupted and the prosecutor looked at the judge: “Your Honor, I request to submit Exhibit A, Detective Coulson’s action report.”
“Granted.”
The evidence was presented, and Coulson was instructed to read the marked part.
“I was holding a gun and ordered the other party to raise his hands and face us, and then I felt that I was hit behind by a stun gun. After that, I lost consciousness. At the time, I knew that criminals were committing crimes in a group.”
Coulson finished reading, and the report was passed to the judge. The judge read it again and nodded, “But you didn’t see anyone’s face.”
“No, I didn’t.” Coulson answered honestly.
“We’d like to request for our witness, Detective Rance.” The prosecutor requested again.
The judge glanced at the person sitting in the dock. “Do you have any questions?”
The man in straight formal attire next to Revenge shook his head: “No, Your Honor.” Then he turned his head, looked at Mr. Hermann, and nodded slightly. 𝘧𝔯e𝗲𝙬ℯ𝙗𝓷o𝘷e𝗹.𝐜𝑜𝒎
The judge’s gavel struck again, and he glanced at Hermann with a smile, nodded without being noticed, and summoned Detective Rance.
James’ consciousness gradually drifted away. He was still wearing yesterday’s clothes, and his hands unconsciously flattened the wrinkles. He didn’t know how he walked to the witness stand. The voice in his ears seemed to be going away, he repeated his vows like a machine, and met the encouraging look of his partner, Coulson. This reliable middle-aged partner probably thought he was nervous now. James looked at Hermann, the Gale couple, Revenge, and the jury. Finally, his gaze returned to the prosecutor in front of him, and he began to answer questions from the prosecutor.
“I saw his face, it’s the man in the dock, Revenge Gale...” James pointed to the hunter in the dock, who had an inexplicable smile on his face.
“Everything happened so quickly, he was not sure I saw his face, but I can confirm that when he attacked me at my house...” James brought his lie he told Coulson to court.
“I concealed the fact that he once attacked me, because I have to dispel his suspicion. I know they are a group. I can’t alert them. I need time to get the actual evidence. So I started investigating him...”
Lie has a characteristic, like a seed. Give it water and sunlight, it will sprout, and grow.
“I discovered their modus operandi. They used the heating system in the building to put people in the neighborhood into a deep sleep to cover up the movement of the crime...” The evidence was handed over. It was the sleep-inducing herbs that James found in the buildings near the location when ghoul was discovered.
“I found their stronghold and found a large number of illegally modified weapons, grenades, crossbows, drugs, stun guns...” The photo was passed over, and the information of the hunters’ stronghold Zach gave was also used by James.
When all these things that could only be indirect evidence were presented to the judge, the prosecutor asked: “These things and these investigations were all done by you alone. You didn’t tell your partner, Detective Coulson? Why?
“Because I knew they were dangerous, they found my home and attacked me. I can’t let my partner take risks. ” James’ face was numb: “When I told my partner all this, it was too late.”
“Why was it too late, Detective Rance?”
“Connor Hermann had already been killed.”
Amid the sighs of the jury and the gallery, the prosecutor nodded to the judge.
“I have no more questions, Your Honor.”