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Chapter 137: It Wasn't Her
Their discussion about the case concluded quickly.
They arrived at the registered address for the occupant of Room 509.
Bernie parked the car by the curb and didn't get out immediately.
He leaned his head out the window, looking up at the sky, and asked Theodore: "You think this, " Bernie glanced at the notebook in his hand, where he'd copied the registered name for Room 509. "This Dennis guy actually lives here?"
He pulled his head back inside and looked at Theodore. "A hotel employee staying at a different hotel?"
Theodore didn't answer. He stepped out of the car and walked toward the building.
Bernie shoved the notebook back in his pocket and hurried after him.
This hotel was far more upscale than the Riverside.
After Bernie showed his credentials, the front desk staff led them to the manager's office.
The manager assured them with complete certainty that they had no employee named Dennis.
He also had the front desk check the guest records for Monday check-ins. No one named Dennis appeared there either.
Having spent months last year tracking umbrella purchases through Felton pharmacies, Bernie and Theodore were no longer particularly discouraged by dead ends.
They drove next to the address registered for Room 513.
It was the GG Company.
The building sat along the Potomac River, right on their daily commute route.
The GG Company was small, maybe a dozen employees, and had the appearance of a struggling business.
Bernie found the company owner and showed his credentials. "Do you have an employee named Cooper working here?"
The owner, clearly worried the company was in some kind of legal trouble, shouted toward the back: "Cooper!"
"Cooper!"
"Dennis!"
"Dennis! Where did Cooper go?!"
Theodore and Bernie exchanged glances.
Two young men hurried into the office.
The owner pointed to the employee on the left, dark-haired, wearing glasses. "This is Cooper."
He turned to introduce Bernie and Theodore. "These two gentlemen are Special Agents Bernie Sullivan and Theodore Dickson Hoover from the FBI."
Theodore studied the employee on the right for a moment, then asked him directly, "Are you Dennis?"
Dennis hesitated, then nodded. He wore the same bewildered expression as Cooper.
The owner didn't understand why the FBI agents who had been asking for Cooper had suddenly focused on Dennis instead.
He didn't dare ask. Didn't dare say anything.
He'd already decided that if these two were really in trouble, he'd make it clear immediately, they were just interns who'd only been made permanent employees this month.
Theodore looked back at Bernie.
Bernie asked them about their whereabouts Monday night.
Dennis and Cooper looked at each other, both hesitating.
The owner answered for them: "They went to the Riverside Hotel."
"The one where someone jumped."
According to the owner, their company had taken on a hotel advertising design project that required practical research at the location.
Bernie was confused. "You're working on a commission for the Riverside Hotel?"
The owner shook his head. "No, not the Riverside."
The owner explained that the commission came from another hotel with similar market positioning to the Riverside. The client wanted advertising that would highlight the differences between the two establishments, so he'd sent employees to both hotels for firsthand experience.
Dennis and Cooper were the employees assigned to experience the Riverside's service level.
They'd been staying at the Riverside since the previous week, checking in under different identities each day.
From the top-floor suites to the cheapest street-facing singles, they'd sampled every room type.
Monday had been their final night.
Bernie asked them directly if they'd heard anything unusual from Room 511 on Monday night.
The two looked at each other. After a moment of silence, Cooper spoke first. "No."
He continued, "I fell asleep around nine o'clock that night."
"The cheap single rooms at the Riverside are terrible, hot water's only available during certain hours."
"But the rooms have excellent soundproofing. I didn't hear any noise."
He paused and gestured toward Dennis. "I slept until morning, and Dennis and I checked out together and came back to the company."
Dennis nodded in agreement. His account was nearly identical to Cooper's.
Bernie asked, "What time did you check out in the morning?"
Dennis thought for a moment, uncertain. "Around six o'clock, I think."
This matched what they'd learned from the Riverside Hotel staff.
These two had fallen asleep before the victim even checked into the hotel and had left before she was killed.
Other than learning afterward that the guest in Room 511 had died, they knew nothing.
Bernie and Theodore left the GG Company. They didn't return to the Department of Justice Building but drove directly to the hospital to visit Thomas from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
They found Thomas in his hospital room, lying in bed staring blankly at the ceiling.
Thomas had been beaten severely.
His left eye socket was badly bruised, his lip was split open, and his thigh was suspended in a sling.
Thomas looked genuinely happy to see Theodore and Bernie. He gave them a pained smile.
They barely knew each other, they'd only worked together once on a phone fraud case.
Theodore didn't even know Thomas's full name.
Bernie asked Thomas about his injuries.
Thomas shook his head. "The doctor said I can be discharged tomorrow and recover at home."
His words came out slightly slurred.
Theodore looked more carefully and realized Thomas had also lost two teeth.
This made him extremely curious about the specific details of Thomas's fight with the plumber.
But Bernie kept the conversation going with Thomas, giving Theodore no opportunity to ask questions.
Much less offer tactical advice or point out his mistakes.
They stayed in the hospital room about ten minutes before leaving.
Theodore felt disappointed. He looked at Bernie with suspicious eyes.
Bernie kept both hands on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead. The car's speed remained as slow as ever.
When they returned to the Georgetown apartment that evening, they received a call from the Third Precinct.
News from the docks had confirmed Robert Miller's statement.
At the time of the incident, he'd been unloading fish at the dock.
Detective Thomas himself made the call, and his tone still carried strong disbelief as he relayed the information.
He had truly believed Robert Miller was the murderer.
But the facts proved Robert Miller had no opportunity to commit the crime.
Theodore wasn't surprised.
Back in Robert Miller's apartment, after listening to everything he'd said, Theodore had already determined he wasn't the killer.
The next day, Theodore and Bernie went first to the FBI laboratory to check on the fingerprint comparison results.
The Third Precinct's forensic lab had pre-screened the prints, removing duplicates and those belonging to hotel employees. They'd submitted seventeen prints in total, plus one set from the victim as Theodore had requested.
So far, the lab had matched only one print.
The print came from the mirror across from the bed and belonged to a congressional stenographer.
The lab informed them it would take at least two weeks to complete all the comparisons.
Theodore didn't want to wait two weeks.
He told the lab to prioritize comparing the victim's prints first, and to cross-reference the victim's prints against Annie Halleck's prints.
Annie Halleck had been an important witness in an assault case, so her prints would definitely be in the FBI's fingerprint database.
However, retrieving Annie Halleck's prints from the database would take some time.
The Third Precinct's forensic lab was referring to the victim as DCME-0086.
They believed the victim's identity remained unclear and refused to use the name Annie Halleck, the name registered at the hotel, to refer to the deceased.
Theodore thought this was the correct approach.
After leaving the lab, Theodore went to the Investigation Department again, but didn't find Lombardi.
Leaving the Department of Justice Building, the two headed to the Third Precinct.
On the way, Bernie asked Theodore, "Are you suspicious that the victim isn't Annie Halleck?"
Theodore nodded.
Bernie was surprised. He couldn't help glancing at Theodore. "But her registered name was Annie Halleck!"
Theodore said, "Dennis's registered address was a hotel completely unrelated to him, and he and Cooper only registered their first names, not their surnames."
Bernie argued back, "Lombardi recognized her too. He confirmed it was Annie Halleck!"
Theodore took out a photograph of the victim and studied it for a while. "That's why I want to ask him how he identified the victim as Annie Halleck."
He took out his notebook, sketched a human figure, and compared it to the victim's injuries, shading half the face to show Bernie: "If you were beaten like this, it would be very difficult for me to recognize you at first glance."
Bernie glanced at the figure in the notebook. His mouth twitched.
"Thanks. If I were beaten like this, I'd have Hilda identify me. She'd definitely recognize me."
Theodore was skeptical. He stared at the victim's photo in confusion, mentally replacing the victim with Bernie, then with Tolson, then with Hoover.
He found it difficult to be certain in any scenario.
He asked Bernie, "Are you sure?"
Bernie nodded. "Even without the face, there's hair, height, build, personal belongings, and more."
"Sometimes you don't need any of those things. Just a feeling can tell you whether the person lying in front of you is someone you love."
Theodore was silent for a moment.
"You're saying Lombardi and Annie Halleck can recognize each other through telepathy? Like you and Hilda?"
He reminded Bernie, "Stop reading those tabloid newspapers. They just make things up and print fake news."
Bernie looked at Theodore, feeling like they were having two completely different conversations.
Theodore put away his notebook and returned to the main point: "Our basis for identifying the victim as Annie Halleck comes from the hotel registration and Lombardi's confirmation."
"But hotel registrations can be filled out with false information, and Lombardi and Annie Halleck don't share your telepathic connection."
"He last saw her a year ago."
Bernie looked at the photograph of the victim. Suddenly the person in the photo seemed unfamiliar.
They remained silent the rest of the way to the Third Precinct.
Detective Thomas was still enthusiastic when they arrived, but it couldn't compare to yesterday.
Today his enthusiasm seemed forced.
Theodore asked him about the results of Robert Miller's interrogation.
Detective Thomas shook his head and sighed, "He insists he didn't kill Annie Halleck."
Theodore looked puzzled. "Why are you asking him if he killed Annie Halleck?"
Detective Thomas appeared confused.
He stared blankly at Theodore, then turned his gaze to Bernie.
Bernie was still absorbed in the hypothesis that the victim wasn't Annie Halleck. He didn't notice Detective Thomas's look at all.
Theodore said, "You should be asking him about his recent criminal activity. His behavior when recalling Annie Halleck indicates he's committed a crime recently."
He paused and asked Detective Thomas, "Has the victim's body been claimed yet?"
Detective Thomas snapped back to attention. "Her parents were notified this morning."
He glanced at the time. "They should be arriving soon."
Bernie looked at Theodore.
Theodore frowned as well.
The three of them waited more than ten minutes before Annie Halleck's parents were escorted in.
Mrs. Halleck wore a black coat and pearl earrings. Her lips were pressed into a tight line, her face severe.
She didn't look like she'd come to claim her daughter's body. She looked more like she'd come to take an examination.
Mr. Halleck seemed much more normal.
His expression was grief-stricken, his back slightly hunched, his eyes somewhat red.
Led by Detective Thomas, the couple went to the forensic lab to identify the body.
The medical examiner from the previous day pulled open the cold storage drawer and lifted the white sheet.
Mrs. Halleck simply stood in the doorway. She glanced from a distance, then nodded, confirming the body's identity.
Mr. Halleck wanted to walk closer but was stopped by his wife.
The couple stood in the doorway in a silent standoff for a moment. In the end, Mrs. Halleck prevailed.
Mr. Halleck reluctantly turned back to glance at the body once more, then put his arm around his wife and walked away.
The medical examiner looked at Detective Thomas and the other two, then at the Halleck couple walking away. He sighed, lowered the white sheet he'd partially lifted, and pushed the body back into storage.
Theodore stopped the medical examiner. He walked to where the Halleck couple had been standing and looked inside himself.
He was certain that from this distance, besides a body covered in injuries and reddish-brown hair, nothing else was distinguishable.
Detective Thomas and Bernie caught up with the couple, trying to persuade them to return and look more carefully.
Mrs. Halleck refused. "No need. I'd already expected this."
Bernie asked her what she meant.
Mrs. Halleck's face was stern, more rigid than Ms. Gandy's, like a nun's expression.
"I told her long ago that stockings and high heels are the devil's inventions."
"Wearing them will surely bring disaster."
"The incident ten years ago was God warning her."
"Not only did she refuse to listen, she was proud of it! She wanted the whole world to know what she'd experienced!"
Mrs. Halleck covered her face in shame. "She was possessed by the devil!"
"Look at those scars on her body!"
She asked Bernie, "Was she violated again? Was she killed because she was violated?"
Bernie was speechless for a moment.
Mrs. Halleck took his silence as confirmation. Her expression said, 'Just as I expected.'
Bernie found it difficult to communicate with Mrs. Halleck. He turned to ask Mr. Halleck instead, "When was the last time you saw your daughter?"
Mrs. Halleck answered for her husband: "Seven years ago!"
She continued, "I demanded she live with us and throw away those devil's inventions."
"She just couldn't stand dressing like a normal woman."
Mr. Halleck waited for his wife to finish, then gave his own answer: "Last month."
Mrs. Halleck was so shocked she forgot to grieve. She raised her head to glare at Mr. Halleck like a man-eating lioness.
[End of Chapter]