Chapter 139: $150, Bring Your Own Tools
Bernie didn't know how to comment on Theodore's behavior.
He could only quickly call in the detectives to escort Cooper to the bathroom.
Afterward, they went to question Dennis.
Dennis had previously refused to talk because he and Cooper had included the cost of the prostitute in their hotel review expenses and submitted it for reimbursement to the company. If their boss found out, both he and Cooper would be fired.
Bernie first showed him Cooper's testimony, and after making the same promise he'd given Cooper, Dennis stopped holding back.
Dennis had heard more than Cooper.
While Cooper was sleeping, Dennis was still reading. Around ten in the evening, he heard voices from next door, followed by the sounds Cooper had described. Because he'd heard everything from start to finish, Dennis understood what was happening next door and didn't misunderstand like Cooper had, so he didn't go knock on the door.
When Cooper knocked, Dennis heard it too, but he deliberately didn't go out to explain. He just wanted to watch his friend embarrass himself.
He admitted frankly that he'd had sex with the deceased along with Cooper that morning.
When asked if he'd engaged with the deceased using the same method as the previous two men, Dennis shook his head repeatedly.
"We can't afford to play that game."
"I heard her quote the second person, it was $150 for one session!"
By the time Dennis's questioning concluded, it was already past work hours.
Theodore and Bernie didn't go directly back to Georgetown. Instead, they headed to Arlington.
Last week, Bernie had postponed his meeting with the renovation company due to the phone scam case, and yesterday the company had contacted him, hoping he could spare some time for a meeting. They'd already prepared several renovation plans, and this meeting only required Bernie to choose his preferred option. It wouldn't take much time.
Their meeting place was the property Bernie had purchased.
There were more government employees living in Arlington than in Georgetown, and the road there was much more congested than the route home. The two left the Third Precinct and were quickly stuck in traffic.
Theodore pulled out Cooper and Dennis's testimonies to review, thinking about the case.
Bernie glanced at him, thought of the part in the testimony about the deceased's work, and asked, "Are there many prostitutes like her in D.C.?"
Theodore looked up. "Like what?"
Bernie gestured with his hand. "Imitating assault victims. Pretending to be assaulted."
Theodore looked at him strangely and shook his head. "I don't know."
"But judging from the deceased's price of $150 per session, there shouldn't be many."
An oil worker's monthly salary in Felton was only around three hundred dollars. $150 was definitely a premium price.
Bernie thought of this and asked in confusion, "Why didn't they go to a better hotel?"
Theodore pulled out a photograph of the deceased and showed it to him.
"The deceased's imitation of Annie Halleck was very thorough. She specifically dyed her hair reddish-brown, wore the 'slut outfit,' and even registered under the name Annie Halleck. All of this was to make the clients feel more immersed in the experience."
"Perhaps choosing a cheap single room facing the street at the Riverside Hotel was a request from the client."
Bernie thought back to Dennis and Cooper's description of Room 511. "These people's tastes are truly strange."
Theodore shook his head. He didn't find it strange at all.
He put down the photo. "These people, like Robert Miller, are all potential rapists."
Bernie looked at him with some surprise.
Theodore explained, "They're just still in the fantasy stage. Fantasy plays a crucial role in the process of a law-abiding person developing into a criminal. Marino Jenkins started with fantasy."
"This is especially evident among sex offenders. For these criminals, the progression from fantasy to reality is a crucial transformation. Most people will only stay in the fantasy stage. Only a few will act on it like Robert Miller."
Bernie reacted. "The deceased provided them with an opportunity to act it out."
He asked Theodore, "Do you suspect the killer was one of the deceased's clients?"
Theodore shook his head.
"The deceased served a total of four clients on the night of the incident, and there were exactly four condoms in the trash can. However, semen was detected in the deceased's vagina and on her inner thighs, and this semen should belong to the killer."
"Cooper and Dennis left at six, and the deceased was pushed down the stairs around seven. The killer should have entered the room after the two hotel reviewers left and had sex with the deceased."
"If the killer was a randomly solicited client of the deceased, like Cooper and Dennis, there should be five condoms in the trash can."
Bernie argued, "The four condoms in the trash can are four different brands. The deceased's service clearly didn't include condoms, clients had to bring their own."
He paused, then couldn't help complaining, "$150 per session and they don't even provide condoms. That price is truly outrageous. Not everyone carries condoms with them. Maybe the killer didn't bring any."
He pointed at Theodore. "You wouldn't carry condoms with you."
Theodore looked at him, opened his briefcase, and pulled out several Trojan brand condoms from the innermost hidden pocket, shaking them.
Bernie stared in disbelief.
Theodore put the condoms back. "Not many people don't carry condoms like you."
Bernie shook his head. "People who carry them are the minority."
Theodore countered, "All four of the deceased's clients brought them. Only the killer didn't. The deceased provided high-end services, and her fees were substantial. Her clients couldn't possibly be unable to afford condoms."
He asked Bernie, "Would you have sex with a prostitute without using a condom?"
Bernie fell silent.
Theodore continued, "The deceased had a large number of old scars on her body, which indicates she may have been doing this kind of work for a long time. She should have had a relatively clear understanding of the appropriate intensity during the provision of services."
"If the killer was a randomly solicited client of the deceased, there shouldn't be a large number of obvious defensive wounds on her body."
Bernie disagreed. "Just because the deceased knew her limits doesn't mean the client did. Maybe the client got too excited and lost control."
Theodore looked at Bernie strangely, then shook his head.
"If the killer was a client, and the deceased died accidentally during the service because the client got too excited and lost control, her body should have been found inside Room 511, not pushed out the window."
He found the cause of death section in the autopsy report and pointed it out to Bernie.
Dying during the act and falling to her death were vastly different.
Bernie was convinced. His expression became complicated.
"So the deceased really was assaulted. A prostitute who provided services by imitating assault victims was actually assaulted and then killed after providing services."
He looked at Theodore and asked, "How can we distinguish between the traces left by clients imitating assault and the traces left by the killer's actual assault? If we can't find the traces left by the killer, we can't distinguish the modus operandi and identifying marks."
If these two couldn't be distinguished, it seemed that criminal profiling no longer applied.
[End of Chapter]
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