BBDW 62 [Black Butterfly] - Nevereverland

Section 64.2 (UNEDITED)

There was really no child in the numerous frames that Tim approached and scanned, as Jude said. To the extent that it is reasonable to assume that there is no one but a couple and a dog, and only Roman and Karen were seen in the picture.

"Yeah, well, it'll come out in a minute if you check her personal information. Oh, shall I call him? Reiss. He must be with Mrs Stanberg right now."

Instead of answering, Jude took out his cell phone. A cheerful sound rang after a few beeps.

[Oh, Jude? What's up? I'm taking Mrs Stanberg with me right now.]

"Rice, can I speak to her for a second now? Mrs Stanberg."

[Huh? Uh-huh, okay. Wait a minute.]

For a moment, there was a rustling sound, and soon the old woman's rather not so fine voice was clearly heard over the phone. Tim raised his ears slightly.

[What's going on?]

"Ma’am, let me ask you something. Was there no child between you two?"

[.........None. Why do you ask that?]

"No, well, I guess you've had the dog for a long time. It's almost everywhere in the picture."

[Pell is like my family. It's been more than 10 years since I raised it, but it's still very lively. How comforted I was with its cuteness.....and when my husband got into a fight with the bad guys on the street, there was a time when Pell bit them. Come to think of it, where's Pell? If Roman was injured and in the hospital, where was it left?]

"Well, I don't know where it went. I came because he said it might be at home, but I couldn't see it, so I wonder if it went somewhere without the owner."

[What?!]

The voice over the phone grew louder for a moment. Jude briefly took the phone off his ear and frowned like a person who had eaten something sour. When she was just told to go all the way to the station just now, her voice, which had not been that loud, was now raised to the limit.

[There's no way Pell would leave him behind! What about the guy who helped Roman? He didn't see it?]

"Ma, ma'am, lower your voice. Yeah, I haven't heard of that from Mr Ronwood. Maybe it went somewhere to ask for help…..”

[Then it would have been the first to catch people’s eyes! If it didn't have any gains, it would be back at the place he fell or his house! Even though I lost it in Times Square before it’s smart enough to go home by itself! Oh, good Lord. Whatever happens to Pell...]

"Let's just calm down. I'll do some more investigation and if I have something to ask again, I'll go back to you. Well then."

Whether he didn't want to deal with an agitatedly yelling old woman, Jude spoke quickly and closed the phone. Tim laughed awkwardly.

"That’s tough. It must have been a precious dog. I think it's even more so since they don't have kids."

"Hmmm…. Tim, let's go next door for a second."

Jude strode out of the living room without saying much. A rather bewildered Tim quickly followed suit. From the easy-going Jude, he could not feel any tension nor hope that he had caught a clue to work on, and eventually, Tim opened his mouth and asked.

"Why all of a sudden? We haven't finished investigating the house yet?”

"I'd like to ask something more from them. This is Jeremy's house, and next to it would be a good start."

"Jude, isn’t it too late to knock on someone's door..."

"There aren't that many houses that light out at 10 these days. And how quickly does people's memories fade; you'd better ask them before it fades. Excuse me!”

BangBangBang, Jude knocked on the door before Tim could say anything. After shouting a few more times in a modest tone, the door, which had been peeled off here and there, opened with an irksome sound. The man's face from inside was seething with irritation. Jude put out his police notebook before the man could spout the harsh words like who are you. His face connivingly displayed a bright babyish smile.

"Hello, this is NYPD, and I need to ask you something."

Looking closely at the suddenly pushed notebook, the man scratched the back of his head with a slightly subdued momentum. His beard had grown a little messy, probably left untouched for a few days. On the TV behind his back, a fighting match was in full swing. The obtrusive voice wasn't very friendly.

"What is it? Police officer. I haven't driven a car since my license was suspended."

"Around three or four hours ago, didn't you hear anything out there?"

"What do you mean, heard what?"

"It's like the sound of the dog that was raised next door. Like barking."

He smiled. What does this smile mean? As Tim looked at him suspiciously, he speaks out as if he were spitting.

"What do you know? That dog barks all the time."

"It barks all the time?"

"I don't know how much the owner spoiled it, but it barked really badly. People have said something about it a few times, only if the old prick understands. I'm having a hard time living next door for that reason. It's a pretty old dog and it's about time to die. It's so quiet today. I think I heard something at the time you said, but I don't know. The old man is stuck with the dog all the time, so why don't you ask the old man if you want to know if the dog is barking or not?"

Instead of saying the old man is now lying in the hospital, Jude greeted the prickly bearded man with a smile on his face.

"Yes, I got it. I'll come back later if I have anything else to ask."

"Don't come, there's nothing more to tell."

The man shut the door a little roughly. Jude looked back at Tim with a slightly troubled face. Tim, who was looking at the closed door and Jude's face alternately, asked after choosing and swallowing words several times.

"Did you just knock on the door to hear about the dog?"

The answer was succinct.

"Yes."

"Is the dog that important?"

"Maybe. Maybe not, but I'd like to bet on it for now."

"Bet on it…..What are you talking about?"

"If someone assaulted a man who has little to no resentment and doesn't have much of a relationship with his relatives to the point where he was taken to the hospital, it would be either someone who knew this old man well or a psychopath. I mean, the culprit must have been around this old man. That's a good chance, isn't it?"

"Yes... I guess."

"The culprit is most likely to be in the neighbourhood, right? And there's one good reason for that. He said he was always with his dog, so there’s no way that he didn’t train it. I don’t think that is a bad assumption to look at. We'd better find the dog's body first. Who's still on duty out there?"

"Wait, Jude. What do you mean by the dog's body? Where's the guarantee that the dog is dead?"

“Guarantee? Didn't you hear me talking to the old woman earlier? If it was such a loyal and well-rounded dog, there’s no way it would get lost like this. I don’t know about cat but, it's a dog. That's a dog over 10 years old. The chance is it was killed by the pipe that attacked Mr Stanberg......no, it’s reasonable to give it three-quarter chance that it is the case. Well, there’ll be other people to search in the other way, so let's go this way."

Tim’s mouth puffed in a bit of confusion. It was because Jude's words as if he was just reading a magazine article were not so easily organized in his head. Tim, who had been sorting out the logic in his head for a moment, soon twisted his eyebrows and headed for his partner. Jude was already taking his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Well, the good reason you said earlier..."

"Well, attacking a person doesn't necessarily mean that the purpose is the person himself?"

Right. Tim agreed in a daze. The purpose could be the victim's money, the victim's lover... or the pet that bothered them for being so loud. It's terrible, but it's not that rare.

But Tim couldn't open his mouth until Jude poked him to ask who was still on duty a moment later.

 

"-Uh, Daisy. This is Jude, did you happen to find any dog carcasses near the scene?"

[Dog? No, there were only bloodstains left on the scene. I didn't see any animal carcasses.]

"Oh, really? Okay, let me know if you find anything later."

[Yeah, okay. But how's it going over there? Did you get anything?]

"Us? Well... we've just finished our investigation here, nothing much at the house, hmm. There was no sign of a mess. We'll look around a little more, and we'll be back in a little while, see you at the station."

After a brief conversation with a colleague at the scene near the house, Jude shrugged and turned his head. Tim looked at the face with a little dismay. There was no sign of any gains on his partner's face, and Tim shrugged along.

"Well, now we're going back..."

"Let's go through the trash can."

"…...what?"

Tim asked again in a daze. It is not uncommon for the police to go through the trash can, but what is the point of going through the trash around the apartment at this time? Jude looked around without listening to Tim's answer and strode to the first trash can he could see. Tim that quickly followed Jude, who was snooping through the old trash can without hesitation, asked in a flurry.

"What, what's with the trash can all of a sudden?"

"Of course, looking for a dog."

"What do you mean a dog....dog carcass?"

Jude nodded as he asked with a questioning look on his face.

“Shouldn't we go through the trash before it gets loaded into the garbage truck? It’s dead on the day the trash is collected and goes to the incinerator. Let's take a look around. There isn't that much trash left I think."

"Well, wait, there's no evidence it was dumped around here."

"Well, assuming it's true that the culprit hit the old man because of a dog, the culprit must be around here. Is there any reason to dump a dog's body away from home? At best, it would have been all about chasing the small dog running away. Well, they could have taken the dog home and grilled it. Still, that's when it happened. If they hate it, they will usually kill it and throw it away, and they don't really eat it in such a way. Eating is something you do when you're interested."

Tim nodded quaveringly as he listened to Jude's explanation. The dark-brown-eyed detective, who was looking at the white shirt he was wearing with a subtle look, soon gave a long sigh and moved his foot to the other trash can. "Ah-who didn't drink it all and threw it away? That's past its expiry date too!" Listening to his partner's cry from behind, Tim take off his outerwear and unbuttoned his shirt's cuff, without a word.

*        *        *

Truthfully I’m not sure if you need any warning since you’ve reached this far into the story so I assume you’re a tough person mentally. “Eating is something you do when you're interested.”-Jude. I like that dark-sounding quote.