One Hundred and seventy five

CHAPTER 175

Noel hugged herself in the cold. It was the week before Christmas. Christmas ornaments dominated by red and green colors filled public spaces. Pine trees with colorful decorations and starlights are a sight that New Yorkers will often see.

On the way to Jason's house, the body of the mysterious man is found in the river, Nicholas and Noel are lost in their own thoughts. Along the way, many people began to arrive at the accessory shops. They seemed to be busy looking for tools and gifts for Christmas, making Noel's heart who really wanted to experience Christmas a little sad.

Noel's face showed his feelings very clearly.

Nicholas slammed on the brakes after the maps on the phone screen indicated that they had arrived at the location.

"It's Hendrick!" Nicholas tapped Noel on the shoulder, he did it deliberately hard to make Noel forget about his 'dream Christmas'. "Get your focus back, we can think about Christmas after this case is over."

Noel scowled at Nicholas, but Nicholas didn't care. He was already gone, getting out of his car. From inside the car, Noel could see that Nicholas walked straight over to Hendrick and Peter who were standing at the door.

"I wonder why I get along so well with that annoying guy!"

After complaining, Noel got out of Nicholas' car. The snow greeted her immediately. From a distance, the yellow color of the police line that had been set up caught Noel's attention. Noel followed Nicholas' lead, approaching Hendrick and Peter.

Peter was busy with the notes in his hand. Noel thought that Hendrick must be giving a lot of orders to his junior who had only been working in the serious crimes division for a few years. Noel knew very well that Hendrick was secretly a bossy figure. On the whole, though, Noel had never known Hendrick Winchester's personal life.

"How did you find the victim's identity?" asked Nicholas, as Noel caught up with him.

They both stood next to each other, looking at Hendrick who seemed to have just finished talking to Peter. The man with the distinctive mustache above his lips looked at his two seniors in turn, then explained, "We traced the river from upstream."

"You found the center of the river?"

Hendrick gave a long mumble. "We just followed the current of the river and walked in the opposite direction. And before we found the center of the water, we found Jason's wallet, bag, and... cell phone."

Nicholas and Noel exchanged glances. They looked confused.

"Does that mean the victim was dumped at that location?"

"We checked, there's no blood, no suspicious traces, but you'll find a lot of fingerprints there because apparently, people in the neighborhood throw garbage through that river," Hendrick explained. Hendrick looked at Peter, then gave an order. "Peter, you can explain what you found to them."

"Oh, right." Peter immediately took charge.

The man with the glasses flipped through the pages of the journal, Peter scribbling copious notes in his own hand. Noel was sure it was Hendrick's order. But Nicholas and Noel waited. Until Peter finished his notes and took a deep breath, then began to speak.

"We checked the location where the victim's identity was found, he was Jason, there was a black backpack containing a wallet, cell phone, and a suicide note. Judging from the position of the bag stuck in the bushes while Jason's body was washed away, the bag was thrown after Jason's body was thrown into the water." Peter looked up, he was shorter than Nicholas, Noel and Hendrick. He then continued, "and from the ID found in the bag, we can tell that he is the owner of this pawn shop. He makes this shop his home, as well as his place of business."

Hendrick patted Peter on the shoulder, he looked at his partner proudly. "You've learned a lot. You'll be ready for our journey in the field."

"So, he's the owner of this pawn shop." Nicholas looked at Peter, then asked, "Is this shop popular and making a lot of money?"

Peter nodded, he flipped to the next page and went back to explaining like an expert. "According to the testimonies of the people around here, this is the only pawn shop that is busy. Everyone pawns their goods here because the application and disbursement process is very easy compared to other pawn shops."

"Everyone knows about Jason's pawn shop, maybe we can ask the neighbors about Jason's character during his trade," Noel said.

But without them bothering to do so, Peter had already spoken up. "Ah, about that, I've already checked with some people. They own houses around here, and they agree to say that Jason is a good person. He got divorced because his wife had another man."

Nicholas frowned. "Wow. They're united in saying that?"

Noel pointed at Peter. "Did any of them see, or hear anything suspicious on the day of the incident."

Peter opened the next page of the journal. He began to read the pages one by one. The man adjusted his glasses, then said, "One of them, Mrs. Owen, said that when she went to collect the money from the pawned gold ring, Mr. Abraham was seen being called by a man in a jacket. Abraham was seen being called by a man in a closed jacket. Mrs. Owen noticed that the man was neither taller than Mr. Abraham, nor shorter than Mr. Abraham. Abraham, or shorter than Mr. Abraham. Abraham."  Peter looked at Nicholas, then pointed his hand in the air. "He's almost as tall as you are, Chief."

"That must be Ace!" Nicholas shouted confidently.

"Don't jump to conclusions like that!" Noel shouted back, getting annoyed at hearing Ace's name in all their cases. "I'm getting sick of the name Ace. Stop talking about it. Try replacing Ace's name with something else."

"Gosh, should I call him by another name? Ice for example? Ace and Ice, they look alike, don't they?"

Nicholas rolled his eyes lazily.