Chapter 23
“Then there was a second turn in the behavior of the shapeshifter.” James moved his hand across a blank area on the clue wall and pointed to the side where the photo of ‘David’ was nailed.
Detective Coulson’s clue wall was divided into two blocks. The first block was analyzed by James just now. The victims were all prostitutes. The second block completely surrounded ‘David’.
Around David’s photo, it was nailed with all kinds of information, social relations, work position, property reports… At the bottom, there was a photo of a broken body part with two letters “D, M’ tattooed on it, and under the photo, there was a line of words underneath it. ‘Evidence of the real David.’ It was written by detective Coulson.
The gap between the two blocks indicated that Detective Coulson was also trying to figure out the connection between the two. Under the clue wall, Coulson wrote ‘the way to deal with the victims is exactly the same, is it imitation, or is it the same person committing the crime?’
Underneath this line of words, there were messy marks. It seemed that Coulson had entered a dead-end in the connection between these two things!
But what was admirable was that next to David’s work information, Coulson connected David with the instability of the telephone line that has been going on for more than a week. However, Coulson’s conclusion was somewhat speechless: “The suspect has committed a series of murders. The means of committing crimes and the methods of handling the bodies have formed a clear style. With a twisted mind, the suspect wants to spread out this style using the currently available communication method.”
James also looked at Coulson’s conclusion. If he hadn’t met Zach and Benjamin, he might have reached the same conclusion, but now it seemed that Coulson was only right about a small part.
“After the shapeshifter completed the so-called test, it was determined that there were no other nonhuman forces in Barton City, so they chose a target and began to spread the news! That would be one week ago.” James looked at the clue wall and frowned, “That’s when I first came to Barton City and was attacked. But that’s too quick. It was impossible to connect those incidents!”
Zach was still watching the previous block, “No. He probably chose David during the time Louise went hiding.” Zach pointed out that several bodies that were found, “You see, all of the bodies found were people who went missing in this half-month, those were the collateral damage caused by hunting down Louise. Its test was already completed a month ago. ”
Zach went back to the desk where the messy materials were piled up, rummaging through the police records, and after a moment, he nodded seemingly understood something. Zach smiled and asked Jim: “Jim, why would you monitor Louise with Coulson?”
“First, she is the only one who clearly saw the shapeshifter and is still alive. Coulson hopes to find clues from her.” Jim said indifferently: “Second, I’m doing my own kind a favor and helping him to keep eyes on this woman.”
“Did you hear it?” Zach returned to the wall of clues, “the shapeshifter became arrogant after completing the test and no longer concealed himself cautiously. There was no trace of clues half a month ago. Half a month later, his actions were significantly less cautious, and God wanted to punish him for his arrogance, so he met the cautious Louise. His strangeness was then noticed by Louise. Louise’s two escapes and the subsequent hiding made him realize that his ‘style’ was exposed, so he began to look for helpers. So he replaced David’s identity and began to spread rumors.”
“And I am the first ‘helper’ that came to him.” Jim seemed to think of something funny, he let out a dry laugh for a moment, and then resumed the dullness again.
“Small social circle, have no friends, no relatives, can control telecommunications at work, and connect with the outside world. David is the perfect target.” Zach moved to James’ side. “Then, your transfer message was obtained by him.”
James’ face was livid: “I have no relatives and friends in Barton City, and social relations are clean, and no one knows me! I am also a perfect identity replacement target! ”
“That’s exactly what happened.” Zach patted Jim on the shoulder: “It’s not an easy task to take someone’s identity. Maybe after David was targeted, he still lived as usual for a few days. During those few days, there were two Davids, and the shapeshifter needed to learn his habits.” Zach took a look at the photo of Fitz, who was only tagged with ‘colleagues and friends’ in David’s social relations. It also marked ‘limited social circle’, “When he confirmed that his replacement would not cause doubt, David was then killed.”
James’s face was even more gloomy: “And me, my life in Barton City does not need ‘habits’ at all.” James looked at Jim: “One of the targets of shapeshifters are migrants!”
Jim nodded blankly: “I really like your identity, rich, and no one knows you.”
He seemed to be praising him, but James hated this feeling, “Why didn’t you kill me?”
“I thought you were going to die.” Jim replied: “This was a mistake, and everyone makes mistakes.”
So the reason why James was now alive, was it just because of Jim’s carelessness? Wrong, it was James’ luck.
A shapeshifter, who disliked the human taste, attacked him when he first entered the city of Barton. Such a small probability event allowed him to escape into the woods on the border of Barton city with a serious injury. On the night of the full moon where Benjamin transformed, he was so weak that the wolf-shaped Benjamin didn’t even bother to attack him. And after he was attacked and remained in the woods for a week, the ‘Korcyl’ trademark on the clothes he was wearing made the vampire who had just drunk blood interested in him, and then saved him…
God, absolutely favoring some people, James should feel grateful for the providence he received…
“Huh!” James snorted, and his eyes fell on Fitz’s picture. On the marked material, Coulson wrote the whole process of Fitz’s discovery of David’s body, the absence from the Dungeons & Dragons game night, this was the negligence of the shapeshifter David!
Zach put all the things he had moved back to the original place and said casually, “Now that we know all the events, all we need is to catch this guy. Benjamin, did you note his smell?”
After entering Coulson’s studio, Benjamin found the evidence collected by Coulson from David’s house and began to remember the smell of the shapeshifter David.
Benjamin nodded: “yes, and I can go now.”
“Make sure it is ‘his’ smell, not the smell of the original David.” Jim reminded: “I can’t guarantee that he will still act in the form of David.”
Benjamin frowned, “What do you mean? Didn’t you say that this case was not made public? Did he notice that he was being investigated?”
Jim touched his face. All the facial expressions of this shapechanger were stiff, making people wonder if he was not used to human body structure: “I told him that his identity has been exposed.”
“You, why did you tell him?!” James was enraged!
Zach sighed, “When did it happen?”
“In the morning, when Coulson was investigating the scene at David’s house, I called him. We met once around noon, that’s it.” Jim replied: “This is before I know that you are in Barton city. I wanted to maintain a good relationship with him at that time.”
Zach nodded, as long as Jim was currently standing on their side, the vampire didn’t care what happened before this: “what did you tell him?”
“The first time, I only told him that his identity may have been exposed, and we will conduct a secret investigation. The second time, I told him that his identity had been completely exposed and Fitz was with Coulson.”
Benjamin thought for a moment, “so the only people who know this now are Detective Coulson and Fitz, and us and Cologne, who ordered a private investigation.” Benjamin scratched his beard, “Coulson and Cologne, who will be his next target?”
“Wait!” James stared at Benjamin in surprise: “The next target? Isn’t it Fitz, who discovered his identity? Why would he be interested in Coulson and Chief Cologne?”
Zach shook his head in disappointment: “Detective Rance, the prisoner is a nonhuman, not a human. You need to think about the problem from his perspective!”
James stared at him while trying to think quickly. He just realized that he had asked a stupid question, the suspect was a shapeshifter who could change his appearance! The investigation of the entire case was conducted in secret, that was to say, to make all this disappear, the simplest way was to replace Detective Coulson who was conducting the investigation, or to replace the Chief Cologne who ordered the investigation!
As for that Fitz, nobody cared!
Zach frowned, “I don’t want Bartron to be a paradise for nonhumans, it seems like I need to talk to Anthony.”
Of course, Zach didn’t forget about the rumor. For the Bartron Police Department, the case of the death of the missing prostitutes has entered a dead end. David’s identity, the shapeshifter could abandon it at any time, and the Detective Coulson’s investigation would also enter a dead end. The only two people who remained suspicious about the case were Coulson and Cologne. Perhaps now, there were other nonhumans that have already sneaked into Barton City, and under the arrangement of ‘David’, they have already begun to observe their living habits!
Benjamin sighed, “Well, I think we really need it. I also need a more complete sample to identify the smell, Anthony needs to give us access to these bodies.”
“Can shapeshifters have different smells?” James sadly discovered that the problem now was completely beyond his ability to handle.
“Yes,” Benjamin nodded, “Do you think the body of normal people can bear the speed of eating like Jim? Shapeshifters have two digestive systems. One set can constantly change and adapt to the new body. One set is their original organ, that is the only way to identify who they are.”
James shook his head silently.