Chapter 723 Handover Ceremony?
Beckett also called back the Huobao duo who were still busy outside. They were currently conducting in-depth investigations into the background of the groom, Gretel Murphy.
Although the Murphy family is not a particularly well-known wealthy family in New York, it is still a large family that can be traced back two to three hundred years ago. Gretel's grandfather and grandmother even set up a valuable family trust fund for him. .
According to Kevin and Esposito, they have never seen a billionaire heir who is as low-key as Gretel.
"Billions of dollars in wealth?" Cassell opened his mouth in surprise. As the saying goes, some people are born in Rome, and some people are born with cattle and horses. Although he is considered rich now, there is obviously still a big gap between this number. I don’t even know if I will ever have the chance to touch this threshold in my life.
"Yes, this is the key, but we have to start from the beginning. Do you remember what Esposito mentioned when he asked the guests? Someone mentioned that Sophie almost didn't come to the wedding." Jack Stand in front of the evidence board and talk.
Esposito nodded to express that he still had an impression, and Beckett added, "I also checked with Kayla, because Sophie is far away in Los Angeles, so their relationship in the past few years cannot be said to be very close.
Inviting her to be a bridesmaid was purely because she and Gretel met because of Sophie, although this seems ironic now. "
“Then we noticed something strange. The wedding rehearsal was on Saturday. Counting other preparations, normally you can check into the hotel on Friday, but Sophie had already checked in as early as Thursday morning.
So we called bride Kayla's mean mother early this morning and talked to her about it. "As he spoke, Jack raised his hand to signal his girlfriend to continue.
Hannah shuddered subconsciously, seeming to recall the fear of being dominated not long ago by a mean aunt who kept complaining that her daughter always saw the wrong person.
"I don't want to recall that conversation in detail. Anyway, we learned one thing from the bride's mother. Sophie's financial situation seemed to be very poor. She even called her after the engagement party last year to ask if she could Help pay for flights.
And she also mentioned that when she checked into the hotel on Friday, she saw Sophie shopping in the store attached to the hotel. In her original words, this girl seemed to have become a nouveau riche overnight. "
"So." Hannah took out a credit card statement and posted it on the evidence board, "Based on my experience as a bridesmaid, I roughly estimated the cost of Sophie's wedding trip.
The total amount of shoes, dresses, hotel accommodation and air tickets would not be less than $3,000, but she had less than $20 left in her bank account, and her credit card balance had been completely overdrawn in the past few months. . "
Cassell frowned and looked at the credit card statement carefully, "How did she do it? I didn't find any relevant expenditure items on it, and she spent money on buying 'FM2' from drug dealers. How much was it?" ?$200? Where did she get so much cash?"
"Not to mention the cost of buying medicine. As someone who has been a bridesmaid six times, I am even more curious about how she afforded the bridesmaid dress." Beckett regretted the words as soon as she said it, because everyone present suddenly turned their attention. concentrated on her.
"Six times bridesmaid, huh? You don't happen to still have the photos from that time, right?" Cassell's focus suddenly shifted to a strange direction.
Jack coughed slightly and signaled everyone not to go off topic. Although he was also curious, after all, he was aware of the superstitions such as being too many bridesmaids to get married.
"So I'm going to follow the direction of the money." He said, taking out a small USB flash drive, "This is the store surveillance video I just asked for from the Beaumont Hotel, and then I found the person who paid for all this, Tai Dee Murphy.”
"So, Teddy Murphy is actually Sophie's sugar daddy?" What the hell kind of shared lover plot is this? Cassel only felt that his mind was a little confused, "When he found Sophie crawling into his nephew's bed in the middle of the night, he killed her in anger?"
Jack found that he still underestimated this guy's wild imagination, and said in a dumbfounded voice, "I am more inclined to think that he is the mastermind behind the scenes. Sophie was obviously under his instructions. The purpose of entering Gretel's room in the middle of the night was to stir up trouble." The wedding afterward.”
"Is this his motive?" Cassel's mind hadn't turned around for a moment. "What good would it do to Teddy Murphy to ruin the wedding? He and Gretel are not even from the same generation. Gretel inherited the property. "
As he spoke, he suddenly reacted, "You mentioned before the trust fund that Grete's grandparents left him. Are there any prerequisites for this fund to take effect? For example, Grete gets married or has children?"
Jack and Hannah smiled at each other and snapped their fingers, "Bingo, the billions of wealth that Gretel can inherit is only theoretical at the moment, but a large part of it, uh, let me take a look."
He pulled out the last piece of information, "Theoretically, as long as Grete gets married, uh, without having children, he can inherit half of this fund, a total of 40 million US dollars, but now there is only a little bit of this money left. to $15 million."
Everyone suddenly realized that Cassel, as a member of the wealthy family, understood immediately, "So Teddy Murphy, as a member of this family and a lawyer, is actually the executor of this family trust fund. Over the years, Has he been stealing money from it?"
Jack spread his hands and said that he and Hannah had done their best in less than one morning, and it was up to them to check the rest, but he still gave a reminder.
"Remember to search Teddy Murphy's personal belongings, especially what he was wearing at the wedding rehearsal dinner. Don't forget those strange scratches on the back of Sophie's body. I bet there was something on his clothes. will be decisive direct evidence."
"I'm going to apply for a search warrant. You two go and bring Uncle Teddy back to the police station first." After Beckett gave the order to the duo, he took the information and hurriedly left the office with Cassell.
——
"Is everything settled?" At night, when Jack and Hannah came to the 12th Precinct again, they saw Beckett sitting alone at his desk.
The female detective looked a little distracted, and there was not much joy brought about by successfully solving the case on her face, "Yes, everything is just as you expected, Teddy Murphy has no way to make up for the money.
He took advantage of Sophie's financial embarrassment and unresolved love for Gretel, and wanted her to ruin their wedding by seducing the groom and making a recording on the eve of the wedding.
But when Gretel rejects her, Sophie escapes to her room, where she encounters Teddy waiting there. "
Hannah asked with interest, "What happened next? The two had an argument, and Sophie threatened to expose what he did?"
"Or maybe besides silencing him, Teddy thought of another way to ruin their wedding and kill the bridesmaid?" Jack continued.
Beckett sighed, but kept glancing towards the conference room on the left, "We still have no way of knowing this. Teddy chose to remain silent, but whether he admits guilt or not, the evidence is now conclusive.
We found a platinum tie clip in the file bag in his room. As you might expect, this is the source of those scratches on Sophie's back. It is the most direct evidence. The remaining epithelial cells on it are enough to convict him. .
In addition, we also found Sophie's mobile phone, which contained a recording of Gretel sternly rejecting Sophie's advances. Cassel called Keira and was playing it to her in the conference room. "
After saying that, she couldn't help but look at the conference room on the left again, her eyes flickered and she asked with a slight hesitation, "Jack, can you use the one you demonstrated before?"
"Wait a minute." Hannah covered Jack's mouth and rolled her big eyes in a circle, "You have to promise to show me all your bridesmaid photos."
"Deal!" Beckett gritted his teeth and glared at his friend and best friend.
Jack sighed and shook his head speechlessly, "Take me one."
"Hurry up and read the lips!" If he could shoot lasers from his eyes, Jack would have become a sieve by now, because even Hannah couldn't wait to know what the two were talking about in the conference room.
"Cassell is saying that Teddy's plan might succeed, if he hadn't underestimated a person, uh, I'm talking about Gretel, although I'm not bad, but, Keira, he is a good man, an upright person. man, and love you deeply.
Kayla said, I know, and I really should love him, but that doesn't mean I won't think of you from time to time.
Bah, scumbag! Ah, this is what I said. "
Facing the angry looks of the two women, Jack could only raise his hand to indicate that he would not interrupt anymore, and continued to peek through the huge floor-to-ceiling glass of the conference room to peek into the conversation between the old lovers inside.
"Keira still said, there are so many cities in the world, so many weddings, and so many murders taking place every day, but you walked into my wedding and helped me.
Cassell said, I'm glad I met him. Wow, Kayla said thank you and kissed him on the cheek. Pay attention, she is leaving! "
"Shut up, we can see this too." Seeing the glass door of the conference room being opened, Beckett and Hannah quickly resumed their sitting positions, acting as if nothing had happened.
There was a burst of cheerful footsteps, and Keira walked to Beckett's desk with a smile on her face and looked at her without blinking.
Beckett, who was so nervous that she even held the information in her hands upside down, raised her head in confusion, not knowing what she wanted to do.
"He's yours." Kayla left these words with a smile and left the detective's office with a relaxed pace.