Chapter 256: New York Green Arrow Goes Online
On the streets of New York, Ron searched for the largest comic book store in the city, as Google had suggested. While there, he also called Leonard, who had already arrived in Switzerland and was living happily with Penny and Sheldon.
He asked if there were any superheroes who didn't wear tights and still covered their faces.
Although Ron had already appeared once at the "Detective Mystery Convention," a mystery enthusiasts' convention where even the most cunning people think they're awesome, he hadn't attracted much attention.
Besides Billy, whom he had warned, the smooth-talking Japanese detective was probably the only one who noticed him.
Unfortunately, given the eccentric aesthetics of American comics, few truly famous heroes, aside from "V" and "Batman," didn't wear tights.
Ultimately, Ron had to buy a black and green hooded sweatshirt and paint half his face with black military camouflage where his eyes would be.
While he couldn't hide it from those close to him, it was perfectly acceptable to deal with strangers.
"Sir, this outfit really suits you. I've never seen a cosplayer who's so perfect for the role of Green Arrow. Are you free tonight? Would you consider coming to our Valentine's Day party? I guarantee your character will win first place.
Afterward, I can show you my collection. I guarantee it's the most priceless treasure in the world for any comic fan."
The comic shop owner's face flushed with excitement. His handsome face, reminiscent of Lee Pace, kept approaching. If Ron hadn't kept his distance, the man with ambiguous intentions might have touched his chest.
But Ron showed no interest. "Forget the party. I bought this outfit purely for my nephew's birthday."
"That's a shame!" the owner sighed. He couldn't tell if he was sorry Ron couldn't come to his Valentine's Day party, or if he couldn't be Ron's date, or both.
Ron was about to get as far away from this creep as possible, but just as he paid and was about to leave, the owner stopped him.
"Wait a minute, sir, you forgot your bow and arrow!" The boss pulled a bow and arrow from under the counter. "How can Green Arrow not have a bow and arrow?"
"Buy a cosplay costume here and get a free bow and arrow?" Ron exclaimed in surprise.
"Of course, not everyone deserves this. This special offer is only for certain individuals." The boss winked at Ron, sending a chill down his spine. "This is an Eagle Bow from Oneida. While professional archers might consider it a beginner's bow, it's still a decent piece of equipment."
The boss took the opportunity to hang the bow and quiver on Ron's body and touch him. Seeing this pervert had finally given him a decent bow, Ron managed to restrain himself from pulling out his gun and ending this awkward encounter.
"Okay, thank you, boss," Ron said hastily.
Meanwhile, the amateur detectives, led by Detective Martinez, began their analysis of the case.
"Listen, this is the first and last time I'm going to share this information with you." Detective Martinez walked to the front of the stage, holding confidential internal police documents.
Honestly, these amateur mystery enthusiasts were the most disliked by all law enforcement officers. If she could help it, she would definitely not want to deal with them.
But there was no other way. The mayor needed the votes of the Italian-American community, so the police had to reluctantly cooperate. Even though they knew that the crime families were involved in some illegal activities, they could only turn a blind eye. This could be considered one of the negative consequences of political compromise.
"I'll just tell you this once," Detective Martinez frowned slightly when she saw Tony and Billy fooling around downstairs. "The day before yesterday, Vincent Morrison Jr.'s body was found in St. Anthony's Chapel at 10:10 am.
The janitor who opened the door discovered that someone had cut open his chest and removed his heart. The killer had made a Y-shaped incision on the victim's body, and there were no fingerprints at the scene."
"But there are two very important points. First, a large amount of sevoflurane residue was collected from the victim's mouth, nose, and left hand, proving that the victim was drugged and dragged into the crime scene.
Second, the analysis of the victim's wound surface shows that the victim died after being anesthetized and having his heart removed while he was still alive. Are there any other questions?"
...
At the same time, the same information was transferred to Ron's laptop. Ron stared at the photo on the computer screen in silence for a long time, and finally spoke again: "So this killer is left-handed?"
"It's just a possibility. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that the killer is deliberately disguising himself to mislead the police. You've been studying this for so long, and that's all you've deduced?"
Paige's pleasant female voice emanated from the computer speakers.
"I've always said I'm not good at deductions," Ron rubbed his forehead in frustration.
Ever since he'd asked Paige for help in obtaining the police information, the New York police's limited cybersecurity wasn't enough to stop Paige. But after Paige had accessed the information Ron requested, she didn't give it to him directly. Instead, she suddenly had the idea of asking Ron to play a deduction game with her, under the guise of honing his investigative skills.
"After all, the information I have is too limited. I need more to make a conclusion. Do the police have a profile of the killer?"
Although Ron, relying on his knowledge of the plot, already knew the killer's identity, he didn't dare reveal any clues in front of Paige, who was so sharp. With her intelligence, it was only a matter of time before she figured out more than he wanted her to know.
"Of course there is. It's the killer profile created by Detective Martinez, who was brought in by Morrison Sr. to help. I'll send it to you right now." Paige typed on the keyboard, and immediately Ron's computer received the killer's profile:
Male, Caucasian, between 25 and 40 years old, single, with a stable source of income, college-educated, a legitimate job, not necessarily outwardly aggressive, and possibly even a nice guy, with relatives around him dying under unusual circumstances.
Ron read the few short sentences on the screen, and his already furrowed brows deepened into a frown.
"Well, my great detective, have you made any new discoveries?" Paige's teasing voice sounded.
"I've discovered that compared to the Los Angeles police, the New York police are a bunch of amateurs," Ron said with a long sigh.
Paige's eyes lit up. "Did you spot the flaw so quickly? What do you think?"
Ron rubbed his temple. Perhaps it was because he'd been hanging around Sherlock for so long that he'd become more observant. He tried to recall Sherlock's usual methods and began to organize his thoughts.
"First of all, I'm confident about the male identity. If the murderer wasn't a man, it would be hard to drag an unconscious person that far. Yes, from the parking lot to St. Anthony's Chapel, it's definitely not something most women could accomplish, unless she's a serious athlete."
"And then?"
"But I'm skeptical about limiting it to just Caucasian. That's only a possibility, not 100% certain."
Ron recalled the plot. If he had been forced to deduce directly from the evidence, it would have been challenging. But knowing the outcome and working backwards, everything seemed clearer.
Besides, the case profile was already full of assumptions. Even if Ron hadn't known the outcome, he wouldn't have completely trusted it.
"Then what ethnicity do you think the murderer is?"
"That cannot be determined for the time being, but what is certain is that the person who would choose the specific location of St. Anthony's Chapel as the murder site must be Catholic or someone who has a deep understanding of Catholic traditions. So, now we can narrow down the suspects to Catholics and everyone familiar with Catholic culture. This includes anyone who attended Catholic school, worked in Catholic institutions, or had relationships with devout Catholics."
"Congratulations, based on the above two points, you have successfully narrowed down the suspects to 58,431 people." Under Paige's remote control, two large circles appeared on Ron's computer. They represented the citizen information that Paige had selected based on the two conditions Ron had just given. The overlapping part of the two large circles showed candidates who met both conditions.
"Being single and having a stable source of income, these two points are easy to understand. The deceased came from a prominent family, and the valuables on his body were extremely expensive, but nothing was stolen from the scene, so the murderer definitely didn't kill for money.
From the background investigation of the deceased, we know that he was a very popular rich kid, and there's no possibility of him being killed for revenge, but these two points are useless for now. We can speculate on the murderer's motive later. Now I'm interested in the education aspect."
"Are you saying that the murderer received a proper education? How do you know this?" Paige asked knowingly.
"It's very simple. Look at this wound." Ron enlarged the photo of the wound. "The incision is very clean and precise. It's obviously the result of a single, skilled operation. The position and angle are perfect."
"There are only two types of people who can cause a wound like this: doctors who specialize in surgical procedures or butchers who specialize in processing meat. But considering that the wound is on a human body, I prefer the former hypothesis."
"No wonder you're the man I'm interested in." Paige's eyes were dreamy, almost glazed over, while another part of her was getting quite excited. "Your progress is simply amazing. Did you learn this from Sherlock?"
"Of course." Since Paige found a reasonable explanation for him, how could Ron not agree?
"Then congratulations, you have now successfully narrowed down the number of suspects to 143. Keep going, you'll find the murderer soon."
"Why are there still so many?" Ron said, dissatisfied. He thought that with this deduction, he could narrow the suspects down to double digits, but it was still in the triple digits.
Paige grabbed another pillow with Ron's photo on it and hugged it tightly while explaining, "There's no other way. Medical tourism to Europe is popular, and Italy is one of the top destinations. In fact, one-fifth of New York's doctors have traveled to Italy or have Italian heritage."
"Okay, I noticed one more thing," Ron sent a search page to Paige. "Two weeks ago, someone found the body of a Hispanic woman by the Hudson River with the same Y-shaped wound as this victim. I think there's a definite correlation between the two cases, except that she lost a kidney."
"What are you getting at? Do you think the two cases were committed by the same person?"
"It must have been done by the same person." Ron said confidently. He knew that he was very close to the correct answer: "Now, check for me if these two people received treatment at the same hospital."
"Got it," Paige said as she helped Ron search. Her excitement was building as she worked frantically on her computer. With a satisfied voice, Paige finally found the information Ron wanted: "They both received treatment at the same hospital, Memorial General Hospital.
There is only one doctor at this hospital who meets all the above characteristics, and that is the owner of this hospital, Dr. James Memorial. His wife was Italian-American and died of cancer a year ago."
"I can't believe that the murderer would be such a gentle-looking man, Ron. Do you know what the most ironic thing is?"
"What?" Ron asked, knowing the answer.
Paige said in a sarcastic tone: "The most ironic thing is that this hospital has a contract with the New York police. The autopsy reports of the two people who died at his hands were written by that very doctor. Isn't that hilarious?"
"That is pretty ironic." Ron stood up.
Paige, who had been watching him through the camera, noticed his actions: "Ron, what are you going to do? Arrest that crazy doctor?"
"Of course not, that's not my style." Ron chuckled, "I just plan to use this as leverage to make that madman pay some overdue taxes first, if he doesn't want to be exposed."
"Okay, but don't forget, this is New York, not Los Angeles. If you're exposed, it could be problematic."
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid. I'm just going to be the Green Arrow to do some justice and make some money on the side~" Ron pulled his hood over his head and painted a line across his face with his hands dipped in camouflage paint.
"Doing justice and making money aren't mutually exclusive. After all, even superheroes have to eat~" As he spoke, Ron had already slung his bow and quiver across his body.
"Do you know how to shoot a bow and arrow?"
"A little bit. When I used to go hunting with my grandfather in Montana, I'd track deer and elk in the nearby woods and bring them back for my grandmother to cook. Back then, my main targets were rabbits and small game," Ron said with a nostalgic look. In his youth, before he could legally carry firearms, the bow and arrow was his preferred hunting weapon.
Archery was one of the few skills he'd mastered without any formal training.
"Now, it's time for the Green Arrow of New York to get to work."
(End of this chapter)
[+100 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a Review!
P*atreon/Soulforger (80+ advanced chapters)
Buy me coffee - ko-fi*com/soulforger01