Trial of the Century

Trial of the Century

Chapter One: Rebirth Offer:

Detective Jessica Weng slammed down her fist on her desk. Her primary suspect Michael Powell had just killed his sons and set fire to his old home. How could the system let this happen?

“Damn it!” she shouted. All eyes fell on her.

“What?” Jessica asked. Everyone in the room quickly went back to work. The detective sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was so close to solving the case. How could the social worker been so careless? Jessica would have to let this case go cold.

But then her phone rang.

“Hello?” Jessica asked.

“Is this Detective Weng?” a man’s voice asked in a whisper.

“Yes, who is it?” she asked. Her eyes shifted back and forth.

“I have a lead in the Abby Powell case,” the man said. Jessica sighed and rolled her eyes. Here we go with the false leads again.

“You are aware that her husband is dead, right?” she asked.

“I know, I have a way to get a confession from him,” he said.

“Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?” the detective asked.

“I do apologize,” the man said. “My name is Dr. Perez.” Jessica raised her eyebrow.

“You mean that crazy doctor who was working on transferring the consciousness of dead people?” she asked.

“That’s right,” Dr. Perez said. “I finished my machine. I have even been running the tests.” The detective had an odd look on her face.

“This is a joke, right?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “The chief granted me permission to work with you.” Jessica frowned as she wrinkled her nose.

“Why should I believe anything you say?” she asked. “How should I believe you?”

“Check your email,” he said. “Check your email and call me back.” The doctor hung up before she could say another word. Jessica looked at her phone. What the hell was this? The detective turned to her computer and brought up the email. Sure enough, there was the message.

“The Answer to Crack the Case.”

Jessica snorted. Yeah, right. She clicked on the message. The email was long and filled with proper jargon. The detective scrolled through with glazed over eyes. Then that key line caught her attention.

“I grant you permission to work with Dr. Perez.”

Jessica read the line again and again. Was the boss serious? She looked around the office. No one seemed to be paying attention. This whole scheme sounded crazy. But yet…

Jessica walked up to her boss’ door. It would seem like a dumb question if this whole thing was true. But she had to know. The detective knocked on the door.

“Enter,” a woman’s voice said. Jessica opened the door. A black woman in a nice suit sat at her desk. She cut her a sharp look. The detective slipped into the office.

“Hey, I have a question,” she said. Her boss had a stoic look on her face.

“Is it about the email?” the chief asked.

“Yes,” Jessica said.

“Yes, the email is real,” her boss said. She adjusted her dark purple framed glasses. “I talked to him on the phone. I couldn’t believe it at first. But he broke it down for me. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t curious.” The detective blinked.

“Are you serious?” she asked.

“Yes,” the chief said. Jessica didn’t have any arguments.

“Okay,” she said. Her boss raised her eyebrow.

“You are to work with him at four this afternoon,” she said. “Do you have any questions?”

“No,” Jessica said. “Thank you so much.” She turned and walked out of the office.

“Weng,” the boss said. The detective turned her head. Her boss pushed up her glasses.

“This is your second chance,” she said. “Don’t fuck this up.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jessica said. She walked out of the office and headed back to her desk. She closed the door behind her.