Wallace Duke, born in 1985, is 27 years old and currently lives in the Bronx.
Both his father and mother were alcoholics who had been in trouble many times due to alcoholism and had a criminal record so complete that Wallace was in and out of group homes many times.
At the age of seven, Wallace was sent to a juvenile detention center for stealing school supplies from a stationery store, but was soon released due to good behavior.
Just before the court was about to deprive Wallace of his parents' custody and send him to foster care, his father drove drunk and crashed into a wall, dying instantly; his mother, who was sitting in the passenger seat, escaped because she was wearing a seat belt, but was hospitalized for a while.
After being discharged from the hospital, the mother turned over a new leaf, attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and finally regained her sanity, showing a reformed appearance, and successfully took Wallace back.
After that, Wallace's life finally got back on track. Although he was unable to graduate from high school and started working to earn money early because he helped his mother quit drinking, after his life settled down, Wallace began to attend community college in an attempt to change his destiny.
In just twenty-seven years of life, there were ups and downs, great ups and downs; but to be honest, compared with those real children from the slums, it was nothing.
At least, Wallace's mother came to her senses and not only quit drinking, but also started working. She did not lose custody and did not put Wallace into the foster care system. At least, Wallace did not get caught up in the vortex of alcohol, violence, and drugs, and avoided ending up wandering the streets like countless other free-range children.
Moreover, Wallace is still studying hard, trying to change his destiny with knowledge.
From any perspective, this profile does not look like that of a cold-blooded serial killer.
Most importantly, the evidentiary links Kirk presented were too weak to establish effective suspicion between Wallace and the case.
Adrien held his head with both hands, massaging his throbbing temples.
"For a moment, I couldn't tell who was crazier, you or me sitting here discussing all this with you. Maybe we're both crazy."
However, Adrian complained proudly and fiercely, but did not hear Kirk's rebuttal.
He paused, turned his head, and looked through his arms at Kirk, whose face was thoughtful and calm, and he had a bad feeling.
"Wait, I know the expression on your face, the expression before you went crazy. You had this expression when you came to the Special Investigations Department and confronted Gallagher head-on."
"What the hell! What on earth were you thinking?"
Kirk shrugged slightly. It was precisely because he knew how crazy and incredible all this was that he needed to be calmer and more rational.
Compared to Adrian's excitement, Kirk's tone remained steady, and he presented his ideas slowly and unhurriedly.
"You should have seen the wounds on the body."
"Chris Adams and Isaiah Robinson's wounds were very rough and bloody. Moreover, the cuts from left to right were irregular. It was obvious that the murderer was unskilled. He was hesitant, fearful and panicked. The imagination is different from the actual situation."
"But as time went on, he became more and more skilled and concise, and there was no tremor in the throat-cutting movements."
"Looking at the timeline, we are witnessing the rise of a serial killer, so it is normal that he has no previous criminal record."
"In addition, the first body was found in Hangs Point, which is only five blocks away from Wallace's residential address."
"For a growing serial killer, starting with a familiar environment is often the first choice."
Adrian disagreed. "Even if your inference is correct, what about the opportunity? And the motive?"
Although Adrian didn't go into it, Kirk could understand——
For such a situation, first of all, an opportunity is needed.
In other words, it is an opportunity that stimulates an ordinary person to start killing people.
Especially young people like Wallace.
He has been working hard to improve his life and hold on to hope. He did not go through the primary violence stage of hurting small animals or attacking others, but directly escalated to murder. The entire arc of his criminal psychology is incomplete.
Second, a motivation is needed.
It can be simply understood as, why choose these goals?
Except for a few mentally disturbed lunatics, there are connections behind the serial killers' choice of targets. From the perspective of criminal psychology, these connections can reflect the psychological trauma and difficulties of serial killers; only a very small number of cold-blooded killers will choose their targets irregularly.
In this case, the victims had two notable characteristics: they were black and homeless, which proved that their selection was not random and inorganic.
So, in order to identify Wallace as a suspect, they needed an opportunity and a motive.
Otherwise, it's all bullshit.
Adrian knew this; Kirk knew this, too.
Kirk looked at Adrian, who was pale and irritable. He knew without asking that he was not in good condition. The impact of insomnia was disrupting the balance of his entire biological clock, but he needed Adrian to remain calm.
"So, we need to investigate further..."
But this time, Kirk was interrupted again by Adrian before he could finish his words.
"Kirk!"
I feel both irritated and helpless.
" You mean we should ignore a lot of information and evidence, we should ignore more obvious and reasonable suspects, and spend time investigating a young man with a clean record, who is positive and optimistic and trying to change his life."
"Why?"
"Because you think so?"
"absurd!"
Adrian was also very frustrated.
He was now a punching bag, with pressure from all sides pouring down on him, from the Special Investigations Division, from the senators, from the media and public opinion, and from his fiancée. He felt like a big pig's hoof in a pressure cooker.
It has to rot even if it doesn't rot.
His partner in solving the case, Stephen, has almost collapsed. He is completely overwhelmed by countless clues and information. He is in a state of half-abandonment and half-giving up, and looks like he is just going to let things go and muddle through.
As a result, he still has to face pressure from Kirk?
It felt like the whole world was against me.
His fiancée Marianne-Mullen even believed that the root of everything was "the madman who leaked the news to the Times" and that all the disasters and chaos came from the selfishness of a private detective.
If Marianna knew that he was meeting Kirk in the bar tonight, she would probably come and kill Kirk.
but……
He understood Kirk, or at least tried to understand him. Amidst the contradictions and struggles, he could not say that he did not understand Kirk's choice, but he also could not say that he agreed with Kirk's choice.
Now, facing this chaos, who else can he vent these negative emotions to besides Kirk? Who can he trust?
Maybe it sounds ridiculous, but the private detective in front of him is the only comrade-in-arms who stands on the same side as him.
But...but...
"No."
After much hesitation and struggle, Adrian finally rejected Kirk.
"No, I can't..."
"We are not investigating Wallace-Duke. That's not how it should be."