The main feature of interest in the field of criminal investigation is not the sensational aspects of the crime itself but rather, the iron chain of reasoning from cause to effect, that reveals, step-by-step, the solution. That's the only truly remarkable aspect of the entire affair.
Those surrounded by others deaths don't think about their own.
The simplest explanation is usually the right one.
— What happened to your hand, Officer Dixon?
— Oh, I just kinda... banged it up a little bit while I was throwing some guy out a fucking window. You know, the usual.
— Oh, yeah? They never taught me that one at the academy.
— Which fucking academy you go to?
— How are things coming along on that Angela Hayes case?
— How's things coming along on the mind-your-own-fucking-business case?
— How are things coming along on the hand me your gun and your badge?
— What? Huh?
— Hand me your gun and your badge.
— We are not in the "why" business, Harrow. We're in the "what happened" business.
— Sometimes you can't tell what happened unless you know why.
This is an onion. It's a metaphor for a news story. Only a few hours ago I was standing on a ledge sixty stories above astreet interviewing a man who subsequently jumped to his death. Forty million dollars in the bank, happily married, good health. Great story! There's gotta be more. We're pros, right? Some kinda extramarital hanky panky, maybe? Another good story! Maybe the guy's been accused of child molesting. Terrific story! Then it turns out the accusation was false. Wonderful! More story. Maybe the alleged mistress was lying, setting the guy up. Sensational story! We keep going, keep digging, keep investigating. We expose the guy's whole life, his family. Why? Because we're pros! Because... we're looking for the truth! But what if, after all our digging, after all our painstaking investigation, what if it turns out there wasn't any truth? Just stories! One story after another, one layer, then another layer, until there's nothing left. And if it's like that, do we have any obligation to stop at any point? Or do we just keep going, digging, digging, digging, peeling, peeling, peeling, until we've peeled it all away, until we've destroyed what we were investigating in the first place?
Firstly, I wanted to apologize for dying without catching your daughter's killer. It's a source of great pain to me, and it would break my heart to think you thought I didn't care, 'cause I did care. There are just some cases... where you never catch a break... then five years down the line some guy hears some other guy bragging about it in a bar room or a jail cell and the whole thing is wrapped up through sheer stupidity. I hope that might be true for Angela.
At times reporters are better than cops in digging up clues, and investigation details aren't the only thing they televise.
The most important thing about figuring anything out is knowing when to stop.
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