New Gods of North America

Perhaps it was because Wayne participated in the on-site arrest of the murderer,

It is not uncommon for criminals to take the opportunity to ridicule and mock the investigators during interrogation.

So David Mills didn't seem to care too much about Roy's "slander" against Wayne.

However, for the investigators,

It is actually quite rare for a criminal suspect to be willing to cooperate with interrogation.

Therefore, the strategy David Mills chose was to continue following Roy's words and then slowly turn the topic back to the case.

"You said you could see the 'sin' on the victim? Can you describe it in detail?"

David Mills' fingers slid across a row of files spread out on the interrogation table, and finally stopped on one of them. "For example, what do you think of this person's crime?"

Roy looked down at the cover of the file and saw that it belonged to the "landlord".

He thought about it for a moment:

"People who carry sins have an ominous aura around them. The heavier the sins, the stronger the aura. They are easy to spot in a crowd, because you will always find them staring at you with ferocious faces. But if you look more carefully, it seems to be an illusion."

Wayne tried to imagine it.

I felt like I had seen a similar scene in a horror movie before.

Roy said this and added to David Mills, "Sir, I am willing to confess to you because I see that you are not only free of sin, but also exceptionally 'clean'. I believe that you are a 'righteous man' like me."

David Mills did not comment on this and then asked:

"But the note you left for him at the scene was 'laziness'. How do you identify the specific 'sin'? Is the aura different for each person, or are there other characteristics?"

"I rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sir."

At this moment, Roy seemed to have a "scholar" temperament, his expression and tone seemed calm, rational, and objective.

Unfortunately, all that came out was crazy:

“At first, I didn’t realize that this was a test from the Holy Spirit. After I discovered the sinner, I just panicked and hid.

"Fortunately, I tried to find out about their lives and past. It was not until more than two months ago that I finally realized my weakness and mistakes while praying. Different sinners correspond to different original sins, which is already a very obvious hint.

"The more I learned, the more I was convinced that the Holy Spirit was not satisfied with their confession. He wanted believers to guide them to atone their sins or to judge them. So I waited patiently for all seven sinners to appear, and then I took action."

David Mills thought for a moment.

I tried to conclude, "So the specific 'sins' of them were all determined by you personally through guesswork or inference?"

Roy was obviously not satisfied with this summary:

"Of course not. I have very good reasons, and there are many hints in the Holy Scripture, which are enough to support my judgment."

Wayne understood.

It's true that the murderer made it up himself.

David Mills doesn't argue with Roy:

"You said you waited for all seven sinners to show up before you took action. So, who do you think the last sinner, the 'Arrogant', is?"

Roy was silent for a while.

But he still said the name of the target, "It's Pastor Bazzini."

The final location had actually been speculated before as possibly being the parish church of Georgeburg.

So although this answer may sound a bit dangerous, it is not surprising enough.

David Mills nodded as he took notes:

"So what is the name of the ritual you are performing? Where does it come from? What consequences will occur after the ritual is completed?"

For the first time, Roy Stampler showed a confused expression on his face:

"Ritual? What ritual?"

…

Roy was a child from a church orphanage. After coming to George Berg's church, he was considered a low-level clerk responsible for cleaning and sweeping the public areas of the church.

He felt that he could see the "sins" of others, and he knew that most believers who secretly confessed to the priest would avoid the busy hours of the church.

So he began to pay attention to those believers who walked out of the church alone during non-sermon times.

Then he secretly investigates the past of the "guilty person" and "convicts" the other party based on his own impression.

Objectively speaking,

There are still many problems with Roy's operation.

For example, when Wayne asked him:

“You said you gathered seven sinners and seven kinds of sins before you started to act, and then you said tonight that you saw sins in me too.

"Then what am I? Should I be counted as one of the other seven criminals in the 'second round', or did you mistake the target and kill one person by mistake?

"If you kill the wrong person, then are you also considered a 'sinner'?"

Then Roy began to doubt himself and tried to cite classics to further improve his theory.

It was past midnight.

Wayne and David Mills did not talk to him about theology, but ran to the backyard to get coffee and sandwiches as a midnight snack, and replaced by Inissa and Lina to continue the interrogation.

It's halftime.

If we simply consider the case from the perspective of "closing the case\

,"Roy Stampler is very familiar with the specific circumstances of each crime scene, and can even help David Mills complete the details of the crime. Logically, he can basically prove that he is the murderer, and all that is left is to complete the corresponding chain of evidence.

But if we really look at it from the perspective of "solving the case\

,"The source of Roy's thoughts is still a "black box", and he cannot explain a large number of coincidences - for example, he said that he was not aware of the so-called "ritual", but he stepped on every "point" accurately.

Moreover, he could actually feel that he had acquired extraordinary abilities, and found that his extraordinary abilities were gradually becoming stronger during the process of committing crimes.

It is also called the "gift of the Holy Spirit."

It's like someone stepped on the answer sheet and got full marks directly.

Could it be a coincidence? Of course.

But it still feels a bit off no matter how I look at it.

Wayne was a little curious about how the church would handle such a case. "How would you handle a case like his? Would you try him based on the known crimes, or wait until the case is fully investigated before trying him?"

Then Wayne got an answer that surprised him - in fact, there was no need for a trial at all, or in other words, there was no need for a trial by a "secular" court. If you think there is a danger, just "contain" it.

According to David Mills,

The current common practice in American states is that any case involving "fallen persons" is usually not subject to public investigation and trial, but is instead handled by the relevant departments of the major dioceses.

Suddenly I heard

This extralegal privilege of the church seems a bit too "medieval" and does not conform to the rule of law in America today.

But when it comes to the actual text of the bill, it may be in the corners of some bill amendments, such as "When a dispute arises, the committee has the right to rule on the investigation or jurisdiction of the relevant case" or "When security issues are involved, the committee has the right to decide whether the content of the relevant case should be made public", etc. These clauses seem to be almost completely harmless and inconspicuous.

Reasonable and legal.

David Mills also gave Wayne a few examples:

"For some cases of degenerates that have attracted public attention, the corresponding committee can also designate certain special courts to make judgments, such as the Seventh Circuit Court of Virginia.

“The public will then learn in the newspapers about part of the verdict and the court that made the decision. That will basically be the end of the matter, and public attention will tend to shift quickly.

"But in fact, no one can attend the court, there will be no jury, and even the list of personnel in the agency may be all fake names. It's just that the resumes will be fabricated enough to withstand investigation by outsiders."

Wayne thought this was a bit scary. "If the church wants to deal with someone specifically, can they do whatever they want?"

"You don't have to worry about this. The Holy Spirit Church is not the Holy See. It is not exclusive to or blindly follows a certain person. There will be corresponding inspection and control agencies within the church. There will also be corresponding measures to maintain the purity of the personnel."

David Mills seems quite proud of this. "So the trials within the church are actually more fair and reasonable than the trials in the secular sense. Although the specific rules and standards may be different, such as when targeting fallen people."

Then he just finished speaking here,

The two were carrying their things and were about to return to the main building of the police station.

Doug came over and said that Pastor Bazzini from the parish had arrived.

Pastor Bazini brought more than twenty church members and was about to take Roy away.