Related Cases (12)
Related Novels (2)
Related Chapters (2)
Dual Sovereigns, One Prey
Words: 3042 · Source Novel:: Ashes of Justice
Elena learns that the Novarian Federal Bureau of Investigation (NFBI) has secretly opened a parallel probe into the same smuggling ring for money laundering, while state prosecutors from Elben want to charge the perpetrators with kidnapping and murder. The two agencies refuse to share evidence, each claiming exclusive jurisdiction. Marcus uncovers a precedent case—Nordfeld v. Novaria—that entrenches the “dual sovereignty” doctrine, allowing both to prosecute the same crime. Elena becomes a pawn: the NFBI wants her to testify in a federal grand jury, while Rourke pressures her to accept a state deal that would grant immunity to certain suspects. Caught between them, she discovers that the real target of the investigation is a powerful cartel boss, Viktor Szabo, who has bribed officials in both governments.
The First Autopsy
Words: 3156 · Source Novel:: The Covenant of Thorns
Enter Dr. Alex Chen, a sharp-tongued forensic pathologist from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a man who trusts only the cold logic of ligature marks and tissue slides. Chen’s autopsy reveals tetrodotoxin, a rare pufferfish poison, injected into the cork of the champagne bottle. The investigation zeroes in on the couple’s private floor, where exclusive security codes reveal both had accessed the wine cellar. During a tense police reconstruction, Julian pins the murder on a leftist activist group that once protested the Monument removal, while Evangeline leaks doctored footage of Julian purchasing a syrette. Alone in their penthouse, they drop the masks: Julian reveals he knows Evangeline’s uncle was murdered to silence his testimony about the judge being bribed, and Evangeline laughs, revealing that Julian’s late father was the briber. They are each other’s hostages.