American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop

When Jack, Rossi, and Emily returned to the special task force office set up at the Sacramento Police Department, they were greeted by Detective Lehmann, whose face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. He seemed utterly defeated. With clues pouring in one after another, every piece of evidence rubbed his face in the dirt.

"How did we miss so many cases?" he asked, looking utterly disillusioned.

"Because, unless it's a local serial case, small towns typically don't upload their collected evidence to state or national DNA databases," Reid explained. "This often happens when a case crosses jurisdictions, even within the same state."

Garcia had sent over information on three newly discovered cases. Hotchner arranged the cases on the evidence board in chronological order and then gathered the task force for a meeting.

"These occurred in small agricultural towns far from Highway 99: Tehachapi, Vacaville, and Little Orange Bay. 

Tehachapi, a mountain town, is where the earliest confirmed case took place, likely the suspect's first crime. Jack and Rossi will investigate there tomorrow," Hotchner said, assigning Jack and Rossi their next task.

He then summarized the current profile based on all the available clues.

"The suspect moves alone, drifting along the railways. He's physically strong, likely needed for hopping freight trains or fighting for a spot in a car. He may have injuries. 

His clothes will be cleaner than those of an average drifter because he steals clean clothing from the homes he targets, leaving behind his dirty ones.

The suspect lives in freight train cars and rail yards. When he tires of that lifestyle, he picks a home to attack."

Reid added, "The suspect will have noticeable red rashes around his lips and nose."

A detective sitting below raised his hand and asked, "What's the basis for this deduction?"

"These rashes, called 'sniffer's rash,' are typically caused by inhaling 'VOS,'" Reid briefly explained what VOS was before continuing.

"Your focus should be on pawnshops near the crime scenes and any gang members with fencing operations. The suspect takes jewelry and small valuable electronics from the victims' homes when he leaves. 

He has distinct characteristics: in addition to the rash on his face, he'll have a strong smell of organic solvents on him."

Rossi added, "Garcia is still working on identifying the suspect's travel patterns. We suspect it's linked to the local harvest seasons, but we haven't pinpointed the reason yet.

From his crime frequency, it doesn't seem like the suspect is working on farms to make money."

After a moment of thought, Hotchner said, "I'll get someone to contact ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). They handle migrant farm workers from Mexico. Our team, along with the DEA and CIA, has collaborated with them before."

With the worsening issues of illegal immigration and drug trafficking along the US-Mexico border, federal agencies have been working together, though with limited success due to well-known reasons.

For example, the so-called "seasonal" Mexican farmworkers entering the U.S. have become an indispensable low-cost labor force that California farms cannot afford to lose.

While some boast about how the U.S. uses only 3 million agricultural workers to farm 2.8 billion acres, with an average of 933 acres per worker, they never mention that the true number of undocumented laborers is uncountable.

To put things into perspective, Germany's agricultural mechanization is on par with the U.S., yet they have 4.5 million agricultural workers managing 177 million acres of farmland. 

By that ratio, the U.S. should need at least 70 million farmworkers.

Agriculture isn't like making cars—corn, soybeans, and wheat can indeed be efficiently planted and harvested mechanically, but what about fruits and vegetables? At least before Jack's time travel, smart agricultural robots capable of automatically harvesting fruits and vegetables were still mostly in experimental stages.

The massive influx of undocumented laborers from the Mexican border brought a huge, cheap labor force to U.S. agriculture, allowing the country to dominate the international market with its low-priced farm products, but it also brought countless problems.

Rising crime rates and drug proliferation are just surface-level issues. The influx of cheap labor also exacerbates unemployment issues for the country's lower classes, leading to discontent among them—one of the factors that ultimately helped a certain gold-haired individual get elected president with his promise to build a border wall.

In truth, the much-ridiculed border wall plan from the gold-haired president was nothing new. The U.S. had already started building border walls with Mexico back in the 1950s. During the presidency of a certain political dynasty, a 160-kilometer border fence was constructed in one go. Even after the gold-haired president left office and the "diaper-loving" successor took over, the wall continued to be built quietly.

Of course, Jack didn't care about these issues. The BAU team only dealt with serial killers. However, it did mean that Hotchner had to jump through some bureaucratic hoops to collaborate with the relevant departments, leading to some trouble for Jack.

"Hey, Jack, long time no see." The next morning, Jack was dumbfounded when Jane Banner, led by Garcia, appeared in front of him.

"You transferred from the Las Vegas office?" Jack quickly suppressed the inexplicable guilt rising in his chest, trying to figure out why she was here.

Jane smiled brightly and nodded. "Just transferred to the Austin office. I'm learning about border-related issues and working closely with ICE, so they sent me here to assist you."

Sensing that Jane was in a good mood, Jack breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment, Rossi called out to hurry them along. Yesterday, Hotchner had assigned the two of them to head to Tehachapi, the suspected location of the first crime.

After a quick greeting with Jane, Jack, under Rossi's amused gaze, volunteered to pay for both of their breakfasts.

In a rush, Jack didn't drive his new car. Instead, he took a Suburban, speeding with the lights flashing to the crime scene. A young white detective was already waiting beside an old wooden house when they arrived.

After introductions, the young detective handed over a file containing crime scene photos and information on the victim.

Rossi explained their purpose. "We believe this was the killer's first crime. We're hoping to find some clues here that might reveal his initial motives."

It seems like that chapter won't get approved, so I'll start a new one. If the other chapter does get released, please skip the subscription, and I'll delete it immediately if I notice.

[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! Only $5 per novel or $15 for all!!] [[email protected]/Mutter]

[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]

[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]