I think the sheriff's purpose of stealing the body is to make the male protagonist feel that his wife is not actually dead, and to unite the detectives to frame him, so as to induce him to plead guilty. After all, as long as his wife hadn't died, then at best he was an attempted murder, and there would be no heavy punishment. In order to save the mistress, he could admit the fact of poisoning.
Some people will ask that in the end, the sheriff's plan was successful, and the male protagonist was also convicted of murder. Why did he let his daughter poison him again? He must have felt that even if he were sentenced to life imprisonment, he would not be relieved.
Some people will ask how to explain the death of the male protagonist to others? I think one possible explanation would be that the sheriff would declare that the male protagonist committed suicide because of fear of crime, and ended his life with poison from his own laboratory.
The above is my personal understanding.
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