.On the side of the road, an ordinary newsstand looks inconspicuous in the busy streets of Chicago.
"What's the news?" asked a man in his early forties.
He was not asking the newsstand owner, but the short, fat man next to him who had just picked up the newspaper.
The short, fat man didn't answer, he just turned around and winked, then took steps to walk in one direction.
Five minutes later, Frank and Officer Arthur, the second boss of the Genovese family, were sitting side by side on a bench beside the square, each feeding the pigeons with their heads down.
"Are you asking about the explosion in Beifong Island Park last night?" Arthur said first. Although he was talking to Frank, his eyes did not contact him at all, and his head was tilted to one side. He seemed to be concentrating on feeding him. Pigeon.
As an experienced policeman, Arthur is very experienced. He has been a policeman for more than twenty years. He has seen many colleagues or superiors who took dirty money end up in jail. He also knows that as long as he has wavered in the face of interests, he Once, you will never be clean again. So being cautious has now become Arthur's habit. On occasions like this, even if he is secretly photographed, he can still say, "I was just feeding the pigeons and happened to be sitting on the same couch as the second boss of a mafia family." He wants to sit on the chair in public. What can I do?"
If he expects to be alive and get a pension in ten years, he must be a good actor every minute and imagine that cameras are everywhere. As the saying goes, it is rare to be confused when performing along the way, and it is rare to be numb when looking back along the way. In this The only way to escape from the suffering of waking life is in dreams.
Frank's attainments in the performing arts were obviously far behind Arthur's, but with a good teacher by his side, he followed suit. He rubbed his neck, looked away unnaturally and replied: "Yes, tell me, Officer Arthur."
Arthur said: "Actually, I don't know much more than what was reported in the newspaper. Yesterday evening, a short time before the park closed, there was an explosion in a remote area near the water. Two explosions occurred in a short period of time. There was a loud noise, and then a park manager heard the noise and called the police. He was frightened and thought it was a terrorist attack or something. Because he was nearby, in addition to the explosion, he vaguely heard some gunshots, so he called the police. It's like a world war.
And just about half an hour ago, there was a traffic chaos caused by a hit-and-run accident in the area around Highway 41. The bureau sent a lot of patrol cars and police officers to maintain order, just in time for this incident, plus The administrator described what was going on, so hundreds of police officers turned around and drove onto Highway E. We were even mentally prepared that the other party was the front line of freedom, and almost called HL for support. When we arrived at the park, we only saw two burned cars and some footprints. After searching for half a mile, we found no bodies, no injured people, and no slogans or other things left by any organization or individual.
The bureau's follow-up investigation on this matter should continue this week. Now many police officers are contacting their informants, hoping to uncover a major case from this explosion. What else do you need to know? "
Frank remained calm and continued to ask: "Officer Arthur, let's analyze it from your professional perspective. What might be the truth of this matter?"
Arthur sprinkled corn kernels in his hand and thought for a while: "If you don't come to ask me about this today, I will suggest that the colleague in charge of this case write in the closing report that a group of hippies were high on drugs in the park. A fire was accidentally caused, which caused two cars to explode. One of them was confirmed to be a stolen vehicle, and there was a previous hit-and-run record. There are currently no specific number or characteristics of witnesses and suspects. Finally filed and recorded. .”
Frank smiled: "So, has my curiosity changed your opinion?"
Arthur said: "You have to tell me something I don't know before I can come to a conclusion."
Frank said: "Suppose that one of the two vehicles yesterday was used by our company's employees to transport goods; but the other vehicle did not belong to the party who picked up the goods, but had an unknown origin."
Arthur's movements stopped for about two seconds, and then he cursed: "Hell..."
Frank just smiled noncommittally, waiting for the other person's response.
Arthur was silent for a long time this time and thought for a few times before replying: "Based on the on-site investigation, I will give you two possible conclusions. The first one is that your employees swallowed the goods or money and then ran away. On the way.
They stole a car in advance, and deliberately used the car to cause a traffic accident and cause a commotion. Finally, they parked next to the cargo truck and caused an explosion before leaving, as if they were attacked by some force or someone. , and the presence of two cars at the scene just illustrates this point, but in fact, all these illusions and fog are used to cover up the simple truth. Everything is done for the Genovese family to avoid being chased later. kill. "
After hearing this, Frank thought for a while and said: "I have to tell you something, Officer Arthur, which may be helpful to you. We have contacted the delivery party, and they said that the transaction last night started smoothly, but ended Later, a young man suddenly appeared to disrupt the situation. He came on foot and did not have a car, so he may have accomplices.
Based on your first conclusion, I don't rule out the possibility that the young man was hired by my employee to act. Maybe the conflict between them was just for the delivery party to see, but I think if it was really going to be staged, a group of evil actors with live ammunition should be hired to rush to the scene in an SUV and shoot directly, which would be more convincing. "
Arthur glanced at the other party: "You don't have a good temper when you only speak three words to people. Frank, is there anything else you want to tell me? Let me make a wrong judgment based on limited information, and then you deny it. , it’s a waste of time.”
Frank said: "I'm sorry, Officer Arthur, but I can survive today only by being paranoid and cautious. I can't be sure whether you have some kind of recording device hidden in your coat pocket right now in case you have any trouble in the future." needs."
Arthur did not continue this topic because he had something in his mind. He had been cooperating with the Genovese family for a long time, and he actually had a lot of recordings at home just in case of emergencies...
"Okay, let me talk about the second possible scenario, that is, the 'young man' you mentioned and his unknown accomplices killed all your employees, swallowed up the payment after the transaction, and threw them away Maybe they had other vehicles, maybe they didn’t, but they found a way to escape.”
Frank asked again: "Didn't your police set up card checks?"
"Of course we set it up. After receiving the alarm about the explosion, we quickly set up a card on Highway E. All cars leaving Beifeng Island Park were checked. In fact, the number was not large. The suspicious guys searched and arrested them on the spot. The driver's license information was recorded, but the only criminals found were a few drivers who had not paid the tickets. After searching many people, we did not find the payment you mentioned or the explosive device we expected at the time. The only contraband was A few ounces of marijuana." Arthur paused and said, "Based on the new situation you just told me, I guess that group must have used some clever method to evade tracing. Maybe they hid the money somewhere in the park. , I plan to pick it up later.”
Frank said: "So... can I trouble you, Officer Arthur, to try to find the money and the bodies of our employees."
Arthur scattered the corn on his hands, clapped his hands and stood up: "I'm just speculating. Maybe they took the money out of the park last night, but I will still try to find it; as for your employees, With all due respect, Frank, if their bodies had been dumped into Lake Michigan, they would probably have drifted to Milwaukee by now, not to mention other methods of disposing of their bodies. You have better methods of making people disappear from the world than I do. You know even more, don’t you?”
Frank took out an envelope from his arms and placed it in the middle of the bench. The thickness was enough to make people think: "Actually, I don't have much hope, but we also have our own rules. Missing or killed family members is not a trivial matter. Just like you policemen, you act according to the rules, and we act according to the tradition, so find it again.
The Genovese family will handle the matter of finding out the truth and imposing sanctions themselves. "He said and left.
Arthur looked around, then picked up the envelope on the bench, stuffed it into the inner pocket of his coat, and left in the other direction.