In the afternoon, Stone's car and Benjamin's van left Grande at the same time, but I didn't know what the last conversation between Blake and Old Hank was like. The friendly atmosphere between the two completely disappeared and turned into anger. Blake was kicked out of the Grand House by Old Hank.
The process was so hasty that Blake didn't even say goodbye to everyone properly before he was pushed out of the door by an old man with wrinkles on his face, "Get out! You ungrateful boy!"
On Route 27, Blake looked at the parallel trucks from the car window with an apology on his face. Zach smiled and waved his hand, indicating that the other party should not care. People will choose different lives. Some people are aggressive and aggressive like Blake, and some are reclusive like old Hank. For a vampire with a long life, it is just someone, a hundred years, nothing more.
The two cars, whose styles were so different, gradually started to drift apart, with the truck lagging behind. It was really awkward to continue running parallel to each other like this. Benjamin used to adjust the radio, but he remembered helplessly that this thing had been sacrificed. He frowned and shook his head, looking helpless.
Seeing Benjamin's uncomfortable look, Zach smiled and beat the beat with his hands, humming the first melody that came to his mind.
Benjamin raised an eyebrow, smiled and shook his head, "You are so old."
"What's wrong?" Zach kept his body moving, "What am I humming? I can't seem to remember."
The vampire continued to hum, frowning as he considered the source of the melody.
Benjamin smiled, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat, "I've heard my Alpha hum before."
"Oh!" Zach smiled, "That's not too old!" The snort gradually became louder.
'A frog...' the source didn't expect, Zach seemed to remember the lyrics of the fragment, 'a gun in one hand and a sword in the other. There are also high black and shiny leather boots. It's really mighty...'
The smile on Benjamin's face grew wider, "He heard it from his grandfather."
Zach's humming stopped.
"This is a ballad from the other side of the sea." Benjamin glanced at Zach, teasing the vampire who accidentally showed his age again.
Zach curled his lips and fell silent.
Human life is too short, and many things are buried by the endless advancement of time. But for aliens who live far longer than humans, something is preserved. For example, in a folk song, Alpha Benjamin, who has only one tenth of Indian ancestry in his body, actually inherited it from his Alpha great-grandfather, what a strange process.
When the truck entered the bustling North District, the west-slanting sun was blocked behind the erected buildings. Benjamin avoided the crowded road, walked through the streets and alleys, and parked the car at the corner of the back street of Lister. The two want to see James.
The patched iron door was opened, and James had a sullen face. "I should arrest you."
Zach smiled and invited himself in, "As long as it provides the diet I need, I have no problem with it."
James's displeasure was obvious. The detective's job should have been simple - find the murderer, catch him. But because he took the wrong step and entered Barton City, this simple job now had a small additional task - illegally leaking the progress of the case to the vampire.
"Here!" James glared at the vampire who walked directly to the bar and took out a wine glass, pointing to the sofa with the corners of his eyes.
The vampire waved someone else's wine glass nonchalantly and sat on the sofa. Benjamin was already rummaging through the documents on the coffee table.
"Oh!" Benjamin curled his lips. "This is going to hurt." He was looking at a photo, a police evidence photo. Content: A corpse pierced by crossed steel pipes and suspended in mid-air.
Looking back now, the phrase 'equal punishment' seems not excessive at all.
James pulled the document from Benjamin's eyes. In his ears, he could hear the sound of the vampire deliberately raising the wine bottle and letting the red liquid fall into the glass. A thin red line in his field of vision could not be ignored. James slapped his hand on the glass coffee table, "This is my home!"
What a feeble protest.
The two aliens looked at each other and shrugged. "Any progress?" Zach asked.
James closed his eyes and tried to calm down his excited emotions. His voice was low and he suppressed his anger. "We will still handle it as an accident."
Do you think James Lance will be controlled by a vampire? Just snap your fingers and send your case to Zach for review? No, of course not! But now he did so because of the police's 'accidental' handling.
From the beginning of the Herman incident, James knew that Grande was taking over a commission from the outside world, and there was nothing he could do about it. But now that this case has intersected with him, James can't tolerate letting Grande do whatever he wants when he's not involved!
Once it is confirmed that the case is an accident, the police will take action. Before Zach came, he frankly recited Smith's commission. The phrase "equal punishment" was like a hook, tightly grabbing the detective. He couldn't let the police take off his hands, and he couldn't let Grande do what Smith had commissioned.
Zach took out a document from James' hand and stood up, "Time of death, two to three in the morning..."
James waved his hand in front of Zach's eyes, and the file was back in the detective's hands!
"Let me tell you!" James glared at the vampire and werewolf sitting opposite him, and said gloomily, "You can only listen!"
Well, this detective's bottom line was really ruined by the vampire.
And Zach, Zach was satisfied. If Zach cared so much about completing the commission perfectly, he would not go to James, but would go to Coulson through 'General'. Vampires need James, and they need James' moral bottom line to be ruined. Why? Because Zach doesn't want to be a paid tool in the box of those people in the West End, a 'little helper' in family disputes, okay. The 'powerful thug' of interest disputes, well... Zach still needs to think about it.
The police report adds little more than Smith's account, it just emphasizes the evidence more. For example, the surveillance video did not show anyone entering or leaving the warehouse after twelve o'clock. Yesterday's inventory of goods and verification in the morning did not reveal anything missing. According to the victim's social relationships and family background, no one with the motive to commit the murder was found...
"Surveillance?" Zach frowned, "You said there is surveillance in the warehouse?" No need to explain, vampires hate this stuff.
"This is Smith's industry!" James glared at Zach, "What do you think!"
Surveillance is a very expensive security measure. Ten video tapes will be consumed in one night, and what is recorded is usually still images. If you want to cover a small warehouse, dozens of cameras will need to work together at the same time. , it’s really not as cost-effective as hiring two security guards.
It was rare for James to catch Zach's weakness, and he didn't want to give up easily, "What's wrong! Did you just find out! I thought you came to me because you knew there was surveillance!"
"You're overthinking." Zach raised his eyebrows and looked at James with a smile, "Smith respects my rules. I can ask him to turn off the surveillance and let me investigate."
Grande’s rule is not to disclose the process, so Zach’s statement makes sense.
Looking at James' gloomy face, Zach didn't want to irritate the detective anymore, "Then the surveillance didn't capture the whole process?"
There was a trace of annoyance on James's face, "There are only two cameras, located at the front and back doors, and there are none inside the warehouse."
So, it's just a gimmick. Zach shook his head and looked at James with a smile, "It seems that you have done a very thorough job. I didn't find anything worthy of our in-depth investigation."
James looked into the vampire ghost's eyes. These were words of praise, but they didn't make people happy.
Zach waved his hand, "James, I don't mean anything else. You have to change your habit of always thinking about me in unfavorable directions." Zach smiled and looked at Benjamin, "What do you think? I'll reply tomorrow. Smith, it was just an accident, how about it be over?"
Benjamin's opinion is very important. The idea of not letting the Grand House become a tool for anyone, and the tendency of the Grand House to become entangled with the interests of some people (Volume 5, Chapter 2), were his first Thought-of.
Benjamin raised his hand and said, "Go to the warehouse tonight and show your face."
"Look." Zach turned to James and smiled, "You can rest assured." After saying that, Zach pulled Benjamin and said, "It's time for us to go to the party."
Benjamin looked impatient. Today was Sunday, which was the day of the bar party. Zach decided to take Benjamin with him. After all, the Grand House was controlled by two brothers, and he didn’t want anyone to have his own talents. It was the person in charge who ignored Benjamin’s thoughts.
"Wait!" James suddenly stopped the two people who were getting up to leave.
Zach looked at James who was hesitant to speak, "Is there anything else?"
Please understand that James is conflicted now. Of course, he hopes that Grande will not have anything to do with his case. But let’s not forget that during a big misunderstanding a month ago, James knew some dirty things about Quest.
Let us refresh our memory. Do you still remember that when Zach and Benjamin first visited Quest Manor, Quest pushed away his assistant and said when he 'greeted' the two? Such a sentence: "Yuri can wait!" (Volume 4)
Our vampire doesn't know the connection between these things yet, but now, Zach looked at James' eyes filled with complicated emotions, thinking, and asked, "What's wrong, James, do you have anything else to say?" ?”
Zach pursed his lips and showed a smile, "Let me put it another way. James Lance, how can I help?"
The person who was unwilling to accept the outcome of the 'accident' was not Smith who would entrust Grande, but James in front of him. (..)