Anthony's car drove west to the north area of Barton. On the map of Barton City, at the east end of the Charles River like a rat's tail, there is Barton's largest stadium, Fenway Park. But Anthony's destination is not the stadium, but the back bay located on the north side of Fenway Park, closer to the Charles River. Colon's sister lives here, and he's going to a ten-year-old girl's birthday party. Anthony was invited by Cologne. In fact, it was just the Patton Police Chief who was worried about being bored, so he forced someone to keep him company.
The surrounding scenery gradually became monotonous, with single-family residential areas replacing bustling commercial areas. Anthony opened the car window and heard the noise of children. Anthony looked ahead at a front yard that had been decorated into a fairy tale castle. "We are here. Zach, stay here!"
"What?" Zach sat in the driver's seat and just turned off the engine. He stared at Anthony in surprise: "I can't attend the party?"
Anthony curled his lips: "No! Keep an eye on your surroundings! Also, if you find anything, stay quiet!"
"Yes, Mayor." Zach tilted his head in disappointment and leaned back in his chair, but his light green eyes had already begun to look around.
A somewhat familiar figure with ugly makeup on his face was performing acrobatics among a group of children. Zach chuckled, this Coulson is quite hardworking. Zach remembered the confrontation with Detective Coulson just across the door in the hotel last night. He can make a difference between life and death, and he can please his boss, so he may be a good guy.
"Lance!" Coulson, who was wearing ugly makeup, saw his partner at a glance! "James, why are you here! Uh, city, Mr. Mayor!"
Anthony glanced at Coulson and nodded slightly. This is the greatest courtesy a mayor can give to a person whose name he has never heard before today.
James stopped next to Coulson. This was actually the first time he met this partner, and he was a little embarrassed for a moment.
Coulson led a group of girls to the slide, took the opportunity to escape, and pulled James aside: "Why are you here? Why are you here with the mayor? What do you have? You don't have anything to do with the case, right? "
The series of questions made James a little confused. He answered according to the excuse he had discussed before: "I wanted to see the bodies of former prostitutes, but the privatization of funerals did not allow me to have permission. When I went to the prosecutor's office, I happened to meet Became the mayor, and then..."
Detective Coulson was stunned for a moment by the garishly painted face. The prosecutor's office and the city hall were not far apart. Coulson accepted this explanation.
"Uh, Fitz, Fitz is staying in the backyard. You go and watch him." Coulson thought for a while and added: "You can eat whatever you want here, but don't touch the cake! The cake is for the children. of!"
James stared at Coulson, speechless and choked.
Coulson summoned his wife and led James into the house, while he continued to accompany the girls. James looked back at Zach who was hiding in the mayor's car, and took the hand from Mrs. Coulson. biscuits and followed him speechlessly into the house.
In the room, Anthony and Cologne had already met. The two of them had a drink in each hand. Judging from their expressions, they seemed to be discussing something serious. Their eyes drifted to this side. Chief Cologne's eyes were obviously confused. Continuing to walk back and come to the backyard, Coulson saw Fitz sitting alone on the porch, holding a glass of soda and a cookie.
"Anthony, I really don't like that guy." Colon took a sip of special soda from a straw. He was drunk at his niece's birthday party and needed to pretend. "He doesn't know etiquette, and he looks very dull! The only thing he What’s worth it is the word ‘Lance’ after his name!”
"Let that guy relax for a while." Anthony also took a sip of the 'Cologne Special Soda'. "He has just retired. We have all gone through this period. He needs time to adjust. That's all! Moreover, this time he is helping Doing us a favor!”
"Okay." Colon said: "The credit really belongs to him. We don't want to wait until other cases happen to discover the loopholes in the privatization of the funeral industry." Colon's eyes were on the face of his friend, Mayor Anthony of Barton. Looking around, he was testing whether Anthony knew anything about 'David's' case. But it seems that James didn't leak anything.
"So, do you have any ideas?" Anthony picked up a bear-shaped biscuit and said, "Do you want to use a contract to determine the cooperative relationship with the funeral industry, or do you want to build your own shelter facility?" Anthony asked the topic thoughtfully. The direction he hopes to develop: "Let me tell you first, I don't have any money to allocate you to build new facilities!"
Colon rolled his eyes at Anthony, this guy! Doesn’t this tell me clearly that we can only cooperate with existing funeral homes? Still pretending to give yourself a choice!
Cologne snorted, "We will gather the people from the funeral home in a while and open the bidding. It will be easier to negotiate terms."
There was a hint of pride in Anthony's eyes, and he nodded, "It's up to you. As for funding, you and the finance department will have to deal with it when the time comes."
"Never mind my business." Colon changed the subject: "How are you doing today? I heard that those two senators are not easy to deal with!"
"Just like that." Anthony shrugged: "You know, politicians. However, they all mentioned the land in the South District, which seems to be called Grand House. It seems that the federal government is also interested in this private trial system. I have a wait-and-see attitude. Should I support this Grand House or something?" Anthony frowned, as if he was immersed in his own world of mayor.
When it comes to politicians, Anthony is one of them, and there are absolutely no flaws in this performance.
When Cologne was feeling bored, he saw his sister's face, which had just changed from boring to happy, and immediately fell down.
"Brother! This is a party! Don't hide in the kitchen all the time!" Colon's sister approached a tired man in her arms.
"Yes! This is a party! A tenth birthday party! What am I going to do, roll on the lawn with a group of girls!" After Cologne complained, he shifted his gaze and stared at the man his sister was hugging - his legal brother: "What excuse do you have this time? Someone was hit by a car? Or is someone suffering from a terminal illness? I could have made time to attend your daughter's party! But you were late!"
"Hello, Mr. Mayor." Cologne's sister nodded politely to Anthony, but her appearance changed in the blink of an eye!
"Brother!" She punched her eldest brother in the stomach! "He's a doctor and he needs to save lives! Lives of the citizens of Barton City!"
"Oh!" Cologne hunched over, his expression distorted, but he still didn't relax: "Sounds like this is my job!"
Like all brothers, Colon hated his sister's husband! 'doctor? Are doctors great? ! I'm the chief of the Barton Police Department! What is he? He's just the attending doctor in a hospital! '
"My dear, don't be like this." The man apologized to the two big figures in Barton City with some embarrassment: "Something happened suddenly and it took some time."
"Hmph!" Colon straightened up and pointed at the man fiercely: "You didn't miss the moment to cut the cake this time! You're lucky!"
"Colon!" Anthony seemed a little disdainful of Colon's strong protectiveness towards his sister: "It's like you've never been late for a family gathering!"
Colon's body trembled slightly, and he frowned and looked at his friend. This knife was too cruel!
"Consider you lucky!" Colon emphasized again, turned and left.
"Thank you, mayor!" Sister Cologne smiled happily at Anthony, picked up various strange-looking foods, and left the kitchen.
"Don't worry about Cologne, he just doesn't want his sister to be home alone all the time." Anthony comforted the tired man.
"I know. I don't want to miss my baby's birthday either." The man smiled and returned the gift to the mayor.
"I remember, you worked at Patton Memorial Hospital, right?" Anthony thought about it and asked.
"Yes, sir."
"How are the Quinns?" Anthony asked casually. After all, as the mayor, he must pay attention to a celebrity like Quinn in Barton City.
The man shook his head slowly: "Return to Mr. Quinn, Mr. Quinn has..."
Anthony stopped bringing the straw to his mouth, was stunned for a moment, and shook his head, "When?"
"This morning." The man replied equally sadly.
Anthony sighed: "Isn't the news made public yet?"
"Well, Mrs. Quinn hasn't officially held a press conference yet. She wants to wait until the funeral schedule is confirmed. But many people already know about it, and the hospital is full of reporters inquiring about the news."
Anthony shook his head again. He could already predict the headlines in tomorrow's newspaper, 'Mr. Quinn passed away, funeral schedule revealed in advance.' However, Anthony's prediction was wrong, because no one expected that the remote Grande House would receive the cake. !
"How is Mrs. Quinn? Is she okay?" Anthony continued to ask. Of course, he didn't want to inquire about anything. With a doctor's professional ethics, the most he could get was an ambiguous official answer like 'she is fighting pain'.
did not expect…
"She, she's very good... Mrs. Quinn is very, very good..." the man replied with a strange expression on his face.
Zach tapped the steering wheel boredly in the car, with a smile on his face. Mrs. Quinn is of course very good. Vampire blood is a universal cure, even if the subject is dead. It's just that vampires won't do this easily, because choosing descendants is a very careful job!
Night gradually enveloped the city of Barton, and the vampire felt that the lethargy that had been bothering him gradually faded away. The lolita playing in the front yard were led indoors by their adults. It was time to make wishes and cut the cake!
Zach's eyes followed a few shadows swaying in the lights. He took off his hat and gloves, folded his coat and put it on the passenger seat, and opened the car door.