James slammed the phone down, turned around angrily, and looked at his minibar. Spread on the counter were spilled coffee and a newspaper soaked in coffee. That was caused by James' reaction after just reading today's newspaper.
James walked to the bar gloomily, picked up a pile of toilet paper and threw it on the counter. He stopped clearing it and picked up the newspaper that was still dripping with coffee. He carefully identified the writer who wanted to write a report on the profile page.
"Kate!" James read the name, his eyes twitched and he dropped the newspaper, grabbed the car keys and prepared to go out.
The phone came to mind behind him, and James held the key tightly and turned back gloomily, very hesitant.
Let me tell you what he was hesitating about—
Yes, although it was James who took the initiative to call Zach, fortunately, Zach did not receive the call and switched to the answering machine, giving James room to vent his emotions without hindrance. However, James also Let's vent something, just a regular, almost bad words to Zach, 'What did you do again! ! ', and just as he was about to talk more specifically about the report in today's newspaper, James automatically stopped and ended the message with a curse word.
James really wants to know what bad thing Zach did to get targeted like that by the newspaper? No, James is much smarter than this, well, much more forward-looking. The reports are out and the vampire has been described as a vile and shameless villain. Therefore, it is not important what the vampire did to bear such an attack. What is important is the person who wrote this report, this reporter named Kate. She should be not far from the end of her life, and the way her life ended , in a way that ordinary people can't imagine... It's not surprising, James' first reaction is always - vampires are, well, vampires, not human beings anyway.
James doesn't need a call from Zach now to talk about moral ethics that he can't refute, to whitewash the fact that a life that dares to tell the truth is about to end. James doesn't need it!
James doesn't want to hear Zach's voice right now!
But one thing must be admitted. James really wanted to say a word to Zach himself, full of malice and absolute contempt and ridicule, 'Finally! Someone discovered your true face! Oh no! It's everyone! The whole city of Barton! '
So, hesitated.
The hesitation time is still a bit long.
Di - transferred to the message.
"Lance! You'd better be on your way to the police station now! The chief is looking for you!" Coulson's voice.
James, who had lost all hope, punched the air, said "*!", turned around, and stormed out.
After sitting in the car, James calmed down a little. He has two directions to go forward, one is to go to the Barton Daily News to find the reporter named Kate, and the other is to go to the police station honestly. After calming down, his rationality told him that Kate would be safe at least now. If Zach let this reporter, cough cough, on the first day this report came out, then Zach would be stupid. So, James drove to the police station .
It's weird, it feels like.
Regardless of James’s own state of mind, Barton’s early mornings are no different from usual times. Pedestrians, buses, and cars have not yet climbed to the top, and can only see the slanting sunlight...
Even if he occasionally saw passers-by reading newspapers in a passing car, there was no special emotion on their faces—James had the urge to rush over and underline the article on the People page. .
But in reality, there is no difference. Barton didn't show any difference because a certain vampire living in the city was skinned.
James arrived at the police station filled with this weird feeling.
The first person to cover her face was Emma, the policewoman who was still at the front desk (this girl has a crush on Benjamin), "Detective Lance, today's newspaper..."
James quickly walked around the worried face. The one thing he didn't want to hear was that someone was speaking for Grande, not at all!
"Uh! Finally!" Coulson came over directly and pushed James to the elevator without letting James go back to his desk.
If you think Coulson won't mention something, you'd be underestimating the police's attention to Barton society~
As the elevator ascended, Coulson said, "Oh, by the way, have you read today's newspaper?"
James looked at his partner. Seriously, James couldn't predict what Coulson would say to defend Zach? Not really. Let the dark side of your heart exult like James himself? Not even that. It is even more impossible to proactively worry about the life safety of a reporter.
Something unexpected came out of Coulson's mouth -
"At the Port of Marsa, the Fisher Group has suspended two cargo ships..."
Uh, James looked away with a dark look on his face. Now he felt so... hopeless—he was the only one thinking about Zach.
Coulson continued, "And there has been no public explanation, and Saidil, who is in charge of security at Port Massa, has not moved either. I feel... No, I'm sure! Something must have happened!"
In his hopeless mood, James didn't even bother to respond to Coulson.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! Aren't you awake?" Coulson pushed James next to him. He probably also prepared a speech like "Intuition of an Experienced Old Detective", but James didn't. Cooperate and feel depressed.
The elevator door opens.
As mentioned before, the layout of the top floor of the police station must be intentional - as long as you look at the door of the chief's office, you can immediately see the people coming out of the elevator. This time too, not only did Director Darcy see Coulson and James coming out of the elevator, but the two detectives also saw Director Darcy in the office, and, well, someone who had been very exposed to Barton recently. , owner of the men's clothing chain from the West, Oz Cozier.
Darcy only glanced at him and then lowered his gaze, "I just called him Lance."
Coulson, who hadn't even stepped through the office door yet, turned pale for a moment. He glared at James and retreated to the elevator tensely.
James closed the office door and sat across from Darcy. The first person to speak was the mind-reader Oz—
"Darcy, this is stupid. Letting his partner hate James will not do any good to James' future."
Do I need to say it formally? All right.
This is a conversation between three Westerners.
I think this sentence is enough to set the stage.
"Have you read the hatred in Coulson's heart?" Darcy glanced at Oz, expressionless, "It would be troublesome to keep him, just change his partner." I hope everyone can follow up with these direct words.
James' pupils shrank sharply and stared at Oz.
Oz had helplessness on his face, shook his head and smiled, "I didn't say that, I just said, if you always treat James and his partners so differently, hatred will appear sooner or later. And." Oz Winking at James, he stood next to Darcy who was sitting, so he didn't have to worry about Director Darcy noticing, "If you always say this directly in front of James, haha, you don't need my reading. With the power of his mind, we can see that James will only become more and more repulsive to us, the West, and the Sabbat."
"Humph." Darcy glanced at James's gloomy face, "It's getting more and more." He was still talking to Oz, "Then you have read our..." Pay attention to his wording, "Lan Master Si, what do you think of me? Tell me and listen."
Oz continued to wink at James, and both winks had only one meaning—we, you James Lance, and I, Oz Cozier, are one. Don’t forget the alien mind of Oz, the mind-reader. From that time when he suddenly changed his story and told James that the Sabbat killed Georgina and planned to use it to manipulate James, he finally reached an alliance with Zach.
There are still three Westerners in this office, but he, Ozzie Cozier and James, are now Pattons.
Listen to what Oz said to Darcy again, "Haha, let's not say it. In Barton, no matter our personal mood, the three of us are people who represent the Sabbat of the West. We are a whole. Some words are too harsh to say. If you hurt your personal feelings, keep them in your heart forever." He blinked.
Director Darcy shook his head. For a person who didn't know the situation, he was very calm. He waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter." He glanced at James, raised his hand and threw a document over, with a hint of emotion in his tone. A bit sarcastically, "Since we are a whole, there are some things you'd better know."
"What is this?" James' first words after coming in were questions in a gloomy tone. The reason was that the document thrown over by the police chief did not have any logo of the Barton Police Department on it. This is not a case document or anything, it is a simple goods transaction sheet.
"This is a transaction backup for Republic goods ordered by the Sabbat through Port Massa." Oz explained.
James tried his best to ignore the word 'Sabbath', "What transaction?" James flipped through the pages quickly. Not only was the name of the goods obliterated, he didn't even see the seal that should be on every legal transaction sheet. , "Why are you showing me this?!" The unstable tone indicated that James was beginning to have an ominous premonition.
There was a moment of silence in the office, and no one answered James.
"Human." Darcy frowned and looked up at Oz, feeling unhappy, "Illegal workers, republican."
Oz shrugged and said to Darcy, "Don't look at me like that. I've realized that people who tell him the truth will be disgusted. Cozier and Lance are family friends. I want to protect our friendship..."
"What?!" James had already stood up from his chair, no matter what Oz was still talking about, he glared at his top boss, Director Darcy, and yelled, "People?! The Sabbat is buying people from the Republic? !”
Although James is a 'little' homicide detective, if he were asked, he should be able to list a bunch of federal laws triggered by human trafficking. No, no, no, it's not that simple. This is transnational trafficking. I'm afraid federal law cannot cover this thing that Oz described as 'hateful'.
Darcy raised his hand and wiped away the spittle that James sprayed on his face, extremely calmly, "It would be best to speak louder and let the entire bureau know."
James pushed the chair behind him loudly and turned to leave. Really mature, once things go beyond his acceptance range, he will either collapse or 'die' or just like this, turn around and walk away.
Darcy was of no use at such a moment. What works is Oz, who can read minds, in just one sentence.
"But two batches of goods disappeared." When James' footsteps showed a hint of stagnation, Oz continued, "Yes, what you are thinking about now is right, it is what your partner mentioned in the elevator just now. , two ships suspended in the port of Marsa."
James stopped completely, his hand was already on the handle of the office, and he turned his head with a gloomy face that could no longer be described.
What he got was a nod from Oz, "That's right again, Fisher's ship. This transaction was completed by Fisher from Barton." 'Communicating' with a mind reader just doesn't make sense.
"Sit down." Oz took advantage of Darcy's shaking head to collect the scattered documents - these things must not be mixed into the police documents. There is no need to explain such a simple reason. Oz once again looked at James Blinking, "Sit down. Before you have any new opinions about the Sabbat, you will want to hear the entire reason for this."
James was not so obedient and stood by the door.
"Darcy." Oz once again handed over the words to Darcy. Hehe, he probably explained something that James would be disgusted with, so he gave it up cunningly.
Darcy frowned and glared at Oz sullenly, but he couldn't help it. The status of mind readers was higher than him, and it had nothing to do with social attributes. They were the class of the Sabbat.
"It's not just Fisher. When the Sabbat originally formulated this plan, they contacted people from five parties, including Fisher, Falcon, Smith, Bishop, and Asera."
James regretted it because he wanted to sit down now. It is the powerlessness caused by the fact that the information heard cannot logically conflict with the relationship between the characters that already exists in the mind.
Darcy twitched his lips, "The whole thing is not what you think, huh, 'The Sabbat is disgusting', it is a complete plan, for you, for, huh, the current mayor Anthony, and Barton... "
"Speak directly, Darcy." Oz actually urged, "What you say now will only make James more repulsive. Tell him everything and let him make his own judgment."
Darcy clicked his tongue, "From the beginning, uh, Ethera, this woman running for mayor this time, you must first make it clear that the Sabbat, you don't want to see Ethera take office, this is the premise..."
Put it here first, Grande, the call Zach was waiting for finally came.
"If you don't call me, I'll go find you." Zach held the receiver and expressed his dissatisfaction to the mayor.
There was only Anthony's breathing on the other side of the receiver, and he didn't respond to Zach.
Zach frowned here and waited for a while, "Anthony?" Still no response, "An (name)? Talk, don't make me worry."
The breath turned into a long sigh that was covered by the exhalation, "Uh-I didn't sleep last night..."
Zach raised the corners of his mouth, not knowing how to respond. If he could see Anthony's face now, Toledo should be able to say something appropriate.
Anthony, "Why can't everything be simple and simple?!" It seemed like a question, and the object of the question was unknown, maybe it was the air.
Zach pursed his lips, "Anthony, tell me directly, what do you want?"
After a brief silence, the other side of the receiver said, "If I am re-elected as mayor, things will not get easier at all, right?"
"No, it will only be worse." Zach said.
"So." Anthony's voice was more certain, "I need all the advantages I can get, right!"
"Yes." Zach nodded.
"Then do it! I want the Sabbat to know that I am the mayor, because, I am, the mayor!" (.)