North American Gunslinger Detective

Chapter 814: Hank's Collapse

A few hours later, Jimmy finally saw Walter's car leaving the laundry factory gate, but he did not start the car and leave. Instead, he continued to record the subsequent cars and pedestrians entering and leaving the laundry factory gate. Of course, taking photos was essential.

Walter left the laundry at about the same time as yesterday. If he just wanted to hide his tracks, he should have returned to the car wash. Jimmy had already photographed the time he entered and left the laundry. The key now was to find other clues that would allow him to legally enter the laundry and discover the underground laboratory.

After a day of continuous monitoring, it was time to get off work at the laundry factory. Jimmy waited until most of the lights in the laundry factory were turned off before leaving and returning to the hotel to rest.

The next day when he returned to the office, Miguel had received the news and came early. Jimmy threw the camera directly to him and asked him to check the vehicle and personnel information.

Miguel looked at the number of photos in the camera's memory and was stunned. "So many? I can't handle it in a short time."

Jimmy: "How many people do you need to help? Get these photos done today."

Miguel copied the photos onto his computer, "I don't know, the more people the better."

Jimmy: "No, I need to keep it a secret... Well, let me call two more people over."

The two unlucky guys who were just assigned to investigate the fried chicken shop yesterday received a call from Jimmy and rushed back to the office. Jimmy locked them in the conference room and started to identify photos. He arranged for other people to order lunch takeout for them, and let them work overtime.
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At Hank's house, the physical therapist finished training and was packing up to leave. Jimmy rang the doorbell. Mary opened the door for Jimmy holding Walter's little daughter Holly, "Hi, Jimmy."

Jimmy asked in surprise, "Hey, Mary, why is little Holly here? Hi, little guy." Jimmy reached out and gently poked Holly's little face, then looked at the physical therapist who walked to the door and asked, "How is Hank?"

The black physiotherapist smiled and said, "It went very smoothly. Hank worked very hard. If nothing unexpected happens, his recovery time should be shorter than expected. I need to go back now. Bye."

Jimmy moved aside the door to let the therapist leave, nodded to Mary, and walked straight to Hank's bedroom.

Hank had just finished physical therapy and was sitting on the bed to rest. Looking at the sweat on his face, there was no doubt that the physical therapy just now was very painful and exhausted. "Hey, Jimmy, how come you have time to come here today? Did you find any clues?"

Jimmy: "Just came to check on you. The physiotherapist just said that your recovery is better than expected and you may recover earlier than expected."

Hank: "That's great. I've had enough of this. Tell me something good. I know you won't do anything pointless."

Jimmy pulled a chair over and sat down in front of Hank's bed. "Well, I do have some unconfirmed things I need to discuss with you. Do you remember when blue methamphetamine first appeared on the market?"

Hank: "Of course, a year ago, it was only sporadically available on the market, and only a few people had this kind of stuff."

Jimmy: "So the drug maker you were targeting was Heisenberg, right? Who did you get the name from?"

Hank: "Street thug. We also used him to catch the fake Heisenberg. Why do you ask?"

Jimmy: "I combed through all your reports on blue ice from the previous year, and then I found a coincidence in time and a situation that may be embarrassing."

Hank's expression changed. "What?"

Jimmy looked up at the living room, where Mary was sitting on the sofa holding Holly. There was no one else around the house, so he took out a piece of letter paper from his briefcase: "I think you should remember when Walter learned that he had lung cancer, right? Look at these times."

Hank stared at Jimmy in disbelief. He took the paper and took a look at it. He immediately looked at Jimmy and was about to speak when Jimmy stopped him with his hand: "Don't say anything. Look first, then listen to me."

Jimmy sorted out his thoughts and said, "Blue methamphetamine appeared after Walter got cancer. First, a small amount of it appeared on the market. Based on the area where the goods appeared, it can be roughly inferred that it should be the sphere of influence of the Tuku Salamanca family. The quantity here is too small compared to now. I tend to speculate that they used simple drug-making tools at the time, probably in the form of a family workshop.

According to the information recorded in Gail's notebook, blue methamphetamine requires methylamine as a production raw material. In the police report, there was indeed a case where a barrel of methylamine was lost from a warehouse. It is reasonable to speculate that the lost methylamine was used to make the blue ice in the early stage.

For a period of time afterwards, maybe one or two months, the quantity on the market remained basically the same, and the other party's drug manufacturing site obviously did not change. But starting two months later, sales on the market were stopped for a while, and the quantity dropped sharply. Then it was spread over a large area. It was obvious that the other party had obtained support and had a large laboratory. After that, the quantity did not fluctuate much, and began to radiate to several surrounding states.

Since then, the number of blue ice has not decreased significantly, and they still appear on the streets normally even after Gale's death. Am I right?"

Hank nodded and said nothing. There wasn't much on the paper, but he didn't look up at Jimmy, only his hands were shaking a little.

Jimmy continued, "Walter was diagnosed with lung cancer last year. Cancer is not covered by general disease insurance. He was just a high school teacher before, and occasionally worked part-time as a cashier at a car wash. His income was not high. Coupled with Walter's illness, his life was not rich. However, he completed pre-cancer treatment last year and successfully suppressed the spread of cancer. I think with his income and insurance coverage, it should not be enough to pay for the current expenses."

Hank whispered, "He's a genius. He calculated the probability of poker cards by himself and won it back in the casino."

Jimmy: "Do you believe what you are saying now?"

Hank stopped talking and kept his head down. Jimmy continued, "How much does it cost for an ordinary high school teacher with no other income to complete cancer treatment, the expenses after the birth of his daughter, and buy a car wash in less than a year?"

Hank looked up at Jimmy with a slightly ferocious expression. Jimmy looked at Hank and said softly, "Also, I asked in the office, and your treatment expenses are partially covered by insurance, but... your physical therapy costs are very high, and based on your income..."

Hank gritted his teeth and growled, "Stop talking!"

Jimmy didn't listen to Hank and continued, "Gail should be the drug maker of Gus's group. After they got Walter and his group to produce blue ice on a small scale, they used some means to bring Walter into the team and used their large laboratory to start making drugs, so the amount of blue ice spread over a large area. Then, for some reasons that we don't know yet, Gail, the former drug maker, was killed. Walter should be the drug maker of their drug trafficking group now, which explains why he has so much money. You know, the raw materials needed to make drugs are also very expensive."

Jimmy stopped talking and just looked at Hank. Hank couldn't help but gasp for breath. After a while, he calmed down and shouted loudly: "Mary! Mary! Come to the bedroom."

Mary came in holding Holly, "What's wrong?"

Hank looked at her and smiled, "Where's my hospital bill? Jimmy wants to see it."

Mary looked at Jimmy in surprise: "Why?"

Jimmy smiled and said, "Just taking a look."

Mary nodded in confusion, turned and left, and came back a while later with a stack of bill envelopes and handed them to Hank.

Hank smiled and waved to Mary. After Mary left, he immediately stopped smiling and opened the envelope to check the bill inside.

Physical rehabilitation treatment and hospital medical expenses, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per month, most of which are not covered by insurance. Hank and Mary cannot come up with this money right away, but the bill shows that these have all been successfully paid.

Hank looked up at Jimmy, "Maybe he really earned it from gambling. He's so honest, maybe he won't lie..." Hank slowly lowered his voice as he spoke. He also knew that there was a big problem here, but he had not doubted the Walter family's statement before. Maybe subconsciously he really thought that Walter would not be involved in anything related to crime.

Seeing that Hank had accepted what he had just said, Jimmy opened his briefcase and took out some photos from it and handed them to Hank: "I took these photos after following them for three consecutive days. Every morning after Walter went to the car wash with Skye, he would drive to this laundry factory and stay there for four or five hours. Although the time he went there was not fixed each time, it was undoubtedly very regular.

If my guess is correct, the drug lab is inside the laundry factory. Maybe they use the many equipment in the laundry factory, the smell of chemicals or other cover-up methods to make drugs. Of course, it is not ruled out that the laundry factory has their drug-making equipment."

Hank looked at the photo in his hand. There was a timestamp on the lower right corner. The picture showed a car entering and leaving the laundry factory gate at different times. Although he couldn't see the people in the car, Hank still knew this car and the license plate.

Hank lowered his voice and said, his expression became very fierce, "You get out first...get out!"

Jimmy picked up his briefcase and stood up. "One last thing, Hank. Do you remember someone calling you before you were attacked? Think about it, does everything connect? Now, you need to calm down and don't do anything that makes things difficult for others. I'm going to go back first. Bye."

After saying that, Jimmy turned and left Hank's bedroom, leaving Hank alone staring at the photo in his hand in a daze.

After saying goodbye to Mary and teasing little Holly for a while, Jimmy opened the door with a smile and left Hank's house. He stood by the car and lit a cigarette, looking at Hank in the room while smoking.

Hank's reaction was within Jimmy's expectations. After all, he and Walter were relatives, and the relationship between the two families was very good. This could be seen from the fact that little Holly could now stay at Mary's place for care during the day. Moreover, Walter had paid hundreds of thousands for Hank's medical expenses. Even if there was something wrong with the money, it could not change the fact that Walt was willing to pay so much for Hank. He would even rather risk being discovered by Hank and provide so much money. This was not easy.

Hank is a senior DEA agent and has been investigating the blue methamphetamine case for a year. During this period, he must have leaked relevant information to Walter. Even if it was leaked unintentionally, it would still be dereliction of duty. It is impossible that he did not think of this.

He needs to protect his family, not just himself and Mary, but also people like Skye, little Holly, and little Walter. Walter made so much money making drugs, Skye and the others must have had doubts, but they were all fooled by Walter's desperate reason of gambling. Now that Hank has thought of the flaw here, he must consider others as well.

There is also a key point. Jimmy has not obtained any concrete evidence so far. He obviously came to Hank immediately after getting the news. He must think carefully about how to deal with it later. With his brain in a mess, letting Jimmy leave is also a subconscious way of self-protection.

After Jimmy finished smoking, Hank still didn't move. Mary was still holding Holly in the living room. It was obvious that Hank couldn't make up his mind for a while. Jimmy got in the car and left Hank's house, returning to the vicinity of the laundry factory.

There was another identified target in the car that was being targeted before. Jesse also appeared in the laundry factory and left at about the same time as Walter, but the time he entered was different. This time, Jimmy planned to follow Jesse directly to see the situation.

Jimmy doesn't need to worry about Hank. Even if there are some things Hank can't figure out, he at least won't tell Walter that Jimmy has found clues that he is involved in drug making.

Hank is a very principled person and not a corrupt cop. Jimmy doesn't want him to be implicated by his brother-in-law. Walter is in the advanced stage of lung cancer and could go to hell at any time. A promising senior DEA agent cannot be ruined because of him.

It was not difficult to track Jesse. His anti-reconnaissance awareness was obviously not very strong. He just changed roads at certain intersections and drove straight back home. This also allowed Jimmy to successfully grasp his route from home to the laundry factory and take pictures for record.

The next step was to try to find the vehicle transporting the drugs from among the vehicles entering and leaving the laundry. Jimmy didn't believe that anyone else could do this in a short time, so he had to do it himself. After changing his clothes, he hid next to the laundry and stared at the laboratory in the basement. Once he found someone transporting something out of it, he could basically determine the route the other party used to transfer the drugs.

　Sorry for taking half an hour, please forgive me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)