Empire of Shadows

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Officer Rucker pushed the ice coffin back, then walked to the desk, gesturing for him to come over and sign.

At the same time, he said, "The scene was cleaned up very thoroughly. We didn't find any valuable clues."

"Including not even a single footprint, not a single fingerprint left behind!"

"These people should be professionals."

"Judging from their positions when they died, and our analysis of the bullet trajectories, there was more than one assailant, and more than one gun."

"They were subdued without resistance, and then shot dead."

"They took away everything that could expose their identities, and also cleaned up the entire scene."

Will signed the document and slammed his hand on the table. "So you're saying you haven't made any progress at all?"

"Officer Rucker, my brother is dead, lying in that freezer over there."

"I hope you can do something that will make things a little better for him even in hell, instead of telling me that you're helpless!"

Officer Rucker glanced at the claim form, and after confirming it was correct, took it back. "Mr. Will, I sympathize and regret your situation, but you know that solving this kind of case isn't easy."

"Your and your brother's backgrounds are different from ordinary people. The motives for ordinary people encountering this kind of thing are just a few, but there are too many possible reasons for it happening to you."

"Moreover, Mr. Will, don't you think that a professional cleanup of the scene is itself a very important clue?"

"They are professional!"

Officer Rucker tapped his chest with the clipboard. "Think about your enemies, or think about who can provide you with clues."

He paused here, waited a few seconds, and continued after seeing that Will seemed to have understood, "Of course, I'm not asking you to seek revenge or anything. I hope you can provide us with clues for our investigation…"

The police need a lot of investigation and evidence collection work for this kind of case. Even searches require a search warrant, which may cause them to miss the best time for investigation.

Moreover, there are many methods that they are not easy to use, but these gang members can use them unscrupulously, which is why the higher-level detectives have more powerful gang informants.

Sometimes they have to use some means outside the scope of the law to uphold justice.

Some people think that if they exceed what the law allows, then even if they uphold justice, it is still disgraceful.

But there are also some people, such as Officer Rucker, whose understanding of justice is not judicial justice or procedural justice, but who regard "the perpetrator needs to pay for their actions" as the standard for the execution of justice.

Rather than racking his brains and groping aimlessly in the vast sea, it's better to tell Will what to do, and then send someone to keep an eye on him.

Flexibility may not be very friendly to some stubborn people, as it will break through their cognition and bottom line, but sometimes, it is indeed easier to achieve success.

"Officer Rucker, you are a good police officer. If I have any clues, I will contact you."

He glanced at his watch, "I still have things to do now, so…"

"I also have cases to work on."

"Then goodbye?"

"Goodbye."

Back in the office, Officer Rucker immediately ordered four plainclothes officers to drive two cars and watch Will twenty-four hours a day.

As long as he makes any big moves, contact him immediately.

See, saving money, saving trouble, and also having a high success rate in solving cases.

In the afternoon, after finishing the work at hand, Officer Rucker thought of that interesting local he met that day, and the cup of coffee he owed him.

He ordered two takeaway coffees from outside the police station, and then drove to the area between the port area and the bay area, where he saw Lance sitting under the sun umbrella at the entrance.

"Want a cup?" he said, sitting in the car, holding a cup of coffee in his hand through the car window.

Lance noticed him, smiled and walked over, "Of course, I hope it's not too sweet."

Officer Rucker smiled and said, "Your taste isn't like a local, most of the locals I've seen are keen on sweets."

"Including you?" Lance took a small sip, not too sweet, and not too much milk, it was the kind he could accept.

Officer Rucker got out of the car with the coffee and walked with Lance to sit down under the sun umbrella. "Not including me, I don't like it too sweet either."

Speaking of which, he paused, looked at the storefront that had already started to get busy, and whistled, "You chose the right business!"

He paused and continued, "I noticed there are a lot of Imperials here. Are you familiar with the Imperials?"

Lance became somewhat alert at this time, "I knew some Imperials when I worked in a black factory before."

"You know, they have always been the main force in black factories and the like."

He nodded, "I read that report, it mentioned this. Where was that factory?"

"In the next state, to be honest, I don't really want to mention it."

Officer Rucker immediately apologized for this, "My mistake, I shouldn't have made you recall the painful past."

Lance smiled, "It's okay, it's much better now when I think about it."

The police officer took out a cigarette. Cigarettes are always a social weapon for men. Even if they are not too familiar, a cigarette can make two people chat.

He turned his head and glanced at the door where people kept coming and going, and said as if sighing, "Imperials have always been diligent, even if this society is not tolerant of them."

"Have you heard of any Imperial who has recently realized their Imperial dream?"

"That is, the kind who suddenly became very rich, stopped working, and started spending a lot of money?"

Lance had already realized that he was trying to get information out of him, and directly exposed him, "Who are you asking about, because of a case?"

Officer Rucker did not deny it, "Your perception is very keen, so what is your answer?"

Lance pretended to think for a while, then shook his head, "I haven't heard anyone say anything about these things. What big case happened?"

"Nothing, a theft case."

"I hope the owner didn't lose too much."

Meaningless words, but Officer Rucker vaguely felt that the guy in front of him was not telling the truth, but he couldn't force Lance to tell him anything.

It's normal to be somewhat defensive, and judging from his experience, people who have been through black factories tend to be very wary.

At this time, a young man wearing blue high-waisted overalls, with hair covering half of his cheeks, a long face, and some freckles, with a dull look in his eyes, who looked like an idiot, walked over while flicking his hair.

He glanced at Officer Rucker and even took the initiative to say hello, which made him look even more stupid, but obviously, he was being very polite by doing so, "Hello."

Officer Rucker also smiled and nodded, "Good afternoon."

Then Hiram looked at Lance, "The sewer in the back is blocked."

Lance looked at him, "Go deal with it first, I'll be right there."

Officer Rucker was a little incredulous, "You have to deal with the sewer blockage yourself?"

"You're a boss!"

Lance laughed as he listened, "Save as much as you can in the early stage of starting a business, and I've done this kind of thing before. I know it doesn't have any technical content, but if you find a plumber, he'll ask you for several times the money."

Saying that, he picked up the coffee, "Thank you for the coffee, officer, it's very delicious, but I have something to deal with…"

"I should go too, it was a pleasure chatting with you, Lance, help me pay attention to those things I said."

"No problem, I'll have people pay attention."

After the two said goodbye to each other, Lance watched Officer Rucker drive away, and Officer Rucker was also staring at Lance in the rearview mirror.

He always felt that this young man was not as simple as he thought.

But he has several cases in hand now, and he doesn't have time to care about this guy. When he is free, he will learn about this "Mr. Lance".

When Officer Rucker's car disappeared at the end of the road, Lance casually handed the coffee to the staff in the introduction agency.

He came to the office in the back, where Hiram was already sitting. Besides him, there were two other young people who joined the company with him.

One is called Derisi, and the other is called Lawn.

As soon as Lance came in, he closed the door and sat behind the desk, "What happened?"

Watching Hiram flick his hair again like an idiot, Lance had the urge to laugh.

But he held back.

"Jason went to the bar."

"Who?" Lance didn't react for a moment.

"One of the guys who took the four thousand dollars and left, he just went to the bar."

Lance took out a cigarette and gave one to each of them. Hiram continued, "I had Lawn keep an eye on him. After he hid some of the money, he went to the bar."

Lawn then said, "He ordered a drink worth fifty cents in the bar, and also exchanged five dollars for change."

Lance whistled, "That must be a strip club, so he's spending lavishly."

Without waiting for Hiram to answer, he said, "Bring him back."