The Last Killer

After calling five times and no one answered, Rob was about to give up contacting his partner for the time being, but at the last moment, the call was connected.He heard a voice that didn't sound sober in the background of loud noise and blaring music asking, "Rob? What do you want me to do?"

Of course there is something!It's driving me crazy!Fighting the urge to growl, Rob raised his voice and said, "Leo, where are you? I think we need to meet."

"Where... I don't know, a certain bar, or a nightclub?" The voice at the other end floated in the tide of DJ music, as if a leaf had escaped from the master's canoe, "Hey girl, do you know this Where is it?"

"...They said you drank too much...Who wants to have another drink with me...Handsome guy, she's so disappointing, I'll drink with you..." The female voice drifted over vaguely, and it seemed that there was more than one.

Rob's face was sullen, and the veins popped up on his forehead: "—Leo! Where the hell are you!"

"I don't know...it looks familiar...the purple butterfly lamp...I remember you were here too..." The other party replied incoherently.

Rob knew where he was.As a nightclub enthusiast, the green-eyed detective has more than once HIGHed too much in "Night Walking Banshee", and then was dragged back to the car by his partner looking for him.Once he got drunk, grabbed Leo's skirt and kept asking, "Are you straight or curvy? You don't have a girlfriend or a boyfriend...Are you a narcissist?" In the end, he was annoyed The partner punched him in the stomach and vomited until his leather shoes stink.

—Instead, now it was up to him to get his partner back.

Rob found a nightclub hidden in a dark alley with ease, struggled to push aside the crowd dancing wildly in the hall, searched around in the blurred and flickering lights, and finally found the black-haired detective in a half-open box.

He was obviously drunk and couldn't tell the difference between south, east and north. He leaned back on the back of the sofa, and his usually meticulously combed black hair fell down and scattered messily on his smooth forehead.The suit jacket was thrown on the armrest, his white shirt was undone at least four buttons from the neckline, and most of his chest was exposed—compared to a pure Caucasian, his pores were too fine and his body hair was so little that it stood out. Under the cold light, the smooth skin and firm muscles look as if they were carved from light-colored marble, luring the viewer's eyes to follow those toned lines and explore the rest hidden in the clothes.

At this moment, two or three hands with different colors of nail polish are moving over his chest, and a woman with heavy makeup is hanging on him passionately, and her hip-length skirt is grinding between his thighs.

Normally, Rob would appreciate this rare spectacle, but today he was not in the mood at all, and stepped forward directly: "Okay girls, it's time to give him back to me.

One of the blond girls with big hoop earrings and neck tattoos looked up at him with the grumpy look of being interrupted: "Go away with your clumsy tricks, boy, he's ours! You want to hit my brother our fists?"

Rob took out his ID from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. The golden badge shook and then quickly put it away, so fast that the words could not be read clearly, "Drug Enforcement Administration. Do you want to go back with me for a urine test?"

The faces of the three girls changed, and they picked up their bags and fled angrily—in this kind of place, few people have never tasted soft drugs such as hallucinogens, maybe they have ready-made ones in their handbags goods.

Rob ignored them, stepped forward and shook his dark-haired partner with blurred eyes, and found that he was a little drunk and delirious. In desperation, he had to half-help and half-drag him out of the nightclub, stuffed him into the car, and drove to the At the apartment on East 86th Street in Manhattan, he opened the door with the key that the other party took out of his pocket, carried him into the room with great difficulty, and threw him in the bathtub as if venting his anger.Then he picked up the shower, turned on the water flow to the maximum, and poured it all over the head and face of the guy who smelled of alcohol.

Under the stimulation of the cold water, the black-haired detective seemed to wake up a lot. He covered his face with his hands and calmed down for a moment, then wiped his wet hair back, and tried to get up and get out of the bathtub in a faltering footsteps.

Rob grabbed his arm, and his tone was full of worry and dissatisfaction: "Leo! I don't know when you have an extra hobby of drinking?"

"That doesn't seem to be your patent." The other party replied with a cold expression.

Rob took a breath, and then said again: "This is not the Leo I know? Lawrence! He will never abandon the task in hand and go to the nightclub to get drunk alone, because he loves this job more than anyone else. !"

"So I took annual leave." Leo shook off his hand unmoved, "Eight years since I stepped into the investigation bureau, I haven't asked for annual leave. The only time I was injured The vacation is dead too—can't I take a full vacation?"

Rob was speechless.Watching him take off his wet clothes as he walked, throwing them on the floor randomly, and finally walked to the bedroom naked, took out casual clothes from the closet and put them on.Even with 100% certainty that he's straight, the green-eyed agent can't help but look away, as if another man's perfect nude body is blinding sunlight that burns his retinas over time.

"But you can't just leave it alone, whether it's this case or... him." Rob sighed and said, "I know that there are many conflicts and serious problems between you, and I also know that he deceived and used you—no , it was us, I was fooled together, and was played around by his disguised personality. It is indeed very angry, hateful, and a deep sense of shame. But I always feel, always feel that there is something ...something is not quite right, although I can't tell what it is, but..."

He paused for a moment, as if choosing the most appropriate description for an incomprehensible feeling, "Do you remember the cultural relics smuggling case we investigated? That priceless ancient Chinese painting? From the outside, it looks completely It's a completely different painting, whether we use carbon-14, infrared, or other detection methods, we can't find anything strange. At that time, I thought we were completely wrong, and it was not the ancient painting at all. .I didn’t know that this is the so-called “picture-in-picture” until you invited a paper master from China to slowly tear off a layer of rice paper on the surface to reveal the real face underneath. So many advanced instruments are Nothing can be done, but only by relying on years of experience and insights immersed in this way, and relying on the oldest and wise technology, can we uncover that thin layer of illusion..."

"What are you trying to explain?" his partner asked back.

"Maybe this metaphor is not appropriate, but I still feel that finishing is like that picture-in-picture." Rob paused and said: "No matter what is hidden underneath, the real face is definitely not the one on the surface. .”

"So what? He is not a famous painting, and I have no responsibility or obligation to explore whether there is an even uglier truth under the ugly appearance. Grab him, and my mission has been completed!" Leo bent over and sat on the edge of the bed , with his elbows on his knees and his hands on his temples, the cramping pain in the depths of his brain made him almost unable to think.

"I don't believe you will give up easily. Chasing the truth behind the darkness is your almost instinctive persistence." Rob persuaded unwillingly, "No matter how big a setback you encounter, you will not collapse, let alone use alcohol to escape. You are not this kind of person!"

The black-haired detective raised his head from the palm of his hand to look at him, the bloodshot around the dark blue iris, and the deep blue shadows under the eye sockets, it is hard to conceal the exhaustion of the body and mind, "—— you know the last time I slept was When?" He suddenly changed the subject.

Rob was taken aback, "Last night?"

"Three days ago. From the moment I caught him, I couldn't fall asleep, not even for a minute." Leo said indifferently, "You know that if a person doesn't sleep at all, he can live How many days?"

"God!" Rob changed his face, squatted down and grabbed his arm vigorously: "Why? Haven't you been taking medicine... I'm sorry, I don't intend to pry into your privacy, but I do know that you are taking some psychoactive drugs Although you don’t tell anyone about it. It’s nothing, in our business, there are more or less problems with that aspect... Is it the drug’s failure, or the side effect?”

Leo shook his head slowly, "The side effects of drugs are very serious, but I am quitting, and I will succeed soon, the problem is not the drugs... Don't you understand, Rob? Before, I never really fell in love with you. Who, find a suitable girl, date, get married, have a few children, plain, safe and stable - I thought the so-called relationship was like this. I thought I was calm enough and rational enough to treat those who love to death I scoffed at the passionate passion of young people. It was not until I met Li Biqing that I realized that when something comes, it is completely unaffected by reason. Your reason is like a climber in an avalanche being completely swallowed up. I am willing to die Due to the magnificence and magnificence of nature, I turned around and found that this was actually a man-made disaster, and there were several cameras set up in the hidden place next to it, just to capture my expressions of hesitation, panic, despair, intoxication, etc. And having fun with it - can you see how I feel, Rob?"

"——I understand." The green-eyed detective clenched his hands, trying to pass the heat of his palms to the other party, "I know you love Li Biqing, and until now, you still refuse to treat him and Sha Qing as the same person , You even think that it was the appearance of Shaqing that caused Li Biqing's demise, that it was Shaqing who murdered him."

Leo's face was ashen, and he said in an extremely tired voice after a long while: "Yes, this is a murder without a body, without evidence, and untraceable. Only I know what kind of boy he took from my body. Wiped out of my life... I hate him, Rob, I've never hated anyone so purely personal. Even the most vicious criminal has nothing but the righteous indignation of Detective Leo, and he—if he wants to Let me remember the words of my life with hatred, then he has already got his wish!"

Rob was silent, and at this moment he suddenly remembered Leo's eyes.When the black-haired detective stares at the finished mock portrait on the wall, the eyes seem to be dancing with subtle fire in the depths of contemplation—whether the fire comes from admiration, appreciation or sympathy from different positions, in short, it is bright. And passionately, and lasted for a whole year. "...Is there only hatred?" He asked mysteriously.

This sentence is like a key to open the cage of memory, countless picture fragments swarmed out like escape, the swelling made his brain throbbing with pain, Leo pressed his fingers tightly on his temples, trying to lock them back again.But he was still a step too late, and a part of too deep and intense fragments had already slipped out——the hand that came down from the ventilation duct at the time of desperation.

Bloody lips holding bullets.

A bloody kiss against a bullet-riddled wall.

Sniffs in dark caverns.

Pain in a close fight.

The earnestness and righteousness when talking about having a crush on him.

Kneeling in front of him in a gesture of submission and blowjob without hesitation.

The uncontrollable trembling when entering the body-the trembling caused by the insecure rear posture, the aggressively suppressed attack instinct, the strong contradiction of resisting and repelling the invasion of external forces but forcing oneself to open the body to accept-even if all the warmth It's all a disguise, and the trembling of the sincerity that can't be written off.

As if wanting to smash these pictures into pieces, Leo grabbed his black hair in pain with both hands, and moaned out: "Yes... only hate."

Rob got up abruptly, walked to the dining room, randomly took out a bottle of whiskey from the glass decorative cabinet, unscrewed the bottle cap and stuffed it into his hand: "If this is the case, then drink it, maybe you can sleep well only when you are very drunk. Last night. If you don’t want to see him again, I will leave all the follow-up work to me. Tomorrow the prosecutor will conduct a pre-trial plea deal with the public lawyer and the client, and try to get him to plead guilty directly in court.”

"He won't plead guilty." Leo said, staring blankly at the wine bottle in his hand, "He thinks those are the things that should be done, and he will not bow to any external pressure."

"Then the judiciary will have to fight a very troublesome and protracted battle. The bureau must also be prepared to collect sufficient evidence to provide to the prosecution. At that time, as an agent who has been tracking him down for a long time and arrested him personally, your role will definitely be indispensable. "Rob said, "Actually, I hope that Sha Qing can take the initiative to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence. This is good for everyone, so as not to be sentenced to life imprisonment in the end of the lawsuit. Like that Chinese proverb you once said - a man under the roof has to bow his head."

—he won't.He would rather break it without regret than bend it against his will, unless that kind of bending is also part of his plan.Leo said inwardly, then poured a whole bottle of whiskey down his throat.

Looking at the black-haired detective who finally fell asleep on the bed, Rob let out a long sigh, covered him with the quilt, and left the apartment with heavy steps.

At 7:7 in the morning, it is breakfast time in the White Building. Unit [-]R has an independent food distribution room and dining area, so the prisoners don’t have to go to the public dining room on this floor to squeeze in. Having said that, the dining tables in the cells are actually quite crowded. of.

Alessio carried a stainless steel plate for breakfast (today oatmeal, fresh milk, cake and apple), scanned the dining area, and soon spotted the new Chinese youth.He sat in an inconspicuous corner, burying his head in eating oatmeal, looking like he was alone.He was the only one at that small square table, obviously because last night's orientation meeting showed enough intimidation that the other prisoners only dared to look at him with different meanings, but none of them dared to strike up a conversation—the two Hispanic examples are still alive in the room. One wrist is swollen like a genetically modified radish; the other was sent to the medical room for observation because of dizziness and suspected mild concussion.

The young man with short brown stubble hesitated for less than a second, decided to face the difficulties, walked over and sat opposite the newcomer, and said with a slight Italian accent, "Hi, Lee."

Sha Qing raised his eyes to look at him, "What's the matter?"

Alessio pauses a little awkwardly, "...is this your first time? Uh, I mean, come in here..." Hell, that's a terrible greeting, and he stirs the grid with his spoon Oatmeal with milk, very disappointed in myself.

"Yeah." The other party replied with a pleasant face, without showing any offended expression, "Before that, all my impressions of prisons came from movies and novels, so I was a little surprised when I saw this," he poked at the prison with a spoon. Poke the buttercream cake—although the appearance is not good, but it is indeed a real cake, "I didn't expect the welfare in prison to be quite good."

With an easy-to-derivate topic, Alessio's tone became more natural, "Because it is a federal detention center, most of the people detained here are undecided criminals. In a legal sense, we are only suspects rather than prisoners. And Most people's lawsuits are ongoing, lawyers are in and out, and the progress of major cases is often reported in the newspapers. If there is any abuse, it will be out of the scandal, and some people can even take advantage of it. Blackmail the prison for a deal in exchange for compensation and a commutation application. So the treatment here is not bad, and the attitude of the COs is also relatively good. Occasionally, one or two bad-tempered ones dare not go too far; How dare you act arrogantly, because the sentence has not yet been announced, and once the foul is taken into consideration in the sentencing, the sentence is likely to be aggravated."

"In other words, this is a harmonious high-end community, with civilized residents and competent security guards," Shao Qing drew a circle on the smooth skin of the apple with his fingertips, "at least on the surface."

Alessio laughed, "Yes, here is a small apple, and the outside (he picks his thumb at the barred window) is a big apple, and no matter what's inside, it has to be shiny on the outside. Oh, Fortunately, what you violated is a federal law. The treatment in state prisons is much worse than this. The COs are all thugs and hooligans. Even if they are all federal prisons, there is a big difference between good and bad. Let’s say New York. Ostilville Prison, one of the five luxury prisons, we call it 'On the Hill', and there is also the notorious Rex Island-do you know what we call the big prison island that is divided into ten districts? ?”

"what?"

"'grave'."

Sha Qing stopped gnawing on the apple, and tilted his head to look at him: "You know it so clearly? Isn't it the first time?"

Alessio hurriedly replied: "No, I entered the palace, and my brother was imprisoned on Rex Island. They refused to put their accomplices in a prison."

"Accomplice? Sure enough, he is the brother of Dahu, a father and son soldier in battle. What did you do to rob a bank together?"

"No... it's just a family business." The Italian young man smiled a little shyly. Seeing that the other party had almost finished his breakfast, he got up and said, "Let me show you around. From now until the lights are turned off at 10 o'clock in the evening, you are free." During the activity time, you must stay in the cell during the roll call at 4 pm and 9 pm. There is a self-service grill and laundry room, video room, exercise room, library, and you can use it as you like. The public phone is free, but enter Be careful to be monitored after the ID number. There is also a swimming pool and basketball court on the top floor, but they are not open every day.”

"—sounds like a holiday center."

"Actually, it's pretty much the same, except the per capita size is too small, you can't go out at will, and you have to go through endless red tape. The federal government spends more than $90 a day on each of us, which is comparable to the average working-class day. The salary is much higher."

While chatting and laughing, two prison guards walked into the dining area, looked around, and stood by their table.

"Is there any problem, Yin En, Marcus, we did not foul." Alessio said to the prison guard in charge of this unit.

Da Qing recognized them. They were two of the prison guards who escorted him in last night. Marcus was a middle-aged black man with a big waist; He is young, but the mocking sneer on his face from beginning to end makes him look far more mature and experienced than his actual age.

"It's none of your business, Alessio." Marcus said, turning his head and raising his chin towards Sha Qing: "3145-107, come with us."

"What to do?" Sha Qing asked.

"Change clothes." The black prison guard replied routinely.