Chapter 138

Chapter 138: Chapter 7 ‘General’

In the southern part of the Northern District of Barton, starting from St Mary’s Church all the way to the southern border of the northern district; this whole area was considered the ‘broken’ area of Barton.

In the west, there was Passing District, a peaceful district but with lower income per capita. Going east from Passing District, in the area between Ogier Street and Highway 27, although the income per capita has remained at the same level, the average age of the people here has begun to decline.

Unlike the majority of the middle-aged and the elderly citizens of the Passing District who could own a house with their life savings, the savings of the people here were not enough for them to buy a house. Most of them rent apartments, and Daniel also lived here.

Then across Highway 27, behind roadside utilities such as gas stations and bus stops, and after a short area buffer, the situation took a turn for the worse.

Those who didn’t want to work in Barton, but wanted to earn some money, would come here and use their fists and wounds in exchange for a better life. They would choose a bar at random, find the man who was sitting inside, smoking cigarettes, and looking very imposing, and pledge their loyalty to them.

The sea-view real estate in the northeast of Barton Southern District was abandoned due to the influence of this place.

The detectives of the Barton Police Station have almost been stationed here every day in the past few days. It was just noon, but Detective James and Detective Coulson pushed open the door of a bar. The heavy smell of alcohol and smoke that greeted them as they walked in almost made them vomit out the cold pizza they had just eaten!

Coulson pressed James’s back. Impression! In the gaze cast out from the smoke, the two detectives must show a tough impression!

“It’s a bit early to drink these now, don’t you think so?” Coulson opened his jacket with one hand, flashed the police badge and gun on his waist. He directly grabbed the drink from a muscular man who was standing by the bar counter, and in the angry glare of the muscular man, he smiled, sniffed the drink, and then walked away from the counter with the drink.

James followed behind, and his eyes swept over the muscular men with sturdy shoulders in the bar one by one. He was not as relaxed as Coulson, and his hand was always on his waist.

Detective Coulson seemed to be familiar with this place. He walked into the innermost compartment with the drink. A table full of alcohol bottles was in between the two-seater sofas facing each other. The seats on either side were already full. Coulson freed one of his fingers and cocked at a nervous man in the seat, beckoning to him.

The lips of the middle-aged man, who was hugged by a woman, curled into a smile, he took back his sturdy arm from the woman’s body and lit a thick cigar. The woman next to him took the alcohol bottle and started pouring it.

The man Coulson watched pursed his mouth bitterly, and finally got out of his seat.

“Don’t you see that we have one more person?” Coulson stood still, speaking to the other person in the seat.

This person looked at Coulson indifferently, then looked at James behind Coulson, and finally looked at the ‘boss’ opposite. After receiving the order, he also gave out his seat.

Coulson waved to James impatiently and sat down on the sofa. Taking a sip of the drink he grabbed from another man, he frowned and complained.

“What’s going on with these people? Is it because I haven’t come to this place for a long time? There is no respect at all.” Detective Coulson was complaining.

“Ah, Coulson.” The man on the opposite side smiled and threw over a cigar, “It’s nice to see you again too. You can’t blame them. How long has it been since the last time you came here. Two years? Or three years?” James moved his body. He didn’t like this kind of scene, and this kind of situation.

“Is it that long?” Coulson waved his hand casually and picked up the cigar, “I can come more often if you want.”

“Hehe, there is no need.” The man raised his finger, and the woman next to him pouted her lips and got up and left the sofa, “the homicide division? I don’t think they will be interested in unimportant people like us.” The man glanced at James. “This one is?”

“Rance!” Coulson glanced at the man with a smile, “Are you really a ‘general’ or not, it is his call.”

Coulson picked up the scissors by the table, carefully cut his cigar, glanced at James, and signaled, “‘General’, Detective Rance.”

James frowned. He looked at the opponent’s raised eyebrows and extended hand, but he did not reach out to hold it.

After the introduction, it was time to enter the topic.

“So, why are you here?” The ‘General”s hand stayed alone in the air for a while, but eventually retracted. After looking at James carefully, he smiled and returned to Coulson. Before he knew the purpose of the other party’s visit, he wouldn’t say much, “I hope you are just here to chat about the old times.”

“Me too.” Coulson was just like an old slicker, smoking a cigar in contentment, “But I am afraid that it will have to be next time. It won’t be a good thing that we are all here.” Coulson leaned on the back of the sofa and gestured to James.

This was just another way of playing the Good cop and bad cop routine, with the ‘old’ friendship Coulson being the good cop and the new rookie detective James being the bad cop.

James took out a photo, pushed away the bottles and ashtray on the table, and put it down, “Where is this person.”

The “General” lazily picked up the photo. This was a very ordinary man. The photo was a preserved photo of an old case, so there was a big bruise on his face, but it would not affect people from identifying him.

The “General” frowned, put the photo back, and looked at Coulson, “What did he do?”

Coulson raised his index finger, wagged it, and said nothing. James blankly pushed the photo in front of the other person again, “It’s none of your business, you just need to tell us where he is.”

The ‘General’ laughed, “Then I don’t know.”

“Do be like that.” Coulson smiled and put his hand on James’ shoulder. The conversation between the police and the criminal outside the police station was usually like this. The police would test what the other party knew, and the criminal would also test what the other party knew. The best situation was that the two parties would never reach a consensus. This was the condition for peaceful exchanges.

“You don’t want this kind of rat to run around in your neighborhood,” Coulson revealed a trace of information vaguely.

“Not in my kitchen, so I don’t care.” “General” said with a smile.

“Then you definitely would not mind that we check your ‘kitchen’.” James put away the photo and looked straight into the eyes of the ‘General’.

“Don’t be like that, partner.” Coulson patted James on the shoulder, “I don’t want to be caught between an ‘old friend’ and you.”

“Sure, be my guest.” The ‘General’ looked at James and said. He didn’t seem to care about the threat of the detective. The reason was also very simple. The other party was from the homicide division. He didn’t kill anyone. So what was there to worry about?

James got up immediately and was about to leave.

Coulson leaned forward and pulled James, “Wait, partner, you can’t just go out like this!” Coulson pulled back James, leaned forward, and lowered his voice. He looked at the ‘General’ earnestly, as if he was speaking sincerely.

“You don’t want us to just go out like this, right? It’s a special time now. You know we are from the homicide division. We don’t want to cause any trouble. But what about the others here? Old friend, they will not think that we are just looking for a murderous rat. In their eyes, we are just police officers. What do you think?”