Chapter 7 Swapping

"Hey, why hasn't the stereo record player I bought yesterday been delivered?" I blamed the owner of the electrical appliance store on the phone, "It was clearly promised to be delivered in the morning, but it's almost noon now, what did you do?" "I'm very sorry, I'm very sorry!" The owner of the electrical appliance store hurriedly apologized on the other end of the phone, "Our delivery personnel have already set off, maybe they were delayed on the way, please wait a moment, I guarantee they will arrive before noon Send it to the house."

I waited a little longer, and sure enough, I saw a delivery van parked downstairs and two delivery men carrying a stereo up the stairs.Because the corridor was too narrow and the record player was too heavy, they had to move it step by step one by one. After a while, they were exhausted and out of breath. I stood at the door, waiting for them to come up.I supported the door with one hand, pointed to the room with the other and said, "Just put it there, yes, against the wall." They chugged and chugged the record player into the room, put it where I wanted it to be, and started adjusting the electrical plugs.I picked up the phone that was off the hook and said, "Honey, the record player is here. I just opened the door for them. I'll call you later. We're busy debugging now."

I hung up the phone and watched the two delivery guys go about their business.One of them is about forty-five years old and looks fat; the other is a young man in his early twenties. The older delivery man was opening the top cover of the record player to see if it worked, and the younger one was working on the wires on the back of the record player. "Approximately how long does it take to get the record player set up?" I asked. "Five minutes at most," said the young lad, "isn't it, Smith?" "No need, it can be done in three minutes." said the elderly delivery man named Smith.

"Great!" I looked at my watch and said, "Don't worry, take your time, it's hot day, can I bring you a can of beer?" They both nodded at me and smiled. "Wait, I'm going to get some cold beer." After finishing speaking, I walked into the kitchen and took out two cans of beer from the refrigerator, "Do you want to use glasses?" "No, just drink it," Smith said. I hand them the beer and watch them gulp. "The weather is so hot, you still have to come out to deliver goods, it's really hard!" I said to them. "Isn't it! The boss is pressing hard, and the customer is urgent, so we both suffer in the end." Smith said, "We still have 14 electrical appliances in the truck to be delivered, including TVs and record players, and they are all It’s not an easy job to send to the suburbs.”

"I'll bring you a few more cans of beer to drink on the way." Then, I got up and went to the kitchen again. "Thank you! We can't drink anymore, and we have to drive later." Smith quickly declined. "What do you do, sir?" the young delivery boy asked me. "I'm a police officer and I work in the anti-fraud unit." Smith smiled and said, "Let me just say, looking at your shrewd and capable appearance, I have long thought that you are either a soldier or a policeman." "Since you work in the police station, you should know Bruce, right?" the young man continued to ask.

"Oh, I've heard that he should be in the anti-narcotics team." I replied, "Unfortunately, he was sent to the disciplinary committee for accepting bribes." "Alas! he is my poor uncle," said the young man, "who has ruined his great career for a mink coat." "Actually, Bruce's popularity in the police station is not bad. Although I only met him once or twice, I have a good impression of him. Maybe he was framed by someone, and I hope he can be cleared of suspicion." As I said that, I glanced at the record player standing by the wall.That record player is very luxurious, and the price is quite expensive, and the income of ordinary policemen cannot afford it.I saw that the eyes of the two of them seemed to be full of doubts, but they were not ashamed to ask me face to face.

"I don't know how to use such an expensive record player. You have to demonstrate it to me." I said. "Okay, we'll demonstrate when we finish our beers." "Don't worry, drink slowly, I still have ten minutes." So we continued chatting again. The young man said: "Your occupation is really enviable. I have dreamed of being a policeman since I was a child, but unfortunately I am not tall enough. Otherwise, maybe I would wear a police uniform now." "Height is not the most important thing," I told him, "good character and a great IQ are the most important things."

After drinking a can of beer, Smith continued to adjust the record player. While adjusting, he asked, "Mr. Police Officer, are you in plain clothes or in uniform?" "The criminals I deal with are cunning fraudsters, and it's best not to be in uniform when you catch them," I said, "but even though I'm in plain clothes, I've let them slip through my hands a few times." "Isn't this kind of case difficult?" "From a technical point of view, there are certain difficulties, but this does not mean that they will always be at large. If they want to be unknown, unless they do nothing, as long as they commit crimes, they will fall into the law sooner or later."

"Well, you're right!" said the young delivery man. "Young man, let's take your uncle as an example. Someone thanked him, gave him a mink coat, and then turned around and went to the disciplinary committee to report. Isn't this obviously a trap?" I said, " But, then again, if your uncle didn't accept this mink fur coat, how could anyone who wanted to harm him have a chance?" Hearing my words, the young man showed displeasure, so I didn't continue talking. After a while, Smith finished adjusting the record player. He raised his head and said to me: "The machine is adjusted, and we should go back."

I looked at my watch and said, "I have to go too. But before you leave, show me how to use this record player." Smith took the remote control and showed me how to adjust the volume, how to choose the tone, how to change the record and so on.I said, "This machine is really complicated to use, can you show me it again?" So Smith spent about five minutes demonstrating it for me in detail.Finally, when they were about to leave the house, they said to me: "If you are still unclear about something, you can read the manual, which is very detailed." I signed their delivery slip, put on my coat, and went downstairs with them.

We walked downstairs together, me to my car and they to the delivery truck. Suddenly, Smith let out an exclamation, and he yelled at me, "Officer, come on!" "What happened?" I hurried over. "Look, the back door of the delivery truck was pried open!" Sure enough, the pried lock was thrown on the ground, and the inside of the car was empty.Smith was shocked and said: "The goods in the car... fourteen TV sets, record players...all, have been stolen!" I walked around the truck, looked it over, and asked, "Are you sure this is your car?" "That's right, there is our company's logo on this car! But the goods have been taken away!" "Don't worry, let's look around first." While comforting them, I searched around the building separately with them, but we didn't find any suspicious signs.I said, "Leave one of you here to protect the scene, and the other one will come upstairs with me and call the police." The young delivery man remained in the truck while Smith and I ran back upstairs.I grabbed the phone and dialed the police station: "This is Officer Fay, please send someone over immediately, a theft has occurred here..." Then, I told the other party the general situation of the incident and the location of the incident. After I hung up the phone, I turned to Smith and said, "Okay, a police car is coming here, you go back to the truck and wait. By the way, you'd better call your boss about this, see Let's see what he can do." Smith tremblingly called his boss and described the theft of the goods to the boss. Finally, he did not forget to say: "We have already reported the crime." The boss scolded Smith on the other end of the phone. Suddenly, Smith's face turned pale with fright.After he finished talking to his boss, I told him to wait in the truck for the police. As soon as Smith came downstairs, I immediately made another call. "Hi, this is Willimont Department Store." A sweet female voice came. "Please find your boss, Mike." "Please wait a moment, I will transfer you." "Hi, I'm Mike." "Mike, I've got it! I've got the TV, the record player, and they're on their way to your business." "Great! I'll pay you a fortune!" "Haha, man, I can trust you! Oh, by the way, do you know Officer Faey?" "Fey? The one who sent you to prison two years ago?" "Yeah, that's him! Guess where I am now? I'm calling you from his apartment, and I left him a very expensive stereo record player as a little welcome gift." "Haha, you're so ruthless!" Mike laughed and said on the other end of the phone, "A police officer has such an expensive record player at home, people will definitely doubt him, can he afford it with his income? He's the one to look at again!" "Yes! I want to see how he explains it to the Punishment Council!" When I hung up the phone, I wiped the fingerprints off the receiver. Now, I can leave contentedly.Oh, by the way, I had to take the beer can with me because it had my fingerprints on it too.I pocketed the two beer cans, carefully locked the door to Officer Fay's apartment, and headed downstairs toward my car. When I started the car, I saw those two idiots sitting on the truck waiting for the police, I waved to them and said, "Don't worry too much, the police will be here soon." I secretly rejoiced, and said in my heart: "It's useless to be anxious, the real police don't know about this yet!"