Chapter 20 Chapter Twenty

They are walking on the street.People on both sides of the street stared at Puller and his blue jacket with gold CID letters.This didn't bother him.He is used to being an outsider.He only shows up in these kinds of towns after something really bad happens.People's nerves are tense.Someone died from brutal violence.The stranger's appearance and inquiring around made everyone feel that the situation was more sinister and more confusing.Puller took the reaction in stride.He is more concerned that at least one killer, and likely more than one, is still at large.And his intuition told him that these killers hadn't left this place, they might be anywhere here only three minutes away.Of course, the police station should be excluded.

Cole nodded to some of the passers-by walking towards him and said hello to an elderly woman who moved slowly on a baby walker.The old woman said reproachfully, "Young lady, you haven't been to church for a long time." "Yes, Mrs. Balfour. I will do better." "I want to pray for you, Sam." "Thank you, I will benefit a lot, for sure." After the old woman slowly moved away, Puller said, "Small town." "A rose has thorns, but it also has petals," Cole replied. They walked on for a while. "Whoever killed Reynolds, at least we know it wasn't because of his military background," Kerr said. "Otherwise, they would have taken his computer and his briefcase. Maybe it has nothing to do with espionage."

Puller shook his head: "The contents of the computer's hard disk can be downloaded to a USB flash drive, so you don't have to move the computer away. As for the briefcase, have you seen what's inside?" She pretended to be very surprised. "Oh my god, am I not entitled to top-secret intelligence and sensitive information, Puller? I can't even think about opening the briefcase, or I'll be accused of endangering national security." "Okay, okay, my retribution. But do you see what's in there?" "His briefcase had a combination combination. I didn't want to force it open, so it was in pristine condition."

Puller, still looking straight ahead, said, "Someone is at seven o'clock. Followed three blocks. Twenty meters away from us." Cole also kept his eyes on: "Maybe they just happened to be going in the same direction as us. What do they look like?" "Older one in a suit. A tall guy in his twenties in a waistcoat and a tattoo cuff on his right arm." "Together?" "That's what it looks like. They've been staring at us in the restaurant, at another table." "follow me." Cole turned right and began to cross the street.She first passed a car, then looked around, pretending to see if there were more cars.She continued across the street, Puller following.She turned to the right and still walked in the same direction, but she was already walking on the sidewalk on the other side of the road.

"Know them?" Puller asked. "It's Bill Strauss in the suit." "What does Bill Strauss do?" "He's a senior executive at Trent Mining. Second in command after Roger." "Where's the big guy in the vest?" "His son, Dickie." ① Dickie (Dickie): English name, the word also has the meaning of inferior, unreliable, children's bibs, etc. "Dickie?" "Not what I named him." "What does Dickie do? Also at Trent Mines?" "I don't remember. He was a soldier for a while." "Do you know where it is?"

"have no idea." "Oh." "What should we do now?" "Oh, let's find out what they're up to." "why?" "They're coming at us." Puller leaned slightly out of habit, letting his right arm hang loosely by his side.He tucked his chin in and turned his head forty-five degrees to the left, finding the best position for the peripheral vision of his eyes.He distributes the center of gravity of his body evenly on the soles of his feet, maintaining a balanced state where he can strike suddenly in any direction. He wasn't worried about the older guy.Bill Strauss was in his fifties, slack, and, according to Puller's ears, already a little out of breath from the quickening of the short distance.

Dickie, the tattooed kid, was a different story, but Puller didn't particularly care about him either.Dicky was less than thirty years old, about 1.85 meters tall, and weighed more than 115 kilograms.Puller noticed that his time away from the Army had accumulated a lot of excess fat on his body, but he still retained his infantry brush head and some muscle. "Sheriff Cole!" Strauss yelled. They turned and waited. The Strauss father and son stepped forward. "Hi, Mr. Strauss. Is there anything I can do?" Cole asked. Strauss was about thirty pounds overweight, a little shorter than his son, and wore a pinstriped Connelly suit, white shirt, and loosely tied solid blue tie.His hair was longer than his son's and was almost white.There are many wrinkles on the face, especially around the corners of the mouth.The voice is hoarse and the vocal cords appear to be badly damaged.Puller noticed the red and white Marlboro pack in his shirt breast pocket, and his yellowed fingers.Watch out for lung cancer, Mr. Panting.

His son's plump cheeks were flushed from too much sun.His well-developed pectoralis major is the result of long-term bench presses.However, the neglect of lower body exercises caused his quadriceps muscles on the front of his thighs, hamstrings on his back, and most importantly, his calf muscles to atrophy.Puller had strong doubts about his ability to complete the infantry training subject of the 3,000-meter run in the allotted time.His tattooed sleeves also didn't escape Pooler's attention. "I heard about them being killed," Strauss said. "Molly Petra worked in our office."

"we know." "It's horrible, I can't believe she was killed. She was a wonderful woman." "I'm sure she must be. Do you know her well?" "Well, just a work connection. She's one of a bunch of girls that work there, and she's never given us any trouble." Puller asked him, "Have you thought of any trouble she might cause?" Strauss turned his gaze to Puller. "I know you're from the military. An investigator?" Puller just nodded and said nothing. Strauss looked at Cole again and asked, "If you don't mind, I would like to ask why you are not in charge of this case?"

"I'm in charge, too. It's a cooperative case, Mr. Strauss. One of the victims was a soldier. That's why Mr. Puller got involved. It's a normal procedure." "I see. Of course it does. I'm just curious." "Is she behaving normally these days?" Puller asked. "Is there anything that seems to be bothering her?" Strauss shrugged and said, "Again, I don't have much contact with her. I have my own private secretary, and Molly works in the centralized office area outside." "What exactly does she do?" "I think it's the usual office stuff. We're in charge of the office area, Mrs. Johnson, and she'll probably be able to answer your question. She's got to have more dealings with Molly than I do."

Puller listened to his words, but his eyes were no longer on him, but on his son.Dickie looked down at his work boots, hands in the pockets of his corduroy pants. "I heard you were in the army," Pooler said.Dicky nodded, but didn't raise his eyes. "Which unit?" "First Infantry Division." "Mechanized units. At Riley Base or in Germany?" "Reilly. Never been to Germany." "How long have you been in the army?" "One period of service." "Don't like the army?" "The troops don't like me that much." "Is it BCD or DD?" Strauss interrupts. "Well, I think it's taken up enough of your time. If there's anything we can do to help, we'll do it, Sergeant Cole." "Thank you, sir. I think we'll have a talk in your office again." "No problem. Come on, boy." After they left, Puller asked, "Do you know this guy well?" "One of Drake's top men and the richest." "By the way, No. 2. That means he's in the same circle as Trent?" "The Trent family is in a circle. Strauss just works for Trent, but he is a well-paid wage earner. His house is smaller than Trent, but it is a mansion by Drake standards. .” "Has Strauss been living with Drake?" "No, he and his family moved here over twenty years ago. From the East Coast, at least as far as I remember." "I didn't mean it's bad here, but why did he come here?" "Work. He's an entrepreneur in the energy industry. Drake may not be a great place, but there's coal and gas here. He came to work for Trent and he really got the business going. Now tell me, you What happened to the DD you mentioned?" "BCD by BCD I mean Discharged for Misconduct. DD is worse than that, Discharged. Now that Dickie is roaming around freely, I'm guessing he hasn't been sentenced to Discharged. Force For some reason he didn’t want a court-martial involved, and he was discharged. He said the troops didn’t like him, and that’s what he meant.” Cole looked at the backs of Strauss and his son and said, "I never knew this." "The only factor that might be relevant is that a lot of the people who get discharged are because of drug use. The army doesn't want to make that sort of thing public and just kicks them out instead of going to a court martial and charging them." "Maybe this has something to do with the drug lab we found?" "You noticed, didn't you?" She nodded. "Dickie's tattoo sleeve is exactly the same as Eric Triwell's."