Chapter 78 Chapter 78

The Strauss house was about half the size of the Trents' house and a little bigger, and by Drake's standards it was certainly a mansion.Puller felt that even by the standards of most Americans, the conclusion would be the same.The house is surrounded by a yard of more than 20,000 square meters. There is also a gate at the entrance of the yard, but there are no security guards like Trent's house. Cole had called beforehand and woke Strauss and his wife from their beds.The Strausses were waiting for Puller and Cole when they rang the doorbell.Frau Strauss was a plump, tall woman.Waking up in the middle of the night, she had already taken time to comb her hair.She was wearing slacks and an unbuttoned blouse with a bewildered look on her face.

Bill Strauss was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, with an unlit cigar between his fingers.Probably like that Rhonda Docter, Mrs. Strauss forbade her husband to smoke in the house. The couple huddled together on a sofa, listening to Cole describe what had happened.When Kerr mentioned the shooting, Bill Strauss looked up. "You mean someone shot him? Deliberately killed Dickie?" "I was there at the time. That's exactly what happened," Puller said. Strauss stared at him. "You were there? At that fire station? Why?" Kerr said, "This has nothing to do with Dickie being killed, Mr. Strauss."

"Have you found any clues to track down the murderer?" "Better than that," Puller said. "We've got the killer." Both the Strausses looked at him in surprise.Bill said, "You got him? Who is he? Why is he killing our son?" "We don't know who he is, and we can't ask him why he killed Dicky because minutes after he shot your son, he killed himself." Mrs. Strauss covered her face and began to sob softly, and her husband Bill put his arm around her shoulders.Moments later the woman broke down completely, and wept uncontrollably.Her husband helped her out of the room.

Puller and Cole sat there waiting for Bill to come back.After two minutes, Puller stood up and walked around the room, looking around. Another minute later, Bill Strauss returned.He said: "I'm really sorry. But I'm sure you can understand how hard it hit us." "Absolutely understand," Kerr said. "We can come back at another time if you want. I understand this is a very difficult time." Strauss sat back on the sofa and shook his head. "No, let's do what we have to do." This time he actually lit the cigar and exhaled the smoke sideways.

"We are trying to find out who the guy who committed suicide is. If he is found out, it will be very helpful to solve the case." "Are you sure he's not from here?" Strauss asked. "We don't think so, but further confirmation is needed." "Why would someone attack your son, can you think of a reason?" Cole asked. "No reason. Dickie doesn't have any enemies. He has friends, he has his own buddies in the motorcycle club." "What does he do?" Puller asked. "He's... well, he's not doing a job right now," Strauss said.

"Oh, so what was the last job he had?" "Drake doesn't have a lot of job opportunities." "Oh, but there's Trent Mining," Puller said, "and you're the chief operating officer." "Of course, that's true. But Dickie doesn't want to go to work in Trent." "why?" "He doesn't think there's any work there that interests him." "Do you support his idea?" Puller asked. "What?" Strauss looked distraught. "We, that is to say, I, give him some money now and then, and he lives at home. He's our only child, and maybe we spoiled him." It’s gone.” He stopped, puffing hard on his cigar, sucking more nicotine into his lungs, “but that’s not supposed to kill someone.”

"Of course not," Cole said. "If he lives here," Puller said, "we're going to search his room sometime." "No more searches tonight," Cole said. "He told me why he was forced to leave the army," Puller said.This sentence drew a sharp look from Strauss. "It's...unfortunate," Strauss said. "The gay thing, or the thing about having to get discharged?" Puller asked. "Both," Strauss said bluntly. "I'm not a homophobe, Mr. Pooler. You'd think it's hard for people in small towns like us to be tolerant of things like that. But I love my son."

"Of course," Pooler said, "he's a good guy. He's trying to do something right." "what you mean?" "He's helping us solve the case." "Help you guys? How come?" "It's really helping." "Has he been killed for that reason?" "I have no idea." "My God," Strauss said, "so many people were killed at Drake in just a few days. Do you think these cases are all connected?" "We do think so," Kerr said. "Why it came out like this?" "It's hard to tell right now," Cole said.

Puller sat watching Strauss, wondering whether to take a new step with him.Puller later decided that time could no longer be allowed to pass. "Have you found out who the person who authorized the bombing that night was?" Strauss replied absently, "I called the office in charge of the matter and asked them to look it up. It was the site foreman who requested special permission to blast that night. They granted his request, But something went wrong with the announcement to the public. The bulletin didn't come out on time. No one told the foreman in the foreman that the bulletin wasn't out, so he went off as planned. It doesn't happen often, But sometimes it happens."

"Does anyone know anything about blasting at that time?" "I know, and the foreman. Quite a few at Trent Mining." "Where's Roger Trent?" Puller asked. "I'm not sure he knows. But if he's interested in it, he can easily find out." Cole stood up and handed Strauss his business card. "Call me if you remember anything else. I'm sorry for your misfortune." The abrupt end of the conversation caused Strauss to appear a little confused, but he stood up on trembling legs. "Thank you, Sheriff Cole." Puller was the last to stand.He leaned closer to Strauss and said, "Many people have died, Mr. Strauss. We don't want to see any more bodies."

"Of course not," Bill blushed. "Aren't you implying that I did—" "No, I didn't imply anything." "You think he's lying, don't you?" Cole asked as they walked to the car. "I think he knows more than he's willing to talk to us about." "Could he help someone else kill his own son? He looks really miserable." "Perhaps he really didn't want his son to be involved in this kind of thing." They got in the car, and Puller drove away from the Strauss yard. Cole looked back through the rear window. "I can't imagine losing my own flesh and blood." "To be precise, people can imagine such a scenario, but no one wants to experience this scenario." "Have you ever thought about getting married?" I'm married, Puller thought to himself, and I'm married to the U.S. Army.She is sometimes like an unreasonable Diao Pozi. "I guess everybody's thought about it," Puller said, "at some point." "It's not easy being a police officer and having a family at the same time." "But a lot of people are doing it." "I mean being a policewoman and being married at the same time, it's hard." “Still, there are quite a few people who do both at the same time.” "I guess so. You know, if you think Strauss is hiding something from us, I probably shouldn't have said at the time that he would search his son's room later." "We'll do a search sometime. I doubt Dickie's going to keep anything really important in the house though." "Well, where does he keep the really important stuff?" "Maybe in the same place where Eric Trivel kept his tungsten carbide." "You really think the tungsten carbide issue is that important?" "It's important because it's incomprehensible." Puller looked at his watch. "Sleepy?" "Not sleepy, I feel like I just got recharged. You should stay with me tonight, though." "Why? I have a place to live." "Someone tried to blow you up, twice already." "Well, maybe you're right." Puller followed Cole into her home.Cole led Puller to the room where he rested, and prepared various items for him. Puller sat on the bed and began to take off his army boots.Cole stopped at the door. He looks up. "how?" "Why Drake? Because we have gas pipelines and nuclear reactors near us?" "I guess for some guys, that's enough." He took off his second boot and drew the M11 from its holster. "Are you going to sleep holding a pistol your whole life?" she asked. "What do you say?" "I don't know. But for the moment, it's a good idea." "Yeah, that's what I thought." "Pooler, if we're still alive after what happened," she added after a moment, "maybe we could..." Pooler looked up at her and said, "Well, that's what I was thinking too."