Chapter 5 Chapter Four Tracking down the boy's whereabouts

Bai Ke was so happy that he grabbed my hand with both hands and shook it vigorously. I smiled and said, "I have to go through the refund procedures quickly──Oh, my luggage is already on the plane!" Bai Ke said: "I'm really sorry, I think I caused you a lot of trouble, I'm really sorry!" I smiled and said: "That's what I want!" Under the unkind reception of the airline staff, I went through the formalities and made another long-distance call, asking the airport to store my luggage for me, and then I Immediately, I boarded another plane with Bai Ke—it turned out that Bai Ke had already bought two tickets, and he seemed to know that I would definitely agree.

Two hours later, we got off the plane. Someone at the airport greeted Bai Ke and handed a car to Bai Ke. Bai Ke drove straight towards the small town, and I said, "If we find out who the murderer of Henry is, the matter will be much clearer!" Bai Ke shook his head and said, "I'm not as optimistic as you. I just want to confirm that the deceased is Henry!" I don't argue with him, because basically, there is no disagreement between the two of us. Naturally, we must first prove that the deceased is Henry before we can further investigate the murderer. When he arrived at the small town, Bai Ke first drove the car to the local police station. There was no body preservation equipment in this small town. The body had been buried after a detailed forensic examination, but in the police station, Detailed records were left.

Bai Ke and I, in the office of the police station, saw a large stack of photos. The first thing we saw was the photo of the charred body in the car. The car was burned to the point that only a black frame remained. The body was curled up in the back seat of the car before it was moved out of the car. After the body was brought out, if I hadn’t known it in advance, I couldn’t believe it was a person just looking at the photos. To be honest, from the photos alone, it was no different from a piece of burnt wood. After we finished looking at the photos, a police officer said to Bai Ke: "We have conducted extensive investigations, and there is no missing teenager in this town, so it is certain that he is from another place!"

Bai Ke and I looked at each other, and I said, "Has anyone seen a strange boy?" This is a very small town. I think there are only about 1,000 residents. In such a small town, if there is a stranger, it is easy to attract people's attention. My question is by no means abrupt. The police officer Said: "Yes, there was an old man who saw a man and a young man in the early morning, both strangers. The man pulled the young man and walked hurriedly." Bai Ke yelled, obviously because he was too excited: "Where's the old man? Thank God, please come quickly!" But the police officer shook his head: "After we found the body, we asked him. The body was found near a lumber yard, and he is the keeper of the lumber yard!"

Bai Ke couldn't wait any longer: "No matter who he is, go and invite him!" The police officer was very humorous: "Now, no one can ask him to come!" Bai Ke and I froze for a moment, and said in unison: "Is he dead?" The police officer spread his hands, and Bai Ke and I immediately looked at each other. At that moment, although we didn't speak, in fact, there was no need to speak at all. In an instant, the common feeling between the two of us was: The criminality of this matter has gone one step further! I immediately asked, "Did the old man die in an accident?"

The police officer shrugged: "It can be said that he died of natural causes. He was a drug addict. The doctor said that the cause of his death was an overdose of drugs!" Bai Ke rested his chin and said nothing, and I asked again: "When did he die? I mean, how long did he die after telling you that he had seen a strange boy and man!" The police officer seemed taken aback: "You mean, this old man was killed?" I nodded, but the police officer shook his head: "Impossible, no one will kill old Mike." I immediately said: "That man will, that man may be the murderer of the child, and old Mike will describe him after seeing him!"

The police officer looked like he wanted to laugh when he heard me say this, but he was a little embarrassed to laugh, and I hurriedly said: "Why, what's so ridiculous about this, you should have thought of this earlier!" The police officer finally laughed: "Old Mike is a drug addict and a drunk. No one believes his words at all. He even said that he saw a unicorn in the mountains. Do you believe it? If that person knows this In this situation, he will never attack Old Mike!" Bai Ke didn't speak until then, he said coldly: "He will still attack, if you don't believe what old Mike said, we will believe it."

Bai Ke paused, the police officer showed a very embarrassed expression, and I said: "Of course you have never recorded what Old Mike said, nor have you followed Old Mike's account to describe the appearance of the boy and the man he saw. Draw it?" The police officer spread his hands again: "You two, you need to know that our place is a small place, and I am the sheriff of a small place. The most serious thing about my usual job is to drive out wandering hippies and check whether they brought on drugs..." When he got to this point, Bai Ke waved his hand and interrupted him: "Okay, please take us to see where the boy's body was found!"

The police officer's attitude relaxed again: "Okay, hello, is that boy a big character?" Bai Ke glared at him, and said: "In our country, everyone is a big player. If a person dies, no matter who he is, the cause of his death must be found out!" The police officer shrugged again, maybe the police officers in small places have such an indifferent attitude, but Bai Ke and I obviously don't appreciate such a work attitude. The officer left with us, leading the way in a jeep and we followed in our own car. After leaving the town, it was a very deserted road. Not long after, I went up a rugged mountain road. The car passed by, raising high dust and sand. Not long after I got on the mountain road, I saw a large area beside the road Charred bushes, in the charred bushes, there was a car rack, also charred.

We stopped the car, got off together, and walked forward. Bai Ke and I walked side by side. He said as soon as he got out of the car: "This is caused by intentional arson. Before the arson, the murderer used at least ten gallons of gasoline!" I agree with Bai Ke's opinion, although I am not an expert in this field, the police officer did not follow Bai Ke all the way to the car, only I followed Bai Ke. Bai Ke pulled off the bonnet that was twisted by the fire with his hands, took out a small knife from his side, and scraped it on the car machine. After scraping off a layer of burnt ash, a group of numbers appeared on the car machine .

Bai Ke pointed at the number and looked at me. I knew that the origin of this car could be found out based on the number on the car machine, so I immediately wrote down the number in a small notebook. As I wrote down the number, I thought to myself, the police officers in this small place are too lazy to even do this. Bai Ke walked around the burned car again, pulled the door, and said, "The door is locked, poor Henry, he might be trapped in the car and burned to death!" I didn't say anything immediately. Unlike Bai Ke's opinion, Bai Ke insisted that the boy was Henry, but I still had doubts about it. I said: "If this boy is Henry, then he must have come by plane. This car may be rented in the nearest town with an airport. Then, the scope of our investigation will not be very large. That's a big bonus!" Bai Ke nodded, kicked hard on the car, turned and walked away, the police officer said: "Why, what did you find?" Bai Ke obviously didn't want to talk to him, but said coldly: "Nothing." But the police officer was still talking: "I reported to the superior that this boy is a car thief. He stole a car. When he drove here, the car crashed, crashed, and burned." Bai Ke couldn't help but said, "Then, who is the person who lost the car?" The police officer's eyes widened: "Well, who knows, didn't I say that he came from somewhere else?" I have come to Bai Ke's side, patted his shoulder, and got into the car with him. After returning to the small town, we checked into a hotel and started working immediately. Baike kept making long-distance calls, like this, to track down the whereabouts of a car based on the number on the machine. If there were no computers in the era, At least a month. But now, at night, we have results. This car was an old car manufactured in 1965. After going through many owners, it finally fell into the hands of an old car dealer in Green River City.We opened the map, Green River City is only 120 miles away from our current town, and Green River City also has an airport, which can be used for small passenger planes to take off and land! Bai Ke and I were extremely excited, we immediately drove to Green River City, along the way, Bai Ke drove the car very fast, when we arrived in Green River City, it was not yet full light. It was easy to find the old car dealer, and Bai Ke showed his ID. The old car dealer was a bald man with a big belly. He clapped his hands together: "Okay, I'm unlucky. When you buy an old car, there is no way to know whether it was stolen or not. Which one do you want?" ?” Bai Ke shook his head: "We're not here to find a stolen old car. About 14 or 15 days ago, you sold a 1965 model old car with the machine number—" Bai Ke told the number, and the old car dealer opened a stack of account books, flipped through it, and said, "Yes, this is the cheapest one, only two hundred yuan, but the car is really old!" Bai Ke and I looked at each other: "What kind of person is the buyer?" The old car dealer turned his bald head sideways: "The buyer... By the way, he also came to buy at this time, a man, and a teenager, two of them. The first sentence the man asked me was if it was the cheapest. The vehicle that can walk again, I will introduce his one!" When he said this, he paused again: "How is it, what's wrong?" I have already taken out the portrait of the man and the photo of Henry, and said, "Is it these two people?" The old car dealer just glanced at it and said: "Yes, it's them, this man is very happy to pay!" I almost cried out with excitement, because I finally found someone else who had seen the mysterious man! Bai Ke's voice was also very excited, he said: "You should ask him for a driver's license for registration, quickly check the registration book!" The old car dealer showed an embarrassing expression, and didn't answer for a while, Bai Ke roared: "You didn't do that, you broke the law!" The old car dealer's expression became even more embarrassed. He forced a smile and rubbed his hands: "Sir, you have to know that our place is a small place. Sometimes, just... just..." He salivated and smiled dryly, while Bai Ke blushed with anger and clenched his fists.I can naturally see when a person's anger has reached the point where it is difficult to restrain.That's what happened to Bai Ke at the time. I immediately took a step forward, and at this moment, Bai Ke yelled and punched the old car dealer's belly. Fortunately, I took a step first, and I was able to reach out and push Bai Ke immediately when he punched him, causing him to fall a step to the side. That punch never hit the old car dealer, but hit the old car dealer. On the door of a car. Bai Ke had obviously practiced karate, because he punched him, and with a "bang", there was a rather deep dent on the door of the car! The old car dealer was stunned, his fat face trembling uncontrollably, Bai Ke suddenly turned around, and I shouted loudly: "Bai Ke, beating him is useless!" Bai Ke roared angrily: "This fat pig, because he doesn't abide by the law, all our hard work is in vain!" It is reasonable for Bai Ke to say that. There are two people we are eager to meet, one is Henry and the other is the mysterious man.If Henry is dead, then the mysterious man is even more important in the whole case.If the old car dealer has registered everything in his driver's license, then we can at least know the identity of this mysterious man! Although I thought so in my heart, in order to avoid further deterioration of the situation, I comforted Bai Ke: "Not necessarily, that guy can easily forge a driver's license!" Bai Ke was panting, still extremely angry, and I asked the old car dealer, "What happened after he bought the car?" The old car dealer immediately said: "No...it's nothing. He got into the car with that young man and drove away. It seems to be heading south." The small town where the scorched body of the young man was found is just south of Green River City. It seems that the deceased is Henry, and there is another piece of evidence! I approached the old car dealer and put my hand on his shoulder: "What did he say to you, or what was said between him and that boy, you have to use your memory to tell it all!" The old car dealer hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, there is actually nothing—" He looked at me with fearful eyes, and then said: "I heard the young man ask this man: Where is our destination? The man's answer is: Hurry up!" I asked again: "Did the man say where they came from? For example, did they mention what kind of transportation they used to come to Green River City?" The old car dealer said: "I don't know... Really... I haven't heard them mention it." Bai Ke had also walked over, his anger had calmed down a bit, and he said coldly: "Wei, let's go, there is nothing you can ask from this fat pig's mouth, let's go to the airport to ask!" I looked at the old car dealer for a while, and knew that there was really nothing to ask from him! Bai Ke is right, since we can't ask anything at the old car dealer, we should go to the airport, because Henry can never come to Green River City in such a short period of time other than by plane. ! We left together, and Bai Ke vented his anger on the driver. He went on a rampage and went straight to the airport. When we arrived at the airport, it was already dark. The airport was really simple. In fact, it was just a flat field. Of course, only small planes could land. There is a row of buildings with faint lights peeking out. Of course, such an airport does not have any night flight equipment, but there are lights in the buildings, indicating that there are people there. While honking his horn, Baike still didn't slow down until he reached the door of the building. The car stopped under the violent vibration, and he saw a man walking out with a can of beer in his hand. angry. Bai Ke pushed open the car door and walked out. The man yelled angrily, "Next time you come here like this, I will let you know what treats you can get!" Bai Ke gave him a cold look, and then took out his ID to show to the man. The man was stunned for a while, and said "Oh", "Security Bureau, what's the matter?" Bai Ke said, "Who is in charge?" The man said: "I am, what's the matter, just ask me!" Bai Ke said: "Let's go in and talk!" As he said that, he was about to go in, but the man immediately stretched out his arms, blocked Bai Ke's way, and shouted: "Don't go in!" Bai Ke was stunned for a while, and I also walked over. The man looked panicked and nervous, blocked the door, and said loudly: "Don't go in, if you have anything to say, just say it here!" Bai Ke said coldly: "We want to check the records of plane landings in the past half month!" The man immediately said: "Then, please go to the office." Bai Ke said coldly: "Why don't you let us in, what are you hiding in the house?" The man's expression changed abruptly, and Bai Ke had already stretched out his hand suddenly, pushing him aside. The man's movements were also extremely agile, and immediately smashed the beer can in his hand to Bai Ke's head. I stepped forward abruptly, and with a wave of my hand, I slapped the beer can away from the man's hand. At the same time, I swung my left arm and hit the man's head. on the door! At this moment, a woman's voice could be heard shouting from inside the room: "Don't hit, George, just let them in. I don't care. I'm tired of this sneaky life!" Following the sound, a tall red-haired woman came out of the house with an indifferent expression on her face. The red-haired girl was very flirtatious, and Bai Ke and I exchanged glances. Bai Ke was about to rush towards the man named George viciously, but when he saw the woman, he immediately raised his hand, hanging down. I couldn't help laughing bitterly. I came to this country to investigate the death of a scientist, but unexpectedly, during the investigation, I saw so many images of sentient beings!Drunken university professors, irresponsible police officers, adulterous men and women, scientists who gave up their original careers, old car dealers who only care about making money... This is like a microcosm of the other side of this country. Bai Ke had already sent an apologetic smile to George and the red-haired girl: "Sorry for disturbing you two, we will never be interested in your affairs!" When he said this, he paused for a moment. George's expression was still very nervous, and Bai Ke hurriedly said, "We are just passers-by and want to investigate a plane that landed here!" George turned immediately, pushed the redhead in, turned to us, and said, "Wait a minute, please!" He and the redhead walked in, and after about five minutes, George came out, holding up his coat: "Please go to my office!" Naturally, we didn't ask what agreement he had reached with the red-haired girl. We just followed him to another building. He turned on the lights, opened the filing cabinet, and put a large stack of documents , took it out. Bai Ke and I immediately walked over to browse. It was the plane landing record of Green River City Airport. We flipped through it quickly, and found the day when the old car dealer sold the car. On that day, only one plane landed, and the plane belonged to a Mr. Empeiro. Mr. Wei, with three of his friends, landed together and flew away that night. This gentleman was obviously not the one we were looking for, so we turned to the previous day. On the previous day, two planes landed, one was a student from a sports academy, and the other was three women on vacation. Bai Ke and I looked at each other, and Bai Ke said, "Here are all the records?" George was a little impatient: "Why should I hide it?" I took out Henry's photo and the portrait of the mysterious man, and said, "Have you ever seen these two people?" George glanced at it, and said in a very affirmative tone: "No, I've never seen it before!" Bai Ke clenched his fist and thumped the table heavily: "Impossible!" I immediately asked again: "Is there any other place near here where the plane can land?" George said: "Naturally, beside the river stalls, and on the flat land in the valley, people with high piloting skills can make small planes land there." I felt another glimmer of hope: "So, do you have a record of the planes flying overhead?" George shouted: "What kind of joke are you talking about? How is that possible? Now, the planes in the sky are more crowded than the cars on the ground. How can I record it?" Bai Ke closed the record angrily, sighed, and George said, "Have you finished the investigation?" Bai Ke was speechless due to disappointment, so I replied on his behalf: "Thank you for your cooperation, the investigation is over!" George rubbed his hands: "The one you saw just now is not my wife, I hope you understand!" I said: "Don't worry, we are too busy with our own affairs, and we won't have any interest in your affairs!" George said, "That's good!" He walked out with us, Bai Ke and I got into the car, Bai Ke drove away from the airport, and said with a wry smile: "Obviously I have a clue, but there is no clue at all!" I also smiled wryly: "This mysterious man must have come here by plane. I think he is very careful and must not land at the airport. Our clues are not completely broken. We can go to the city where he took off. investigation!" Bai Ke said: "You think he took off from Weicheng?" I immediately said: "Even if he doesn't take off from Weicheng, the place where he takes off will not be too far away, that's for sure!" Bai Ke nodded, and he seemed happy again: "Come on, go to the bar, I'll buy you a drink!" The car drove into the urban area, and Bai Ke saw the neon sign, drove the car closer, and stopped. When we opened the door and walked in, Bai Ke seemed very natural, but I was really shocked. Green River City, as the old car dealers said, is a "small place", but the bar is not small, there are many tables and chairs, but most of the people are lying on the ground, men and women lying in a pile , because their hair and clothes are similar, so it can only be said that there are many people lying in a pile here and there, and their gender cannot be distinguished at all. These people, from the look on their faces, it is obvious that they have taken some kind of drug, some of them are shouting, some are kissing, some are talking to themselves, but the same thing is that in the There was a look of satisfaction on the faces of these people. Naturally, there were also people sitting on the long cabinets and beside the table, and most of these people seemed to be sad.A record player is blasting deafening music.On the TV, a big man was giving a speech, but there was no sound coming out, just watching him open and close his lips, waving his hands, and the scene in front of him seemed even more ridiculous. Bai Ke and I walked forward as carefully as we could, but we couldn't help stepping on a few people, and we didn't care about the people we stepped on. We went all the way to the cabinet and sat down. The bartender who was wiping the glasses looked at us with a puzzled look, which was naturally because we were strangers.But when Bai Ke ordered a bottle of wine and drank it impatiently, the bartender became smiling, and he accosted him and said, "He's from out of town?" I said, "Yes, foreigners are not welcome here?" The bartender smiled and said, "Of course not, the so-called sober people are not welcome here, we welcome any drunks!" I couldn't help but smiled wryly, and took a sip of the strong wine. The bartender looked at me and said in a low voice, "You must have thought that wine is not exciting enough anymore. Wine can't make you enter the ideal world where everything is possible!" Bai Ke stretched out his hand vigorously and pushed the bartender away: "Don't sell us LSD!" The bartender hit a nail and walked away immediately. On the other side of the long cabinet, there were two women looking at us, laughing deliberately. I sighed and was about to stand up when I heard someone yelling Said: "Really, I saw someone fall from the sky!" Following the man's voice, there was a burst of laughter. I followed the sound and saw that the speaker was an old man with a goatee, and the wine was dripping down his beard. His eyes were wide open, staring at the laughing people at the same table. A middle-aged man pointed at the old man: "You have been drinking for 24 hours, and it is not surprising to see a house falling from the sky!" The old man said loudly: "It's true, two people, one is a child, I'm not saying they fell, they had parachutes, and the plane flew over my head, boom boom—" As he spoke, he gestured for an airplane to fly by, and made the sound of an airplane flying in his mouth. The people at the table were still smiling, but the old man said very seriously: "Two people fell from the plane, and then, two parachutes opened like white clouds, they landed, the young man stood up first, we See them, they don't see me!" I immediately found that Bai Ke was also listening to the old man's speech, and my heart suddenly moved, and I walked over immediately, holding Henry's photo in my hand. Everyone at the table fell silent when they saw a stranger approaching. I sent Henry's photo to the old man and said, "The boy who fell from the sky is this boy?" The old man looked at me first, then at the photo, and kept nodding his head: "Yes, that's the kid!" As he spoke, he leaned forward and almost pressed against my body. I pushed hard, pushed him back to the chair, and immediately backed away. Baike was right behind me. Without talking, we left the bar together and got into the car. Bai Ke said: "Now, it is very clear that Henry is dead!" I nodded and said: "Yes, Henry was taken to the sky by that man. They parachuted down, so there is no record of the plane landing at the airport. Bai Ke, I think this matter is getting more and more complicated!" Bai Ke frowned: "Yes, building a plane and skydiving are not things ordinary people can do!" I took a breath: "Actually, we should have thought of this a long time ago. Just imagine, following Dr. Connors and filming his life for a year, how can ordinary people do this!" Bai Ke glanced at me: "You mean—" I said: "It's an organization, a very strict organization!" Bai Ke didn't make a sound, his expression was serious, and after a while, he said, "What kind of organization is that?" I shook my head and said, "Of course I can't know, but this organization must pay great attention to scientists." Bai Ke smiled bitterly: "But, Dr. Connors, he committed suicide!" My mind was very chaotic, and I didn't have a clue, and Bai Ke was obviously the same as me, driving fast on the dark road. We returned to the small town at midnight, woke up early the next morning, and went back according to the original route. This trip between Bai Ke and I can be said to be very fruitful, because we confirmed Henry's death, and also confirmed that the mysterious man was the murderer of Henry. Both Bai Ke and I linked Henry's death with those films. The cause of Henry's death was because he picked up those films. Naturally, it is more likely that Henry discovered some other secrets! We have also got a vague notion, which I call a "vague notion," because it is all an idea that has no basis in concrete facts. Our concept is: Dr. Conner's death, although the evidence is solid, is a suicide, but it has a strong sense of crime.We also expected that it was done by an organization or a group. The next afternoon we returned to Science City, as I called the city where many scientists lived.I temporarily broke up with Bai Ke, I checked into the hotel, and Bai Ke went to investigate the take-off records of small planes in nearby places.After taking a break, I left the hotel and walked aimlessly. When I found myself getting closer and closer to Henry's residence, I stopped and considered whether to inform Henry's sister that Henry was dead! But I thought about it for a while, and decided not to go, because I felt that the woman didn't even care about herself, let alone Henry's life or death. My heart was very heavy, standing on the street, at this moment, I found a girl across the street staring at me. I was stunned for a while, the girl was about thirteen years old, she was dressed very ordinary, with a very thick braid, I pretended not to pay attention at all, and continued to walk forward, only to find that the girl had been following me. I turned the corner of the street and stopped. After a while, the girl hurried over, and I immediately walked over to her: "What do you want from me?"