Chapter 25 Chapter Twenty Two

After two o'clock in the morning, the patrol cars, ambulances and hearses had already left the street, leaving only the inconspicuous black RV of the plainclothes criminal police among the residents' cars.Tranquility once again descended on this simple residential area. Medical examiners have come and gone, and all six bodies have been transported to the morgue.The fat gunman died before their arrival and was labeled "DOA" (dead on arrival) like the others.He hung up without saying anything.Now only clotted blood and spots of blood remained, marking the location of the six bodies that had been transported away.

Wop is in jail and finally has a safe place to stay. But there was still activity in the basement of the apartment house, the interrogation continued, and the report of this unthinkable case might terrify those who wish future generations to be less violent. The dining table in the administrator's residence has been placed in the corridor, and the two deputy captains and the head of the law enforcement team of the Ministry of Finance are all sitting on the bloodstained chairs beside the table.A stenographer sits nearby, recording their conversation. "Coffin Bucket" Ed sat on the table facing the question.He had been taken to the polytechnic clinic in the city center to have a bullet in his shoulder blade removed and the wound bandaged.His gun, stick and hunting knife were all taken away by the deputy captain of the crime team, and a police detective accompanied him to the clinic.He was technically arrested for homicide and was taken into custody in magistrates court for later this morning.

Doctors at the hospital tried to persuade him to stay in the hospital, but he insisted on returning to the scene of the crime.Instead of the blood-stained shirt, he was now wearing a hospital shirt-style pajamas tucked into his trousers, with his arms in black cotton suspenders.The swollen bandage on his right shoulder looked like some kind of monstrosity. "It's been a bloody harvest," the Treasury commissioner said. "Shooting is the madness of the twentieth century," said the vice-captain of the serious crimes unit. "Let's get down to business," said the vice-captain of the anti-narcotics team impatiently. "The case is not over yet."

"Come on, Ed, tell me what you think," said the vice-captain of the crime squad. "I'll start with the administrator's wife and repeat for you what she told me. You have my previous testimony. Maybe you can piece it all together." "Okay, then you can tell." "According to her, all she knew at first was that Gus was missing, and that he left her and the African at about eleven-thirty, saying he'd be back in an hour. But he didn't—" "Where is Pink Boy during this time?" "She said she hadn't seen Pinkie since that evening and didn't think about him again until we went to question her after the fake fire alarm."

"So he's not around there?" "He could be around, she just didn't see it. When she knew he was on the run and Gus never came back, she started worrying about what to do with the dog. They weren't going to take the dog, Gus Didn't make any arrangements for it, and she didn't know about the SPCA. Of course, if Pinky showed up, he'd get scolded for false fire alarms, and she was going to call The police were called to arrest him, so it dragged on until morning before she told the African to throw the dog in the river and drown it. "Gravedigger Jons and I were sitting outside in our old wreck when the Africans took the dog away. That's when we thought, this guy is probably going to drown him, except that It's none of our business and nothing suspicious can be seen, so we leave. If we stay another twenty minutes, we will see the Bliss sisters arrive at the apartment.

"She arrived around 5:50, saying she was looking for Gus. Jeanne—the administrator's wife—became suspicious. Anyway, that's what she said herself, but she couldn't tell from Sister Bliss Put any message out of your mouth. Then at six o'clock, the front doorbell rang, and Jenny didn't know who it would be, but Sister Bliss suddenly pulled out a pistol from her purse and pointed it at her and the African, ordering her to push the button to open the front door latch, and Telling the two of them not to move, she obviously expected that the visitor would come directly to the door. But the visitor just took the suitcase and left without knocking. When she finally looked out from the house to the corridor, she found the luggage The box was gone, so I ran out of the house without saying a word. That was the last time Jenny saw her—that's what she said."

"And what about the suitcase?" asked the vice-captain of the crime squad. "She claims she has been missing since then." "It's okay, we'll start looking for that suitcase tomorrow." "I'm at a loss now," said the Treasury commissioner. "Who is going where?" "She and Gus—that's the caretaker—are going to Ghana. They bought a cocoa farm from the African." The Treasury Commissioner blew his whistle. "Where did he get that money?" "She told us -- 'Gravedigger' Jorns and I -- that his ex-wife died and left him a tobacco plantation in North Carolina, which he later sold."

"We've known all these things since your first statement," said the vice-captain of the serious crime team impatiently. "What part does the African play in this business?" "He had nothing to do with it, just an innocent outsider. After the suitcase was taken and Gus still didn't show up, Jenny started getting more and more worried, so about half an hour after the Bliss sisters left, the African left the house I'm looking for Gus. It's getting late at this time, and Jenny started to change clothes, and they have to go to the pier to deposit their luggage and board the ship."

"The suitcase should have been delivered the day before," said the Treasury Commissioner. "Yes, but she didn't know. She was only worried that Gus hadn't shown up, so she just hoped that the Africans would find him in time for them to get on the boat. But she never saw the Africans again. She No sooner had she got dressed than the two white gunmen who then took her through Harlem showed up, saying Gus sent them to take her to the pier. So she left a note for the African, explaining her The gunman then took her luggage and took her outside to their car. Once in the car, the fat gunman drove and the drug addict sat in the back and pointed a short-barreled pistol at her. He told her Gus is in trouble, and they're taking her to him."

"Didn't she suspect the shooter?" "She said she thought they were detectives." The deputy captain of the serious crime team blushed. "They took her to a walk-up apartment on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village, near the railroad tracks, and tied her to the bed and gagged her. First they searched through her luggage. Later Just took her gag off and asked her what she did with that shipment. She had no idea what they were talking about. So they gagged her again and started torturing her." The atmosphere changed instantly.Everyone's faces became gloomy, and all kinds of inhuman and brutal behaviors flashed in their minds.

"It's really ruthless!" said the special commissioner of the Ministry of Finance. "When they got her gag off again, she started begging for mercy," Ed "Coffin Bucket" said. "She told them that Gus had pawned the goods, but when she realized that was not the right answer, she immediately changed her story and said that he took the goods to Chicago to sell. It is probably because of this that they finally believed that she really meant it. Nothing is known. One of them went to the other room to call - Benny Mason, I assume it was him; he came back and gagged her, then left. I think they came straight up here to search This suite." "And kill the African." "The Africans may not have been killed at that time. My take is, they must have come and searched twice; at the same time, they may have gone back and talked to their bosses." "Obviously he told them to come back and look for it, or do something else," said the vice-captain of the anti-narcotics unit. "If it's two kilos of heroin, that's worth a fortune." "Yes. I think the African must have been here when they returned, or he had just caught them searching. We shall never know of that." "Do you think they pressed him, too?" "God knows! Anyway, we met them at that time, and there was a big hunt. If I had listened to 'Gravedigger' Jones' advice and let it go, maybe I wouldn't have discovered by accident that this and drug related." "Not necessarily," said the deputy captain of the anti-narcotics team. "We know that there was a shipment of heroin coming out of France, but we don't know how and when it was shipped. The French authorities lost it somewhere between Marseille and Ricofer." "But we've been staring at it for the past week," the Treasury commissioner said. "Cooperate with the local police force - not openly and covertly. We have surveillance agents all over the port area." "Yeah, but you'll find out later that you haven't watched far enough," Ed "Coffin Bucket" said. "The thugs went back to the Greenwich Village suite, and Benny Mason was with them. As soon as they took the gag off the woman, she went into hysterics. She said Benny sat beside her to soothe her, And call the doctor to come and see her, let her take tranquilizers to calm down—” "What doctor?" "She didn't tell, and I didn't ask. When Benny sent the doctor away, he promised her that as long as she cooperated, she would never be harmed again. Anyway, he won her trust. At the same time, he sent those villains to the door. Outside, pulled a chair across to face her, and pointed a gun at her—” "So he planned to kill her then," said the vice-captain of the anti-narcotics unit. "That's right, but she was too slow to know. Anyway, he claimed to be a big drug lord who smuggled drugs into the United States, and sometimes used Gus to get the goods, so Gus had the money to buy the farm in Ghana." She was shocked, she'd been believing Garth's story about his wife leaving him a southern farm. He must have expected something to happen, because he wanted her to start thinking and remembering what she hadn't thought was important He went on to tell her that he had investigated Gus thoroughly and determined that Gus was an old man who was just greedy for money. She agreed with that, but still had no idea what his motives were. He told her that Gus was in A batch of heroin worth more than one million dollars was taken away in the middle of the night, and it should be delivered in the suitcase that was taken away at six o'clock." "Who took it away?" asked the deputy captain of the anti-narcotics team. "He said that the heroin was smuggled into the United States on a French freighter." "We know about the French cargo ship that came into port this week," said the vice-captain of the anti-narcotics team. "It's been under our watchful eye." "Yes, but you missed the responder. At eleven o'clock the night before yesterday, the cargo was dumped over the side into a launch, which then passed under the bow without stopping." "My men watched the ship with binoculars all night and nothing was thrown from the ship," the Treasury commissioner said. "Maybe it was down in the ocean. I'm just recounting what she said - what Benny told her. Benny told Jack - the one who got me and 'Gravedigger' Jorns out for beating up." The drug dealer who was ordered to suspend, hand over a map to Gus." The city police showed embarrassment, but the special commissioner of the Ministry of Finance ignored the meaning. "The map showed Gus exactly where the cargo was supposed to be unloaded—it was just a short way from here. The motorboat went up the river, straight up the river, to bring the cargo. Benny said he knew Gus The goods have been picked up, because the respondent told Tagas that they are waiting for the motorboat to arrive; moreover, when the motorboat returned to Hoboken's large yacht inner harbor, the Treasury Commissioner was waiting there for search and inspection, but And got nothing." "My God, I've had reports of that launch!" said the Treasury Commissioner. "The owner is a taxi driver named Skelly. He goes fishing at night." He turned to a colleague behind him. "Arrest Skelly and others connected with him." The operator walked towards the phone. "Benny said that after his subordinates took the suitcase away, they found out that the goods were not in it." "Coffin Bucket" Ed continued. "She thought, since the shipment was so valuable, Gus might have run away with it. He went out before midnight and she hasn't seen or heard from him since, which isn't like Gus , because he didn't have any friends to board with, and had nowhere to go. Benny said no, he thought Gus might have been robbed. Someone found Gus, he was injured and couldn't speak, and he thought someone hijacked That shipment—” "However, Benny only left a roll for Gus six hours before he sent someone to pick it up. Do you think he's that stupid?" "Things were actually as safe on Gus as they were anywhere else—safer, actually. Because they were covering him. And since he was actually going on a boat that day, they thought that suitcase was the least attractive Besides, Benny didn't want to take any risks, so he sent someone to watch outside the house all night. The stalker saw Gus walk into the apartment after his appointment, and he didn't see anyone with a possible The thing with that shipment left. The stalker saw me and Jorns the 'gravedigger' come and go after the false alarm incident; also saw the african go out with the dog and come back empty-handed; and saw bliss Sisters come and go. No, Benny's sure that shipment never left the house." The detectives looked at each other. "Then, the thing is still here," said the vice-captain of the crime squad. "Impossible, this place has been searched like this, unless there is a tenant involved, but we have also checked them thoroughly, and I guarantee by my position that they are all innocent," said the vice-captain of the anti-narcotics team. "I myself went through every trunk, every box, every piece of furniture in a storage room with my search team, they turned over the entire tool room, they took apart the kerosene stove, took apart the washing machine, dug up the incinerator, Checked the sewers, even removed the spare tires of two cars; and you also saw the condition of the administrator's residence after the search. If what we were looking for was a private seal ring, we would have got it long ago." "Benny thought the same way. That package was too big to hide, and the only way for Gus to get rid of it was to give it to someone in this house to keep it for him." "How big is that package, did he say it?" asked the special commissioner of the Ministry of Finance. "He told her that there were five kilograms of heroin with a purity of 82 percent." A burst of whistles sounded one after another at the same time. "It's impressive," said the vice-captain of the crime squad. The special commissioner of the Ministry of Finance made a quick calculation and said: "He bought this batch of drugs at about 15,000 U.S. dollars per kilogram, and the shipping cost is tentatively estimated at 75,000 U.S. dollars. When he mixes lactose and reduces the purity to 100% After two, he can wholesale it at a price of about 500,000 U.S. dollars per kilogram. Speaking of which, its wholesale market value is about 2.5 million U.S. dollars." "Now, the motive for this massacre has been clarified," said the vice-captain of the crime squad. "But where did this batch of drugs disappear?" The vice-captain of the anti-drug team responded. "That's Benny's question too, except she can't help him. She says Gus doesn't get on well with the tenants; in fact his relationships are bad." "That's no wonder," said the deputy captain of the anti-narcotics team. "He doesn't want the administrator job." "Then Benny asked her about Pinky. She told all she knew, but he wasn't interested in Pinky's life. He wanted to know if Pinky could take what Gus had and hide it Somewhere in the house. So she said he'd have to wait until Gus got back because she hadn't seen him or Pinky since midnight. Then he confessed that they found no When the cargo was delivered, he killed Gusi and dumped his body in the river." "Sounds like you're lying," the treasury commissioner said, turning to the vice-captain of the narcotics squad. "Do you believe?" "Of course I don't believe it! Even if it was an accident, they wouldn't kill Gus, as long as the five kilograms of heroin remain unaccounted for." "I also believe so." "But where's Gus?" "who knows?" "Maybe it's still somewhere in the house," said the vice-captain of the crime squad boldly. "No, he's not here," the vice-captain of the anti-narcotics team flatly vetoed. "Then maybe Benny is telling the truth." "No, he probably wanted to scare her," said the deputy captain of the serious crime team. "Just let him scare her," Ed "Coffin Bucket" said. "But he immediately offered her five thousand dollars if she would help her find him—that pink boy." "Generous asshole," said the Treasury commissioner. "That's when she turned on him," Ed "Coffin Bucket" said. "Gus dead, five thousand dollars in her pocket, now she owns the farm, and she can marry the African--of course she doesn't know he's dead. So she just thinks about it , Then I thought that the suitcase was moved from the storage room to the corridor the night before; according to the usual practice, Pink Boy took care of the rough handling. So she said that the luggage might be carried by Pink Boy. "But Benny wouldn't believe it. Besides Gus, he'd investigated Pinky too, and he judged him to be a complete idiot who couldn't handle that much heroin and wouldn't know what to do with it," she argued. Pinky was addicted to drugs and might have taken it for his own use. But Benny's stalkers had seen Pinky leave here to set off the fire alarm, and he couldn't even hide a handkerchief in his rags; He never came back either. "Then she flashed back to Sister Bliss's visit. She told him that Sister Bliss was Pinkie's aunt who ostensibly ran a faith healing facility but was actually selling sachets of heroin. And then Benny remembered his stalker Had reported that Sister Bliss had left the place as soon as the suitcase was taken. He admitted she might be right, maybe Sister Bliss was the responder, and Pinky might have hijacked the shipment - it sure looks like a fool would do it out thing. "They took her into the car, and the group headed to the Bronx to find the Bliss sisters. But when they arrived, the Bliss sisters' home had been bombed, and the Bliss sisters had disappeared. But they still had to Learned about St. Peter, saw the Lincoln. The guy St. Peter shot at the French Line dock was Benny's bodyguard, so they started figuring it all out." "We probably have a spectrum for this matter," said the vice-captain of the serious crime team. "We connected it all when that boy, Woop, pointed out the body of the Bliss Sisters. And also got a report about the car from the police station in the Lincoln Tunnel." "That's right. So, they think that Sister Bliss will blow up the house when they get the goods, and then kill Saint Uncle to silence her, and destroy her whereabouts—" "But that old guy just wanted to blow up the safe," said the vice-captain of the crime team calmly. "Experts identified it." "Yes, it didn't take long for them to understand. Benny still sent people to monitor the house around the clock, and one of them remembered that the Bliss sisters had been around here after 'Gravedigger' Jorns was shot. Benny judged her for that. Not the responder. After that they went all out looking for Pinky." "Next, we will grasp most of your situation," said the deputy captain of the serious crime team. "There's no need to go into details now." "I just have one question," said the Treasury commissioner. "Ed, why didn't they see you when you put your bag on top of the elevator?" "They saw me, they just didn't recognize me. It's like this. I didn't enter this house. I stepped over the roof of the next building and threw the bag into the elevator shaft from the roof passage. Moreover, I was wearing a painter's overalls, and I was carrying the big paint-stained bag that the painter forgot to leave at my house last time, and there was the small bag in it. So when I came out of the original house, I still carried the original one Big bag." "Good job, I really have you, thanks to you," said the vice-captain of the anti-narcotics team. "However, where are the drugs?" The Treasury Commissioner said to Ed "Coffin Bucket": "You're the only one of us who knows Pinky. Do you think he's capable?" "I don't know," Ed "Coffin Bucket" said. "I think he's an idiot. But A1 Capone (1899-1947, head of Chicago bootleggers, famous American gangster) is not the same." "All this only proves one point," said the vice-captain of the anti-narcotics team. "It's just that this case isn't closed; there's no sign of it being closed, let alone the unaccounted for, expensive shipment of heroin." "For us, this is just the beginning," the Treasury commissioner said. "I have a hunch we'll find it," Ed "Coffin Bucket" said. "Premonition? What premonition?" asked the deputy captain of the serious crime team. "If I told you, you'd laugh." "Laugh!" The deputy captain of the serious crime team said angrily. "You can't even laugh! As far as we know, eleven people have died in this operation, and five kilos of pure heroin have been left in New York City, and we don't even know where it is. Laugh! Are you What happened? What premonition do you have? Tell me and listen." "I have a hunch that Gus will be back soon, and then we'll know where the shipment is." In the dead silence that ensued, the detectives felt the hairs on the backs of their necks stand up, and they stared at him with stern, expressionless faces. Finally, the special commissioner of the Ministry of Finance said: "Oh, at least no one laughed."