Macaulay & Hudson & Associates is not the largest law firm in New York, but it is one of the most trusted by wealthy people because they specialize in criminal litigation rather than the financial mergers and acquisitions that plague Wall Street. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

As one of the partners of the firm, Macaulay. Higgins, an old white man in his sixties, represents a typical white American, conservative, stubborn, and aggressive, and when he hears that the other party's client is an Oriental from across the ocean, he only expresses a cautious welcome, because the first thing he must determine is whether the other party can afford to pay the attorney's fees of up to $800 an hour.

"Hey, it's me Macaulay, you didn't come back for Christmas, and we old friends have one less interesting topic, I don't understand, that Eastern country is so good that it can keep you for a whole year?"

After a few polite words with the person on the phone, he said his purpose: "There is something I want you to help me with, I owe you a favor, and when I return to New York, I will definitely treat you to the best whiskey, my friend." ”

Obviously, his friend in the imperial capital is not small, and the news was quickly fed back, the other party has a small company in the imperial capital, but there is also a trade volume of tens of millions a year, it seems that there is no problem in paying his lawyer's fees, plus the hospital has confirmed, just the charter flight back and forth will cover the cost of this treatment, indicating that it is a master who is willing to spend money, no lawyer will refuse such a client, and the old white man began to think seriously about this case.

On the surface, it's not complicated, maybe the FBI is just out of the usual caution about coming from that Eastern country, like them, an old law firm, can establish a good reputation, first of all, it must have a certain network in the judicial community, before deciding on the course of action, he first called the New York City police department, although the case is in the management of the FBI, but among the people who do the specific work, there will be no less people who know the inside story, only the more he knows, he can know which aspect to start from faster.

George was in his office looking through the confessions recorded in the hospital in his office, and because of the large number of people and the piles of papers on his desk, he refused the secretary's suggestion to help him sif through the key points, insisting that he read it alone, this is a big case, the suspicion is often inadvertent, and he doesn't want to miss something.

On the surface, all the family members in the hospital were relatively normal, most of them were hiding in the wards when the fighting took place, and there was no actual exchange of fire on the fourteenth floor, but it was the last floor leading to the rooftop, and then up there was an empty administrative area, and if there was no internal presence among these people, it was impossible to explain why the perpetrator's actions were so accurate.

Judging from the evidence, the young Chinese man had sufficient motives, because on the night of the crime, he had lost a loved one and had been coerced by the deceased, but there was no trace of a gun in his hand, no gunpowder remaining, and no eyewitness to prove that he had been to the rooftop.

This person was personally interrogated, and the other party's performance can be called leakless, completely without the nervousness and anxiety of ordinary Chinese people in the face of an American policeman, but it is precisely this that seems unreasonable, George took the transcript, recalled every picture in his mind, and still couldn't figure out where his confidence came from.

The information in the other hand is a woman who has appeared, the two happen to know each other, but they are not from the same country, but the inquiry of the woman actually leads to a deeper background, although she is only a state legislator, she is a popular candidate for the next governor, and if she doesn't do it, she will become the supreme administrator of this land.

Looking at the man and woman in the photo, George had a sense of frustration that his intuition could not be used as evidence, the surveillance in the building was completely destroyed, what happened on the fourteenth floor could only be speculated by the testimony of these people, and the final result was no result.

What's wrong with the world? He was lying on his back on his back, all the war dead were from Canada without exception, which shows that the other side has a base there, and they took advantage of the convenient customs clearance procedures between the United States and Canada to avoid the interrogation of the immigration bureau.

It is a country with the second largest land area in the world, but the population is not even as good as an imperial capital, and it is destined that they will not tighten the pace of immigration, and every year I don't know how many Chinese people will obtain passports over there through various channels, which is also indirectly equivalent to getting a pass to enter the United States, but these people are not drug dealers, and they can't be completely blocked by a wall like the U.S.-Mexico border. In the end, it will all be a mess, thrown on his head, and the thought of such a prospect makes him feel depressed and have nowhere to vent.

The knock at the door brought him back to his senses, and when he came in, he handed him a supplementary document: "Boss, I think you should take a look at this." ”

"What?"

"The contents of what was found in McGee's pocket have been identified by the Technology Section and confirmed that it is exactly the same as the mobile phone we found in Minato." A small USB flash drive was packed in a transparent plastic bag on the outside of the document, and George understood it as soon as he heard what he said, so he quickly took the document, and sure enough, it was the English translation of the video content dialogue on the USB flash drive.

"How many people's fingerprints are on the disk?" He didn't take out the USB flash drive, because he didn't need it anymore.

"Two, one belongs to McGee, and the other belongs to the Chinese man surnamed Liu."

Is this the reason for their quarrel? George probably understood in his heart that this Chinese man surnamed Liu was not simple, and he was by no means a bystander as he said, but it was more troublesome to find this than to have no evidence, which would mean that a scandal would be made public, unless the other party was an idiot, he would put such an important bargaining chip away.

Obviously, the other party's IQ was higher than he thought, and from the open door, a white figure peeked out, and he knocked on the door, revealing a kind smile.

"Is Mr. Walsh here?"

After saying that, without waiting for them to answer, he walked straight in, took off his English top hat and hung it on the shelf, and in the stunned eyes of the two, he came to the desk and stretched out his hand to George.

"Macaulay. John Higgins, an attorney at Macaulay & Hudson & Associates, that's my business card. ”

"George. Walsh, Mr. Higgins, is there anything please? George took the card, shook his hand, and winked at his subordinate, who rethoughtfully exited the room and closed the door gently.

"Queens is still so messy, it really needs a strong department, to be honest, there have been too many things happening in New York recently, I didn't want to bother you, but my client fell into your hands, so I had to go on a trip, by the way, my blood sugar is a little high, and I don't need to prepare coffee for me."

Before the other party could say what he meant, George keenly felt that the other party had made a big move, this kind of old man who had lived in the white area of New York all his life, once entangled, would have countless troubles.

"Mr. Lawyer, I don't know how much you charge, but I think with my salary, I'm afraid I can't afford it, so it's useless to waste time."

"It's okay, someone pays anyway, and I can talk to you here all day if necessary." Macaulay seemed to be really planning to come for a chat, and he unhurriedly took a cigar box out of his jacket pocket, opened it and took one: "A thousand dollars an hour, I have no reason not to enjoy it, you say yes, Mr. Walsh, by the way, you can smoke here." ”

"Whatever, but I can't accompany you, you see, I have a lot of cases at hand, I think you can go to the reception room and wait slowly, for your health, I can ask them to make a cup of unsweetened coffee."

"Are you questioning my work ethic? I have to say, Mr. Walsh, although I rely on time to make money, but reputation is the foundation, customers spend a lot of money, what they buy is time, so we have reached a consensus? Macaulay took a nonchalantly puff on his cigar, as if he was still a little unsatisfied.

"Let me guess, your client is the rich Huaxia man?"

"All-in-the-middle." He rolled up his sleeves and looked at his watch: "It's been an hour and a half since we signed the contract, and if you give me back his passport now and revoke the restraining order against him, I think he'll be happy to pay double the honorarium, about three thousand dollars." ”

"I think you're mistaken, your client, involved in a very brutal homicide, he had an argument with the deceased, we took his fingerprints from the deceased's clothing, and now he is the prime suspect in this case, and I'm considering issuing an arrest warrant right away, not lifting the restrictions."

"Argument, well said, I agree with this point of view." Macaulay put down his cigar and pulled out the bag he had brought with him, pulling out a thick handful of papers from it.

"Before that, I did a little investigation about the dispute that you were talking about, this is the testimony of Dr. Scott of Langone Medical Center, and some of them are nurses, and I got the medical report of another deceased, a Chinese boy who died almost at the same time, he was only eighteen years old, would you like to hear a story?"

"My client was supposed to take a United Airlines flight at noon, and the destination was the imperial capital of China, but at the airport he was left behind by the officials of the immigration bureau on the grounds that the visa was not in accordance with the regulations, and the visa issued by our embassy in China was not in accordance with the regulations when entering the country."

"Unfortunately, my friend at immigration told me that the reason for this change was because an intelligence officer hinted to them on the grounds of national security, come on, George, don't look at me like that, I bet you know all this."

"This officer of the intelligence bureau is the victim of the brutal murder in his mouth...... One, McGee, right. Ignoring the other party's increasingly dark face, Macaulay said, "He was detained at the airport for four full hours, and it took about fifty minutes to get from the airport to the hospital, and then there was what you called an altercation." ”

What is this so-called dispute? Unfortunately, my client noticed the strangeness in it, and he used his mobile phone to record all the conversations with Mr. McGee, and a bizarre conversation made me extremely suspicious of the constraints of the American power system, and that a small intelligence agency officer could trample on the law so brazenly, and the consequences would be ......"

"Mr. Higgins, can I listen to that recording?" George couldn't hold back any longer and stood up straight from behind his desk.

"Trust me, George, you won't want to know what's going on, or you'll have to choose between dereliction of duty and exposing old friends, and you'll even offend this powerful organization and maybe die in a car accident one day." Macaulay shook his head.

George's outstretched hand stopped in mid-air, and the other party's words hit the nail on the head, he is no longer an employee of the CIA, just like the mobile phone in the port incident, as long as he gets it, he must write a report, but just let it go? It's so unwilling.

"Continuing back to our topic, it is clear that my client was not willing to be coerced, and there was an argument between the two, no, to be precise, a one-sided assault, and this is a medical report issued by the hospital, and it shows that my client has extremely visible injuries on his body, which are shocking, and I would advise him to claim compensation from the US government, George, which is why McGee has his fingerprints on his clothes."

"What? He didn't mention that when he took the note. George picked up the report, the photograph clearly showed a striking bruise on the other man's chest, and he could even guess the pain of the injury when he thought of McGee's strength.

"Because he can't trust the U.S. legal system and protect people like him!" Macaulay said categorically, at this moment, it seems to have become an angel of justice.

"That doesn't mean he had nothing to do with McGee's death." Before he knew it, George's tone was lowered.

"Don't you understand? Assuming that he is the mastermind behind those attackers, he must complete a precise arrangement in the fifty minutes from the hospital to the airport, because he will never have a chance to do so again, and if he has such strength, I honestly advise you to release him quickly. ”

"I need a little time." George didn't understand this truth, it happened too suddenly, to say that everything was planned by this person, neither from evidence nor intuition, but this was the only clue he had, once handed over, the other party would fly back to China immediately, across the Pacific Ocean and the entire United States, where would he go to summon him.

"I understand your feelings, you want to find the real culprit for the deceased, but George, it can never be my client, instead of wasting time on him, it is better to find something else." Macaulay's cigar was almost finished, and the conversation was nearing the end: "You have the right by law to withhold his passport for forty-eight hours, but I can only give you one day, so that I can earn at least thirty thousand dollars, and if there is no answer by this time tomorrow, I will hold a press conference at the Empire State Building, and those reporters will not be as friendly as they are today." ”

By the time George looked up from those reports, Macaulay had already left his office, and it was obvious that the other party was unwilling to listen to the recording for him, just to save it for tomorrow's press conference, did he have any other choice, he believed that as long as he ordered the arrest of the Huaxia man, this damn press conference would be brought forward immediately, when the time came? George shook his head with a wry smile, picked up a phone on the table, and dialed a number.

"Hi George, how did you know I was looking for you."

"Is something wrong?" The other party's words made him stunned, almost thinking that he had dialed the wrong number.

"You should look at the news, the Chinese government announced that it would reduce its holdings of U.S. bonds by 66.4 billion, their foreign ministry continues to pay attention to the port incident, their ambassador to the United States met with our foreign minister this morning to express his dissatisfaction with the personal safety of citizens in the United States, according to my friends in the State Department, their government has postponed the schedule of multilateral consultations in the South China Sea, and at the same time withdrew all our requests for meetings on Near East affairs......"

"What does this have to do with me?" George listened to the other party's chatter and said impatiently.

"This is a signal because you have detained a Chinese citizen!" The voice on the phone suddenly became louder: "Tell me, how much does that Huaxia man surnamed Liu have to do with the case in New York?" Find no substantial evidence. ”

George was in a trance for a while, and he really couldn't believe that the young Chinese man who didn't look amazing would have anything to do with national politics, and he forgot to answer the other party's questions for a while, until the urging sound sounded continuously, and then he answered in a low tone.

"At present, there are only some suspicions, and there is not enough evidence to prosecute."

"So what are you waiting for? Let him go. "The other party is obviously not very good-tempered.

"But ......"

Before he could finish his words, he was unceremoniously interrupted: "Don't forget, this is an election year, and the heads of all such departments, including me, don't have long left, I don't want to let people grab some tricks and release him after I leave office, this is an order." ”

"As you wish."

George, who put down the phone, felt all the strength in his body disappear at once, and outside the window, the huge statue in the distance, along with the torch she was holding, was giving out an extremely sarcastic smile towards him and the busy police officers in the office behind him.

(Volume 8) The Lighthouse Mystery (End)