In New York in the fifties of the twentieth century, people could hear all kinds of reports about murders, robberies, kidnappings, the five major mafia families, etc., almost every day.

When Alex disappeared from the book signing, it was initially thought that he was hiding from the surveillance of FBI agents. However, it soon became clear that something was wrong, and the bodyguards told the director of CPT Records the news. The supervisor then shared the news with Rudy and Carpenter's family.

In this era, there is no such communication tool as a mobile phone, and it is very easy for a person to hide and not let anyone find him.

The Carpenter didn't think Alex would be like that, they knew that their eldest son was a maverick, but they wouldn't do such a worrying thing.

"He didn't leave a message or call us to inform us that he must have had something going on. It must be like this, we have to call the police quickly, call the police quickly! ”

Angel fidgeted and walked around excitedly, thinking that Alex had encountered something bad and would disappear quietly.

Faced with Angel's request, Bart almost nodded in agreement. Luckily, Rudy stopped them, saying, "Don't get excited, if Alex is kidnapped and we go to the police, it will kill him." ”

Hearing Rudy's words, the Carpenter immediately calmed down.

Yes, if the kidnappers had known that they had called the police, they might have killed the killer.

"But even if we don't call the police, those bodyguards and FBI agents all know about some of the situation, and there are the book fans at the scene, God knows how much they know."

Bart scratched his head in annoyance. At this time, he no longer knew what to do. If you call the police, you may make the kidnappers tear up the ticket, and if you don't call the police, there is no way to find out what happened to Alex. Maybe Alex wasn't kidnapped by the kidnappers. Maybe Alex had another accident.

"Then the bodyguards have to keep their mouths shut and don't say anything out of the way. The key is. Don't let reporters know about it. As for the FBI agents, they should be the ones who can keep secrets. I have a friend who has some connections to an FBI agent and might want to get in touch with him. ”

Without waiting for Rudy to contact his friend, the FBI came to the door. Two people came, both dressed in off-white suits and black felt wide-brimmed hats, looking like office workers on Wall Street.

One of the agents, with a hooked nose, put his finger to the brim of his hat and saluted them: "Hello. Mr. Carpenter, Mrs. Carpenter! ”

"You, hello!"

When Bart first learned that these two people were members of the FBI, he was a little surprised, and all Americans knew that the FBI was like the secret police of the US government, just like the Gestapo and the KGB. Anyone who is targeted by the FBI will not feel that life is easy.

Director Hoover was a more powerful figure than the president, and he would rather offend the president of the United States than offend Hoover.

They had previously known that Alex was being watched by the FBI. It's just that I didn't expect the other party to come to the door so swaggeringly, and I don't know what the FBI wants to do.

"We're here to find out about the disappearance of your son Alex."

This time it was another F.B.I. agent who had a movie star-like face. It looks very handsome, and it makes people feel intimate when they see it.

Angel didn't have a good impression of the FBI agent, and she shouted angrily, "You dare to come up and ask how my son is." Didn't you keep an eye on him all day? I'd like to ask if you've found my son. If it weren't for your surveillance, Alex would have left the signing without the protection of his bodyguards. ”

The hook-nosed FBI agent frowned. He didn't say anything, though.

Instead, the handsome FBI agent looked at Angel with a smile and whispered, "We spy on him." It's because we got the news that someone was going to do something against him. In order to maintain social stability and protect celebrities, Director Hoover sent us to follow your son. ”

Angel laughed angrily, and as she was about to refute the other man's ridiculous remarks, Bart put his hand on her shoulder.

"Honey, don't be impulsive, listen to what the other person has to say first." He whispered in Angel's ear, stopping her from getting angry.

The celebrity-faced FBI continued: "Half a year ago, we learned that the Ku Klux Klan, civil rights activists, and unknown people were collecting your information, especially Alex's information. A few months ago, there were clues that someone was trying to monitor Alex's daily route. At this point, we decided to find out these people and see what they wanted to do. So he arranged some people to protect Alex, who knew that there would be such a misunderstanding. ”

Bart and the others were dumbfounded, they didn't expect that this matter would be planned half a year ago, and there were so many people looking for their information. Not only the Carpenters, but even Rudy felt a little creepy.

"You, you mean that the Ku Klux Klan, civil rights activists, and unknown people came together to kidnap Alex?"

Bart asked a very stupid question, also because he was distracted. When asked, he realized how stupid his words were.

The FBI agent shook his head with a smile and said, "We don't think they're going to join forces, just that there are so many people watching you." Whether they want to disadvantage you or have a plan, they have their sights set on Alex. ”

This is indeed true, the Carpenter family has risen too fast in recent years, almost by leaps and bounds. Record labels, electronics companies, brokerage companies, interstellar technology companies, battery factories, dream factories, toy factories, investment companies, ABC TV, etc., almost every company with a CPT prefix is growing rapidly.

A key player in this is Alex, without whom none of this would exist. If it is an enemy of the Carpenter family, then the first goal must be to get rid of Alex. As long as Alex is gone, the Carpenter family's momentum will definitely slow down.

Hooknose Agent said inductively? "They started paying attention to Alex half a year ago. Think about who your worst enemy is. ”

Angel shook her head. Say, "Enemy, enemy? We don't know the way, we really don't know the way. ”

Bart didn't know exactly who he had provoked. He said: "Half a year ago, Alex had just started touring, and he didn't do anything special. ”

"Touring? Could it be that the Ku Klux Klan people don't like him......"

Rudy's words quickly alerted the Carpenters, who immediately thought of what had happened in Atlanta. But if it was really the Ku Klux Klan who did it, then Alex would be really lucky.

"Oh! No, it can't be! Alex ......" Angel whispered as she covered her face with her hands in pain.

"So, Alex was captured by the Ku Klux Klan? Should we call the police right away? ”

Bart also panicked, he knew the ferocity of the Ku Klux Klans and fell into their hands. That's really bad.

The celebrity-faced detective smiled, he stood up, walked a few steps casually, and then asked, "Maybe it's really a kidnapping this time." ”

"So what do we do?" Bart asked.

"Wait at home, maybe the kidnappers will call you and ask for ransom. As for us, the FBI is going to investigate secretly to see who kidnapped Alex. ”

"Then let's let the bodyguards investigate together."

"Don't! Once your bodyguards are dispatched, they will soon let the reporters smell something, and maybe the kidnappers are spying on your bodyguards secretly. It's best to let them go about their work as usual and not do anything out of the ordinary. ”

The two FBI agents told me a lot. The Carpenter dispelled the idea of calling the police and sending someone to look for him. They said they would let them know as soon as there was news, and they would leave immediately.

For the first few days, the wind was calm, and outsiders didn't know about Alex's disappearance. Those who can't wait for the autograph are told. Since Alex was too busy to continue signing autographs, he gave away a newly released record as compensation.

When these fans get the record, they're satisfied. I didn't expect any accidents to happen to Alex.

Either way, the matter was put under wraps for the time being. The Carpenter had been waiting for the kidnappers to call. Strangely enough, they never waited for this call.

After waiting for several days, they had begun to worry about what happened to Alex. An unexpected thing happened.

A New York Times reporter accidentally learned that Alex had left before the autograph session was over, leaving many fans waiting for a long time. Although compensation was made afterwards, some book fans still felt some regrets. The reporter wanted to interview Alex to see what he had to say about it.

When he went to contact Alex's manager, he was told that Alex was busy recording records and didn't want to give any interviews. Unexpectedly, this reporter did not give up, so he disguised himself and infiltrated the CPT record company, but he did not find Alex.

The reporter thought that this time it would be a failure, so he planned to leave quietly, and when he accidentally passed by the locker room, he heard two staff members chatting.

When they mentioned Alex, they said that he hadn't been in the studio in days, and they didn't know what Lu Dao was up to.

The reporter with a keen sense of smell immediately knew that there was something wrong with it, and he thought that Alex's agent had lied to him, but for what he lied, it was worth digging into. After almost a week of investigation, he came to a startling conclusion that Alex was most likely missing or kidnapped.

When he sent the news in a press release, the editor-in-chief of The New York Times told him that the news must not be published.

"For what?"

The reporter was furious, he felt that his investigation was so hard and the news was so newsworthy, but he was told that he could not publish it. Wouldn't this make more than a week of his efforts in vain, then how could this be.

"If you can't publish, you can't publish, and we've already been greeted by people. During this time, all news about Alex will not be published. ”

Although the editor-in-chief's explanation is vague, the reporter understands very well what this means, that is, there are higher-level people interfering in this matter. Whether it's a government agency or a consortium or something, it's not clear.

The reporter thought to himself, you said you can't send it, then I'll find another one. In short, it is necessary to uphold the freedom of the press and not let the so-called high-level pressure affect it.

Unexpectedly, some other major newspapers received similar pressure and were reluctant to publish the news. This made reporters nervous, and it must be the government or an organization like the FBI that had so much influence.

Fortunately, there are still many small and medium-sized newspapers in the United States that will not listen to the orders of the government or the FBI. He quickly sent the news to some of the more gossipy tabloids, at the cost of his job at The New York Times and the opportunity to jump ship to a big newspaper. For this kind of journalist who does not play according to common sense, those big newspapers will not accept it.

News of Alex's disappearance or kidnapping began to circulate in a small area, and since he is now considered an American celebrity, the news quickly attracted people's attention. Some radio stations, television stations, and newspapers received phone calls asking for news about Alex.

People want to know if the kidnapping of Alex is true, who kidnapped him, what the kidnappers demanded, and so on. At this time, everyone knew that the news could no longer be concealed. As a result, the ban on Alex-related news was automatically lifted, and everyone began to report the news, even ABC TV.

Radio programs, television news, newspapers, and so on, all the media were up and running, and Alex's disappearance or kidnapping was immediately made public.

Carpenter's home in the white-brick mansion at 4052 New York was immediately surrounded by a swarm of reporters. Anyone who comes in and out of the place will be questioned by these reporters, whether they are relatives, friends, colleagues of the Carpenter family, etc. They are like flies, chasing news about Alex, and whenever someone talks about Alex, they immediately pounce on it.

The reporters knew that Alex was missing or kidnapped, but the kidnappers never called to ask for ransom. They wonder if Alex has been ripped off by the kidnappers.

At this time, Richard and Karen learned about the disappearance of his brother Alex, and what is even more terrifying is that Alex is likely to be kidnapped and even torn up. The two siblings suddenly cried in front of reporters, not knowing what to do.

Faced with this situation, the Carpenter and their friends knew that they could no longer hide it, so they asked Deere to represent the Carpenter family and publicly announce a reward of $1 million to find clues related to Alex.

Soon, New York City Police Commissioner Morgan? Carr also announced that he would add $200,000 to the $1 million offered by the Carpenters.

Even major newspapers such as the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Herald began to offer bounties for related news, and all of a sudden, the whole of America was boiling over Alex's disappearance. (To be continued......)