Chapter Thirty-Seven: Clues to Old Friends
John sat in a chair in the hotel's living room, slowly unpacking the paper bag Malloy had given him, and Miller stood next to him against the wall.
"The sheriff gave me this, and with this good thing, it will be much easier for us to find Mr. Fowler." John said, sipping a cigar.
"Let me see." Miller counted the papers on the table, "There are photos...... There is an itinerary...... This would provide a good revelation that Mr. Fowler would have paved the way if he had reached an impasse, and that sheriff named Malloy would have been dismissive of any clues that Mr. Fowler might have left behind. β
"Not necessarily, I think there must be some taboo about Sheriff Malloy's reluctance to get involved in this." John thought about it, and in his acquaintance, Malloy would not abandon Mr. Fowler easily.
"Gentlemen, who are you looking for? It seems that I don't know this person. Stridge walked down from the second floor.
"An old friend, listening to the police, said that he is now in trouble." John said, "Anyway, you don't have to pay attention to this matter, you should take advantage of this hard-won rest, maybe at what time we should leave again." β
"That's right." Streich yawned and left.
"John, you'll have to take a look at this." Miller held a wanted notice plastered with photographs, "We need to find out who the enemy Mr. Fowler is facing, and we can see that the sheriff was suspicious of these people." β
John looked at the dated wanted post, on which Sergeant Malloy had put the word "possible" next to the name of each wanted person, representing his possible guess.
John nodded, "I think we should look it up that line." β
"These people are from the Van Horn Gang, and although this wanted warrant was decades ago, the prestige of the Van Horn Gang has not diminished over the past few decades."
"Van Horn Gang? Do you remember, they made a lot of money by claiming to be legitimate, and they were a thorn in the side of Detective Pinkerton at that time, and it can be said that they were notorious. John remembered that one of his former rivals as a Pinkerton detective was the Van Horn Gang.
"It's just some hypocrites who tend to be inflammatory, and I feel disgusted to be enemies of these people, and I don't know how Mr. Fowler has anything to do with them."
"Miller, look at these torn and disjointed pages, this is Mr. Fowler's letter to the sheriff. They had a good relationship, but I still didn't expect them to communicate in this way. "John finds a small stack of palm-sized pieces of paper," July 25...... Friends...... I found out you've been stalking them lately...... I saw the materials on the cabinet about them...... Honestly, these people have been dead for a long time...... You must have your reasons for doing the survey...... Hopefully it won't bother you for long. "August 4th...... You can't let go of this, Brother Malloy...... In the end, you didn't make a move...... You have your reasons...... It's always been ...... You have your own ideas about everything...... The day Winston was caught...... You called Solm to you...... You're suggesting that he's going to deal with it...... But you know I'm the best candidate...... I am the focus of contradictions...... As a sheriff, it's not convenient for you to explain this...... But this time I decided to sacrifice myself. β
"Mr. Fowler probably guessed what Malloy was worn, or he wouldn't have acted blindly." Miller said he read the two pages carefully.
"I think so, and whether there are latecomers or not, he is used to leaving some clues." John said.
Miller suddenly remembered something: "Check the envelope quickly, the postmark will reveal the location of Mr. Fowler's last letter." β
"Ohβthe cartel warehouse." John pinched the delicate red lacquer on the letter, "Perhaps this is the way Mr. Fowler writes letters rather than messages, so that his position is reflected." β
"We've got to hurry, that cartel warehouse might be the Van Horn Gang's lair."