Records Of Barton's Fantastical Events - Chapter 108
Chapter 108: Chapter 9 Coincidence
Leaving the apartment building where Daniel lived, James was about to ask where Zach was going next, but found that someone was leaning against his back. Looking back, he found that the vampire was holding his small liquor bottle, with a pair of eyes looking expectantly at a drop of bright red on the bottle rim that was hanging in the air but just unable to drip.
Without saying anything, James pushed Zach into the back seat and drove to the Southern District.
“Are you going to continue investigating those names on the list?” Zach was lying in the back seat and asked languidly.
“Yes.” James looked into the empty rearview mirror and replied after thinking about it.
“Leave Grande’s number.” Zach leaned back in his chair. He didn’t want to talk much now. If it weren’t James’ car, he would’ve already lit a cigarette to reduce the lethargy.
James pursed his lips, neither refused nor agreed. Zach stopped talking, looking out the window. It was almost noon, the sun penetrated the car window, shining on the pale skin of the vampire, Zach felt the blocked blood flow under the skin and adjusted his breathing.
On the section of the road that was still within the Northern District, a large group of people crowded on the side of the road, with ambulances and police cars parked aside. James’s attention was completely attracted to it.
“Park the car over there.” Zach pointed to a shadowy street corner helplessly. He knew that James was being meddlesome again.
James turned around and parked the car in the alley of the nearby buildings conscientiously. He then opened the door and walked towards the crowd.
James looked around. This was near the southwest of Barton Northern District, the east of Passing. The most conspicuous building should be St Mary’s Church of Barton behind the crowd. In the Holy Scripture, Mary was the mother of God the Son. Among the churches of various themes in the Federation, the Virgin Mary represented the most ‘loving’ one.
These people were probably worshippers.
James saw Mrs. Coulson on the periphery of the crowd. The middle-aged woman hugged her daughter and wanted to look inside anxiously.
“Mrs. Coulson.” James ran over, “What happened? !”
“Rance!” Mrs. Coulson had a surprise on her face, “You are here too!”
James inspected the bodies of the two people and found no injuries. The crowd seemed to be calm, and there was no commotion. He was a little relieved, “What about Coulson? where is he?”
“He’s still inside.” Mrs. Coulson grabbed James’ arm. Seeing that James’ face suddenly became nervous, she realized that her response was quite misleading, “He was not injured. He is still trying to rescue other people.”
James let out a sigh of relief, “What happened?”
“The second floor of the Church has collapsed.” Mrs. Coulson trembled, “Many people were injured. He, he is organizing the search, rescue, and evacuation.”
“You stay here.” James pressed Mrs. Coulson’s arm, “I will go help them.”
Mrs. Coulson nodded. James then took out the police badge and cleared the way. Soon, he disappeared into the crowd.
James was not a true believer. Except for being symbolically lustrated as a child, and occasionally accompanying his mother to the church when he had not yet come to Barton, he did not perform any believer’s obligations. Like most people in the federation, he only regarded this as a tradition.
The church of the Virgin Mary was very large and was the largest church in Barton. At this time, the front entrance was closed by the police, and smoke and dust still leaked out of the door. James showed his police badge and walked in. There were a large number of firefighters and paramedics in the church searching for the injured.
James looked up, and almost a third of the second floor was covering the first floor. On the tortuous collapsed section of the second floor overhead, dust and debris were still constantly falling, revealing the bent steel bars, and the cement blocks attached to the steel bars in the air.
“Hey!” James’ arm was grabbed by someone, and he was pulled back. Coulson glared at his young and reckless partner, “You have a death wish!”
“Uh, I’m sorry.” James withdrew his surprised expression, “What happened?”
Coulson gave James an annoyed look, “Can’t you tell? This happened! Fortunately, I discovered it early and started to evacuate the crowd ahead of time, otherwise! ” Coulson waved his hands and pointed to the part of the first floor that was covered by the collapse of the second floor: “Otherwise, a bunch of people will go to heaven!”
I must remind you that actually, Detective Coulson was not a devout believer either. When everyone bowed their heads in prayer, he was looking up at the ceiling in a daze…
James already felt Coulson’s complacent and asked helplessly: “I mean, how did it happen? Why did it collapse?”
“How would I know!” Coulson raised his eyebrows, “Get the people out first and talk. Then, it will not be our business anymore.”
Coulson’s thought was very practical. They were a homicide division, so such an accident was not their business. Yes, in Coulson’s eyes, this was an accident.
James took another look at the collapsed section of the second floor, and for some reason, he looked at the statue of the Virgin Marry that was placed at the end of the church; the calm-faced woman was holding a baby in her arms.
As Coulson said, thanks to his early discovery, he was able to evacuate the crowd before the accident. The accident did not result in deaths, but many were injured, and some people were trampled on in the chaos that followed.
After all, the injured were recorded and the scene was emptied and sealed for investigation, noon had already passed. James casually found an excuse to say goodbye to the Coulsons and returned to his car parked in the alley.
Zach had already fallen ‘asleep’.
Find a wooden stick to insert into the vampire’s heart, clean the back seat, and then quit his job in Barton and return to his General father to avoid the Grande family’s pursuit. Such thoughts really didn’t cross James’s mind. He started the car and continued to drive towards the Southern District.
On Highway 27, James’ car seemed to have a companion, an old van with the words Barton Telecom printed on it.
Beep! Beep!
The van honked for no apparent reason, paralleling James’ car, with a face sticking out of the window: “Detective Rance! Detective Rance.”
James heard the noise, turned his head in doubt, and looked to the side. A thin body that obviously was lack of exercise, a slightly pale face, and messy hair, “Detective Rance! It’s me! Fitz!”
“Fitz!” James showed a faint smile and raised his hand to greet the man, “Working?”
“Yes.” Fitz was obviously happy to meet someone he knew and shouted, “Detective Rance! Are you working as well?”
“Sort of,” James responded, and then both slowed down. It seemed like a very interesting thing to talk to each other while driving. James seemed to have brightened up after a bad day.
“Where is Detective Coulson? Are you not working together?” Fitz was also very enthusiastic. Please understand the nerd who had social communication disorder. For him, being able to meet a police detective was a very magical thing, although the process was not very pleasant.
“No. It is just me.” James replied, seemingly wanting to talk more, “Where are you going?”
“Ah! I am going to a place called Grande Funeral Home to install the new phone!” Fitz said.
James’ face instantly froze. Then a head poked out from the back seat, and Zach’s voice was still a little weak, “Hi. We are going to the same place. What a coincidence.”