Records Of Barton's Fantastical Events - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Chapter 14 The General’s Only Son
Translator: Doggotranslation Editor: Doggotranslation

Seven or eight limousines were started in front of Grande Funeral Home. Except for Mrs. Quinn’s car, which was heading west from Grande Funeral Home, the others left on Highway 27. But among these luxury vehicles, there was a dirty and worn truck.
“Thump! Thump!…”
It was Benjamin’s car, and the booming engine had already made his car noticeable enough, but it seemed like Benjamin didn’t think it was enough. He continued to ravage his car’s radio, the loud hitting sound made his truck even more prominent in the group of cars.
Finally, the rapid drumming and buzzing guitar sounds replaced the noise, and Benjamin looked at Jim on the front passenger seat with a satisfied look, “look, it just takes time. It will never let me down.”
Jim’s attention was not on the cracked radio, his eyes glanced around the surrounding luxury cars. He knew all of the people who were sitting in those cars. Before coming to Barton City, the information about those elder ‘nobles’ of Barton City was placed in front of him.
Entrepreneurs, philanthropists, retired politicians… No matter who was in control of the upper class of Barton City now, these people were the real backbone of Barton city.
Jim did not deliberately cover his appearance. He knew that the exposure of him, an outsider, was not enough to make these senior Barton figures know him.
“Where are we going?” Jim asked.
“[Ford Funeral Home] in the Northern District, if we are lucky, I may be able to buy a statue of Gabriel.” Benjamin handed the receipt to Jim and said.
Jim looked at the somewhat old receipt, and his eyes landed on the name of the customer: Quin. So, it was the Quinn couple? There was a trace of sadness in Jim’s eyes, and then he looked at one of the limousines. So the person who had just gotten in the car should be the notorious “prodigal young master” of the Quinn family, Pooky Quinn.
Benjamin’s sturdy arm rested on the steering wheel. He noticed Jim’s gaze and asked, “what, do you know that man?”
Jim folded the receipt, returned it to Benjamin, and shook his head, “I don’t know him, I just know some of his rumors. Bad rumors.”
Benjamin raised his eyebrows, “What rumors.”
“The Quinn Group has a project that supports veterans throughout the Federation, and there are rumors saying that Pooky used Quinn’s name to transfer all the funds to his own account.” Jim thought for a while and then said.
“Oh? So he took your money too?” Benjamin asked.
“No, it’s just that my father is cooperating with Qui-” Jim was immediately alert and glared at Benjamin, “you are trying to trick me giving you information!”
“Haha!” Benjamin laughed, and a row of white teeth appeared in his mouth that was covered by a brown beard. “Jim, are you serious? You know if we want to know your identity, it will be much easier than this.”
Jim frowned. Two hours ago, he saw Zach’s eyes turn red, and said to the woman named Louise, “From today, you will work in Grade Funeral Home and live in Grade Funeral Home. Without my permission, you cannot contact anyone and take a step out of the Grand Funeral Home.”
After a moment of confusion, the woman abandoned her original life and became a new member of the Grande Funeral Home.
“Louise, what will happen to that woman in the future?” Jim asked Benjamin, who was still laughing.
“What do you mean what will happen? When the shapeshifter is gone, she will be free.” Benjamin chuckled and replied, “maybe, just maybe, Zach would consider making a ‘descendant.’ Didn’t you find that Zach seemed to be very interested in that woman?”
Jim had a bad feeling, “I don’t care about Zach’s ‘descendants’! I just want to know why Zach’s eyes can distort people’s will! Will he do the same to me!”
Benjamin showed a thoughtful expression, “Why? Who knows. As for whether he will do the same to you, it depends on how easy it is to control you.”
Those were honest words. Although Louise was clever, she was still too weak to be able to control everything herself, it could be seen from the fact that she had to take risks herself. Once she really fell in danger, her weak body simply could not protect herself.
Benjamin glanced at Jim, who had a hostile expression on his face and said, “So far, you are not bad. But you should understand that if you want to cooperate with us, you will eventually tell us your true identity. We have all seen your reaction after hearing “shapeshifters”, and you know your identity will be a great help to our investigation.”
Jim bowed his head and thought, he was indeed hesitating. From the early morning, and since the moment he saw them in the woods, he has been considering if he was able to trust them. In Barton city, he has no people to trust and no network to use. Was it necessary to establish a relationship with two non-humans now?
“Can I trust you?” Jim looked at Benjamin and asked seriously.
“Of course.” Benjamin shrugged. “You are still alive, aren’t you?”
“Okay! I have conditions! Zach will never use those red eyes on me! I don’t want to be his ‘descendant’!”
“Deal.” Benjamin’s body swayed with the music, said unconcernedly. These requests seemed to have nothing to do with the werewolf, but Benjamin still agreed to this on behalf of Zach, “So, start with your real name.”
“James Rance.”
“Oh? Are you the only son of General Rance?” Benjamin became interested, “Why did you come to Barton City?”
“I was transferred to the Barton Police Station.” Since he decided to trust them, he decided not to hide his identity. Of course, the most important reason was that saying those things out himself was completely different than being forced to say those things by Zach’s red eyes. I have to admit that when facing two non-humans, Jim was at a disadvantage.
“See.” Benjamin seemed to be in a good mood, “This is the power of teamwork. We have found out the identity that the shape-shifter is currently using. Maybe we should check Barton police station.”
Barton North, slightly to the west, near the Charles River, this was a residential area, with two-story single-family homes all over the street. Obviously, the houses here were as expensive as the apartments in the center of the Northern District. Coulson did not know whether the half of David lying in the freezer was lucky or unfortunate. He was fortunate because he inherited this valuable house. He was unfortunate because perhaps it was the value of this house that made him become a target of a psychopath, who wanted to steal other people’s identity.
Detective Coulson pushed the door open, feeling the warm sunshine and fresh air.
He has just completed the on-site inspection. Because Chief Cologne’s non-disclosure order, without the support of others, he had to complete the investigation alone, so it was natural that the progress was a bit slow. The coat pockets on both sides were stuffed with small sealed plastic bags, which he had to be taken back to the police station for analysis. But Coulson didn’t get his hope up. The time of David’s death couldn’t be determined, so no one knew how many times people had destroyed the scene in this basement. Those small samples would not be able to help them find many things.
The only thing that could be done was to compare the evidence here with the evidence collected in the place where the prostitutes’ bodies were found and see if the two cases were connected.
“Coul, Detective Coulson.” A slight trembling voice sounded behind him. It was Fitz. “Now, what are we going to do now?”
Coulson turned to look at the skinny man whose eyes were still red and sighed, “Now I’m going to the police station to send those samples to forensics for analysis. As for you, we cannot risk getting you back to work.” Coulson took Fitz and put the key back in place, and made sure that everything that had been moved back to the original position, then walked out of the courtyard and returned to Fitz’s van.
When they just opened the door, a strong smell of fried chicken blew toward their faces!
“James!” Coulson yelled, “Where the hell did you get these fried chicken!”.
“[Macken Fried Chicken], it’s delicious, do you want it?” James handed over a box of fried chicken expressionlessly.
“&*&9%#@” Coulson was so angry that he lost his ability to talk! He worked hard to investigate the crime scene, and the only task he gave the guy was to stay behind, and watch out the surroundings, and prevent the sudden return of ‘David’. But this guy actually went to buy food!
Was he joking? Such a person was simply not eligible to have a detective badge!
“David also liked the chicken wings…” Fitz seemed to remember something, and tears appeared in his red eyes again…
“Ah!” Coulson suppressed himself to let out a low roar, punching a heavy door of the van heavily, pushing Fitz to the front passenger seat, sitting on the driver’s seat, taking a few deep breaths, suppressing his anger, “Now! We are going back to the police station! Fitz! We are going to send you to a safe house!”
“Safe, safe house?” Fitz asked while sobbing.
“Yes.” Coulson started the van, “According to what you told me, David does not have many friends at the workplace. You are his best friend, which means that among the people he contacts every day, the person who can easily see through his identity the most is you! So you are not safe now!”
The van drove around the street corner. Sure enough, a fried chicken shop appeared on the side of the road, but the signboard was not [Macken].
“But we can’t use the resources of the police station.” Coulson said this to James, “Chief doesn’t want the information of this case to get out to the public for the time being, so we can’t go to the safe house in the station! James, don’t you have a loft in the city center?”
The van continued to move forward until it was about to leave the neighborhood, then Coulson saw the sign board that James said. The middle-aged detective’s anger couldn’t be suppressed at this moment, and his entire body turned around in the driver’s seat, “James! What were you thinking! You actually went this far to buy a fried chicken! Are there any tasks in your mind!”
Coulson’s seat belt was tightened, and his entire body was about to move over the seat. He even ignored the steering wheel. It seemed that he was going to punch James!
“Coul, Detective Coulson!” Fitz held the steering wheel in a panic, grabbed the angry police detective in one hand, and yelled, “[Macken Fried Chicken] has a phone number! They do delivery as well!”.
Coulson glared at James, whose mouth was full of food. Seeing his expressionless face, his fists clenched, and eventually, he still suppressed it. General Rance’s reputation was too big! Coulson turned back angrily and sat down again, and then held the steering wheel.
Fitz pulled out a piece of crumpled paper from the van’s glove compartment in a panic, “You see, detective, delivery! Detective James must have ordered a delivery!”
Coulson pushed the take-out leaflet away from him coldly and didn’t speak. He knew Fitz was trying to find excuses for James, but he didn’t believe that his partner would order a delivery. How did James, who had just been in Barton for a week, know the takeaway phone number of a fried chicken restaurant! The only possible explanation was that this guy ate all the way there and finally chose the best one.
This James was too unreliable! Detective Coulson gave up the idea of letting James protect Fitz and thought for a moment, “Fitz, let’s go back to your house first, then you need to call for leave for a few days, park this car in your house, and then you go back to the station with me, and these days, you will be protected by me. James, after returning to the police station, you go to the place where David works, and keep eyes on that David!”
Fitz nodded timidly, and then he heard the sound of James chewing fried chicken coming from the back seat.