The moment Helen's tearful voice came from the other end of the phone, Hawk, who was driving, had already moved.
Screech!
The black audi a8's tires instantly screeched against the ground, doing a tail whip in front of 521A Palm Street, then using the inertia, quickly drove onto the lawn at the entrance, and rumbled to a stop at the garage door.
Hawk and Gwen had already disappeared from the car.
New Amsterdam Hospital.
Gwen only felt a blur before her eyes, and when she reacted, she saw Helen waiting at the emergency room door, still on the phone.
"Mom!"
"Gwen."
Helen, who was usually gentle and composed but now looked somewhat flustered, saw her daughter Gwen appear before she had even hung up the phone, and clearly lost her judgment, not having time to think too deeply, she stood up and hugged Gwen.
Helen's voice trembled.
"Your father is in surgery."
"What happened?"
Gwen, hugging her mother Helen, also sounded a bit shaky.
Hawk looked at the brightly lit operating room. Under his Sixth Sense—X-ray vision, he clearly saw George on the operating table, already anesthetized, intubated, and currently undergoing emergency medical surgery.
His Sixth Sense delved into George's body.
What he saw was that George's abdomen, shoulder, and neck had all been shot.
His neck was not too bad, seemingly just a graze.
But his abdomen was penetrated, and so was his shoulder.
Good heavens.
One shot to the abdomen, one to the shoulder, and the last one to the neck.
Tsk.
A professional.
Hawk sensed George's terrible condition, took a deep breath, and withdrew his gaze, following Gwen's eyes to a female detective who was waiting there with Helen.
The female detective's name was Hale.
True to her name, she was a mixed-race individual, but Hale was one of the best detectives under Sheriff George Stacy of the 12th Precinct, and she also had a good relationship with Helen, so Hawk didn't look at Hale with prejudice.
Just as Hawk always believed, his moral bottom line possessed a certain flexibility.
Also, because she was worried about George, Hale, who ignored why Hawk and Gwen arrived so quickly, told them what had happened.
She had also received the news and rushed here from the 21st Precinct.
What exactly happened, Hale wasn't really clear.
Because the incident did not happen in the 21st Precinct's jurisdiction, but in the 12th Precinct's jurisdiction.
A little earlier, two patrol officers from the 12th Precinct were on patrol in their jurisdiction. As they passed a multi-story parking garage in their jurisdiction and were about to stop for a cup of coffee, they suddenly heard gunshots coming from inside the parking garage.
The two patrol officers did not hesitate, reporting the shooting code.
Then... when the backup police, who had received the shooting code, arrived at the scene, the gunshots had stopped, and the two patrol officers were already lying in pools of blood.
George Stacy was also lying in a pool of blood.
The arriving police immediately called out the 999 code.
There were countless preset codes in the police radio calls.
Each code represented an incident.
For example, 221 corresponded to a robbery.
999!
This was the most serious code. Calling out this code meant one thing: an officer had been shot.
All nearby police forces responded instantly, and ambulances from New Amsterdam Hospital rushed to the scene immediately.
After the three were loaded into the ambulance, one of the Doctors recognized George, and only then did the 21st Precinct receive the news that their Commander had been shot and his life was unknown.
This is it.
An officer ran to Helen's place, picked her up, and brought her to the hospital.
And Hale, who had a good relationship with Helen and was also a detective, also rushed over immediately to accompany Helen.
However... "Detective Mahoney has already rushed over there."
"The Deputy Sheriff is also negotiating with the Sheriff of the 12th Precinct to see if he can secure jurisdiction over this case."
But it's probably unlikely.
Because the incident occurred in the 12th Precinct's jurisdiction, and compared to George, who was still in surgery, the two patrol officers from the 12th Precinct had already been declared dead.
The 21st Precinct would be angry because their Sheriff was shot, and the 12th Precinct would also be angry because their colleagues were shot and killed.
So, as Hale spoke, her expression was also somewhat worried.
Hawk frowned.
"Detective Mahoney?"
"Yes."
Hale nodded.
Hawk took his phone from Gwen, then walked aside, found Detective Mahoney's phone number, and called him.
Hale was one of the 21st Precinct's best detectives.
Detective Mahoney was also one.
Because Hawk had met both Detective Mahoney and Detective Hale at Stacy's apartment. These two were the only detectives Hawk had ever met.
It could be said that these two were George's right-hand people.
The 21st Precinct's case-solving rate was basically thanks to these two detectives.
Detective Mahoney, who was currently at the multi-story parking garage, the crime scene, took out his phone, glanced at the incoming call, frowned, then thought for a moment, walked aside, and answered the phone.
"This is Mahoney…"
"Detective Mahoney, it's me, Hawk."
"Hawk…"
Detective Mahoney heard Hawk's voice and subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought it was Gwen or Helen calling. If it were, he really wouldn't know what to say.
Because he had just arrived there himself.
"Hawk, you and Gwen are at the hospital too. How is Helen, and George? What did the Doctor say?"
"Gwen and Helen are both very worried. George is still in surgery."
Hawk didn't hide anything from Mahoney, he answered about the current situation at the hospital, then asked, "What happened?"
Mahoney rubbed his temples.
"I was afraid you'd ask that."
"What's wrong?"
"I just arrived at the scene and am still trying to figure out why the Sheriff was in the 12th Precinct's jurisdiction this morning."
"…You don't know either?"
"Yes, I just got the Sheriff's schedule for today from his assistant. Originally, the Sheriff had a budget meeting to attend today, but the assistant said that the Sheriff called last night to cancel this morning's meeting, without saying why, just clearing his schedule for this morning."
"…"
Hawk frowned upon hearing this, then seemed to think of something: "Could it be related to the case you guys are investigating? I remember when we came back for Christmas, George mentioned he was still investigating it."
That was before he and Gwen went to Waterfall Town, George was already investigating.
After he and Gwen returned from Waterfall Town, George was still investigating the case.
George was not a detective, but a Sheriff, the Sheriff of the 21st Precinct.
As the Sheriff of the 21st Precinct, George had the highest decision-making power and daily management authority of the precinct.
In fact, as the Sheriff of a precinct, he didn't need to be on the front lines anymore.
But George started as a detective, so even now that he was Sheriff, he would still follow some major cases closely.
In George's words, his career had peaked anyway.
A precinct Commander was both the peak and the end of his career.
Mahoney was slightly startled when Hawk mentioned the case.
"What… Oh, you mean that case. That case has already been closed."
"Closed?"
Hawk was slightly taken aback: "When was it closed?"
Mahoney on the other end of the phone paused in his tone: "I can't say much about the specifics, you know the rules, Hawk, but the case was announced closed by the Sheriff last month."
Hawk listened to Mahoney's tone and detected a hint of something amiss.
"The kind that's officially closed?"
"…Yes."
Mahoney hesitated for a moment, considering that Hawk was his Sheriff's future son-in-law, and said in a low voice: "The Sheriff and I had been following a lead for three whole months, when suddenly a suspect claiming responsibility appeared. All physical and human evidence pointed to this person. And you know, the pressure on this case was immense, so the Sheriff chose to close it."
Speaking of which.
Mahoney paused, then footsteps were heard on the phone. After a while, once he found a more secluded spot, his voice came through again: "The Sheriff's intention was that there must be a big fish behind this case, so he asked me to investigate it secretly."
Hawk frowned.
"But you don't know anything?"
"Yes, but a few days ago, I did hear George mention that he seemed to have an informant."
"An informant? Who?"
"I don't know."
Mahoney shook his head: "Originally, we planned to meet during lunch every day to exchange leads, but then…"
Hawk finished his sentence: "And then George was seriously injured and rushed to the emergency room."
Mahoney hummed, keeping his voice as low as possible: "I suspect the Sheriff might have been set up."
Hawk's thoughts raced.
"That informant?"
"Right."
"Yesterday at noon, the Sheriff said that the informant who knew the inside story had made contact, and he was trying to get the informant's information."
"I initially suggested I go."
"But the Sheriff said that informant only trusted him."
"As a result…"
"So, I suspect that informant. When I came over, I also checked the Sheriff's office, but I didn't find any clues about that informant."
"The study!"
Hawk raised an eyebrow: "You said George called his assistant last night to cancel today's schedule, so it's only possible he got some news when he was at home."
Mahoney's eyes lit up.
Hawk then said: "I'll go back to the study and see if I can find anything."
Mahoney heard this, thought for a moment, and responded: "Then I'll leave it to you. I'm waiting for the detectives from the 12th Precinct to see if we can take over this case. If not, co-investigation is also an option."
"Okay, see you later."
"See you later."
Hawk said this to Mahoney on the phone, then hung up and walked back towards Gwen…
On my Patreon, I have several advance chapters available if you're interested in more than 100: For $1, you get 20 fewer chapters than the $2.50 tier. For $2.50, you get 40 fewer chapters than the $4 tier. And for $4, you get them all.
The number of chapters is updated every 7 days and increases by 7 to 8 chapters.
My Patren: paroncom/FanTranslator