Chapter 17
William said, “I’m not sure exactly why, everyone has their privacy, even friends. If you go after someone’s privacy you might not even be friends.”
Luke asked, “Knowing what you know about Tony, where would he go?”
“I don’t know. He’s too grown up to tell me everything.”
“Has he ever been missing this long before?”
“A couple times before, then he came back on his own. It’s nothing really, it’s normal for people like us who don’t have a family or a job to get tired of being in one place and go out for a walk.”
“Does Tony have any contact with his family?”
“I don’t know, at least not that I’ve seen. But one time we had a drink together and he mentioned his wife and kids, and it sounded like he still misses them.”
“Tony was married?” Luke frowned slightly; the profile showed Tony as single, with family members including his parents and brother.
“I’m not sure, only that he lived with that woman for a while.”
“What was the woman’s name?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“How old is the child, boy or girl?”
William spread his hands, “Come on, we were just making small talk that day and I’d had a lot to drink, I don’t have a family or children and I’m not interested in the subject, I simply didn’t pay that much attention.
I’m willing to assist you in your investigation, but I really don’t know.”
“Who else knows Tony better besides you?”
“Tony is more withdrawn, he won’t go to actively meet other people, occasionally he will chat with the homeless people in the neighborhood, but those homeless people surely don’t know as much as I do ……,” William recalled for a while.
“By the way, I also remembered a situation, Tony knows a rich man, I’ve seen him go to Tony’s house.”
“How do you know the other guy is rich?”
“He drives a white BMW X5 and wears a decent suit, you’d be hard pressed to see someone like that in the neighborhood.”
“How many times did you see this man?”
“Can’t remember exactly how many times, but at least four or five.”
“What time did he come in all of them?”
“I can’t remember, because the span is a bit long, on average I see him almost once a year.”
“When did you see him most recently?”
“Maybe …… around Christmas last year? Can’t quite remember.”
“Describe the rich man’s physical features.”
“I’ve only seen him from a distance and couldn’t make out the other man’s features, only that he was white, male, and of medium build, and Tony never mentioned this man.”
“Does Tony have any special fetishes for women?”
“No, he’s not really interested in women.”
“Does Tony own a gun?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Did Tony ever mention his home state of Nevada?”
“His hometown in Nevada? I have absolutely no idea, he never mentioned it, and by his accent I thought he was a native.”
“How is Tony doing financially?”
“Not too bad, better than me at least, he’s on the dole, lives in a comfortable house, and occasionally orders take out, at least I’ve never seen him worry about money.”
Luke pressed on, “That little dole won’t be enough for him to buy uniques?”
“I’m not sure about that, he may have other financial resources, it’s private, he won’t talk about it and I won’t ask.” William gave a you-know-what look.
“Thank you for assisting us in our investigation.” Luke handed the other party a business card, “Feel free to contact me if you remember any clues.”
William took the business card and pointed to the blue tent, “Can I go back to sleep now?”
Luke pulled out another twenty dollars and handed it to him, “Buy yourself something to eat.”
“Thanks, can I get a beer? I haven’t had a drink since Tony disappeared.”
“Suit yourself.”
Luke turned to leave, the money had been given, he didn’t care if the other guy used it to buy burgers, or beer.
Back in the car, Luke turned to David, who was beside him, and asked, “What do you think?”
David thought for a moment, “Yesterday you poured the rest, we checked Tony’s past phone records, and we didn’t find any contact between him and his relatives in Nevada for almost twenty years. Coupled with William’s description today, Tony’s attitude toward his family is even more unusual.”
Luke said smoothly, “Tony hates the police and doesn’t contact his loved ones back home, could it be that he’s afraid to go back, much less contact his loved ones back home, because he committed a crime in Nevada.”
“It’s possible, but it’s been twenty years since the incident, and it happened in another state, so it won’t be easy to find out.” As David finished speaking, his cell phone rang.
“Buzz ……”
David tapped on the text message, “It’s Lindsay’s address, I’m going to go there.”
“What do you want to do? If you run into that man again, do you want to violently beat him up or just shoot him.”
“I did think about storming that asshole, but he might take it out on Lindsay and make things worse for her, I …… just want to help her.”
Luke was a little disbelieving, it seemed to him that David could do anything, “Help how?”
David opened the armrest of the car and took a couple of white pill boxes out of it, “Naloxone.”
Luke had an impression of this drug, it was a kind of monocrotaline receptor antagonist, injected into the human body can quickly relieve the toxic effect of monocrotaline on the central nervous system, can save the life of the overdose in time, it is a kind of safe, reliable, inexpensive and no side effects of the first aid.
“Those who know are you helping her, those who don’t think you’re encouraging her to take drugs, you should be helping her get clean right now, not preparing an overdose.”
“You think I don’t want to? Think I haven’t tried? I’ve tried everything that needs to be tried, and getting clean isn’t as easy as it seems.
Do you know how many people die every year from overdosing on solo? I’m saving her life here.”
“OK then, let’s not waste any more time, I’m hungry.” Luke waved his hand, this was after all between David and his wife and he didn’t want to interfere too much.
David shook his head and started to start the car, “Is it so terrible to be hungry?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Look, if you don’t want to go, I can drop you off for dinner first, I can understand that ……”
Luke interrupted the other man, “Drop off and then eat.”
Lindsay didn’t live far from here, the car drove a few minutes and David stopped the car and looked at the door number on the house, “This should be it.”
Outside the window was a dilapidated square, the wooden fence was broken and surrounded by a piece of tin, the yard was a mess and there was colorful graffiti on the walls.
David pulled on the handbrake and took a deep breath, “You wait in the car, I’ll be out in a minute.”
“You wait in the car, I’ll drop it off.”
“What?” David thought he’d heard wrong.
“Are you sure you want to see the house? If it’s the man who opens the door, can you control yourself from punching the other man? Or simply shoot him?”
David rubbed his chin, “Didn’t you want to change your partner? Just in time to get what you want.”
“I do want to change patsies, but not in this way.” Luke took the Naloxone from David and stepped out of the car, dropping a line before he closed the door.
“You’re welcome.”