Motive is always the most crucial link in the judicial system.
The police officer glanced at Ponda. He didn’t find any issues with Ponda’s demeanor or reactions.
He didn’t exhibit any unnatural behavior. He spoke fluently, thought when he needed to, and naturally showed embarrassment or displeasure when appropriate. At least, there were no problems during the initial review.
In other words, until some of his important sensitive issues were found, he appeared very normal.
So, the interrogator shifted his attention from Ponda himself to the two clues he had provided.
“Can you talk about the content of your conversation with Webber?”
“I guarantee that this transcript will only be seen by those who need to know about these matters.”
“Apart from these people, no one else will see it, and no one will leak its contents.”
Ponda spread his hands. “Is there anything that can’t be discussed?”
“But, you have to give me a cigarette first.”
After Ponda lit his cigarette, he took a couple of drags, as if reminiscing.
“I went into his office in the afternoon. I thought he was going to give me trouble. You know, the conflict between us can be quite obvious at times.”
“But surprisingly, he first told me that he didn’t come here to take away my promotion opportunity.”
“He said he had a big case, and as long as this big case was solved, he would have a very good chance of moving up another step.”
“He mentioned some of Director Dale’s poor performance…”
The pen in the officer’s hand moved rapidly, recording everything Ponda said. When he heard this, he raised his hand, interrupting, “Sorry, can you tell me what he said?”
Ponda nodded and recounted what Webber had said. These were true words; he didn’t need to hide or lie.
“The bombing case made us lose all face. You know, two explosions.”
The officer nodded. Such big news, not just him, but the whole Federation knew. Many major newspapers had reported on it, and it was said that there were even reports in foreign countries.
“He believed that these were due to problems with Director Dale’s management. He was too weak in dealing with those criminals. He felt we should be tougher.”
“Then he told me that if he were the director, these things wouldn’t happen, and also…”
The officer looked up at him slightly. “And also what?”
“He also said he would recommend me to become a senior agent. He said there was no conflict between us, that senior agent was just a stepping stone for him, and he hoped I would work for him and so on.”
Ponda’s face showed a hint of disdain. “He was trying to buy me off.”
The officer had a rough understanding by now. He quickly jotted down some notes. “Tell me about Director Dale.”
Ponda’s thoughts couldn’t quite keep up with his rhythm. After a few seconds, he said, “Director Dale… I don’t really know him well. After all, I’m just an ordinary agent, and I rarely have direct contact with him.”
“He’s actually a pretty good person, from my perspective. Relatively easy to approach, and easy to talk to.”
“His sense of time is sometimes not great, but overall, he’s good to us…”
The two had a long question-and-answer session. In the end, the officer looked at the key information he had recorded, and an outline slowly began to form in his mind.
“Finally, I have one question for you. Did you tell anyone about the target of the operation tonight?”
“This is a very important question. You must answer it seriously and honestly. It relates to whether you will be considered a person of interest.”
Ponda shook his head firmly. “I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Okay, thank you for your cooperation, Agent Ponda. If we need anything, we’ll contact you again. For the time being…”
Ponda put out his cigarette butt in the ashtray and stood up. “I know. I won’t leave Golden Port.”
After the two shook hands, Ponda came out of the interrogation room. He looked very tired, but deep in his eyes, there was a hint of relief.
The nature of this case was extremely serious. Even the governor and the attorney general had called to inquire about the occurrence, process, and outcome of the case, as well as their response methods.
Hunter sat in his office. Several of his key subordinates and confidants sat across from him.
He sat with his legs crossed, a cigarette between his fingers, flipping through the submitted statements while listening to their reports.
“…From the evidence we currently have, the suspects are mainly concentrated on Dale, Ponda, and… these few people.”
The officer responsible for organizing the statements briefly explained the reasons why these people were suspected.
“If Webber had successfully solved this case, he might have replaced Dale. This created an irreconcilable conflict between him and Dale.”
“This conflict was very sharp. Webber might have revealed his thoughts to more people, and it’s possible that these thoughts were learned by Dale, so he betrayed the operation plan.”
“Ponda is a suspect because his relationship with Webber has always been very bad. Webber came directly from the State Prohibition Committee to work locally, taking the promotion spot that was meant for Ponda, so there was a conflict between them.”
“In addition…”
He went through all the possible conflicts and problems. Hunter put the report back on the desk. “Who do you think is the biggest suspect?”
“Although I’m reluctant to think so, based on the evidence we have, which we can’t yet verify, I personally believe that Director Dale’s suspicion is relatively high.”
Hunter showed no bias. “Reasons?”
“The conflicts between Ponda and other agents with Webber should be some work-related disagreements. Apart from Ponda, the conflicts between them were not serious enough to the extent of selling intelligence to those gangsters and then setting up a trap to kill Webber.”
“In addition, I’ve learned that it’s unlikely for there to be cooperation between Ponda and the Lance Family, because under his direction, several of the Lance Family’s bars and warehouses were busted, with a case value of several hundred thousand.”
“The enmity between them should be very difficult to resolve.”
Hunter raised his eyebrows at this. “Why is he so at odds with the Lance Family?”
The officer also offered a speculation. “Previously, Ponda worked under Lukar. Lukar’s death had some connection with the Lance Family.”
Lukar was an old colleague of Hunter’s. He knew the man. A bit pretentious, but not a bad person, and a good hand at his job.
Of course, that wasn’t the key. The key was that this reason made sense.
Under the leadership of his old superior, Ponda and the Lance Family had always been in opposition. Then Lukar was killed, and he inherited some of Lukar’s things.
“Vengeance for a superior” also existed in law enforcement agencies. If a superior was killed by a gang, then the subordinate seeking revenge for the superior would receive a lot of support and recognition.
“Continue,” he motioned for the officer to go on.
“Among them, the only one with a potentially escalating conflict is Dale.”
“Since the establishment of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, Dale has not had many achievements to show for it. The biggest scandal of the Bureau also happened here, and he also got involved with the mayor.”
“I personally feel that once he is replaced, he might be immediately marginalized and then phased out.”
“The conflict between him and Webber is the most irreconcilable one. Someone had to stop.”
At this point, the officer felt he had said enough. This already involved political issues.
The mayor was abandoned, so would his good friend and partner, Director Dale, also be abandoned, especially after he had done so many stupid things?
Is it possible that he would, in order to protect his position, leak the operation plan to others in exchange for them taking action against Webber?
There is a high possibility!
From a profit perspective, Webber’s death would not benefit others enough to make them take such a huge risk, including Ponda.
In his statement, he claimed that he was already planning to apply for a transfer, and in the inquiry with his colleagues, his colleagues also confirmed this statement.
Then only Director Dale was left. He was the biggest beneficiary.
Hunter, having reached this conclusion, found it a bit hard to believe. “Do you think you’d believe it yourself if you said it out loud?”
“The director of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials is in collusion with the biggest local gang?”
Everyone here was his confidant, or rather, those who were not his confidants had been transferred to other less important positions.
His confidant said without hesitation, “The mayor also has some relationship with Lance.”
If it weren’t for the mayor’s call a few days ago, Hunter could have locked Lance up for a long time.
This statement made Hunter’s intuition, which didn’t quite believe this speculation, waver slightly, a crack appearing.
Yes, Lance and the mayor have a good relationship now, and the mayor and Director Dale are also connected. They could totally have united with the mayor as a bridge.
Not to say how deep the cooperation was, but at least facilitating this one cooperation would be no problem!
Hunter was reluctant to think so, but he had to investigate based on this result.
“Prepare a report for me. Don’t explicitly mention our suspicion of Director Dale. After all, he is still the director of a federal law enforcement agency.”
“But you can speculate and think from the perspective of the report’s author, understand?”
His confidants of course understood this. After he paused for a moment to let this sink in, he moved on to another part.
“They all say this distillery belongs to the Lance Family. Was any evidence found at the scene?”
One of the officers took out a photo and handed it over. Hunter glanced at it. “Golden Lion liquor.”
“Yes, we found some broken glass bottles near the farm, basically all of them are Golden Lion liquor bottles.”
“Whiskey, brandy, wine, all of them.”
“So Golden Lion liquor is Lance’s business?”
Hunter licked his lips. “It sounds like this case is getting bigger and bigger.”
“Is there any evidence to prove these speculations?”
He looked expectantly at his subordinates, but unfortunately, they could not provide any of the evidence he needed.
“Let’s leave it at that for now. Follow our own pace. Don’t alert anyone yet.”
“Whether it’s Director Dale or Lance, we must have enough evidence…”
At the same time, Director Dale also received a phone call from his good friend.
The first thing he heard was a piercing shout that made him have to hold the receiver away from his ear. “Are you fucking crazy?”
“I told you yesterday that Webber was going to replace you, and you killed him tonight?”
Director Dale was stunned for a moment, then brought the receiver back to his ear. “Don’t you fucking talk nonsense. When did I kill Webber?”
He was a little nervous.
But his friend wouldn’t listen. “Come on, we’ve known each other for so many years. I know what kind of person you are, Dale.”
“You felt that he would affect you, and then you found someone to kill him at night. You acted too rashly!”
“You could have waited a little longer. Doing this will make us all very passive!”
Director Dale also realized this problem now. Ordinary people might not have this information, there was an information gap, so they wouldn’t have any abnormal reactions.
But for those who knew this news, Webber’s uncle was helping him operate this matter, and then Webber had an accident, dead as a doornail. To say that there was nothing wrong with this, everyone would probably not believe it.
“Damn it!”
“I swear to God, I absolutely did not do this!”
“You know me. If I did it, I would definitely tell you.”
His friend was a little suspicious. “Really?”
“Really!”
A sigh came from the receiver. “But now everyone thinks you did it. You have to find a way to clarify, otherwise the investigation team will be at your place soon.”
“You know, when they decide to go after you, you can’t fight back.”
The more successful a person is, the more problems they have.
Especially for politicians.
The salaries that the federal government gives to politicians are not high, because a group of taxpayers is watching.
This also means that if these politicians rely solely on their own salary income, they cannot support their current lifestyle.
Of course, some might say that the Federation allows politicians to do business, allows them to invest, and even allows political donations and the like.
But these things also have standards and requirements.
These requirements and standards are just for show 99% of the time and are of no use.
But when Congress decides to go after a certain politician, they only need to ask them to explain where every penny in their pocket came from, and they can find a way to fix them.
Capitalists are the same. They also can’t clearly explain the origin of every penny they have. As long as they say something wrong, or can’t prove that the money is absolutely legal, then it is absolutely illegal, which is a crime!
When he was in Golden State, Director Dale was very clear about these routines. He knew that Congress didn’t need to exert much effort to deal with the people below, and he also became anxious.
“Thank you for telling me this. I won’t chat with you for now. I have to go deal with it.”
“But remember what I told you, this matter has fucking nothing to do with me!”
After hanging up the phone, Director Dale sat in his office chair for a while, then picked up the phone and requested to hold a general meeting.
The Bureau of Hazardous Materials was a law enforcement agency after all. Although they would cooperate with the police’s work, it didn’t mean they would be detained by the police. They also had their own work to do.
Soon, the senior agents and team leaders were all sitting in the office. Ponda was also there.
With such a big thing happening, they had to be on standby at all times.
“I am very sorry for what happened last night, but I am also very angry!”
“This is a huge harm and provocation to us. We cannot become negative just because of such a loss.”
“The Federal Congress and the people have given us everything. This is precisely where the people need us!”
“We must never compromise with evil, nor surrender.”
“We will fully investigate this case. No matter who is behind this, we will definitely find this person, send him to the gallows, and avenge our sacrificed brothers!”
He paused for a moment. “Senior Agent Webber was unfortunately killed, and another senior agent was also seriously injured and cannot return to work for a short period of time.”
“Our work needs someone to take the lead, so I will re-select two candidates for senior agent from among you…”
Originally, everyone was a little absent-minded, but at this point, because of this sentence, they all became spirited.
Director Dale’s gaze swept over everyone, and finally landed on Ponda. “Ponda.”
Ponda was stunned for a moment, and his heart instantly became a little agitated. He stood up. “Yes?”
“You are now a senior agent.”
“I intended to nominate you before, but… but everything is back on track.”
“Your responsibility is very heavy now. Not only do you have to figure out the situation at that factory, but you also have to find a way to find the mole!”
Ponda nodded vigorously. “I will. Don’t worry, Director.”
There was a reason for choosing Ponda. First, he was supposed to be promoted to senior agent in the first place, and at the same time, he was very at odds with the Lance Family.
At this time, there would be absolutely no problem in giving Ponda an important position. Everyone was saying that the distillery was related to the Lance Family, so using Ponda, who was at odds with the Lance Family, showed Director Dale’s position.
In addition, he also needed to divert some attention. He wanted people to remember that the first person Webber offended after he came was Ponda, not him, the director!
He wasn’t sure if this remedy would be useful now, but doing something was definitely better than doing nothing!
After he appointed another senior agent, he let everyone go to work.
Besides inventorying the liquor and then destroying it, he also had to find a way to see if he could pull some strings.
How could he be the only one to carry such a big pot?
With one more suspect, his own problems would be a little less, and his hope of surviving under the heavy pressure would be a little more.
For someone like him, who came from Golden State to the local level and had also provided some services to Congress, there were only two options: either a happy retirement, or a sudden death the moment he was suspected. There was no third way!
After a day of fermentation, more media and more distant places had reported this news. Director Dale and the Golden Port Bureau of Hazardous Materials were famous again, of course, not for a good reputation.
(End of a Chapter)