1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 106 Ronald: I've really taken on a big problem!

Bernie wasn't there, and the atmosphere inside the car was a bit stuffy.

To avoid boredom, Ronald began to teach Theodore the proper etiquette for meeting with informants.

Theodore listened very attentively.

The two returned to the secondhand store, but the sign on the door still read "Closed".

A person with their hat pulled low pushed open the door and walked out, stuffing a newspaper package into their clothes as they went.

Ronald waited in the car for a while, and when no one came out, he took Theodore into the secondhand store and flipped the "Closed" sign over to "Open".

The lame old man was counting accounts at the counter when he saw Ronald enter. He immediately scooped up the money with his arm, stuffing the loose bills scattered across the counter into a cardboard box, which he then hid under the counter. Then, with a helpless expression, he asked Ronald:

"What are you going to do now?"

Ronald walked up to him, glanced back at Theodore who had followed him in, and tapped on the counter: "The ledger for the last six months."

The old man frowned and asked, "Are you still investigating that shotgun? What exactly did he do?"

Ronald didn't answer; he just stared at the old man.

The old man pursed his lips, pulled out two rough-edged account books from under the cabinet, jumped off the chair, and limped into the inner room.

A short while later, he came out carrying four account books.

Ronald picked up a book, flipped through it, and asked him, "Is it recorded here?"

The old man shook his head.

He tried to help, explaining as he flipped through the ledgers, "Very few people buy the Winchester M1912 pump-action shotgun."

"I think only three were sold, all to acquaintances..."

He quickly found the records of those three transactions.

Twice six months ago, and once three months ago.

Since they were acquaintances, the old man provided the buyer's information.

Ronald then asked him to investigate that Colt with the .38.

Compared to the Winchester M1912 pump-action shotgun, which has poor concealment and is only suitable for a limited range of crime scenes, the .38 Colt is much more popular.

The old man sold over a hundred of them in six months, and the buyers were all different people, making it much harder to trace than with shotguns.

Ronald was not very satisfied with the answer and suggested before leaving that he remember to register customer information in the future.

The old man completely ignored his suggestion and yelled at him to turn the "Open for Business" sign back up.

Ronald pretended not to hear.

As they left the thrift store, Theodore asked Ronald, "This doesn't seem quite like what you said?"

Ronald glanced at him and suddenly regretted not bringing Bernie along.

He pretended not to hear Theodore's question and started the car to drive to the next house.

When facing other informants, Ronald strictly adhered to the rules, behaving in a manner consistent with his words, a stark contrast to his behavior at the secondhand store.

They visited several underground gun shops in the Northwest District and obtained seven names.

Upon returning to headquarters, Ronald contacted police departments in DC and surrounding areas to collect a list of Winchester M1912 pump-action shotgun transactions over the past six months and requested them to trace the whereabouts of the guns.

It was already past closing time.

Even though the robbers might rob their final target first thing tomorrow morning, Ronald let everyone go home.

He can keep Theodore and the other three working overtime, but he cannot ask the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Veterans Affairs Bureau to work overtime as well, nor can he force all the police departments cooperating with the investigation to work overtime.

He can't do what even the president can't.

Without these departments providing investigation results, the only purpose of their overtime work is to stare at each other blankly.

On his way home from get off work, Theodore failed to take off again and handed the steering wheel to Bernie.

They got stuck in traffic all the way to their neighborhood, and neither of them wanted to cook for themselves, so they simply chose a restaurant that looked like it was full of customers for dinner.

The following day, Theodore and his five companions arrived at headquarters early.

We waited until 9:10, but there was still no news of robberies at banks, jewelry stores, or anywhere else.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

In the morning, police stations began to send over unsolved case files.

The five men sat in the conference room, flipping through case files and searching for records similar to the two robberies.

Soon, a masked robbery that occurred in the southeastern part of DC attracted everyone's attention.

The robbers, wearing black nylon stockings over their heads, one armed with a .38 Colt and the other with a Winchester shotgun, stole over $400 in cash from a convenience store.

The two robbers did not communicate at all, but they worked together seamlessly.

According to eyewitness accounts, the two robbers were about 5.8 feet tall and had a well-proportioned build.

This case occurred six months ago.

Theodore marked the location and time of the incident on a map.

Ronald then contacted the detective in charge of the case to get more details.

The southeastern part of DC is a poor neighborhood with a large number of ethnic minorities, and its level of crime is comparable to that of Felton's West Side.

Police resources are strained here, so cases like this, where there are only robberies without any injuries or fatalities, simply don't get taken seriously.

All the information the detectives knew is already reflected in the case file.

The group continued flipping through the files and soon found more similar cases.

Once they are marked on the map, it becomes clear that the gang of robbers is moving from southeast to northwest.

From July to early November, this group robbed almost every convenience store, laundromat, gas station, supermarket, and other establishment in the southeastern district.

They behaved with great restraint, never hurting anyone, never robbing more than 2000 dollars, and never targeting government agencies.

In early November, they robbed a gas station, stealing nearly 700 yuan in cash, and then disappeared without a trace.

They reappeared three days ago, suddenly robbing the DuPont Roundabout post office.

Around noon, after reviewing all the case files, the five of them stood in front of the densely marked map.

From the southeast to the northwest, from convenience stores to post offices, from stockings over their heads to full disguises, from aimless to highly planned, this leapfrog change makes one wonder if these are two different groups.

Theodore stared at the map, looking somewhat excited.

He pointed to the map, then turned to face Bernie and his group of four:

"This robbery team initially consisted of just Colt and the shotgun. They may have been comrades-in-arms, partners, cellmates, or had other relationships."

"They may have been imprisoned for robbery."

"They were released from prison five or six months ago."

"Initially, they may have found an ordinary job, intending to turn over a new leaf and earn a living through labor."

"But they soon discovered that the pay for legitimate work was very low. It was nowhere near as good as getting something for nothing."

"They began to miss robbery and quickly put it into practice."

"Five months ago, they got two guns, a shotgun and a .38 Colt."

"They carried out their first robbery."

Theodore pointed to the earliest robbery on the map:
"They set their sights on a laundromat."

"They learned from their previous arrest and put on stockings as a disguise."

"They only got a little over 100 coins from this robbery."

"This could be the reward for their hard work for half a month or even longer, but now it only takes a few minutes."

He pointed to the increasingly closer circles on the map: "This successful robbery gave them another taste of easy money, and they became addicted, constantly shortening the time it took to commit their crimes."

"They didn't target large numbers of people, were cautious in their crimes, and never hurt anyone, so they never attracted much attention."

"Until November, they suddenly disappeared, only to reappear almost a month later." Theodore listed the changes in the robberies before and after November, finally pointing to the names of the robbers released in the remaining month:

"Their motives, methods, and patterns of committing crimes have all undergone tremendous changes."

"This change came about because of his joining the company."

"The addition of the 'driver' as a new member to the team led to an upgrade in the team's capabilities."

"He became the commander of this robbery team, transforming the originally inefficient, crude, aimless robbers who were only robbing for survival into a planned, efficient, and meticulously coordinated robbery team."

"Given that he was quickly accepted into the team and recognized as a commander after joining, he and Colt and the shotgun may have known each other much earlier."

"They might be comrades-in-arms, relatives, or fellow inmates."

"These three types of relationships are the most likely to form criminal partnerships."

Theodore finally pointed to a whiteboard listing the names of robbers released since November: "'The driver' might be among these people."

"Finding the 'driver' will allow us to uncover the other two robbers through his social network!"

After a brief pause, Theodore continued:
"I have the following guesses about the 'driver's' identity."

"He is a white male, between 35 and 45 years old."

“He may be a veteran or a former law enforcement officer with a prior robbery conviction, and there is a high probability that he has served time in prison and was only released a month ago.”

"He has a lot of charisma and can easily persuade Shotgun and Colt to follow his orders, abandon their original small-scale, low-risk survival crimes, and instead devote themselves to high-risk, high-reward strategic crimes."

“He’s very cautious.”

"He sent the shotgun and Colt to carry out the robbery, and he never showed his face."

The meeting room was silent.

After a while, a sound came from the doorway: "Uh... Ronnie (Ronald), you have a call."

Seeing everyone looking at him, the agent who had come to call Ronald to answer the phone for what seemed like the umpteenth time waved to him, gave Theodore a curious look, and then left.

Ronald snapped out of his daze, said nothing, and hurriedly left the conference room.

The meeting room returned to silence.

Mike and Andrew looked at Theodore with somewhat complicated expressions.

They didn't know if Theodore's analysis was correct, but they were certain that the investigation would follow this analysis.

But these analyses sounded so bold, so bold, that they were somewhat frightened.

Theodore was still staring at the list.

This case is far more difficult than any of Felton's cases.

He didn't release much profile information.

A few minutes later, Ronald returned to the conference room.

He glanced at Theodore and told everyone that the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Veterans Affairs Bureau had reached a conclusion.

After a morning of effort, they finally provided a list of robbers who had been released from prison in October (two months ago).

As for the others in the next few months, we'll have to wait.

Theodore pointed to the list from November (a month ago) and asked Ronald, "Can we just look at the list from June (six months ago)?"

"The earliest robbery involving shotguns and Colts occurred in May, and they were likely not released until June."

Ronald was silent for a moment, then gave a weak "hmm".

He pointed at Bernie: "Go talk to them and start investigating from June."

Andrew volunteered to help Bernie make the contact.

After the two left, Ronald asked Mike to go to the lab to retrieve the report.

Only Ronald and Theodore remained in the meeting room.

Ronald looked at Theodore with a very complicated expression.

He was certain that he had indeed taken on a huge problem!

…………

It was a bit chilly in DC in the afternoon.

The detectives were banging on the door of room 4203 on E Street in the Southeast District.

"I'm coming!"

A strong, resonant voice responded from inside the room.

The door was opened a crack, and a man with a fierce face peered out warily through the crack.

After seeing two detectives, one fat and one thin, standing outside the door, the door was opened.

Javier Morales?

The fat detective questioned.

Javier nodded: "It's me."

The skinny detective looked him up and down and asked, "You bought a Winchester M1912 pump-action shotgun six months ago, right?"

Javier shook his head in denial: "I didn't buy it."

The skinny detective turned to look at the fat detective.

The chubby detective turned and pointed down the corridor: "The contraband hidden in this apartment building could fill a whole truck."

"We're not here to search for contraband."

He stepped forward and placed his hand on the door: "Javier, we all know you bought that gun."

"Take it out and let us see it, so we know it's still in your hands, and we'll leave right away."

"Let's cooperate a bit and save everyone some trouble."

Javier stared at the fat detective with suspicion for a while, until he felt the force coming from the door increasing, before reluctantly nodding.

He turned and went back into the house, pulled a sawn-off Winchester M1912 pump-action shotgun from under the bed, and showed it to the two detectives.

The fat detective reached out to take it, but Javier warily dodged it.

Javier said in a low voice, "You've already seen it. It's right here."

The portly detective nodded and asked Javier, "Has it been lent to anyone else?"

Javier shook his head: "No."

He glanced at the sunlight streaming through the window, then turned and shoved the gun back under the bed: "I have to go to work."

The fat and thin detectives exchanged a glance and stepped aside.

The community environment in the southeast district is very complex, so they dare not go too far.

Javier put on another coat, locked the door, and left.

After leaving the apartment, he slipped into the alley next door.

After waiting a moment, the police car left. Javier returned to his apartment.

Instead of going home, he kept going upstairs and knocked on the door of a luxury apartment.

"coming."

A deep voice came.

A few dozen seconds later, the door opened, revealing a middle-aged man with a scarred face.

After seeing Javier, the man peeked out and looked around before stepping aside to let him in.

Upon entering, Javier glanced instinctively at the man's legs, then quickly looked away: "The police just found me."

(End of this chapter)