1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 223 I only need two hours!

Theodore wasn't going to waste his time waiting there.

He asked the middle-aged man for a list of six staff members and prepared to drive to the Alexandria Pier in the old town.

The middle-aged man secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly asked his assistant to copy down the names of the six employees and give them to Theodore.

To get Theodore and his group to leave quickly, the middle-aged man thoughtfully offered to call the Alexandria docks in the old town and have the staff there leave the six employees at the company and not let them wander off, so they wouldn't be unable to find them when they arrived at the docks.

The sightseeing boat trip from Georgetown Pier to Alexandra Pier in the Old Town takes more than an hour, but the drive only takes forty minutes.

Theodore believed that if he were to drive, it would be even faster, thirty minutes would be enough.

Unlike Georgetown Pier, Alexandria Pier is a port with industry and water transport at its core.

Along the dock, there are numerous warehouses and cargo yards. Cranes and a large number of stevedores are busy shuttling back and forth, moving products from upstream factories into warehouses, and loading grains, fertilizers, and building materials onto cargo ships for transport to distant places.

In addition to small cargo ships and barges that connect with cargo ships, a large number of fishing boats catching herring, oysters and crabs are also moored at the dock.

From a distance, you can smell the fishy odor, the diesel fuel smell, and the smell of river water.

After parking their car, Theodore and his party quickly met with the cruise company's employees.

He was a young man with many freckles on his face, wearing the red and white uniform of the cruise company, which made him stand out in the dusty, industrial old dock.

The young man was very enthusiastic. After confirming the identities of the three people, he left and started chattering away as he introduced them.

He probably treated Theodore and his group like tourists.

The young man was a local of Alexandria and knew the Alexandria docks like the back of his hand.

After introducing the Alexandria docks, he pointed to the Alexandria Shipbuilding Company not far away and proudly introduced it.

According to him, the shipbuilding company's shipbuilding history dates back to the 18th century and played an important role during World War II, complementing the Washington Naval Shipyard.

The Washington Naval Shipyard builds large warships, while the Alexandria Shipyard builds auxiliary vessels and patrol boats, and also provides maintenance services.

The Alexandria Shipbuilding Company is the pride of Alexandria; in its heyday, at least half of the city's population worked for it.

However, after the war, the traditional shipbuilding industry in North America faced enormous pressure, with increasingly fierce competition from foreign shipyards.

A few years ago, the shipyard was acquired by Marina Industries, and its main business shifted from shipbuilding to repair and renovation. Occasionally, it also won contracts with the Emilyka Navy, the Army Corps of Engineers, or the Emilyka Coast Guard.

This change revitalized the shipyard.

The young man told everyone that he had heard that even a boiler repairman in a shipyard could earn tens of thousands of dollars a year.

However, boiler repairmen face immense pressure, as their work is crucial to the ship's power and the safety of hundreds of crew members.

A single weld failure or a pipe installation error could lead to a boiler explosion and catastrophic consequences.

The cruise company's office at the pier wasn't too far away; we arrived in no time.

The offices here are nowhere near as impressive as those at Georgetown Pier, which occupy an entire building.

They share a floor with a small freight company.

Led by the young man, they met the person they were looking for in the lounge.

Six middle-aged men were watching them anxiously.

Bernie stepped in to communicate with them and inquire about the passenger information for the early morning ferry on May 20.

The six men were silent for a moment, then the captain spoke first.

He stated that he was in the driver's seat the entire day and had no idea what was happening outside or how many passengers were there.

When sailing the early morning shift, his habit was to take a nap in the wheelhouse after docking. Once the ship was repaired, his engineer would wake him up and bring him breakfast.

After breakfast, the sailor who also works as a ticket inspector will come to inform him of the departure.

The engineer told Bernie that because he also worked as an engineer, he needed to inspect the ship after it docked, and he usually slept in the cabin on the early morning shift.

Like the captain, he knew nothing about the passengers.

The sailor claimed that although he worked part-time as a ticket inspector, his ticket checking work on the early morning ferry on May 20 was done by his photographer colleague.

He was busy with other things at the time.

Bernie glanced at him but didn't ask what the "other thing" was.

His gaze shifted to a short, long-haired young man.

He was the photographer colleague the sailors were talking about.

The scenery along the Potomac River is beautiful, and cruise companies naturally wouldn't miss such a good opportunity to make money.

For just $3.5, you can get a family photo with the Potomac River or its scenery as a backdrop, instantly.

This is an acceptable, albeit slightly extravagant, expense for middle-class families.

This business brings in more revenue for the cruise company than the ticket sales, second only to the small shops on board.

The long-haired youth didn't dare meet Bernie's eyes. He lowered his head and didn't speak for a long time:
"I didn't pay much attention."

“I didn’t even look at them.”

He pointed to the sailor who was also a ticket inspector:
"He told me that all I had to do was collect the tickets."

Billy Hawke found this strange:
"Didn't you see any passengers while you were checking tickets? What were you doing?"

The long-haired youth hesitated for a moment:
"I'm reading a new DC comic."

Seemingly to prove he wasn't lying, he recounted the contents of the comic he had read:
"...It is said that in the next issue of Detective Comics, two brand new characters will appear, who may team up with Mr. Freeze and become Batman and Robin's rivals."

This person is clearly a loyal DC Comics reader, talking non-stop about Batman, completely forgetting that he is facing three FBI agents.

Bernie glanced furtively at Theodore before interrupting the long-haired youth:

What happens after the boat sets sail?

The long-haired young man shrugged:
"No one asked me to take pictures that day, so I hid in the cabin and read comics."

The other two staff members were helping the sailors and selling goods in the cabin.

The early morning ferry business was slow that day; no one bought anything the entire time, and the salesperson slept on the counter the whole way.

Bernie, undeterred, asked them for details about the early morning ferry on May 20th.

Apart from the captain, everyone else was either sleeping or reading comics, paying no attention to what was happening on the river.

Even the captain didn't notice the bodies floating on the river.

He had sailed the Potomac River countless times; he knew that route like the back of his hand and could navigate it with his eyes closed, without even needing to look at the river.

…………

It was noon when Theodore and his two companions arrived at George Washington University.

They ate lunch at a restaurant outside the school before heading to the administration building to find the principal.

The president of George Washington University had provided significant assistance during the investigation of the Bonnie and Clyde impersonation case, and this time was no exception. After Bernie briefly explained the situation, the president quickly connected them with a professor in the geology department.

According to the principal, the professor is an expert specializing in hydrogeology near DC, and he is currently studying the Potomac River and the Anacastia River.

A dozen minutes later, the professor appeared in the principal's office.

The professor was unremarkable in appearance and looked like a Texas redneck.

He not only looks like a redneck, but his voice is also like a redneck's.

Upon entering, he loudly demanded to know what the principal wanted to see him about, urging him to hurry up so as not to delay his observation and recording of tidal movements.

The principal gave a brief introduction of both parties, and Bernie explained his purpose.

The professor's eyes lit up, and he immediately abandoned the matter of recording tidal movements.

Finding the source of the body in the water is far more interesting than any observation or record-keeping.

Bernie glanced at the professor, skeptical of his abilities, given that the professor seemed completely unrelated to the profession.

He turned to look at Theodore.

Theodore, oblivious to Bernie's gaze, was already explaining the corpse's trajectory to the professor:

"The body was found near East Potomac Park at around 7:43 a.m. on May 20."

“Around 8:50 a.m., the body was found between Cape Haynes Park and Cape Greenleaf, about 5 yards (4.5 meters) from the riverbank, and was almost stranded.”

"Detectives from the 7th Precinct of the DC Command attempted to push the body into Virginia waters with wooden sticks. Virginia State Troopers blocked the way with boats and pushed it back. After Maryland State Troopers joined in, the three parties used speedboats to create currents and engage in a game of cat and mouse. The body drifted repeatedly near the state border, generally moving in a southeast direction."

"Around 11 a.m., the body began to move in reverse, drifting northwest again, and eventually ran aground on the beach at the southernmost tip of Jones Point Park."

The professor's expression was somewhat strange.

Now he's more interested in the fact that the three law enforcement agencies are playing football by pushing a body across the river.

But considering Theodore and his companions' identities, the professor ultimately didn't dare to ask.

With a serious expression, he pretended to be completely uninterested in gossip, led everyone to his office, found a map and tossed it to Theodore, asking him to draw the movement trajectory.

He then began rummaging through drawers and cabinets, opening one after another of the crammed filing cabinets and pulling out boxes of forms.

These are all data that he personally observed and recorded day by day.

He needs to use this data to map the natural drift path of the body, eliminate the water flow interference caused by the three ships, calculate the two-way drift speed under the dominance of tides, and infer the drift trajectory of the body before it was witnessed.

This was a new challenge for the professor, as he had never done similar work before.

Theodore finished mapping the body's trajectory, handed it to the professor, and asked how long it would take to reach a conclusion.

The professor confidently took the map and glanced at it:
"One hour!"

“Two hours at most!”

He glanced at the time and waved to the group:
"You can go grab a coffee or take a break; the results will be out soon!"

Theodore was somewhat surprised.

He looked the professor up and down, his eyes filled with suspicion.

The professor's work involved a lot of data processing, especially building hydrological models. He could complete the model building in two hours without computer assistance, leading Theodore to suspect that the professor was an alien.

He turned to look at Bernie.

After seeing the professor's cabinet full of data registration forms, Bernie had dispelled his doubts about the professor and was now thanking him.

The professor waved his hand dismissively and lay down on the table to start calculating.

Theodore hesitated for a moment, then reminded the professor before leaving:
“We need a precise geographical location for the salvage operation. The degree of error in the geographical location you provide will directly affect the scale and cost of the salvage operation.”

The professor didn't even look up; he simply waved his hand again.

Two hours later, Theodore and his two companions returned to the office.

Several crumpled pieces of paper were scattered at the entrance.

File boxes were scattered haphazardly on the floor, and data registration forms were strewn all over the place, making it impossible to find a place to step.

The professor, who had been so confident not long ago, was now lying on the ground, with maps under him, as if he had gone mad, scribbling furiously on draft paper while muttering to himself.

Bernie leaned over the doorway and beckoned to the professor, asking about the results.

The professor sat on the ground, looking embarrassed, stammering and unsure how to explain.

He had no idea that calculating this would be so difficult.

He looked up and met Theodore's gaze, then awkwardly looked away.

The professor felt so embarrassed he almost fainted just thinking about how confident he had been two hours earlier, and Theodore's reminder.

Theodore stepped into the office, carefully avoiding the statistical tables on the floor, and picked up a map to look at it.

On the map, at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacasta rivers, there are six or seven irregular circles and some arrows with data he can't understand.

However, all of these were ultimately marked with a big "X".

He picked up a few more; the circles and arrows on them were all different, but without exception, they were all marked with an "X".
On some of the later maps, they were simply scribbled and scribbled haphazardly, and some maps were even torn apart.

The professor snatched the map from Theodore's hand:

"Um, I've run into a bit of trouble. I'll give you the results tomorrow afternoon."

Theodore looked at him with suspicion.

The professor, somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, raised his voice slightly:
"I mean it!"

To prove he wasn't exaggerating, the professor rummaged around under himself and found a recent map, which he then showed to Theodore:
"I have calculated the bidirectional drift speed under the influence of tides, look."

He shoved the map into Theodore's hands:

“退潮期流向东南向，参考平均流速为0.5-1节（约1-1.8 km/h），涨潮期流向西北向，逆流速度0.3-0.7节（约0.5-1.3 km/h）。”

"The problem now is that the water flow in this area is too complex."

"This is the confluence of the Potomac and Anacasta rivers, and it's also affected by the tides..."

The professor went on and on explaining, but Bernie and Billy Hawke were completely bewildered.

Theodore, however, was skeptical.

Bernie spoke up before Theodore could.

Open your notebook, write down the office number, tear it out, hand it to the professor, and ask him to calculate the result and notify them promptly.

The professor held the number, his face turning bright red.

He had planned to go to the site to see the results after calculating them, but now he just couldn't bring himself to say it.

(End of this chapter)