1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 245 Pikachu is great!

The poker game that Stan Watson described was organized by a group of underground brothel owners and well-known pimps.

There were only seven people involved.

The card game was upstairs in Eddie's bar.

When they arrived, everyone else was already playing.

With Stan Watson vouching for him, Bernie received a warm welcome.

One of the pimps even invited Bernie to come with him after the card game, saying he would take Bernie to enjoy the best girls in Southwest DC.

Someone nearby introduced Bernie, explaining that the girl working for this pimp had attended parties for politicians and was one of the highest-priced girls on M Street.

Bernie humbly agreed, but what he was really thinking was, "Why do all the councilors like to come to the Southwest District to find girls?"

He did not immediately sit down at the table to participate in the card game, nor did he rush to inquire about the missing prostitute.

He watched a few rounds from the sidelines to understand the rules, and only joined in after being repeatedly invited by everyone.

Stan Watson voluntarily gave Bernie half of his chips, which amounted to about four or five hundred dollars.

They were playing a game called "Five Card Draw".

Each player is dealt five cards. After a round of betting, players can choose to exchange up to three unwanted cards from their hand before making a final bet and showing their cards to determine the winner.

This is the most popular game in DC private poker games. Players can chat while playing, making it perfect for social poker games. The atmosphere is much more relaxed than Texas Hold'em or Stud Poker.

As they chatted and played games, Bernie experienced both wins and losses, but quickly integrated into the group after several rounds.

He has extensive experience before joining the police force, so he can easily connect with these people.

Stan Watson was pleased with this, believing that he had indeed made the right choice in the man.

Halfway through the game, Bernie became more familiar with everyone and started winning more than he lost.

He began to steer the conversation, and soon the topic turned to the disappearing prostitutes.

By the end of the game, Bernie had acquired dozens of prostitute nicknames.

After exchanging his chips, he followed Stan Watson back to the car and returned all the money he had won, including interest, to Stan Watson.

Stan Watson was somewhat displeased.

Bernie explained to him that the FBI has strict requirements for agents' recreational activities, even during rest periods.

If he takes the money tonight and the bureau finds out, he might be suspended from his duties.

Stan Watson gave him a deep look and accepted the money.

Bernie took out his notebook, wrote down the names of the prostitutes, and asked Stan Watson to help investigate.

Stan Watson readily agreed.

…………

Monday morning, May 29th.

Theodore contacted Richard Dick Vaughn's assistant to confirm that the list had been obtained.

The three drove to the shipyard.

On the way, Bernie introduced the bowling league members he had recruited from other departments:

"The first one is Vincent R. Lombardi."

According to information gathered by Bernie, Agent Lombardi was a full member of their team last year.

The reason they weren't selected this year is because their team submitted the list early on, but at the time, Agent Lombardi was handling a cross-state case.

Agent Lombardi needs to be out and about frequently, which may cause him to miss the race.

After discussion, their team had no choice but to reluctantly abandon Agent Lombardi.

Last week, Detective Lombardi's case saw an unexpected breakthrough, and the suspect was successfully apprehended.

Last Saturday night, Bernie ran into Agent Lombardi in the neighborhood and abducted him.

Bernie and Billy Hawke took the bowling league very seriously, conducting a thorough information gathering process on the new members, making it seem like they were investigating a case.

Bernie described in detail the results of his communication with Byrne through various channels.

Billy Hawke approved of the choice.

Bernie looked at Theodore and asked for his opinion.

Theodore wasn't very interested in the game, so he naturally had no objection to the player selection.

Bernie then introduced the second player:
"The second is Joseph Benedict Byrne of the Violent Crimes Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department."

Joseph Benedict Bourne was recommended to Bernie by Agent Lombardi.

Agent Lombardi told Bernie that Joseph Benedict Byrne's skills were no worse than those of the regular members selected by their violent crime unit.

These two people weren't actually close; they just knew each other. However, they were both bowling enthusiasts and often went to the DuPont Bowling Centre with friends to play bowling. They had met a few times and played bowling together a few times.

Bernie made a special call to Ronald Scott in Chicago for a detailed consultation regarding Joseph Benedict Byrne's bowling techniques.

Agent Lombardi only hung out with Bourne a few times, but Ronald Scott often did. The two worked next to each other and were very familiar with each other.

Ronald Scott confirmed that Byrne's skills were indeed excellent; when they went out together, he almost never lost.

Billy Hawke was more satisfied with this choice than with Agent Lombardi.

Bernie then introduced the third member:
"The last one is Martin Joseph Cronin."

Billy Hawke, recalling the eccentric lab guy he'd recently met, wondered if he'd misheard:

"Who?"

Bernie repeated:

"Martin Joseph Cronin".

Billy Hawke wonders:

"Did he play well?"

Bernie shook his head:
"It's not bad, but it's said that Cronin was involved in the design of the data model in the lab."

Billy Hawke immediately changed his stance, from skepticism to support, praising Bernie's skill in wielding the hoe and saying that it was amazing to find such talent.

With the roster finalized, the two then had a thorough discussion and exchange on tactics, training, and other pre-match preparations.

This discussion continued until they reached their destination, at which point it had to end.

The Chevrolet had barely stopped at the shipyard gate when the security guard opened the gate and waved to them with a smile before Bernie could even take out his ID.

As the car entered the shipyard, the familiar smell of rust, paint, and river water hit us. The loud riveting and hammering sounds made it impossible to talk.

An assistant quickly appeared and led the three of them upstairs to their private office.

The registration records for the waste storage area have been moved, but a faint musty smell still lingers in the air.

Apart from that, everything remained exactly as they had left it yesterday, except for three bulging file folders on the conference table.

The file folder contained the three lists that Theodore and his team needed.

Theodore opened all three file folders and looked at them, only to find that the number of people on the list was not as many as his assistant had said yesterday.

423 employees left the company within two years.

47 employees were held accountable for the accident.
73 employees were demoted or otherwise disciplined.

The list contains very limited information. Besides basic details such as employee name, employee number, department, and position, only brief corresponding information is provided for each employee. The list of departing employees only includes the date of departure and the reason for leaving.

The reason for leaving the company was written very simply, mainly as "voluntary resignation", with a few blanks in between.

Theodore glanced through the list and found no other reasons for leaving besides these two.

The list of employees held accountable for various reasons only retains the date and type of the accident.

Most of the accident types were registered as fires or operational errors, with occasional blank entries.

As for the details of the accident and its consequences, there is absolutely no information available.

The list of employees who were demoted is even simpler, with all the reasons for the disciplinary action marked with a '/'.

Theodore showed the blank spaces and '/' to his assistant, puzzled, and asked what they meant.

The assistant explained:

“We spent a lot of time communicating with the union, but the union still refused to agree to lend the books.”

"Mr. Vaughn personally talked with several council members and representatives of the union until after 10 p.m. before the union reluctantly agreed to allow us to copy the employee files."

"But they also made a demand: they only allowed us to copy these few types of brief information, and they also wanted to send someone to supervise the whole process."

"After we finish copying, we have to send it to them for inspection."

"Time was too tight, so we had to copy everything exactly as it was written in their documents."

"I don't know what this mark means either."

Billy Hawke pursed his lips and asked Theodore what to do next.

These three lists are far from what they envisioned.

In their initial plan, the list should at least include a brief description of the accident and specific disciplinary information, and at the very least, the employee's address or contact information.

The assistant was somewhat embarrassed:

"This morning Mr. Vaughn spoke with several union directors again, requesting more detailed employee files. The union is discussing it and should have a result soon."

Theodore shook the list in his hand and asked a question:

"What if the union doesn't agree to let us access the detailed files?"

The assistant fell into a brief silence.

He opened his mouth as if to defend himself, but considering the deep-seated conflict between the shipyard and the union, he could only say, "Mr. Vaughn will discuss this with the union's directors again."

Theodore shook his head, not intending to pin his hopes on Richard Dick Vaughn being able to persuade the union to suddenly change its mind or take pity on them.

He asked his assistant:

Where is the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)?

He hopes to identify employees on the list who have registered pickup trucks or large station wagons by checking their vehicle registration records.

The assistant pointed southwest:
"In Richmond."

Theodore pressed further:
"How to go?"

The assistant gestured:
“Just drive along I-95 Southern Freeway, it’s less than 100 miles long, and it should take about two hours to get there.”

Theodore glanced at Bernie, expressing his skepticism.

If he were to drive, it would probably take two hours for the round trip.

He began to silently calculate the time.

Bernie and Theodore exchanged glances for a moment, then Bernie asked his assistant:

"Is this the office of the Motor Vehicles Authority in Alexandria?"

The assistant nodded:
"Yes, it's located next to the city hall, in a large office on the second floor of the city office building in the southwest corner. It's easy to find."

After confirming that the shipyard could not provide much assistance in the short term, Theodore asked his assistant to make two copies of the list before leaving the shipyard.

The assistant apologized, saying that they would notify the union as soon as they agreed.

Theodore neither confirmed nor denied this.

The Chevrolet stopped in front of the city hall, and the three of them went up to the second floor. They quickly understood why the assistant had said the Department of Motor Vehicles office was easy to find.

On the entire second floor, only one office door was crowded with people; a rough estimate puts it at least thirty.

These people are here to register their vehicles.

At that time, vehicle registration was still one of the important sources of revenue for state governments. The United States implemented an annual registration system, which means that registration was done once a year and each registration was valid for one year.

To ensure that people are dispersed and do not crowd at the same time, most states use a birthday registration system.

In other words, the registration validity period of a vehicle ends on the owner's birthday.

For the first registration, it will continue until the owner's next birthday.

Theodore pushed through the crowd, showed his credentials, found the manager of the DMV office, and explained his purpose directly.

The supervisor looked at the thick list and his face stiffened.

He wanted to refuse, but when he thought of the surname on the document, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Bernie approached the supervisor and suggested that, if permitted, a staff member could be sent to take them to the archives so they could look through the records themselves.

The manager's smile immediately became much more natural.

Led by a young man, the three arrived at the basement of the municipal building, where they were allowed to pass after a thorough inspection.

The basement contains a large amount of paper documents; open flames are strictly prohibited.

After the inspection, the group registered. After passing through a heavy door, a faint smell of book pages mixed with a damp atmosphere wafted towards them.

The young man explained to the crowd that the DMV's archives are arranged alphabetically by last name and first name.

Theodore divided the list into four parts, and each person took one and began searching through the bookshelves.

He quickly found a worker's registration record for Frankie Scalise.

Upon opening it, it was discovered that it contained not only vehicle information but also the owner's residential address and date of birth.

Frankie Scalise, a worker born on November 17, 1940, is 21 years old and lives on an old street next to the shipyard. He recently registered a red, second-hand Ford pickup truck.

Theodore copied his age and vehicle information after his name with a pen, then crossed it out.

A dozen minutes later, he circled the name of a worker named Tony.

Tony is 38 years old and owns a pickup truck.

Half an hour later, Theodore put down the registration record for the third worker and circled his name.

He found records for three workers, all of whom registered their vehicles as pickup trucks.

Theodore halted the work.

He stared at Bernie with a suspicious look for a moment, then left the archives and headed to the Alexandria Police Department.

The director warmly received them and inquired about the progress of the case investigation, expressing his regret for not being able to help before.

Theodore immediately offered the director a chance to make amends.

He handed over the list and asked to borrow a few internal affairs officers to help him find the vehicle registration records.

(End of this chapter)