1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 248 It's not that I don't want to

The workers were very interested in how the list would be used.

A bearded worker asked Bernie directly:

"Hey buddy, what's this for?"

"Is it related to the salvage boat on the river a few days ago?"

He pointed in the direction of the Potomac River.

A river expert initially identified three salvage areas, one of which was near the shipyard.

Bernie did not respond.

Old Tom waved to the workers:
"Are you planning to stay here all afternoon and not leave?!"

"Get back to work, all of you!"

He glanced at Richard Dick Vaughn and his assistant, who were standing to the side, and gave the workers a pointed warning:
"If we don't go back now, we'll all be treated as absent without leave!"

The workers quickly understood and left, laughing and joking.

Before leaving, the bearded man leaned close to Bernie and whispered a question to him:
"I heard those salvage boats are for retrieving bodies. Have they pulled them up yet?"

Despite his rugged appearance, the bearded man was a curious child at heart, constantly bombarding Bernie with questions like a walking encyclopedia.

"Could it be related to the body that floated down the river the week before last?"

At this point, he suddenly realized:

"You're here to investigate that case, right?"

"The salvage boats circled around here for a day and then left, all heading to the southwest side of the tidal lake. I heard you guys spent the whole night salvaging there. How did it go? Did you find anything?"

"Is the murderer in here?"

"Is he one of our shipyard workers?"

Why did he kill someone?

Who was killed?

Bernie didn't say anything, he just patted him on the shoulder.

The bearded man was very dissatisfied with Bernie's performance and left muttering to himself under Old Tom's glare.

Old Tom covered the tarpaulin again, pointed in the direction the workers had left, and asked Theodore and the others:

"Any thing else?"

"If there's nothing else, I have a lot of work to do."

Theodore thought for a moment and then suggested that he borrow the workers' files again.

Old Tom looked puzzled:
"What do we need the files for?"

"Didn't we already see it?"

Despite asking this question, he gestured for the union representative to retrieve the files and confirmed with Theodore:
"Just these few people, right?"

The union representative stared at old Tom for a while, took the list from Bernie, and left with a lot of doubts.

He suspected that old Tom had been switched and that this one was an imposter.

Otherwise, why would they be so obedient to the FBI?
Since all the workers had been driven away, only the union representative was left to look for the files. Fortunately, the files had just been moved back and were just piled up on the table by the door, not yet filed, so finding them wasn't too difficult.

Billy Hawke tried to help, but was rejected by the union representative as if he were a thief.

Soon, more than thirty files were moved down by the union representatives and piled on the desk.

Old Tom checked the time; it was almost five o'clock.

He pulled the union representative aside and whispered instructions:
"I need to go to Dock 1; they'll be closing time soon."

He pointed to Theodore and the others:
"You stay here and keep an eye on them. Try your best to meet their requests, unless they are particularly unreasonable."

The union representative didn't speak, but just stared at him with suspicion and wariness in his eyes.

Old Tom didn't notice the change in the union representatives at all. He glanced at Theodore and his group, lowering his voice even further:

"Remember, they can only move around in my office. If they try to look around, you must stop them."

The union representative's expression became complicated, and after a moment of silence, he nodded in agreement.

Old Tom patted him on the shoulder and gave him his final instructions:
“And Richard Dick Vaughn and his lapdog, keep a close eye on them too.” “Don’t let them go upstairs.”

Bernie called out to old Tom, who was about to leave.

He caught up with Old Tom amidst his puzzled gaze:
"I will go with you."

Old Tom pointed outside:
"I'm going to the dock."

Bernie nodded:
"I know."

He took out his notebook and opened it; inside was the list he had just copied down:
“There are a few people here who are still working at the shipyard, and I want to talk to them.”

"And for those who have already left, I want to talk to their colleagues."

"To get to know them better."

Old Tom shook his head like a rattle:
"No, no!"

"Not just anyone can enter the shipyard."

"It's very dangerous there. You don't know anything about it, and it's easy to cause an accident."

"This is no joke!"

Bernie insisted:

"I only talk to the workers; I won't go near dangerous places."

Old Tom still refused:

"They're all working, who has time to chat with you?"

"It is easier to have an accident while working and chatting."

"No, no, you're not only unsafe for yourself, you could also cause accidents for others."

"Besides, don't you know we're rushing to fulfill a Navy order?"

"Everything in the shipyard is classified. What if it gets leaked?"

He took out an ID card, tucked it into his jacket pocket, and patted it.

"You can't just walk into the dock; you need a permit."

"You can't get in without a pass."

"I can't take you in either. The Navy has specifically assigned people to guard the entrance to the dock and check passes."

He gestured toward Richard Dick Vaughn, a hint of schadenfreude in his voice:
"He's always the one issuing the passes. He decides who's eligible and who's not. Go ask him for your pass."

Richard Dick Vaughn clarifies:
"I did review and issue the passes, but I wasn't the only one responsible for the approval."

"But Tom wasn't entirely wrong."

"It is indeed very dangerous on the dock."

“We are rushing to finish the project right now. If the workers talk to you while they work, it is easy for accidents to happen and endanger their personal safety.”

He glanced at the time and asked Bernie:

"There's only an hour and a half left before it's time to leave work. Can we talk to the workers after get off work?"

"I can arrange a quieter environment for you; it's too noisy here."

"Even if I help you contact the Navy to get the permit now, the earliest I can get it is tomorrow."

Richard Dick Vaughn wasn't too keen on Bernie being on the dock.

It was full of workers and navy personnel.

The appearance of FBI agents quickly attracts attention, sparks discussion, and then leads to speculation.

He had clearly heard those workers connect the dots to the murder case earlier in the parking lot, and no one knew what rumors they would spread when they got back.

This is completely contrary to his desire for a low-key approach, ideally ending the investigation quietly.

Old Tom laughed gleefully.

He wanted to pat Bernie on the shoulder, but because of the height difference, he had to give up and patted Bernie on the arm instead.

"You see, it's not that I don't want to take you, it's that he doesn't want you to go."

(End of this chapter)