Hawk and Gwen didn't go straight to the apartment after leaving the hospital.
The two first went home, then drove the Audi A8 parked at the garage entrance, heading towards Stacy's Apartment.
Gwen has calmed down by now.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Gwen patted her chest: "Phew, that's great, Dad's okay. I was scared to death."
Hawk, who was driving, glanced sideways at Gwen.
"How about dying once?"
"What?"
Gwen's eyes widened, seemingly suspicious that she had heard wrong.
Hawk laughed and said, "After a rebirth, it's a full recovery, unlike now. George will have to lie in bed for at least half a month before getting up."
It's widely known.
Every time a Phoenix is reborn, its strength increases by a level.
Similarly!
If George were to die once and then reborn, he would directly fully recover.
He wouldn't have to lie in a hospital bed for several days like now.
Listening to Hawk's explanation, Gwen opened her mouth but then realized, and directly rolled her eyes at Hawk.
"Hawk."
"Hmm?"
"I don't want to talk to you anymore, you're so terrible."
"I'm sorry."
Hawk swiftly admitted his mistake, very quickly.
Before long.
They arrived at Stacy's Apartment neighborhood.
In sight.
Downstairs, a police car was parked with two patrolling officers inside.
"It's the Twenty-First District."
"Hmm, probably worried the shooter might come to the house."
After all, the shooter who shot George hasn't been found, and the motive is still unclear, so just in case, the precinct sent officers to the door to prevent the shooter who hasn't been caught from coming here, which is quite normal.
However, Hawk's Audi A8 is registered in the police system, and Gwen is also familiar with the officers of the Twenty-First District, so when Hawk and Gwen got out of the car, the two officers in the patrol car didn't show up.
Hawk and Gwen didn't specifically go to greet them either.
The top-floor apartment.
Normally playful Howard and Simon were obediently sitting on the sofa at this moment, watching TV, not horsing around like before.
Even the takeaway boxes previously delivered were neatly organized on the dining table.
Twelve-year-old Howard and eleven-year-old Simon know what has happened.
Dad was shot and is in the hospital.
Mom went to the hospital to accompany Dad, and the only thing they can do is obediently wait at home for news, without causing trouble for Mom.
When Hawk and Gwen opened the door and came in, Howard and Simon, who were sitting on the sofa absent-mindedly, had their eyes light up and stood up from the sofa.
"Sister!"
"Brother-in-law, how's Dad?"
"Don't worry, it's nothing serious."
Hawk looked at Simon, who was looking up at him, and smiled as he ruffled Simon's hair.
Howard also quickly looked to his sister Gwen.
Gwen nodded.
"Dad's okay."
"Phew!"
Howard sighed in relief and then looked at Gwen: "Can Simon and I go to the hospital to see Dad? We promise not to run around or talk recklessly."
Gwen laughed: "After dinner, when we go deliver food to Mom, you can come with us and then come back."
Upon hearing this, Howard and Simon smiled happily, finally believing Gwen and Hawk's words that their dad was okay.
They are young, not stupid; perhaps their learning talents aren't as good as their sister Gwen, but they are, after all, the sons of a sheriff, and they possess basic judgment ability.
Soon.
Completely reassured, the two little ones sat back down on the sofa, occasionally glancing at the clock on the wall, with a sense of anticipation for the evening.
Hawk and Gwen, meanwhile, went to George's study, planning to look around and see if they could find any useful clues.
But...
"Eh?"
"The door is locked?"
Gwen, as usual, held the doorknob, and when she pressed down to push the door, she suddenly paused, looking at the motionless study door, blinking at Hawk: "Dad locked the door."
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
"Is this strange?"
"Of course, Dad never locks the study door."
Although George often works overtime in the study after returning home, even so, George has never locked the study door.
Because even Howard and Simon know that without George's permission, they are not allowed in the study.
So George has never locked the study door.
Listening to Gwen's explanation, Hawk's mind stirred, and he disappeared from Gwen's sight.
The next second.
The study door was opened from inside by Hawk.
Gwen walked in, turned on the light, and glanced around the study: "There's no photo on the wall, why did Dad lock the door?"
Hawk also glanced around the study.
The study was very simply furnished.
Desk, computer, bookshelf—these made up the whole study.
Gwen spoke while walking directly to George's computer, turning it on.
Hawk's gaze landed on a piece of paper on the desk.
In sight.
The paper had a timestamp, the time being nine-thirty this morning, followed by the letters "BU."
George even drew two horizontal lines below these letters.
This indicated that it seemed to be important information.
After Hawk got Gwen's phone, he glanced at the already open computer, where Gwen skillfully entered the password to access George's desktop, and he raised his eyebrows: "You know George's study computer password?"
Gwen shrugged: "Of course, I know my dad's withdraw password, it's my birthday."
True enough.
Doting father, it's very normal.
Hawk thought to himself and called Detective Mahoney.
Detective Mahoney had already met up with Detective Hale and was looking at surveillance footage from a shop that might have captured the entrance and exit of the multi-story parking garage. He furrowed his brow.
"BU?"
"Yes, it should be the initials of the informant George was supposed to meet, or something like that."
Hawk and Detective Mahoney exchanged information, then looked at the timestamp on the paper: "By the way, what time did the Twelfth District report the shooting?"
"At nine thirty-five in the morning, the call center received the shooting code."
"Then that's correct."
Hawk's eyes lit up: "Whatever George went there to do, it's definitely related to BU."
Detective Mahoney frowned: "BU, I can't figure it out for now. Did George leave any other clues?"
Hawk said to wait a moment and looked at Gwen.
Gwen shook her head.
She had just looked around the computer, which contained many files, but they were mostly routine operational files.
Things like the district's budget, monthly crime data reports submitted to the main office, major incident reports, and some meeting minutes.
Hawk understood: "No, do you have anything on your side?"
Mahoney said: "There's no surveillance on the third floor of the parking garage, but Hale and I found a store that might have captured a photo of the gunman, and we're currently retrieving the footage."
While speaking.
Hale's voice sounded from behind.
Mahoney turned his head to look and then said into the phone: "Hale might have a discovery, I'll hang up for now."
Hawk agreed.
"Alright."
After hanging up the phone, Hawk returned the mobile to Gwen and once again looked towards the study.
But this time, it wasn't using the five senses to look.
It was using the Sixth Sense!
George, who never locked the study door before, had locked it this time, which only indicates one thing.
There must be a secret inside the study that George doesn't want anyone to discover.
Not even family.
But perhaps this isn't about guarding against family, it might be to protect them.
Sure enough.
When Hawk's gaze froze on the bookcase against the wall, he raised his eyebrows and then laughed.
The next second.
Under Gwen's gaze, he walked to the bookcase, opened it, and his eyes scanned the third row of shelves, before finding 'Constitution' and then pulling it forward.
Instantly, the sound of a click clack came from the bottom of the bookcase, and the originally wall-fixed bookcase began to move aside.
Sitting on the chair, Gwen, her mouth slightly open, walked to Hawk's side, watching the moving bookcase, gasped: "Hiss, how did I not know this bookcase could move?"
Hawk didn't speak, watching the moved bookcase, exposing a safe to view.
He glanced sideways at Gwen.
"Could this be using your birthday as the password too?"
"Try it."
Gwen recovered from her shock, walked to the safe, and turned the old-fashioned safe dial, entering her birthday password.
Ka-ching!
The safe opened in response.
Hawk raised his swordlike eyebrows.
Once again.
Doting father.
What was inside the safe was not wrong.
A few pieces of the Stacys' family heirloom jewelry, a loaded Glock 17 handgun, and beside it a full magazine of bullets.
Under the magazine was a dossier.
Gwen expertly checked the handgun, said, "Recently hasn't been fired," and stood up to stand with Hawk, looking at the dossier Hawk opened.
Into sight.
A photograph of a charred corpse appeared.
Hawk's expression remained calm.
Beside him, Gwen was a bit stunned, but didn't react much, just frowned?
"This corpse, why do I feel like I've seen it somewhere?"
"New York Times, Autos, that journalist."
Hawk responded to Gwen's query.
Gwen remembered too: "Was it the journalist found tied to a cross and burned to death on the Hudson River Shore before last Christmas?"
Hawk nodded.
This very case was the reason why George and Helen couldn't spend Christmas at Waterfall Town with them.
The burned corpse was called Autos, a quite renowned journalist within the New York Police Department.
But Autos' fame wasn't due to his professionalism.
Alright.
It was also his professionalism because his profession was to oppose the police department, with a particular fondness for digging up dirt on internal police corruption, especially those corrupt officers.
This was also why Detective Mahoney mentioned that George was under some pressure.
Because Autos wasn't well-liked.
At least, he wasn't well-liked by the New York Police Department, so for most of the department, his death was actually regarded as a good thing.
But George was different.
He was a detective, a very pure one.
Thus.
George, indeed, secretly continued investigating this case.
...