Chapter 10: Hiding
There is a restaurant and a cafe on Berning Street. There is a 50-centimeter-wide staircase between the restaurant and the cafe. Going up the stairs is the Rose Detective Agency. The detective agency is not small. The upstairs of the cafe is the office, with old-fashioned single sofas, wall clocks, bookshelves, fireplaces, rocking chairs, and antique styles. The upstairs of the restaurant is the reception area, with modern sofas, coffee tables, toilets, and a lounge with reclining chairs of about ten square meters.
Assuming that he could not find a job within a month, Liang Xi decided to move to the detective agency and lower his expected salary to 2,000 pounds. Selling the detective agency was impossible, at least when John was alive, Liang Xi would not consider selling the detective agency.
To be honest, Liang Xi likes the detective agency very much. He especially likes to sit in a rocking chair by the fireplace, drink a cup of hot tea and hold a book by the firelight. But such a life will not only make people addicted, but also degenerate, and make Liang Xi a stay-at-home. Without making money, Liang Xi is not qualified to be a stay-at-home.
Another week passed, and not only did no recruitment calls come in, the detective agency also had no business. Liang Xi, who was living off his savings, even walked 10 kilometers to John's house for lunch in order to exercise, and then walked another 10 kilometers back to the detective agency to continue submitting resumes. This time he changed his strategy: applying for part-time jobs. He threw his resume at jobs that paid 10 pounds per hour.
After handing out flyers, ugh! and resumes, there was a long-lost knock on the door at the stairs.
Liang Xi opened the door and the person who came in was a man in his 50s. The man took off his hat when he saw Liang Xi, and Liang Xi noticed that he had a Bluetooth headset hanging on his left ear. The man asked, "Is John here?"
If he was John's old customer or friend, he would know that John had rarely come to the detective agency in the past few years and could only be contacted by phone when needed. Obviously, this man was not a regular customer. Liang Xi invited him to step in and replied: " John has retired. Can I help you?"
The man looked at Liang Xi with some doubt. He was eight feet tall, with a childish face and experienced eyes. It was hard to tell how capable Liang Xi was. But the man didn't think about it for long and said, "Of course."
"Please come in." Liang Xi led the guest to the reception room and sat down.
The guests didn't waste any words. After they sat down and introduced themselves to each other, the guest who called himself Richard said, "I'm looking for something."
Liang Xi placed the mineral water in front of the guest and asked, "What is it?"
Richard explained the situation. He was a lawyer for a company called Screw Company. The Screw Company had a factory in the London industrial area, where it mainly produced large screws. Not far from the factory was a 17-story apartment building, which was the dormitory for the workers. A golf club took a fancy to the site of the Screw Company and bought the land.
According to the plan, the screw company will move the factory and company to the Manchester Industrial Zone, and the apartment building will be demolished in three days. Richard wants Liang Xi to find something in the apartment building.
Richard himself didn't know what the thing looked like, so he said, "A storage device. It could be a mobile phone card , a flash memory, a mobile hard drive, or a discarded computer. As long as you connect the thing to the right storage device, an interface for entering a password will appear, with a small sailboat on it."
Liang Xi thought Richard was not telling the truth, so he said sincerely: "Richard, in a 17-story apartment with a lot of household garbage left, it is almost impossible to find something you can't even describe clearly. You should tell me more information."
Richard thought for a while and said, "Okay, it's a storage device that stores the financial information of the screw company. By selling the land in London and buying the land in Manchester, the company engaged in a legal tax avoidance behavior. This behavior was misunderstood as tax evasion."
The person who misunderstood was a deputy financial director named Cai Wu, a 33-year-old woman who lived on the 15th floor of the apartment building. After Cai Wu got the evidence, she did not call the police, but blackmailed the screw company. The screw company sent someone to negotiate with Cai Wu, and Cai Wu told the screw company that the stuff was in the apartment building, and she could immediately take people to get the evidence after paying. And she promised that no one else would know about this.
The two sides discussed the price, and because the expected amount of both parties differed by one digit, Cai Wu gave the screw company three days to let the company think it over before contacting her. She didn't want to waste time. But unexpectedly, Cai Wu was killed in a car accident on the way back to the apartment. The screw company dispatched personnel to spend three days without finding anything. Three days later, all the employees had moved out of the apartment building, and the demolition company took over the apartment building. After a week of measurement and calculation, the demolition company will install explosives and demolish the apartment building in three days.
Therefore, the screw company asked a lawyer to find professional assistance. Richard had asked John to handle a case more than ten years ago, so he came to him today.
Richard said, "We can provide detailed information about the former residents of the apartment building, including the residence of Cai Wu's friend in the company. However, we did not obtain the consent of the Explosives Demolition Company. If you enter the apartment building to look for items and are caught, the Screw Company will never admit it. From a professional lawyer's perspective, I can tell you that it is not a big problem. Because the apartment building you invaded is under the management of the Explosives Demolition Company. If a case is filed to investigate your illegal invasion, the apartment building cannot be demolished on time."
Haha! Isn't that funny? When someone threatens your company and they can't find the stuff, not only are you not happy about it, you mobilize everyone in your company to look for it, as if you're afraid that not enough people know about it? Now you've even hired a detective to try every possible way to find it.
Liang Xi said in embarrassment: "I am a detective. I will not do anything illegal."
Richard said nothing, unzipped his briefcase, and placed a stack of 50-pound notes on the coffee table. "Five thousand pounds as a down payment. If you can find what we need, you can get another ten thousand pounds."
We? Liang Xi is very good at capturing details. From what Richard said about us, Liang Xi knew that Richard was not alone. Therefore, Richard and his group must have tried to search the apartment. Because the apartment building is about to be demolished, they are desperate to try any possible means. This money can be taken, but it is also impossible to take it. The key is how to operate it. If you think that after taking the 5,000 yuan advance payment, you can just lie down and sleep, then you are wrong.
Liang Xi thought for a while and said, "I don't need an advance payment. I want 50,000 pounds after I find the thing."
Liang Xi raised the price and waited for the other party to pay him back. But unexpectedly, Richard agreed immediately: "Deal."
Richard took out a business card with only a phone number and a website. "The information is on this website. The download password is six sixes. Call this number after you find the information. By the way, you are the only one who knows about it."
Liang Xi half-jokingly asked, "You guys didn't set a trap in the apartment building to dig out the kidneys, did you?"
Richard was startled: "Ah? What?"
Liang Xi smiled and said, "It's okay, it's just a detective's joke."
