An Old Grudge chapter 2

This time, when they learned that Tom was the only eyewitness, Phil and Hill were delighted. They thought, “It won’t be difficult to get this coward to testify. Just scare him a bit, and he’ll tell us everything.” Sure enough, as soon as Tom was brought to the police station, he turned pale with fear.

Phil said, “Let me ask you one more time. Did you really not see the bandit pass by the small path in front of your house the night before last?”

“Well… I really didn’t see him, officer.”

Hill stepped forward, handed Tom a tissue to wipe the sweat off his forehead, and comforted him, “Old classmate, think it over carefully. After robbing the money, the bandit could only flee along the path by the river. Few people in the town go to that area. You’re the only one living by the river, and you’re the only one who could have seen him running away.”

“But… but officer, I was painting in my room the night before last. I really didn’t notice if he passed by. I’m… I’m very sorry. I don’t think I can help you.”

Hill thought, “This guy is probably painting those damned pictures again. I need to put more pressure on him.” So he said, “This is a major case. You should know the consequences of withholding information.”

More sweat broke out on Tom’s forehead, and his lips trembled a little. At this time, Phil also stepped forward and patted Tom on the shoulder. “I know you’re a coward. You were like this in middle school. But this time, you have to tell us what you saw. Otherwise, you’ll be in even bigger trouble. Let me give you a hint: Did you see Jack?”

Jack came to the town a month ago. No one knew where he came from. He was tall and burly, full of brute force. He liked to go around bare – chested, showing off the tattoos on his chest, and often got drunk and caused trouble on the streets. No one in the town dared to mess with him. Phil and Hill had long been looking for a chance to pick a fight with him.

Tom licked his lips and said, “Well, I did see a person the night before last. But I’m not sure who he was. It was so dark, and the person was far away. He seemed to be digging something on the muddy ground across the river. But I really don’t know if this person was Jack.”

“Was that person very tall?”

“Er… the figure was very blurry. I couldn’t see clearly. He seemed to be quite tall.”

“Then who else could it be but Jack? There’s no one in town taller than him.”

“Oh, you’re right. It might be Jack.”

Seeing that Tom had given in, Hill and Phil decided to go to the muddy ground across the river immediately to see what Jack was doing there. If they could dig out something related to the case, with both the witness and the evidence, Jack wouldn’t be able to deny it.

So, they asked Tom to wait at the police station and immediately drove their police car to the river.

When they got to the muddy ground, they started looking for evidence everywhere. It had rained the day before, and the ground was soft. Soon, they left a mess of footprints. After searching for a long time, they finally found a small branch stuck in the ground, which didn’t fit in with the surrounding environment. So they decided to start digging there. Sure enough, not long after, they dug out a white plastic bag. When they opened it, they found it was full of money. Phil and Hill were immediately excited and couldn’t wait to start counting. There was a full $700,000. They found two more suspicious branches and started digging desperately. In total, they dug out three bags, and the money in them added up to exactly $1.5 million! It turned out that Jack wasn’t digging for something but burying the stolen money.

“There’s $1.5 million here! We’ll never earn this much money in our lives!” Looking at the pile of money, Phil and Hill’s breathing became heavy, and their faces turned red. They looked at each other and immediately had the idea of keeping the money for themselves.

They started thinking about what to do next. First, Tom had to die. They wanted to kill the witness, and someone had to take the blame for the case. Phil said, “If we deliberately let Jack know that it was Tom who informed on him, and then accidentally loosen Jack’s handcuffs, and if Tom happens to enter the room where Jack is locked up, then…”

“The poor Tom will surely be torn to pieces by Jack!”

“Right. Then we’ll enter at the right time and shoot Jack. Shooting a criminal who is in the act of committing a crime is justifiable for two policemen.”