The Game of Death chapter 2

“That’s right, it’s him!”

“Do you think he’s still alive?”

“I’m sure he’s alive!”

“That’s probably impossible,” Captain Johnson closed his notebook. “When we found this man, he looked dead. There was no pulse, and his breathing had stopped. The doctor just examined him and confirmed his death. The cause of death was a heart attack. His body is now in the morgue, waiting to be cremated – so your worry is unfounded. Go home and have a good rest…”

What? In the morgue, waiting to be cremated? Tom was in a hurry now. “I’m telling the truth. I saw this man’s medical card in his password – protected suitcase…”

“Password – protected suitcase? We didn’t find any password – protected suitcase on him…” Captain Johnson looked at Tom suspiciously. “What’s going on exactly?”

Oh no! Only then did Tom realize that he had let the cat out of the bag. At this point, he had no choice but to tell the truth.

“I took the password – protected suitcase,” Tom said dejectedly. “At that time, I thought the man was dead, and the things were useless to him. Now I only have one request: Find an experienced doctor quickly!”

Captain Johnson looked at Tom thoughtfully and then picked up the phone. “Is that you, Officer Lee? Is the body that was just brought in still here? It’s still here? Great!” He put down the phone and said to Tom, “Please come with me.”

Tom followed Captain Johnson out of the reception room and walked outside. Soon, they came to a dark corridor. Captain Johnson opened a frosted glass door and led Tom into a basement.

“Come here,” Captain Johnson said.

Captain Johnson pulled open a freezer and pulled off the sheet covering the body.

“Do you know this man?” Captain Johnson asked.

Tom swallowed hard and summoned up the courage to take a look. Just one look, and Tom was confused. “No, no. It’s not him. He’s not John Smith!” The man in the freezer had a thin face and a blue birthmark beside his nose. He wasn’t the middle – aged man Tom had seen!

“John Smith? Of course he’s not. His name is Jack Brown. We’re old acquaintances,” Captain Johnson looked at Tom in surprise.

“Old acquaintances?”

“Yes. Jack Brown is a habitual thief. We’ve arrested him many times. This time, he committed a crime near Elmwood Lane and had a heart attack while running away. It’s all his own fault,” Captain Johnson said seriously.

Tom started to tremble all over and murmured, “This can’t be true, it can’t be…” If the man lying here was Jack Brown, then where was John Smith? Was he alive or dead? Tom was completely deflated.

Back at the police station, facing the solemn words “Tell the truth and get leniency; resist and get severe punishment” on the wall, Tom nervously told the whole story in detail.

After listening, Captain Johnson frowned. “This thing is getting a bit complicated.” It seemed that they had to find the man called John Smith to solve the mystery. Under Captain Johnson’s arrangement, everyone split up and started to act.

The detectives first searched for the jewelry company where John Smith worked according to the address on the card, but soon found that it was a fake address. Captain Johnson then called Dr. David Brown, but the person on the other end told him that Dr. Brown was on vacation in Hawaii. Captain Johnson asked if the person knew a patient named John Smith, and the answer he got was that he had never heard of this person.

At this time, Captain Johnson’s assistant had accompanied Tom to bring the password – protected suitcase back to the police station. After appraisal, the jewelry in the suitcase was all fake and not worth much. Tom was very angry. He never expected that he had been deceived. It was no wonder. At that time, when Tom saw so much jewelry at once, he was overjoyed and didn’t bother to carefully distinguish its authenticity!

Just when the case was at a dead end, a detective came in and reported that a TV director at the door wanted to explain the situation. TV station? Tom was even more confused. Captain Johnson thought for a while and waved his hand, signaling to let him in quickly.

After entering the door, the director introduced himself as Mr. Davis. He asked to play a video first and then explain this case. Then, the cameraman with him took out the tape from the camera and played it on the police station’s equipment.

Everyone was shocked after watching the video: On the screen, there clearly appeared the scene of Tom taking the middle – aged man’s password – protected suitcase in Elmwood Lane. After the video finished playing, Mr. Davis explained apologetically that actually, this was a new program launched by the TV station to increase the ratings. The theme was to test how an ordinary person would react when faced with a large amount of wealth.

To enhance the authenticity of the program, the cameraman secretly filmed the person being tested without his knowledge. The so – called John Smith was actually played by an actor, and of course, the jewelry was just worthless fakes. According to the shooting plan, when Tom took the password – protected suitcase, Mr. Davis should have come out of his hiding place to explain the truth to him, but they didn’t expect Tom to run as fast as a rabbit, and the TV station staff just couldn’t catch up with him. Just when Mr. Davis didn’t know whether to continue shooting, new situations such as the habitual thief Jack Brown getting sick and Tom’s return occurred. Mr. Davis immediately decided to take advantage of the situation and film the whole process.

The truth was out. Tom hung his head in懊恼. Mr. Davis patted him on the shoulder and said, “Tom, your actions have taught us a lesson. If you agree, we’d like to make a documentary about what happened to you. I’ve even thought of the title, ‘The Death Game’. How about it?”

“That’s a good idea,” Captain Johnson chimed in. “But Mr. Davis, doesn’t your way of making the program seem to disrupt public order? Regarding this issue, I’d like you to stay first, and we’ll have a detailed talk…”

“Ah?” Mr. Davis was stunned…