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August 17th.
The weather in New York is still hot, and Hoover Avenue is still congested.
Brooklyn is sitting on a chair, wearing a dark blue suit and expressionless.
In front of him is a row of seven investigators from the Judicial Conduct Committee.
They are conducting the final round of questioning in the investigation into "possible misconduct by Judge Brooklyn Lee", face to face.
The atmosphere on the scene is a bit tense, with a strong smell of gunpowder.
For the past five hours, Brooklyn has been sitting on the chair, answering questions from the seven people one by one.
The long and intense mental effort has made Brooklyn slightly dizzy.
Inquiry and interrogation are actually similar. Both are about digging out the unspoken words hidden by the person being questioned, the only difference lies in the roughness or gentleness of the means.
Brooklyn is not willing to yield easily. Fighting alone against seven people quickly drained his energy, his face turned pale, and he had to retreat.
The investigative team, who had gained some insights, did not want to make things difficult for Brooklyn and announced the end of the inquiry immediately. He could leave now.
Brooklyn breathed a sigh of relief and joked with the seven people, "God bless, I better never see you guys again."
"That's up to you, Mr. Brooklyn."
The investigative team immediately retorted.
As Brooklyn left, the investigative team began to pack up their materials.
"God bless, I don't want to come here again, this damn weather. It's still so hot."
...
...
The investigation team has left.
Brooklyn quietly waits for the final result.
On August 19th, the New York Police Department held a press conference to announce the completion of the investigation into the second team of the Homicide.
Brooklyn watched the live broadcast of the press conference at home through the internet.
[TLN: the name will now be changed to Homicide Unit, I will be going back to change it from previous chapters]
The plump spokesperson publicly read out the investigation results, stating that multiple members of the second team had engaged in illegal activities such as abuse of power, dereliction of duty, and accepting bribes during their long-term operations. The prosecutor's office is currently gathering evidence and will soon submit it to the court for formal prosecution.
After the spokesperson finished reading the results, there was a sea of raised arms below, and the reporters began to ask questions, causing the entire press conference to become noisy.
Brooklyn looked at the calm NYPD commissioner on the screen and felt admiration.
This commissioner handles things crisply and decisively, without showing any mercy.
After hearing the results, Brooklyn did not continue to watch the live broadcast. He called David.
"What's up?"
David's side was a bit noisy, and it sounded like he was at the press conference.
"Can you arrange a meeting with your commissioner? Today if possible," Brooklyn asked bluntly.
Brooklyn realized that he had to meet with the swift and decisive NYPD commissioner as soon as possible.
Otherwise, the next one to face the thunderous fury may be oneself!
"When? "
"Tonight would be best."
"Okay."
David agreed and hung up the phone.
Brooklyn liked David as a friend for this reason.
He had just experienced Selena's murder and David's help to Brooklyn at this time was like a timely help.
And when Brooklyn asked David to do something, he never asked for the reason.
This made Brooklyn's mood complicated.
David's response came quickly.
"Today may not work, Brooklyn."
The environment was not as noisy this time, and David's voice came through clearly.
"The boss has a party at work and can't get away."
Brooklyn's heart sank, and his face turned dark.
What does that mean?
"The boss says he appreciates your help."
David seemed to realize that something was off, and said carefully.
After a while, David tentatively asked,
"Brooklyn? Are you there?"
"Um, I'm here."
Brooklyn sat on the couch, rubbing his forehead and chewing on this sentence repeatedly, his brain turning quickly.
Appreciate his help?
What help did he give?
Did he rescue the second group?
Or is this just a sarcastic remark?
Is this the director's declaration of war?
[TLN: how did we jump to these conclusions?]
Brooklyn was unsure and could only speculate with the worst intentions.
"David, have you been able to reach Ray yet?"
Brooklyn shifted his focus and asked.
"I asked someone to inquire, but there's some trouble on Ray's end."
When it came to his friend, David's voice became more serious.
"He might receive a dishonorable discharge."
Brooklyn frowned and asked, "Why? Was he injured? Did he become disabled?"
The Army had this tradition. To reduce the number of subsidies they give, they would allow soldiers to bully disabled soldiers. When the disabled soldiers could no longer tolerate the humiliation and retaliated, an investigation would immediately be launched
The benefits that dishonorable discharge veterans can receive are pitifully small, and many soldiers suffer from PTSD. To ensure their families' safety, they often choose to run away from home and become homeless, or buy a gun and become a thug.
When David mentioned dishonorable discharge, Brooklyn immediately thought of these things.
"No, he wasn't injured," David's answer made Brooklyn breathe a sigh of relief, then he asked with confusion, "Then why did he leave?"
"He wanted to come back and be a character witness for you, so he refused to go on a mission."
This answer surprised Brooklyn. He thought for a moment and sighed.
He had never met Ray, they were complete strangers. Ray had not provided any substantial help to him. But he couldn't refuse this favor.
Brooklyn wasn't stupid, he knew how rare friends like Ray were. Such friends could be the ones to save your life, only a fool would give up on that.
"It's okay, David, you can try to contact him. If he's not doing well in the military, let him come back."
"I need someone to help me," Brooklyn continued, "Selena was my judge's assistant, but now she's dead. I need someone I can trust to take her place."
"Your investigation results haven't come out yet, have they?" David asked.
"I think it'll be fine," Brooklyn confidently replied, "even if there's a problem, I can find someone early on. Worst case scenario, I'll just have to make them a lawyer assistant."
"They don't need to know much about the law, just help me with the procedures. You know, David, once the investigation results come out, I'll have to deal with three months of work from the past. Without an assistant, I can't handle it."
"What do you think about Ray?" David asked after some hesitation.
Brooklyn raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, "Ray?"
"In terms of ability, of course, he can. If that woman Selena could do it, why can't Ray?" Brooklyn said.
"But does Ray want to?" David asked.
"I'll talk to him," Brooklyn said, but David didn't promise anything.
Brooklyn caught a detail in David's words. Ray's situation was not optimistic!
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