Chapter 18
“Honey is that you? Are you back?” The middle-aged housewife held a large bag of groceries in her arms, carefully pulled out the key, put it in the box beside the door, and closed the door gently, “Honey?”
No one responded. The housewife leaned against the door and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She walked through the living room as quietly as possible, bowed her body, and tiptoed into the kitchen. After placing the groceries on the ground, she turned around. Behind the third drawer to the right of the oven, the housewife bent her body, with her entire arm stretched into the innermost drawer, rummaging something anxiously.
When she stood up, she already had a gun in her hand!
What kind of people would hide a gun in their kitchen?!
Okay, now this housewife with a panicked expression and a trembling hand was such a person.
She moved slowly, heading towards the backyard. Just before entering the house, she saw someone flashed past her backyard! As she moved closer to the back, her heart beat faster and faster…
“Mrs. Coulson.”
“Ah!” The housewife shouted, jumped up like a frightened rabbit, and the gun in her hand fell in fright!
“Oh! Don’t scare me like that! “Mrs. Coulson pressed her hands on her chest, bent over, and looked at her husband’s new partner in shock, “don’t ever approach someone without a sound!”
James expressionlessly watched as Mrs. Coulson picked up the gun from the ground. “Is Detective Coulson home?”
The kitchen door to the backyard was pushed open. Detective Coulson looked at his wife and James in surprise. He quickly snatched the gun from his wife, put the safety back on, “honey, what are you doing!”
Seeing her husband, Mrs. Coulson was finally relieved. She threw herself into her husband’s arms, “I saw a figure flashing past the yard! I thought it was some bad guys!”
Detective Coulson patted his wife’s back and gave James a look, meaning ‘Go away! We need privacy!’ James took a fruit on the kitchen table and entered the backyard.
“That’s the witness of the case I am working on.” Coulson comforted his wife: “Why didn’t you call me?”
Mrs. Coulson pushed away Coulson, “I called! I shouted ten thousand times! You did not answer me! What were you doing! Why didn’t you answer me!”
Although Coulson knew that “ten thousand times” was a very exaggerated metaphor, now it was not time to mind about these details, “Sorry, honey. I didn’t hear it.”
Mrs. Coulson glared at her husband, turned around, and started sorting the groceries she had put down. The only difference between uneasiness and feeling safe was whether Coulson was present. Except for having a deadly weapon in the kitchen, this looked like a very happy family.
Mrs. Coulson looked at her watch. It was two o’clock in the afternoon. While sorting out the groceries, she asked her husband, “Why did you come back at this time? I didn’t see your car.”
“Uh.” Coulson touched his nose. This case was not officially recorded, so the public resources of the police station couldn’t be used, but the explanation would only cause his wife to worry about it. “Got some problems. It was sent to repair. Where are the kids?”
“Don’t change the subject!” Mrs. Coulson glared at her husband again, then rolled her eyes: “Today is not a weekend! So of course, they are still in school.”
“Oh! Haha. Then I will continue…” Coulson laughed foolishly, moving back a little bit, pointing his finger at the backyard, he wanted to just exit silently and continue working. But he then noticed something, his wife didn’t seem to be sorting groceries, but packing. All kinds of small kitchen utensils were put into a big bag, “Where are you going?”
Mrs. Coulson’s hands patted the kitchen counter and glared at Coulson, “I knew it! You forgot about it completely! Today is Lisa’s birthday! I’m going to Lisa’s house to prepare for a birthday party! And you are supposed to pick up the children from school later! I knew you would forget everything! Huh!”
Coulson was dazed for a moment, he remembered it now, today was his daughter’s best friend, Lisa’s birthday. And as early as a week ago, he promised that even if it was not a weekend, he would let the two children enjoy the best birthday party!
“Isn’t that great!” Mrs. Coulson said while having a completely different expression on her face, “Your car is broken! What a perfect excuse!” Mrs. Coulson carried the big bag behind her back, shouting to Coulson with exaggerated body language, “Then you still take work home! look! Another good excuse! I think I’m going to tell the children at the ‘perfect’ party you promised that Uncle Coulson is protecting the peace of Barton city! So he can’t come to the party!…”
“Bang!”
Mrs. Coulson closed the door heavily. Detective Coulson stood there like a fool, blinking, and then walked silently to the door, took out the key that Mrs. Coulson had forgotten from the box, opened the door, and handed it over to Mrs. Coulson, who was rummaging through the bag.
“Thank you!” Mrs. Coulson grabbed the key, turned around angrily, and strode away.
See, this is a happy family…
Detective Coulson sighed, watching his wife getting in the car, and left safely before closing the door. He planned in his head that if he let Fitz follow James for a few hours, it shouldn’t have any problems, right? After all, it was just a children’s party, without alcohol, how long would it last?
Having this in mind, Coulson returned to the backyard and walked straight to his studio.
Fitz was still sitting on the side, keeping his eyes away from the clue wall filled with photos and red lines. Just now, it was because of those disgusting photos that caused him to feel some discomfort, so he went to the backyard to have some fresh air, but he did not expect that he would startle Mrs. Coulson. So when Detective Coulson came back, he glanced at him apologetically.
James stood in front of the clue wall with his back to the clues and photos on the wall. He was looking at Fitz while holding a half-eaten apple.
“Detective Rance! Why are you here?” Coulson’s mood changed quickly. He clearly remembered that when he left the police station, he asked his partner to keep his eyes on David, who was at Barton Telecom.
“David is not there.” James said flatly, “He was sent to check cables.”
Coulson pulled James and stared at him with doubts, “then why did you come to me? Why didn’t you follow him?”
“I did, but I lost him.” James took a bite of the apple, while his eyes were still on Fitz.
Coulson gasped in surprise. Although half of the information in James Rance’s file was redacted with black lines, Coulson could tell that most of them were top-secret missions. But such a guy now said that he lost the target?
“Hey! Kid!” Coulson reached out and grabbed James’ collar, “When I talk to you, you need to look at me!”
Please forgive Coulson’s behavior. He was just so mad at James that for a moment, the deterrent of the name ‘Rance’ was overwhelmed by anger!
James pushed Coulson away, and then looked at Coulson!
Coulson didn’t expect that James would resist. After a moment of daze, he rushed forward, wanting to teach this young man a lesson.
“Detectives!” Fitz rushed in front of them, and timidly reached out his hands to stop them, “Don’t, don’t get angry! You, you guys have to work together! There is also a murderer wandering outside! You guys have to work together!”
Fitz’s shoulders were trembling and he dared not to have eye contact with those two people. He simply lowered his head and moved his feet quickly. It could be seen that this nerd was very bad at dealing with conflicts, but he still ignored his fears and stopped them.
Coulson took a deep breath, maybe because his identity was a detective, he did develop a lot of bad habits, such as a bad temper. But he also knew that this was not the time to resolve his dissatisfaction with his partner, at least, not in front of an ordinary person who needed help!
“Forget it!” Coulson adjusted his clothes and decided to tell the team leader of the homicide team tomorrow that he needed a new partner.
Coulson knew that as long as James was beside him, he might never be able to calmly analyze the case. Coulson took a note from the studio table and handed it to James, “Yours!”
“What’s this?” James took the note and glanced at it, his pupils instantly constricted. Of course, this slight change was not something Coulson, who was currently very mad at him and didn’t want to even look at him, could find out!
“Someone went to the police station to look for you, this is his number!” Coulson said impatiently, “Now do your own thing, stop bothering me here!”
Coulson dropped the idea of letting James protect Fitz, this partner was too unreliable! It seemed that he had to take this burden to the party…
“Coulson, Fitz, take care.” When James left, he suddenly turned around and said to the two people.
Coulson frowned. He didn’t understand why this guy suddenly said this. Was this guy expressing goodwill? But Coulson waved his hand and simply ignored it.