Chapter 68

While William was busy renovating his new house over the next few days, the Michael enforcement case underwent a few changes.

The first person to step forward was not William, nor Michael, nor even Director Johnson, but Michael’s good partner.

This good partner had worked with Michael for twelve or thirteen years. He was also the deputy Team Leader of the Sabine City IRS Investigation Unit. In the eyes of many, he had always been Michael’s brother in all but blood, the two of them almost without secrets between them.

No one had expected him to be the first to step forward and confess before the media to certain “details” the press had not previously known.

According to this good partner’s account, the conflict between Michael and William began with an accidental “collision” between the two men.

“At the time, Michael and I were walking down the street when Lin ... William was pushing a cart full of dirty clothes along the sidewalk. Michael pointed at William and said to me, ‘Hey, look at that kid. Let’s mess with him.’”

Before the camera, the partner wore an expression of grief and regret. “I thought he was joking. But he very clearly meant it. Then he dragged me along and, without any reason, without a search warrant, without an arrest warrant, without any legal paperwork at all, assaulted Mr. Carter.”

“He told me to search the cart and see if I could find anything to use against Mr. Carter, while he took Mr. Carter into the corner of an alley and beat him there...”

The reporters cried out in shock at once. They could hardly imagine what sort of hatred could make a grown man treat a young man with such brutality.

One reporter could not resist standing up. “Unnamed partner, had Michael and William known each other before this? Was there any grudge between them?”

The good partner shook his head. “They didn’t know each other. As for whether there was any grudge, I don’t know. Maybe only Michael himself knows the reason...” Then he continued recounting Michael’s “atrocities,” including things like threatening and beating the boss until he coughed up blood.

Such incidents only further emphasized Michael’s brutality and cruelty, and made the media even more inclined to view Michael as a deeply problematic Special Agent, a man already accustomed to using violence to solve problems, even to threaten ordinary, innocent civilians.

After that, Director Johnson also appeared in person and expressed regret for his own failures on the job. He said that he had always hoped Michael would change, and in doing so had indirectly indulged Michael’s conduct. He stated that he too had to bear undeniable responsibility for the affair.