"Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right. Secretary Parker wants to play things down, so he’ll probably want everyone to stick to the same story first. The fact that he hasn’t done so shows he’s also very unhappy about the province parachuting Mark Brooks into Donghua. Should we start leaking the news now?" John Reed repeated “Good… good, we’ll hold our position for now!”

Brian Sullivan suddenly realized who was on the other end of the call.

John Reed was talking to the Deputy Party Secretary and Mayor, David Carter!

After autumn set in, the weather had cooled, but as Brian Sullivan lay in the car, the air inside felt stifling and hot, making it almost impossible to breathe.

He had already suspected something was off with John Reed, but hearing with his own ears how John Reed and Mayor David Carter were manipulating the cause of Mark Brooks’s death still left him deeply shocked.

Although Mark Brooks’s death had nothing to do with David Carter and his people, the dirty schemes surrounding it were hardly any cleaner than if they’d murdered Mark Brooks themselves.

Paul Morgan’s words were entirely orchestrated by John Reed; they’d even tampered with the bathroom, making it look as if Mark Brooks had died naked in his room, to provoke endless speculation…

They wanted to assassinate Mark Brooks’s posthumous reputation to achieve their own unspeakable goals!

After making the call, John Reed returned to Building Six. Brian Sullivan didn’t dare stay in the car any longer, afraid John Reed would realize he’d overheard the conversation.

Brian Sullivan bent down as he got out of the car, walked all the way to the main building on the east side, and only relaxed when he was sure no one had seen him in the parking lot. But then he thought: even if he could stay out of it, how much better off would he really be?

A cool breeze blew from Lake Cui, making Brian Sullivan shiver and realize his back was soaked with sweat. He forced himself to calm down and think through the causes and consequences behind all this.

The provincial authorities were deeply dissatisfied with Donghua’s economic stagnation over the years, so they parachuted Mark Brooks in as a standing committee member and deputy mayor, hoping he could stir up the stagnant waters.

Mark Brooks was knowledgeable but had a bad temper, valued efficiency, and clashed with the bureaucratic style of Donghua’s government. Armed with the province’s authority, he immediately launched sweeping reforms of Donghua’s economy, inevitably coming into sharp conflict with local interests and making many enemies over the past six months.

The conflict between Mark Brooks and the local faction led by Henry Parker and David Carter was obvious.

But the deepest conflict was between Mark Brooks and David Carter.

Anyone with a bit of insight in Donghua could see that Mark Brooks’s real target was Mayor David Carter’s position.

In officialdom, the rivalry for position is more bitter than the enmity of murder or stealing a wife.

Faced with Mark Brooks’s aggressive approach, David Carter’s faction had kept a low profile for over half a year. Even when Brian Sullivan caused a scene at the city steel plant today, John Reed managed to swallow his anger and not report it to Mark Brooks.

Ultimately, they were afraid that Mark Brooks, with provincial backing, would find their weak spots.

Logically, with Mark Brooks’s sudden death from illness, the real threat to David Carter’s position as deputy party secretary and mayor should have been eliminated. They shouldn’t have needed to take further risks to destroy Mark Brooks’s posthumous reputation.

But in reality, that wasn’t the case. With Mark Brooks’s sudden death, the province could easily send another “Zhang Mingde” or “Ge Mingde” to Donghua to replace him and take full control of the city’s economic affairs.

The crisis facing David Carter wouldn’t simply disappear because of Mark Brooks’s death.

David Carter and John Reed were making a big deal out of Mark Brooks’s death, but their real target was the provincial party committee and government.

Publicly, Mark Brooks’s death would be classified as dying in the line of duty, but the real rules of the world are always those hidden in the shadows.

It’s the implicit classification of Mark Brooks’s death that determines the true nature of the incident.

A public classification requires factual evidence; an implicit one only needs people to believe something happened.

Even if there was no woman involved, how could anyone believe Mark Brooks was innocent when he died naked in a hotel room in the middle of the day instead of working at the city government?

To cover up this fabricated scandal, the province would likely avoid digging deeper, but the stain on Mark Brooks’s name would never be washed away…

With Mark Brooks’s death linked to a sex scandal, the provincial leaders who supported his appointment to Donghua would also lose face and might even be held responsible for recommending him.

If the provincial party committee and government wanted to continue intervening forcefully in Donghua’s affairs, they would have to be much more cautious; even if they parachuted in new officials, those people would be much more constrained and unlikely to achieve much.

This was exactly the goal of David Carter and John Reed: they saw Donghua as their own turf and didn’t want outsiders interfering!

Brian Sullivan hadn’t had much contact with Mayor David Carter before, but now that he understood some of the connections, he felt a chill at David Carter’s ruthlessness: what a formidable and ruthless character!

Originally, Henry Parker was the big boss in Donghua and should have played a decisive role in determining the official cause of Mark Brooks’s death.