“However, the fact remains that he did not hand it in, and as for whether he mentioned it to others, that doesn’t really prove anything—besides, there’s no way to verify that now.” Little Taylor hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice slightly and said, “Mr. Parker, didn’t that letter of accusation also mention that James Jennings was maintaining improper relationships with some other women? If we can’t make a breakthrough here for the time being, should we consider approaching it from another angle? As long as we break through his psychological defenses, I think his bribery issue will be exposed sooner or later.”

Brothers, votes, we need everything!

Philip Parker sighed inwardly. If it weren’t for that phone call, he might have agreed to do just that, and he was sure he could make a breakthrough in this area. But now, he had to consider what was really behind this matter.

It seemed that this James Jennings was a controversial figure at Factory 195. At the very least, their disciplinary secretary didn’t have a good impression of James Jennings. When he asked a few questions, the answers were all vague, which in itself was telling. However, Philip Parker also thought there were some suspicious points in this case.

First, Swarovski crystal ornaments are indeed expensive, but James Jennings might not have known their value; otherwise, he wouldn’t have casually left them in his office bookcase. Second, if he really did mention it to Deputy Director Shawn Bolton of the factory office, that would mean he had no intention of keeping the ornaments for himself. Third, the person involved in the case said that the thirty thousand yuan bribe was given to James Jennings together with the Swarovski crystal ornaments. This was also a bit odd. If that were true, logically, James Jennings should have hidden the crystal ornaments as well, instead of leaving them so casually in his office bookcase. Of course, it’s also possible that James Jennings was cunning, deliberately keeping the cash but turning in the crystal ornaments. But there’s no evidence for the thirty thousand yuan bribe.

Philip Parker also knew that a case like this really didn’t require him to come in person, but since the leadership assigned it, he had no choice. There were definitely other factors at play here.

Factory 195 had been facing restructuring and reform in recent years, and as a key large-scale state-owned military enterprise, any case involving Factory 195 had to be handled with caution—neither unjustly punishing nor letting anyone off. The leaders all spoke in very principled terms; it was up to you to interpret what they really meant.

The phone on the desk rang. Philip Parker was a bit surprised, but then remembered something and went over to answer it.

As he expected, it was that young man he’d met at James Jennings’s door calling. Philip Parker had a hunch that this young man might bring some unexpected surprises to his trip to Changxi.

Getting a call from Beijing about a case like this was already a surprise, so a few more surprises wouldn’t be anything special.

William Carter knew that the use of “shuanggui” would only officially begin after the release of the “Administrative Supervision Regulations” at the end of the year, but the real standardized use would only come after the “Regulations on Case Investigation Work of the Discipline Inspection Organs of the Communist Party of China” were issued in 1994, which would provide a clear basis and mark the start of formal use. Before that, the discipline inspection departments mostly followed certain procedures in investigations, but didn’t have much special authority to use coercive measures.

James Jennings had already been taken away for eight hours, which meant that according to the law, there were sixteen hours left before a decision had to be made about James Jennings: either take stronger measures, or resort to some disguised restrictions on his personal freedom.

William Carter figured that things had reached a difficult point for the other side as well. With Lawrence Cole’s mother stepping in, many things became easier to handle.

So when the other side requested evidence to prove that James Jennings’s involvement in the case was truly an unintentional mistake, William Carter naturally knew what to do.

Shawn Bolton’s hometown was indeed in another province, and not many people knew the exact address. But Shawn Bolton hadn’t gone back to his hometown for many years—this William Carter knew, because Shawn Bolton lived in the building right across from William Carter’s home.

Shawn Bolton’s eldest child and William Carter’s eldest brother were quite close, both working at the Hongqi Machinery Factory. When Shawn Bolton took leave to go back to his hometown, it wasn’t his own hometown, but his wife’s rural hometown, which was in Guangping County, only three or four hours’ drive from Changzhou.

As for why the factory said Shawn Bolton had gone back to his hometown in another province and couldn’t be reached, both William Carter and Philip Parker had some idea of the reasons, but everyone kept it to themselves.

After William Carter found out the address of Shawn Bolton’s hometown from his eldest brother by asking Shawn Bolton’s eldest son, he took the investigation team overnight, rented a car, and rushed to the countryside of Guangping County to find Shawn Bolton.

Through Shawn Bolton, it was confirmed that James Jennings had indeed mentioned this matter, and Shawn Bolton also confirmed that when it was brought up, another colleague from the factory office had interrupted. It was just that James Jennings had gone to answer the phone at the time and didn’t remember much, but Shawn Bolton did remember.

It wasn’t until the investigation team found another person to corroborate Shawn Bolton’s account that William Carter finally breathed a real sigh of relief.