The head of the federal tax office in Sabine has the unassuming name of Johnson.
Johnson does not have any remarkable background, in the past that people still believe that the ideal as long as the hard work can be achieved in the era, as long as the courage to fight, as long as the courage, plus a little bit of luck, it is not difficult to stand out from the crowd.
But to this day, a second-tier city tax commissioner is kind of the end of the road for Johnson, if nothing else helps.
All he has to think about now is how to keep his top-shelf pension and how to make his last years less painful.
A lot of people would think that the federal tax commissioner, even though it's just a small city commissioner, would be one of those hidden billionaires with lots of savings and real estate, but it wouldn't be.
The vast majority of can this kind of not on the top of the federal officials life than people imagine ... to be quite a bit more shabby, on the contrary, those who are really grassroots staff, the front line of the personnel, their income is more complicated.
Where does a grassroots administrator who sits in an office all day and has been added to the Department of Inspector General's roving list get some of his black income?
But there should be all kinds of donations, social benefits are still there, these are legitimate income.
The federal government pays them well and top dollar social security to minimize the risk of them being exposed to certain negative influences on the job and becoming pawns of certain people.
Of course, this doesn't exactly mean that Johnson was a poor man; sometimes poverty is not only a description of wealth, but also of power.
In short he's a better-than-top-heavy guy, and it would be nice if he could keep his pension.
At this moment, he was very troubled, the joint operation of the FBI and the Federal Tax Administration ended in failure, which also meant that there was no way for him to calm down the current situation now very quickly, and once his superiors were really angered, the next days would not be too easy for him either.
Now he kind of regretted that he had indulged Michael, precisely because he was about to retire and was unwilling to offend anymore, gradually nurturing the shortcomings of these people under his hand.
Just as he was scratching his head, the phone rang and he frowned, he could tell by the signal light that it was an outgoing call, and since he could get through to his secretary, there must be a need to answer it.
He took several deep breaths to calm his inner turmoil, then lifted the phone ...
A little later in the evening, Chief Johnson got through to the elderly woman at home and had a social engagement for the evening and would not be eating at the house.
He and his children all lived together in a neighborhood next door to Michael's, slightly less environmentally friendly than Michael's one, mainly in terms of landscaping and overall community amenities, but winning in that the houses were large enough to house more people.
As he thought about these annoying things, he drove to the warehouse district away from the center of the city and stopped on the side of the road not far from the warehouse district.
Ten meters away from him, there was a kebab store, which served only three things, meatloaf made of ground beef, a whole wheat meal kit and some fresh vegetables.
There were no original cuts of whole beef here that people on this side of the warehouse district couldn't afford to consume, mostly the kind of ground beef that Lynch had eaten before when he lived with Catherine before and then stirred it up and made into patties.
The meatloaf had a few other things added to it, like whole wheat kernels, some chopped nuts that were about to expire, and a few other worthless things.
It was just after dinner time, and the grill was still crowded, and ninety-eight cents for a perfectly portioned slice of grilled meatloaf, with a vegetable, and no money for the meal packets, unlimited supply, took care of the nutritional refreshment needed by the Blue Ribbons after their heavy labors.
Almost the entire blue backstrap of the Warehouse District eats dinner over here, which has made this no-signage barbecue restaurant very famous in this neighborhood.
Johnson was a little less accustomed to the surroundings, the acrid smell of sweat filled everywhere, as well as some other, he couldn't say, stench; after all, the weather was getting hotter, and surely hard laborers didn't smell good after a long day's work.
He looked around, and the bluebacks kept a deliberate distance from him; everyone could see that the outfit he was wearing wasn't cheap, and didn't want to lose ten days or more of their paychecks because of their carelessness.
Soon he saw Lynch, who waved back at him, and asked the owner for another meatloaf and a meal kit.
"Is this the dinner you were talking about?" , Chief Johnson's face wasn't quite right when he sat down; Lynch had called to ask him out to talk about recent events, and he was vaguely aware of something.
Intentionally he didn't really want to want any compromise between him and Lynch, Michael was screwed over so badly and the tax office didn't look good on his face, but now the pressure was really too much and he had to choose the option he was least willing to choose, maybe this was a sign of maturity.
Although he chose maturity, he could still retain his attitude toward Lynch, and there was no conflict between the two.
Lynch shrugged, not caring in the slightest as he tore the dinner bag in his hand and used it to rub some of the meat sauce from his plate before stuffing it into his mouth and chewing a few times before swallowing.
He rubbed his fingers together, letting some of the bread crumbs fall to the tabletop, picked up his knife and fork and ate a piece of mincemeat pie, smiling, "It's not as bad as you might think, you can try it."
At that exact moment the owner's wife - it was a woman in her forties - dropped her tray a bit rudely on the table, along with a small basket of meal kits.
Chief Johnson breathlessly glanced at the boss lady who turned around straight away, then at Lynch, and finally gritted his teeth and tore up a piece of the meal packet just like Lynch did.
When the meal packet over the gravy and sauce was in his mouth, it wasn't any more difficult to swallow than he thought it would be; the flavors and the tough texture of the whole wheat meal packet gave the food another unexpected taste.
He raised an eyebrow and picked up his knife and fork and cut a piece of the patty into his mouth, it might not be as good as those nine or thirty-nine dollar pieces of prime rib, but it was quite tender and juicy, and with even more flavor variations it wasn't a difficult food to swallow.
The two of them ate and chatted while surrounded by noise, not that anyone walked past them, and it would be hard for others to hear them even if they spoke louder.
"I called you with sincerity, and from the beginning, I've been nothing but a victim, if you've ever understood how these things work."
Lynch's comment made Commissioner Johnson nod his head in agreement, he did understand that Michael wanted to take down Fox as a merit badge for promotion for a get-go performance, thus involving Lynch, and whether or not Lynch had broken the law, at least he was innocent so far, Michael was consistently badgering him about it.
Once he nodded his head, there was a basis to continue the conversation, Lynch ate as he continued, "You know, I'm timid and afraid of things, a reporter offered to let me sue you guys, but I gave up, it's not the best option to use hate to hate, I chose to forgive ... "
Johnson looked at the guy who was shameless and still waiting for his reaction and squeezed out a smile against his will, "Yes, you're generous."
A satisfied smile appeared on Lynch's face, "Yes, I'm a generous man, I was and still am, I'm not willing to countenance some of the problems that have arisen between us because of Michael, and I'mactively trying to resolve it, I have a proposition, I don't know if you're interested in it or not."
Chief Johnson quickly ate the meatloaf to end the bad meal, he glanced at the napkin on the table which already had some stains on it, and finally took out his handkerchief and wiped the corners of his mouth, "You said ..."
"For the best of my knowledge, there are other people laundering money in Sabine City, people whose methods may ...", a hopeless smile flashed across Lynch's face, "... . stupidly, you should probably target them."
Chief Johnson frowned slightly, "Even if I finished arresting all of them, I wouldn't be able to quell the current situation."
Lynch had almost finished his dinner as well, and he picked up the last dinner bag, wiped the gravy and sauce from his plate, and stuffed it into his mouth, his life of poverty making him thankful for every morsel of food.
While puffing out his cheeks, he said, "This is just a problem between Michael and me, a personal vendetta that shouldn't rise to the level of public attention. You hold outstanding results in your hands, and with that kind of foundation the public will patiently listen to your explanations, none of this has anything to do with the IRS, and with Michael Jr.'s case, maybe Michael is just having a personal vendetta ...", he said and smiled, his hands crossed naturally with his ten fingers, his thumbs resting on his jaw, looking at Commissioner Johnson, he was sure the old man knew what he was talking about.
For the first ten seconds or so, Director Johnson still had a thoughtful look on his face, with a hint of impatience hidden during that time, but soon his face began to change as he realized what Lynch meant.
He knew that Michael's son had been taken into custody for a burglary, had supposedly pleaded guilty and had begun serving an early sentence, and that if the cause and effect and timing of things were reversed, and what Michael had done to Lynch was seen as his attempt to undo Michael Jr.'s impending incarceration, then the whole thing would change.
To put it simply, Michael Jr. first burglarized the house and stole Lynch's ring, and Lynch also called the police, Michael knew about it and wanted to wipe it out, so there was a personal conflict and contradiction between him and Lynch, and what he did later on in beating up Lynch had nothing to do with his identity, and whether or not the law enforcement power of the IRS or even other federal departments was too great, it was an isolated incident, and his purpose didn't require His purpose does not need any explanation from anyone, everyone can guess that he must want Lynch to drop the lawsuit.
A government official knows the law and will not hesitate to use violent coercion in an attempt to silence the plaintiffs in order to cover up his children's crimes ...
Watching the gradual change in Chief Johnson's face, Lynch knew that Chief Johnson had figured it out, and he added a gentle reminder, "This is murder!"
All of a sudden Chief Johnson's mind was messed up, yes, he did hate Michael now, this SON OF A BITCH had disgraced him and threatened his life in his later years, but to be so vicious?
He knows that everything is a lie, but sometimes the people don't know, and with the push of people with an agenda, Lynch, as a victim, is the one who can get the most out of what he has to say, and with him all standing up, and with the federal government's determination to try to calm public opinion, Michael is bound to be the target of a thousand accusations.
Just ... would it be too hard to use a person's or even a family's future as a bargaining chip?
Looking at the hesitant Director Johnson, Lynch whispered, "You're a good man, sir, but you should also know the gravity of the matter, on one side there is a family of one shitty investigative team leader who has broken your, and Sabine's, citizens' heads, and on the other side there is the many law enforcement agencies throughout the Commonwealth and the criminals who are celebrating. Sometimes we do have a hard time making decisions, but then we have to make them ..."
"One, or all, it's not hard!"