North American Detective: I am Proficient in All Kinds of Gun Quick Draws

"What case?" Dean asked curiously, looking at the utterly dejected Harry.

Harry spread his hands. "A missing person case. Her brother has been missing for two days. The officers in the jurisdiction looked into it but didn't take it seriously. Which is actually quite normal. Dean, as you know, kids from most Black families are rebellious. Smoking, drinking, using marijuana, and not coming home at night are common during the teenage years of many Black children. So the local patrol officers didn't pay much attention to it. But that crazy woman kept saying her brother had been murdered."

At this point, Harry, regardless of being in a hospital room, took out a cigarette, tossed one to Dean, took a couple of somber puffs, and then continued, "If it were just a missing persons case, for the sake of the child, I'd be willing to help. But she's insisting that this little note she has proves it's a murder case. How am I supposed to deal with that? And the key point is, the case isn't even in our jurisdiction. Even if I wanted to get involved, there's nothing I can do!"

Dean could tell Harry was only acting like this because he suddenly had a child, and it had left him all over the place. Any jerk who finds out he's hit the mark behaves pretty much like him: confused, scared, and at a loss... in short, his mind is a complete mess.

"Buddy, you're not really torn up about the case; you're upset about the kid!" Dean said, piercing through Harry's disguise with a single comment.

Harry looked at Dean blankly, smoke snorting uncontrollably from his nostrils, as if to affirm Dean's guess.

Seeing this, Dean grinned. "Looks like I'm right."

L3's Mind Reading Technique is just awesome! For minor characters like him, trying to lie in front of me is just asking for trouble.

"COUGH COUGH!" Harry came back to his senses and tossed away the cigarette butt. "Buddy, sometimes I really suspect you have mind-reading powers. Though I hate to admit it, I am indeed torn up about the kid. I never planned to have kids before I was thirty. This is a disaster!"

Actually, Harry's reaction wasn't that of a jerk; it showed he had seriously considered taking responsibility, which was quite commendable. Most Black men take a very casual approach to having children. In the United States, aside from some well-off Black families, too many children from lower-class Black families don't know their fathers, or knowing doesn't make a difference. This is due to some unmentionable reasons and also related to past policies in the United States. Black women raising children on their own receive a fair amount of government subsidies, making it a lot easier than two poor people raising a child together. This has led to irresponsible behavior among Black men becoming normalized, even a 'tradition' in lower-class Black families.

But all this only made Dean want to laugh; it didn't stir a shred of sympathy in him. That damn scumbag Harry! If you're going to mess around, you should be prepared to fall into a pit. Still, as his brother, I have to offer some comfort.

Dean suppressed the smirk at the corner of his mouth and said earnestly, "Harry, are you sure that woman is just looking for help to solve the case and not coming after you for child support?"

Harry nodded. "The child's already one year old. I've seen her; she's adorable and well taken care of. I guess she really had nowhere else to turn and thought of me as a last resort."

"How did she reach you?"

"Phone..."

"Buddy, forget about the child. No one has a one-night stand and still knows the other person's phone number. You've been used for stud service!" Dean's cheeks twitched as he struggled to hold back his laughter.

Harry, realizing what Dean meant, looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. "FK, are you saying that woman slept with me just to get pregnant? That she actually knows a lot about me and has been watching me this whole time?"

"HAHAHA!" Dean finally couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. "Yes! So don't overthink it. Tell me about the case; I'm more interested in that."

As a high-quality Black male, Harry had wanted to take responsibility. But realizing he was only a tool and didn't even have the right to do so, he felt his self-esteem take a hit.

He dejectedly pulled out his phone and typed in a string of numbers. "You contact her yourself. I just want to be alone."

Leaving a crestfallen Harry in the hospital room, Dean took the phone out to the corridor and made the call.

"Harry, you've agreed to help me?"

As soon as the call connected, an anxious and helpless female voice came from the other end. Besides the woman's voice, Dean could faintly hear a child crying.

He quickly said, "I'm Harry's friend and also a captain in the detective bureau. I'm interested in your brother's case. If you're willing, you can come to Maria Hospital, room XXX, to find me."

"A captain?" The woman was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed with joy, "No problem, I'll be right there!"

「Half an hour later.」

A Black woman, holding a little girl, rushed to the floor where Dean's hospital room was located. A group of nurses thought it was just a wife bringing her child to see the father, so they didn't pay much attention. But when one young nurse saw the woman with the child heading straight for Dean's hospital room, the nurses' station erupted!

"My God, that can't be Captain Dean's child, can it!" one of the young nurses exclaimed.

"Let's go see!"

A group of idle young nurses from the station, fueled by gossip, followed.

Just as they reached the door, they heard the woman who had just entered angrily scold, "Get away! Don't touch my child!"

It turned out that Harry, seeing his daughter with red, swollen eyes, had been driven by their blood connection to try and play with her, only to end up with egg on his face.