Lower City Police Precinct.
"Sir, your files."
A young African American police officer saluted Al Swan and respectfully handed him a yellow document envelope with both hands.
"Mm."
Al Swan grunted without turning around. Sitting in his office chair, he took the yellow envelope from his subordinate and waved him away.
Silently, he spun the envelope's string around his index finger, quickly winding it around before flipping it open and pouring out all the documents inside.
The files slid onto the desk. Al Swan flicked the envelope twice, and the final photograph fell out.
"Barry Allen."
With a scrutinizing look in his eyes, Al Swan stared gloomily at Barry's photograph with hawk-like eyes. It was an ID photo from Barry's employment at the Central City Police Department's forensic laboratory.
The incident had begun that day at the Russian Gang's headquarters. Barry had been collecting evidence at the scene, and the strange expression he wore—as though he had seen someone behind the evidence—had aroused Al Swan's suspicion.
Once Al Swan became suspicious, it was not easily dispelled. Having been a police officer for years, he possessed uniquely perceptive eyes and instincts when dealing with criminals who concealed their true thoughts. Behavioral psychology alone, along with criminals' unconsciously hidden actions, had practically told him that when faced with his questions, Barry had instinctively been afraid to answer.
Barry Allen knew something.
At the scene, Al Swan had not pressed him with too many questions.
After returning from the scene to the precinct, Al Swan used his police connections to gather information on Barry's background. He could originally have gone directly to the police department headquarters' information division and used their centralized big-data system to look up anyone's records. However, Al Swan's previous act of overstepping his authority had caused quite an uproar.