Chapter 178

Nine o’clock in the evening.

The night sky was like a wash, and the black curtain was covered with stars, tirelessly flickering with light.

A bright bright moon hung in the sky, haloing a touch of silvery white.

A black Mercedes-Benz G500 pulled up in front of Daisy’s house.

Luke stepped down from the car and saw that Daisy’s house was dark and estimated that Daisy should not have arrived home yet.

He was too lazy to enter the house alone and directly sat on a chair in the yard to wait for her.

The sky is the limit, David’s departure makes Luke a little emotional, although the Blackmail and Drug Enforcement Division is just downstairs, but in the end, it is different.

David, even with his many faults, had been good to his partner Luke and had always covered Luke in his own way.

The Robbery and Murder Division dealt with suspects all the time, and inevitably some of the dirty work that offended people was covered by David.

The former Luke was like his little brother, only this little brother had grown up and even surpassed him.

As a former big brother, David’s heart is a little complicated, relieved, envious, helpless, and entangled ……

Everyone has their own thoughts, David went to the Gangster and Narcotics Division as a vice team, it is good for his own future development.

In the long run, it’s not a bad thing for Luke either, people can’t be confined to a small circle.

The larger the circle of friends, the more friends one has, the smoother the path will be.

David went to the Gangster and Narcotics Division, but his relationship with Luke would not be broken, the two had a life-long friendship, in the future, if there was a need for help from the Gangster and Narcotics Division, just look for David directly.

“Wooo……”

A red sports car drove to the front of Daisy’s garage, Daisy came out from the driver’s side: “Why don’t you go in?”

“Suddenly I wanted to blow off some steam.”

“Something on your mind?”

“The former partner has been transferred, more or less.”

“That bald guy named David?”

“That’s right.” Luke stood up and put his arm around Daisy’s waist, “Enough about him, let’s go inside.”

Arriving at the house.

At Luke’s suggestion, the two took a mandarin duck bath.

Tossing and turning until eleven o’clock at night before lying down on the bed to rest.

Daisy was covered with a thin quilt and was drowsy, her body had long been exhausted after working all day.

Luke patted her bare back, “Daisy, when do you have time, how about we go out for a walk together?”

Daisy turned on her side and changed to a comfortable position, still with her eyes closed, “Where do you want to go and play?”

Luke said, “Depends on your time, if you can take a long vacation, we’ll go far away, like Hawaii, Las Vegas, New York.

If you have a short break, we’ll just hang around the neighborhood.”

Daisy laughed, “I like to lie in bed and sleep when I’m off, I don’t want to go anywhere.”

Luke said thoughtfully, “Then let’s rent an RV, I’ll drive it to take you on a tour, and on the way you can sleep all the way, and when you wake up you’ll go straight to the sights.”

Daisy opened her eyes and touched Luke’s chin, “Sounds good.”

Luke grabbed her hand and stroked it gently, “The plan is definitely good, it just depends on whether you have the time.”

Daisy yawned, “No problem, I’ll schedule out some time so you don’t call me a workaholic again.”

Luke hesitated and tried, “By the way, has anyone approached you lately?”

“What do you mean?”

“I ran into a man named Lawrence Miller claiming to be your father.”

Daisy sat up so violently that she actually forgot to cover herself with the covers, her wonderful curves showing.

“Lawrence approached you?”

Luke organized his words and told the original story of his contact with Lawrence.

“Whew ……”

Daisy sighed softly and said grimly, “How could there be such a person, who actually has the nerve to call himself my father and ask me to help his so-called son to fight the lawsuit, what a bastard.”

Luke said, “I took advantage of my drunkenness and didn’t agree to help him deliver the message, he probably doesn’t realize that you know about this too, what are you going to do?”

Daisy was silent for a moment and shook her head, “I don’t want to see him, much less help him with his lawsuit.

You did the right thing, don’t see this guy again, he’s not worth wasting your energy on.”

“I understand.” Luke was cautious because he couldn’t figure out what Daisy was thinking.

Now that he learned of Daisy’s attitude.

Since even she didn’t care about the so-called father, what did Luke have to care about.

After a while, Daisy took the initiative to ask, “What did Lawrence tell you?”

“Said some things about when you were a kid and the reason for the divorce from your mother.”

“I can’t believe he remembers me as a child, what did he say?”

Luke recounted briefly.

“Hmph, full of lies, it wasn’t even like he said.” Daisy’s eyes reddened and she calmed her inner emotions, “It’s only been 18 years since he divorced my mother and that so-called brother is 19 years old. He cheated on me long before the divorce.

What’s even more annoying is that he’s not willing to pay maintenance and alimony.

In order to avoid responsibility, he started transferring property before marriage and pretended to be bankrupt after marriage.

My mother, who was just a housewife at that time, dedicated to taking care of the house and even squeezing the toothpaste for him, had been deceived by his lies and was still kept in the dark until the day before the divorce.

After the divorce, I lived with my mother.

My mother not only had to take care of me, but also had to work to earn money. We had a hard life, but he never cared.

That’s why I became a lawyer? Why work so hard?

It’s the only way I can feel safe.

After I was able to handle cases independently.

I wanted to sue him at one point to help myself and my mother claim all the alimony and support they were entitled to.

But my mother kept advising me that this kind of person is not worth doing that.

To ignore him is to treat him with the utmost contempt.

I really don’t know where he gets the courage.

To think that he wants me to help him with his lawsuit for free is simply dreaming.”

Luke patted Daisy’s shoulder, “It’s all in the past, you still have me by your side.”

“You’re right, I’m not that sniveling little girl anymore.

I’m a lawyer.” Daisy’s tone was full of confidence and indifference.

After listening to Daisy’s words, Luke’s heart twisted a little, Daisy was not only accusing of dissatisfaction with her father, but likewise expressing her distrust of men.

This incident is a mixed blessing for Luke, the good news is that he knows the crux of Daisy’s problem, the bad news is that this crux is not so easy to overcome.

Luke suddenly felt a little worse about Lawrence.

The old scumbag had done something bad and implicated himself to some degree.

The effect was not direct, but indirect.

Daisy’s distrust of men was due to her father.

If a woman doesn’t even trust her own father, how can she easily trust other men.

With so many things happening on his first day on the job, Luke was also a little tired and drifted off to sleep.

Early the next morning.

Daisy went to work as usual and didn’t seem to be affected by last night.

Neither of them brought up the incident again either.

The matter came to an end here, and after learning what Daisy was thinking, Luke no longer had any qualms about Lawrence, and directly blacked him out.

When Luke finished breakfast and arrived at the office, David’s desk and chair were already empty.

When some people are around, maybe you feel indifferent.

Once they leave, it will make you feel empty inside.

That’s how Luke felt right now, an indescribable taste.

Maybe this was the price of growing up.

Ten o’clock in the morning.

Susan sauntered into the office and clapped her hands, “Guys, we just got a call about a suspected robbery in the Kalea neighborhood.

Get ready and meet downstairs.”

The lieutenant asked, “No more information?”

Susan said, “Go to the scene if you want more clues.”

The lieutenant spread his hands, “Who messed with our Queen Susan again?”

Five minutes later, the group was fully loaded and ready to go.

Luke sat in the passenger side of the Ford Explorer.

Black sighed as he drove, “You know what? I’ve been pretty unhappy lately.”

“Because of Julian?”

Blacky bristled, “What else? Could it be David?”

“Then who knows, maybe you have self-mutilation tendencies.”

“Next break, I want to go car shopping and I want you to come with me?”

Luke was puzzled, “Why do you want to buy a car all of a sudden?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I’ve been pretty unhappy lately, so of course I need to cheer myself up.”

Luke “……”

Twenty minutes later, the group arrived at the Kalea neighborhood.

It was a middle class neighborhood with good environment and facilities, two patrol police cars were parked in front of a residence in the community.

Two patrol officers were pulling up a cordon.

Black flashed his badge, “I’m Detective Marcus from the Robbery and Murder Division, this is Lieutenant Luke, what’s the situation at the scene?”

A middle-aged white patrolman in his forties was surprised, “Whoa whoa, Detective Luke, aren’t you a detective? How did you become a lieutenant.”

“Hey John, I heard you did pretty well in your internship, congratulations on becoming a full-fledged police officer.”

John smiled, “Thanks, but how did you know? Could that be deduced?”

Luke smiled, “I might consider telling you some other time when you buy me a drink, but right now …… I need to know what happened at the scene, OK?”

“Sure.” John pointed to a young white patrolman next to him, “His name is Jackson Beech, we’re contemporaries and he’s got better grades than me. Might as well let him tell you.”

Black was disgruntled, “Why are you talking more shit than me, I don’t give a shit which one of you reports.

I just want to understand the situation at the scene now.”

Luke rounded up, “Ignore him, he just got dumped.”

John clenched his fist and encouraged, “Man, stay strong, you’ll get through this.”

“You do talk a little too much shit.” Luke interrupted him and turned to the young officer who had leapt aside and asked, “Your name is Jackson Beech?”

“Yes, Lieutenant Luke.”

“Give a concise and clear account of the scene.”

“Okay.” Jackson Beech said after a moment’s thought, “We responded to the home first thing when we got the call.

The caller’s name is Mark Custer, a plumber.

We then entered the home, the door was unlocked and the scene was very messy, much like a robbery scene.

Also, I found blood in the house and went to the police at the first opportunity.

That’s all for now.”

Luke asked, “What’s the homeowner’s name?”

“Brown Kenneth.”

“Has the homeowner been contacted yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Get the reporting party, we’ll need to talk to him later.” Luke finished and prepared to enter the house to check it out.

Blacky muttered, “That middle-aged rookie talks a lot of shit.”

Luke smirked, “Just like you.”

Luke walked to the door of the room, checked the lock, there were no traces of vandalism, and asked Blackie, who was beside him, “Can you pick this kind of combination lock?”

Xiao Hei looked at it and shook his head, “I learned all my lock picking skills when I was a child, back then this kind of lock was not common.”

Luke originally wanted to find Xiao Hei to learn lock picking skills, but now it seems that he is just a half-assed person.

After entering the living room, the cabinets in the living room obviously had traces of being rummaged through, and there was a pool of blood at the stairway.

The bedroom room on the first floor was also rummaged through in a mess, and the clothes and items in the closet were scattered all over the place.

The second floor has three rooms, a study and two bedrooms.

The study was rummaged through and a few books fell on the floor.

The other two rooms are also traces of being turned, the smaller room put a lot of dolls and Barbie dolls, the room owner is not too old girl.

From the scene this does look like a robbery or burglary scene, however, generally speaking similar cases are called in by the homeowner, and all three rooms showed signs of occupancy, yet it was an outsider who called the police.

So where did the people living in the house go?

They didn’t realize there was a case in the house, or did they have an accident as well?

Judging by the blood in the first floor hall, Luke was leaning more toward the latter.

Luke went downstairs and someone from the Technical Division arrived and began to survey the scene.

The patrolman named Jackson Beech came over, “Lieutenant Luke, I brought the informant.”

“Thanks.” Luke looked aside at the informant, a white guy in his early twenties, quite handsome and wearing a blue uniform.

“You’re the informant, Mark Custer?”

“Yes.” The young white man said.

“I’m Lieutenant Luke from the Robbery Murder Division and would like to take your statement.”

Mark pointed to Jackson next to him, “They just gave me a statement.”

Luke explained, “We’re different divisions and the statements are different.”

Mark nodded, “OK, go ahead and ask.”

“When did you realize something was wrong with the family?”

“Around nine o’clock.”

“Why were you here?”

“Uh, Mrs. Kenneth had an appointment for plumbing services, they often get small flying insects in their kitchen downspouts and she wanted me to help rectify it.

I came by as promised, but couldn’t reach her anymore.

I saw that the door to the house was open, so I went in to check it out and noticed something unusual in the house, so I called the police.” Mark was obviously a little nervous as he answered.

Luke frowned slightly, “Did you see any suspicious people when you arrived?”

“No.”

“Did you know Mrs. Kenneth well?”

Mark nodded slightly, then hurriedly shook his head, “Not familiar.”

Lying.

“What was the purpose of your visit to the Kenneth house?”

“As I just said, Mrs. Kenneth made an appointment for plumbing service and I’m here to help with the plumbing.”

Lie.

From the micro-expression analysis, Mark showed clear signs of lying.

“Is your name Mark Custer?” Luke replaced the question with a simple one.

“Yes, what’s the problem?” Mark answered easily this time, completely different from his previous state.

Luke became more and more certain that he had just lied.

“Mark, what company are you with?”

“Viktor Maintenance.”

“How did Mrs. Kenneth book the service?”

“With a cell phone.”

“I believe you and Mrs. Kenneth have had phone calls?”

“Yes.” Mark became nervous again and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Luke handed him a tissue, “Can I see your cell phone?”

“No, I’m the informant, not the suspect. You have no right to do that.”

Luke nodded, “You’re right, I do not have the right to do that, but Mrs. Kenneth, as the victim, I can look at her phone, the effect is the same, isn’t it?”

Mark asked back, “Why are you telling me this?”

“I just want you to know that lying to the police is a very stupid behavior, and the police will make whoever lies the first suspect.”

“Even Karma, I knew this would happen, fuck……” Mark started to get cranky and rushed to his defense, “I really had nothing to do with any of this, I only reported it because I wanted to help.”

“Then tell the truth or you’re not helping.”

“I admit that I’m hiding something, but that’s my personal business and has nothing to do with this case.”

“If you really think it has nothing to do with this case, you can leave it out;

But if what you’re hiding affects the investigation of the case, the consequences will only get worse once the police find out, and besides, we’re no longer obligated to keep your secret.”

Mark thought for a moment and took a deep breath, “If I tell you now, will you guys keep my secret?”

“Of course, I’ll make sure that no one but the police will know the contents of the transcript.” Luke’s tone of voice was certain, easily adding to the sense of conviction.

“OK, I’ll tell you guys.” Mark couldn’t carry on, his eyes swept around and he whispered, “I …… was Mrs. Kenneth’s lover.”

“So you’re not a plumber?”

“No, I am the plumber.

Last year, the plumbing in their house broke and I came to help fix it, and then we met.

She was a classy, sensual, sophisticated woman, and I fell hopelessly in love with her.

I could tell she liked me too.

And then we got together.

Almost every week we went on a date …… It was great to be with her.”

“Wowwww ……,” Blackie showed a look of awe, “You’re really something, is Mrs. Kenneth the woman in the picture? She must be quite a bit older than you.”

“That’s right, she’s a dozen years older than me, so what ……

She’s attractive, that’s all that matters. I don’t care about age at all.”

Luke interrupted the discussion between the two and continued, “What’s Mrs. Kenneth’s full name?”

Mark licked his tongue, “I don’t know, she won’t tell me.

She lets me call her ma’am, and I think it’s nice to be called that, too, it’s a nice touch.”

Blackie laughed, “I know what you mean about feeling.”

“How did you find out about the accident at her house?”

Mark replied, “We made an appointment to meet this morning.

Once she dropped her daughter off at school, it was our alone time ……

But, I couldn’t reach her this morning and I don’t know what happened.

I also didn’t dare to come too early for fear of running into her husband and daughter.

So, just came by at the appointed time to check it out, and then I realized something had happened at her house.”

Luke recalled and asked, “Was the door locked when you came?”

Mark lowered his head and was silent for a moment, “Yes, it was locked.

I had the code and went in to check.

SORRY, I shouldn’t have lied to you guys.

But it was all a good-natured lie on my part, I was worried that something had happened to Mrs. Kenneth and didn’t want to expose our relationship.

I wasn’t trying to hide the case, just our personal relationship.”

“Did her husband know about your affair?”

“No, we hid it well.

Her husband is a university professor, and we choose the time of our dates when his husband is in class, so there’s no way her husband would know.”

Blackie ghosted, “Isn’t that exciting?”

Mark nodded, “It does feel different.”

“What’s Mrs. Kenneth’s cell phone number?”

Mark opened his mouth and answered, “626 879 2574.”

Blackie trailed off, “You memorized it all.”

Mark nodded, “When you’re obsessed with someone you remember everything about her.”

“Guys, this is not the time to exchange relationship experiences.” Luke interrupted the two and continued, “Has Mrs. Kenneth ever shown up for a bad date before?”

“No, she’s always on time. I can feel that she really likes me.”

Black was curious, “So what do you feel for her? Playing around? Or serious?”

Mark squared his shoulders and said, “I’m serious, I love her.”

“Have you thought about getting married?”

This time, Luke didn’t interrupt Blackie because the question had some relevance to the case, and the question of feelings could easily be a motive.

“Yes, I’ve thought about it, but, I’m not sure I’m capable of it.” Mark looked a little torn, a little unsure, “Her husband is a college professor and I’m just a plumber, I’m worried I can’t give her what she wants.”

Luke asked a sharp question, “Does she have any other lovers besides you?”

“No way, like I said, she really likes me too and wouldn’t mess around.”

“You two don’t count as messing around?”

“We’re different.

Mrs. Kenneth and her husband’s relationship is in name only. They even split the house a long time ago and don’t sleep in the same bed at all, and Mrs. Kenneth would have divorced her husband long ago if it wasn’t for her daughter.

That’s why I’m her true love.”

Luke had been watching Mark, and while his words were a bit off the wall, he showed no signs of lying, judging by the micro-expressions

“Knowing what you know about Mrs. Kenneth, what happened to their family?”

“I don’t know, all I can think about right now is her well-being, and if she comes back safely, I’ll do anything I’m told. Really.”

“Has anything been bothering her lately?”

“Not that I know of, she’s a woman of intelligence, nothing is too difficult for her.”

“Which of you two is dominant in this relationship?”

Mark thought for a moment and answered seriously, “We both love each other, it should be mutual.”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Uh ……” Mark showed an embarrassed look, “Yes, I have a girlfriend.”

Luke gave a subtle look, “Doesn’t Mrs. Kenneth care?”

“No, I told you she’s a mature woman, she won’t care.”

“What about your girlfriend? Is she mature enough?”

“My girlfriend …… she’s a different type, totally different from Mrs. Kenneth, there’s no comparison.”

“Tell us the exact time you came to Kenneth’s house?”

Mark responded, “You guys don’t still suspect me, do you?”

“We’re just trying to prove your innocence, don’t worry.”

“Nine o’clock, I arrived at nine.”

“Where were you before that?”

“I waited right outside the community for Mrs. Kenneth’s cell phone, but never waited, so I found it myself.

Everything I’ve said is true, and I had nothing to do with what was going on in the house.”

Luke reconfirmed, “Did you lie this time?”

“No, absolutely not.” Mark assured him with conviction.

Luke handed him a business card, “Feel free to call me if you think of any leads.”

“I will.” Mark took the business card with both hands, revealing a look of supplication, “Please make sure you keep this a secret, and absolutely not let Mrs. Kenneth’s husband know about this.”

Luke said, “Provided that you’re not lying.”

“I promise I haven’t.”

Blackie looked at Mark’s departing back, “He’s so good at this, I feel like I’ve met my match!

A powerful opponent like never before!”

Luke jotted down the highlights of the transcript in his notebook, “You’re right, he does know how to play. But because of that, it’s easy to play badly.”

After a while, Susan gathered the crowd to summarize the case.

Susan asked, “What did everyone find out?”

The vice squad analyzed, “From the scene, the suspect was most likely looking for something, and the spread of blood at the stairway indicates that there is most likely a victim still present. I’m leaning more towards this being a robbery scene.”

Susan frowned, “If a victim does exist, the victim must be identified as soon as possible. Jenny, did you find out about the homeowner?”

“Yes, Matthew just sent it over.” Jenny tapped on her cell phone message and read.

“Homeowner, Brown Kenneth.

Gender, male

Date of birth, February 8, 1979

Cell phone number, 626 346 2523

Social Security number, 623-53-7342.

Family member, daughter

Marital status, divorced”