Chapter 182

Shakira’s mouth was unconvincing, but she had to admit that Luke had a point.

A living taxpayer was worth more than a dead one.

“OK, tell me about the kidnapping case, and I’d like to know what’s going on with Amy Ma right now.”

Luke naturally wouldn’t tell her everything, and briefly introduced, “This morning, we received a call about a robbery in the Kalea neighborhood.

We rushed to the scene to check it out and realized that the case might not just be a robbery, but a kidnapping.

Amy Ma was working as a nanny in that household and was probably one of the victims.”

Black added, “Also kidnapped along with her was the daughter of that household, who is only twelve years old.”

Shakira thought for a moment, “I can tell you the clues I’ve found out to help you rescue the victims as soon as possible, but if you find out any clues about Amy Ma’s tax evasion, I also hope you can tell me.”

“Deal.” There was nothing to lose for Luke.

He was only responsible for rescuing the kidnapped person, and if the kidnapped person had evaded taxes, naturally he would be sanctioned accordingly.

Shakira organized her thoughts and said, “Some time ago, we detected a huge difference between Amy Ma’s consumption and her own income, and suspected that she might have tax evasion.

We launched a detailed investigation into her and found that her annual spending on luxury goods was as high as one hundred thousand dollars, while her tax-paid income was only sixty thousand dollars or so.

This suggests that she is likely to have other unlawful tax-avoidance income.

That’s the reason why we made this door-to-door investigation.”

This point confirmed Luke’s previous speculation that Amy Ma’s income could not support her spending, indicating that she had other sources of income.

Since she was targeted by the State Revenue Service, it meant that this source of her income was not legitimate.

And illegitimate income could easily lead to strife and retaliation.

Luke pressed, “Where do you think her illegitimate income comes from?”

Shakira said, “We checked her tax status for the last three years and found that her taxable income up to September 2020 was upwards of a hundred thousand dollars, which is perfectly in line with her spending power.

At that time, in addition to her income from babysitting, her other income came from a moon center, the Mercure Moon Center.

Later, that mooncenter went bankrupt, and her tax-paid income plummeted.

But spending didn’t go down, and there was definitely a problem there.

But that mooncenter is no longer there, and it’s hard to find out exactly what happened.”

Menstruation is a habit only for the Chinese, so most of the menstruation centers are also geared toward the Chinese.

After the U.S. adopted a constitution in 1868 that made any American born or naturalized in the U.S. a citizen of the United States and of the state in which he resided, moms from all countries went to the U.S. to have babies.

Of course, there is no shortage of smart Chinese, many pregnant women secretly run to the United States to give birth is to live in the moon child center, has formed a huge industrial chain.

Moon child center in the United States is not illegal, accurately belong to the ‘gray area’.

Because any business project in the United States need to apply for a license, but Americans do not have the habit and culture of ‘moonlighting’, so there is no corresponding channel to apply for a business license.

The U.S. is not strict in the management of the matter of child birth in the U.S., usually with one eye open and one eye closed, but many owners of moon child centers tax evasion, fraudulent low income insurance and welfare, defaulted on hospital debts.

Once they were reported, the Immigration Bureau, the Tax Bureau, and the Fire Department would all come out en masse to raid them, even alerting Homeland Security at one point.

Luke had gotten all the information about the Mei Cong Moon Center from Shakira, but there wasn’t much actual content.

Moonchild centers had almost no real names, and belonged to the category of changing places from one shot to another, moving often, and unless they were raided, there were very few clues that could be traced after the incident.

Both sides exchanged contact information and left Amy Ma’s house together.

Blackie watched Shakira get into the car and stood still, giggling and waving.

He didn’t return to the driver’s side until the IRS car was far away, and said without thinking, “What do you think of her?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think we’re right for each other?”

Luke laughed, “She didn’t even look you in the eye just now.”

“So what? Doesn’t mean she’s not interested in me either, the more some people like someone, the more they’re afraid to interact with them.”

“GOOD, let’s say she likes you then.” Luke yawned, “Drive, take me home, I’m getting sleepy.”

Blacky muttered as he drove, “Man, this is karma, I feel like my new karma has arrived.”

Luke “……”

The following morning.

Luke arrives at the Detective Bureau and starts investigating the situation at Mei Cong Moonchild Center.

The owner of the moonchild center is called Chen Haiming, who immigrated to the United States in 12 years.

The cell phone number has been lost.

It would take some effort to find him.

In Luke’s experience, this clue was more important.

Luke was going to have Matthew search the internet for clues.

Just then, however, Susan walked in, “Good news, everyone.

The threatening letter sent to Vice Mayor Li Mei was encrypted and masked the real IP address using hacking technology.

After processing by the technical department, the real IP address has been found.

And the person who sent the threatening letter is most likely the same person who kidnapped Betty and Amy Ma.

Get ready to leave in five minutes.”

“Yes, captain.”

Half an hour later, the community of Bikra.

The car drove near the community and stopped, not going straight into the community.

The reason for this was the fear of disturbing the kidnappers and causing harm to the two kidnapped people.

Susan called the people together to discuss the plan for laying out the arrest.

She spread a drawing on the table, “The owner of the IP is named Cesar Gergel.

This is the floor plan of their home.

It is understood that both Sizer and his wife should be at home right now.

In addition, Sizer Gergil runs a construction company, and Vice Mayor Li Mei happens to be in charge of public construction, so the two have a certain amount of crossover in their work.

If this couple is the kidnappers, then the two victims are most likely hiding in their home, and we have to carry out the arrest plan while ensuring the safety of the two victims.”

The vice squad said, “This is a mid-range neighborhood with a good environment and police force, and in my experience, suspects usually don’t hide their victims in this kind of neighborhood.”

Blackie didn’t agree with this, “Vice Squad, have you forgotten the Taser robbery, wasn’t the female victim, Alisa, hidden in the basement of her house by the pants-wetting lawyer?”

“I don’t care to argue with you, I’m just saying in my experience, not that it must be.”

Susan interrupted the two, “Lieutenant Luke, what do you think?”

Luke thought for a moment, “Although, just because they’ve sent threatening letters doesn’t necessarily mean they’re kidnappers, it does mean you have to be prepared for the worst.

I think it’s best to lure them out of the house, which ensures the safety of the victim and also reduces the risk of injury to the police officers.

As long as they’re under the noses of the police, everything will be fine.”

Susan agreed with Luke’s suggestion, and then the group discussed the specifics of implementation.

Inside the Bikra neighborhood, the Sizer house.

A black Volvo sat in front of the Sizer’s garage.

Not far away were two half-grown boys playing soccer.

Having a good time, one of the kids accidentally, kicked the ball into the Sizer’s house, right on the car glass.

It startled the car alarm.

The two boys seemed to be too frightened to go into the yard to get the ball.

At that moment, the door to the Nishizawa house opened and a white man stepped out.

It was the man of the house, Cesar Gergel.

When he saw the soccer ball next to the car and the mark on the glass, he was furious and shouted, “Which boy did this, stand out for me? Did you learn soccer from your grandmother?”

The two little boys looked at me and I looked at you.

One of them, the taller little boy, grabbed the ball and ran away, followed by the other boy.

“FUCK! Don’t run, you two brats, get it straight.”

Seemingly hearing her husband’s shouts, Mrs. Gergel walked out and advised, “Forget it, they’re all neighbors, there’s no need to make a scene.”

Xizhe said, “I don’t care who they are? No one is allowed to enter my yard without my permission.”

“You must be Mr. Gergil.” A young black-haired man approached from a short distance away, followed by a black man.

“Who are you?”

“LAPD, I want to talk to you.”

Cesar Gergil frowned and said, “I didn’t call the police, what do we have to talk about?”

“It’s true you didn’t call the police, but we suspect you’re involved in a kidnapping and want to search your house.” Luke flashed the warrant.

Just as Luke spoke and attracted the couple’s attention.

Jenny had already brought people to encircle and blocked the couple outside the door.

Ramon, on the other hand, directly brought people into the house to search.

Cesar Gergil said in annoyance, “Hey, you guys can’t do this! It’s illegal to break in without our consent yet!”

“I’ve already shown you the search warrant, and in order to ensure the safety of the kidnapped person, our actions must be quick.”

Cesar Gergil looked confused, “I don’t know what you’re talking about? What kidnapped person?

We don’t even have anyone else in the house besides us as a couple.”

Luke ignored him and waited for the results of the search.

Cesar Gergil and his wife tried to return to the room, but were stopped by Black and Jenny with their men.

After a while, Ramon came out and shook his head slightly at Luke.

Luke then went into Cesar’s house to check it out as well.

It was a two-story villa with four rooms up and down, and Luke carefully searched it, and indeed found no clues about the kidnapped person.

Cesar Gergel and his wife were then brought back to the house as well.

Ramon and Jenny interrogated Sizer Gergil’s wife in the master bedroom.

Luke and Blacky interrogated Sizer Gergil in the living room.

Sizer Gergil, full of anger, questioned, “You searched the house, did you find anything? Did I commit a crime? Who did I kidnap? You must give me an explanation.

Otherwise, I will definitely prosecute you.”

“Mr. Cesar Gergil, there’s a reason why we’re doing this, you’re involved in a kidnapping case, we have to verify it, and it’s for your own good.”

“What kidnapping case? I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”

“Do you know Li Mei?”

“Vice Mayor Li Mei?”

“You really do know.”

“That’s right, I do know her, so what? Could it be that she was kidnapped?”

“It wasn’t her who was kidnapped, but her daughter.”

“You have the wrong person, this has nothing to do with me, I’ve never even met her daughter.”

Luke asked while gauging the other’s expression, “Is there a conflict between you and Li Mei?”

“No, she’s a high-powered vice mayor while I’m just an ordinary citizen, what do you think we could have crossed paths?”

“Then why did you send her threatening emails?”

“What threatening emails? I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“Let me refresh your memory, the letter read ‘Resign your position as Deputy Mayor immediately, or be prepared to say goodbye to your daughter.'”

Cesar Gergel’s face changed, “No, I’ve never sent an e-mail like that.”

Luke had been watching him and it didn’t feel like a lie?

Could there be something else going on.

“The IP address was at your house.

You tell me, if it wasn’t you, who could it be?”

Cesar Gergel shook his head, “I don’t know, you guys must be mistaken, I’ve never sent this kind of threatening email.”

“What about your wife?”

Sizer Gergil defended, “My wife is even more unlikely, she doesn’t even know who Li Mei is? And why send her threatening emails.

There is no conflict of interest between me and Li Mei.

Whether she is the mayor or not has nothing to do with me, please you must believe me.”

Luke continued to test, “You should be aware that there is a huge difference in the sentencing between kidnapping and murder.

If you take the initiative to give an account now, we can give you a favorable plea deal.

If your delay leads to the victim’s death, then your crime will be serious.

Don’t hold your breath, the police have already checked on you and will definitely find you out clearly.”

“Then go ahead and investigate, I don’t give a damn because I didn’t even do it.” Cesar Gergil’s tone was forceful and underlined.

“Cluck ……” the door to the room outside slammed.

A twelve or thirteen year old walked in, showing a wary look, “Who are you guys? Why did you come to my house?”

After seeing this teenager, Luke’s line of sight was not moving away, with his judgment to see Cesar Gergel lying is not likely.

Then according to him, both husband and wife were not suspected.

But what if there was a third person in the house? And this person was about the same age as Betty, the kidnapped person.

This made Luke suspicious.

Luke opened the door and said, “What’s your name?”

“York Gergel.”

“Do you know Lee May?”

“Yes, the vice mayor of the city of Los Angeles, and the only Asian female vice mayor in the city of Los Angeles.”

“GOOD, have you e-mailed her lately?”

York Gergel froze, a nervous look on his face.

“Enough!” Cesar Gergil showed an angry look, “You just suspected me, now you’re suspecting my son, are you done?”

Luke warned, “Mr. Gergil, shut up if you don’t want to make things more troublesome.”

“Is that another threat?”

“No, it’s good advice. You may not listen, you may not talk here, then I will have no choice but to take your family of three back to the police station for questioning.”

“You can’t do that, it will ruin our reputation, what will the neighbors around us think of us?”

“Then shut up!” Luke put down and looked at York Gergel again, “York, look at me, did you send an e-mail to Li Mei?”

With a slight wince, York nodded, “Yes.”

“And the content of the letter?”

“I can’t remember.”

“Then let me refresh your memory, was it a threatening email ‘Resign as Deputy Mayor immediately or be prepared to say goodbye to your daughter.'”

York Gergil lowered his head, not daring to look at Luke, and didn’t answer.

Cesar Gergil was also a bit unsettled: “York, did you really send the email?”

York Gergil nodded.

“Why? Why did you do that?” Cesar Gergil questioned loudly.

York Gergil shook his head.

Luke advised, “York, this matter is no longer yours alone. If you don’t talk about it, it will equally involve your parents, and they will be brought into the police station just the same.”

“No, this matter has nothing to do with my parents.”

“Then why did you send that threatening letter to Vice Mayor Li Mei?”

“Betty told me to.”

Luke frowned, “Betty, Li Mei’s daughter?”

“Yes.”