Chapter 282

Luke questioned, “Mr. Arthur, the first thing the police did after discovering Novena Jones’ body on September 15 was to start investigating the case.

Why did you choose to use lynching instead of cooperating with the police?”

McKell Arthur looked at Black, “I gave you guys a chance, the first time was at Novena Jones’ apartment, and you let Petrov get away, right under your nose.

For a police officer, you did the right thing, and may have even done a good job.

But for me, not nearly enough.

When I found Petrov, he was already packing up and getting ready to run, and that increased my suspicion of him.

I had to stop him, by my own means.” McKell Arthur pointed to his chest and continued.

“After I took control of Petrov, he was defiant, thinking I had sneaked up on him.

And he wasn’t scared at the time, with the look of a tough guy from the Woolly Bear Nation, and said that I didn’t have a clue what kind of being I’d messed with.

If I dared to touch a single finger of his, the entire Mao Xiong Gang would break me into pieces.

I’ve been to Woolly Bear Country, and while some people are fun to be around, others are really assholes, and Petrov falls into the latter category, bringing back some not-so-fond memories.

So, I also used some not-so-friendly interrogation techniques, but alas, he was not the killer.”

Black grunted, “You were a pain in the ass, but you also caused a lot of trouble for the police and delayed their investigation.”

McKell Arthur spread his hands, “People always like to consider things from their own perspective.

How about we change our perspective.

If I hadn’t stepped in at that time, Petrov would most likely have run away.

Would you still be able to find him in Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York, or even the Woolly Bear Country? Would you still be able to get information out of him?

Before you accuse me, I want you to think about why I didn’t kill Petrov, I already got the information I wanted, if I had killed him, you guys wouldn’t have been able to find me at all.

But I left him alive to facilitate the police investigation.

I thought you guys would be able to pry him open too, but you didn’t, and you can’t blame me for that.”

Blackie laughed back in anger, “You mean to say that you are assisting the police investigation?”

“As a matter of fact.”

Blackie thought about it and realized that he couldn’t really refute that, “We’ve done our best, but we’re police officers, and there’s a bottom line to what we do.

We can only investigate cases in accordance with the laws of California, and it’s impossible to use unscrupulous methods to force Petrov.

And he belongs to a gang, he is not afraid of the law at all, we can only make the Woolly Bear Gang hurt before he can cooperate with us, and that takes time.

If we do what you did to Petrov, the whole of L.A. is in chaos, and our bottom line is that L.A. is safe.”

McKell Arthur said, “You’re right, so I don’t blame you guys, but I also see your limitations.”

“So, at this point in time you decided to go it alone and find Novena Jones’ killer on your own terms.”

McKell Arthur shook his head, “I knew it was wrong of me to do so, and I hesitated long enough to give you guys a second chance as well.

I had already found Eddie Ross by the time you guys went to his house to investigate, but I didn’t rush into it and wanted to see if the police could track him down.

Overall, you guys did a good job investigating the case.

It didn’t take long for your men to arrive, a Mexican police officer and a policewoman.

But …… they just stood at the door and asked questions, then left.

That asshole went back to the house, ready to find connections to get off the hook.

I don’t know if his connections will work, but even if he just gets a lawyer, it will delay the police investigation.

It’s too slow.

I didn’t like that approach.

I decided to interrogate him myself, and he confessed quickly, even telling me the safe and bank codes.”

Blackie was curious, “When did you cut out his brother? Was it during the interrogation, or after?”

“Is this question related to the investigation?”

“Uh …… you can also not answer.”

“After the interrogation.

It’s not just about avenging Novena Jones.

It’s also about not wanting him to hurt more girls.

I know these kind of people too well to ever stop until they’ve been taught a lesson they’ll never forget.”

“Aren’t you worried about getting caught by the police?”

McKell Arthur laughed, “Do you think you can catch me?”

Black was a little embarrassed, if Luke hadn’t been there that day, the possibility of McKell Arthur escaping was extremely high.

Of course, this is not a problem with Blackie’s ability, replaced with other ordinary police officers may not be better than him.

Xiao Hei changed the topic, “What exactly are you?”

“Ordinary people.”

Xiao Hei rolled his eyes, “Don’t take this kind of old bullshit to perfume me, what did you do before?”

“I’ve done a lot of work, it should all be on my profile, you guys should have checked it out already.”

“Never mind the bullshit information, I want to hear the truth.”

“It doesn’t matter what I say, reality is based on information, don’t you think?”

Black shrugged, “I see your point, I’m not looking for your testimony, but I’m personally curious.

If you’re truly a commoner, then I’m going to have to consider my suitability for the job.”

McKell Arthur squared his shoulders, “You’re not bad, better than most cops I’ve seen.”

Black smiled, “Are you complimenting me?”

“Of course.”

“Do you have anything else to add to the Novena Jones case?” Luke interrupted the two.

When a person encounters someone a little better than them, they develop a sense of competition.

Encountering someone much better than oneself would create a sense of admiration or worship, and Luke did not want Blackie to become the other’s fanboy.

“No.” McKell Arthur sighed and looked at Luke, “You are very good, I should have told you the clues earlier.”

Black puffed out his chest with honor, “You regret what you did?”

“Can’t talk about regret, even if I were given another chance.

I would probably still choose to waste these three assholes, it’s the only thing I can do for Novena Jones.

When I think of what they did to Novena Jones ……

I think it was all worth it and have a clear conscience.”

Black sighed, “Those three are indeed scum, it hurts you to do this, but you’ll have to face the law, and you may have to spend the rest of your life in prison.”

“Everyone is responsible for what they’ve done, as long as they can afford this.” McKell Arthur pointed to his chest and said lightly.

“I’ve cleared up the situation, so go work on the case and don’t waste any more time on me.

Captain Lee, you got me, and I hope you get the real killer!”

Luke stood up, “I’ll do my best.”

Black waved his hand, “Wait, I have one last question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you know how to use a gun?”

McKell Arthur smiled, “I hope you never know the answer to that one.”

Back in the First Squadron office, Luke called a meeting.

The lieutenant inquired, “How did the interrogation go? Did it go well?”

Luke replied, “McKell Arthur only admitted to hurting the African-American victim, Sayid McCann, not Petrov or Eddie Ross.

He refused to confess, but made a hypothetical statement recounting the crime.”

“What kind of deal did he want?”

“He wants the prosecution to exonerate him of all charges.”

The lieutenant shook his head, “What a greedy bastard.”

Jackson said, “Are his hypothetical statements credible?”

“Credible to a higher degree, he has the same goal as we do, to catch Novena Jones’ killer.” Luke then recounted McKell Arthur’s hypothetical statement.

Jackson rubbed his neck, his heart palpitating, “If he’s telling the truth, he’s a sentient fellow.

Then again, what exactly did he used to do?”

Luke picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea, “He won’t say, but as long as he doesn’t want to go to jail, the forces behind him will be exposed sooner or later.”

“Then we’ll have to keep our eyes open and take a good look.” The lieutenant smiled and continued, “Now that it’s been established that he’s not the murderer of Novena Jones, there’s no need for us to put too much energy into him.

It’s time to investigate a new direction.”

“Lieutenant, what are your thoughts?”

“From the available evidence, Petrov, Eddie Ross, and Sayid McCann can all be ruled out as suspects for now.

And the deceased, Novena Jones, was a non-family member here and didn’t have much contact with the outside world other than her work.

I still think her death was related to her work.” The vice squad paused and continued.

“From previous investigations, the Woolly Bear Gang is not a strong suspect either.

The most likely person to have a confrontation with the victim was the john instead, and I think we should investigate in that direction.”

Jackson said, “That’s true, but isn’t the scope of the johns too big, the silver seller girl’s way of picking up customers is still mainly on the street, delivering cash directly after doing business, without even a receipt, where are we going to investigate?”

Luke flipped open his notebook, “Just now gave a statement to McKell Arthur, he mentioned a clue.

When he came home, he found the victim Novena Jones’ bracelet at the corner of Vios Street and Stavin Street.

I suspect the victim was abducted there, likely the first scene.”

The lieutenant said, “That’s good to know, if there is surveillance, there’s no chance it could have captured the victim being abducted.

That’s a big part of this case solved.”

Luke shook his head, “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, according to McKell Arthur there are no surveillance cameras around.”

The lieutenant spread his hands, “It seems that the murderer also has some sense of counter-surveillance.”

Black added, “Or maybe it was just more luck.”

Luke scanned the crowd, “Anyone else have any ideas?”

No one responded, Luke began to arrange the tasks, “Vice team, you continue to line up the contacts on the deceased’s cell phone, most of these people are acquaintances, and the possibility of committing the crime is also a bit greater.

I’ll take someone to the first crime scene to check for hidden cameras or witnesses.”

“YES, CAPTAIN.”

Half an hour later.

Near the intersection of Vios Street and Stavin Street.

Two cars pulled up to the curb.

The doors opened and Luke got out of the car, observing the surrounding situation, confirming that there was no abnormality, and waved his hand.

The back door of the car opened and Blacky escorted McKell Arthur out of the car.

Luke asked, “Where is the exact location where the bracelet was found?”

McKell Arthur looked around and walked forward a bit, pointing to a location about ten meters away from the intersection, “This is where I found the bracelet.”

Luke stepped in to survey the area and found no obvious marks, “Did you see anything suspicious or anyone else at the time?”

“No.”

Luke got up and looked around, from time to time people passed by and others looked at them with curiosity, three days had passed since the case, even if the killer had left clues, they were most likely destroyed.

However, considering McKell Arthur’s ability, if the murderer did leave clues, he should be able to find them.

Luke turned around at the intersection and didn’t find any cameras that could capture the scene, further away there were store stores: “On the night of the murder, were any of the surrounding stores open?”

“No, that time time basically closed.”

There is no surveillance around the scene, and there are no stores and suspicious people, then we can only expand the scope and check the surveillance farther away.

Luke then had his people center on the scene and collect surrounding surveillance that might have captured the victim or the murderer.

For example, surveillance of nearby stores or road surveillance a bit further away.

Luke himself escorted McKell Arthur back to the police station.

After the officers had collected the surrounding surveillance, they began to review the surveillance videos for clues to the case.

Luke took the lead in reviewing the surveillance for the day, but the results weren’t very good, and few valuable clues were found.

In order to be able to find witnesses as soon as possible, Luke came up with another stupid method, pulling banners at the corner of Vios Street and Stavin Street to look for witnesses.

If you can provide valuable clues, you can get a prize of 1,000 dollars to 3,000 dollars.

This method, which Luke had used before in China, was not very smart, but many cases could be solved by accumulating enough clues through a thousand stupid methods, and finally the clues were summarized, and the quantitative change reached the qualitative change.

September 21st, early morning.

The surveillance video was checked and the banner was hung for a day, but still no new clues were obtained.

Luke called the crowd for a morning meeting, ready to brainstorm for new directions and ideas for the investigation.

However, shortly after the morning meeting started, there was a knock on the door outside.

“Knock knock.”

Reed opened the door and walked into the office, “SORRY, I’m interrupting your meeting.”

“Chief, what can I do for you?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“OK,” Luke got up and instructed the crowd, “Guys, you can continue your discussion.”

Luke invited Reed into his office, “Chief, would you like a drink?”

“Thanks, no thanks.

How’s the case going? Any new leads?”

“Not yet, that place is too remote, decent people wouldn’t go there at night, and the immodest ones might not want to deal with the police even if they saw something.”

Reed snickered, “Did you have a banner that said ‘Get a get-out-of-jail-free deal if you can give us a clue’?”

Luke laughed, that sort of thing could be done, but making a big deal out of it was a bit of a taboo and could easily cause bad publicity.

“To tell you something serious.” Reed wore a serious expression, “The DA’s office called a while ago and agreed to McKell Arthur’s exoneration.”

Luke asked rhetorically, “Since when have they been so nice?”

Reed spread his hands, “They do seem rather capricious at times. Still, this is good news for us, it’ll save us a lot of money.”

“Chief, what’s the story with McKell Arthur?”

“I haven’t received a definite answer either, but I’m guessing …… that he’s probably a retired agent.”

“CIA?”

Reed nodded.

“Are you sure he’s really retired?

If it’s true that he’s retired, why did he still get an easy immunity deal?”

“From what I’ve been told, he is indeed retired.

However, some of his previous experiences, some of the things he saw and heard, are not something that normal people can imagine.

Those three scumbags are insignificant compared to these.

What human rights, equality, laws ……

That’s the real America.”

“I understand, and I’m not interested in giving justice to three scumbags who deserve it.

However, McKell Arthur’s behavior caused trouble for the LAPD all the same.

What if something like this happens again in the future?

Will this cause problems for me and my team and is there any point in enforcing our laws?”

“You guys did a great job.

You caught a super-agent and upheld the authority of the LAPD in a meaningful way.

I’m proud of you guys.

I’m with you guys, there’s never any doubt about that.” Reed took a stand and continued.

“So, I’ve also made a request to the DA’s office that the exoneration deal stand on the condition that McKell Arthur leaves Los Angeles.

I don’t care what he is, I don’t care if he does something illegal again in the future, but it can’t be in the LAPD’s jurisdiction.

What do you think?”

“Great, you’re the boss.”

“OK.

I’ll go then, I won’t bother you guys with the case. Also, let me know if you need manpower and funding.”

Luke smiled, “So good.”

“This is your first case as acting captain, I won’t let you go it alone.”

“Thanks, I’ll ask if I need to.”

After Reed left, Luke found the lieutenant and put him in charge of following up on the McKell Arthur exoneration deal.

The rest of the team was a little surprised to hear the news, but not too surprised.

Apparently everyone subconsciously decided that McKell Arthur was not simple, and if the other party was really an ordinary person, it would be more surprising instead.

Blackie said, “Is it too late for me to change my career?

Why do I feel that the CIA is more intimidating than the LAPD.”

The vice squad laughed, “Your feeling is right. the CIA is indeed more imposing, and none of their training bases are currently open to the public.

But their work is also more dangerous and more demanding.

If it’s Luke maybe he can try to break in.”

“What about me?”

“The odds are you’ll land in a box.”

“Haha ……” the crowd laughed.

Blacky “……”

“So it’s risky to change careers, and you need to be careful about quitting.”

Luke laughed, he agreed with the lieutenant’s words, he still preferred being a police officer compared to an agent, the CIA had no law enforcement powers within the United States.

From what he remembered agents sounded cool but generally didn’t end well.

He was doing well in the LAPD system, so why would he be looking for that.