Chapter 483

Luke asked, “Lieutenant, what do you think is the connection between Jim and the kidnappers?”

“Hard to say.” The lieutenant scratched his hair out of habit.

“Judging from the last contact, Jim is a smart man and shouldn’t be involved in the kidnapping case.

However, in front of money, even the calmest person will lose his way, and we can’t rule out him getting involved in a kidnapping case for money.

Personally, I prefer the former because his vigilance was too poor just now.

Even if he was involved in the kidnapping, he should have been behind the scenes, it’s unlikely that he would be exposed so easily.”

“We are on the same page.” Luke voiced out his speculation just now.

The vice squad nodded, “It’s still the young man’s brain that’s good, it’s very likely that he acted as a middleman to acquire this batch of gold.

Poor guy, he was set up by the kidnappers and still doesn’t know it.

What are you going to do?”

Luke also did not think well, if his speculation was correct, then it was not much of a problem to contact Jim directly, he had the certainty to convince Jim to cooperate with the police and provide clues of those real kidnappers.

But those previous speculations, after all, were just speculations, without evidence.

If Jim was really overwhelmed by money and participated in the kidnapping, it was not something that could be persuaded with a few words, and it might even alert the police.

Seven-thirty in the morning.

The door to the white, pitched-roof house opened, and Jim stepped out of the house, looked around for a moment, and then got into the BMW and left.

The BMW drove west along the neighborhood highway to a well known burger joint for breakfast.

At eight o’clock in the morning, Jim drove off again after breakfast and rushed to the Odd Fellows House antique store.

The antique store was already open, but instead of going in through the front door, Jim parked his car at the back door and walked into the antique store through the back door.

However, as soon as he entered the store, something felt different.

It was too quiet.

It wasn’t like his sweetheart of a store clerk.

“Hey, Boss Jim, it’s been a long time, I heard you made a fortune recently.”

A man’s voice suddenly rang out, startling Jim and jerking his pistol out of his waistband in the direction of the voice.

“No No No, don’t move, drop your pistol.” An old white-haired man stepped out from behind a nearby shelf.

“Lieutenant Vince, what are you doing here?” Jim showed a surprised look.

Jim saw two more men with guns approaching and had the good sense to drop his pistol.

Blackie flashed his badge, “LAPD, Boss Jim, I was up all night trying to catch you.”

“Sir, there must be some kind of misunderstanding here.” Jim held up his hands and looked aside at Vince, “Lieutenant Vince, can we talk about this another way?”

“Sure, what do you want to talk about?”

“Talk about why you guys are in my store? If there’s anything you guys need my help with just let me know and I’ll be sure to assist in any way I can.”

The lieutenant nodded, “I like your attitude. I don’t like beating around the bush either, where are the hostages?”

Jim looked confused, “What hostages, I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

The lieutenant smiled, “Wrong answer.

We’re investigating a kidnapping where the kidnappers extorted a large amount of gold from the hostage’s parents and told the hostage’s father to place the gold underneath the Kalman Street overpass.

Six bags, 5000 ounces of gold.

I assume you have all this gold.”

“Jesus Christ, I’ve been set up, I had no idea that this gold was stolen money.” Jim explained, “Some time ago, a man named Tom found me.

Said he had a batch of gold he wanted to convert into cash and asked if I could help.

I happened to have some contacts, so I promised him.

Yesterday he called and asked me to pick up the gold under the Calman Street overpass this morning, then I sent two of my men down there.

That’s the way it happened; I didn’t know anything about any kidnapping and had nothing to do with it.”

The lieutenant said, “The fact that you have that gold in your possession is not something that can be solved by saying that you have no connections. The hostages could be torn apart at any time, I don’t have time to bullshit you here. I just want to know where the hostages are now.”

“I really don’t know.”

The vice squad stepped forward and pointed his right finger at him, his tone stern, “If the hostage dies, you are also responsible. You’re the one who got her killed.”

“I swear to God, I’m telling the truth.

Where is Captain Lee, I want to talk to him.” Jim didn’t like dealing with the old white-haired man.

“Are you in a position to negotiate?” The lieutenant waved his hand, signaling Blackie and Jackson to take him away.

“The captain isn’t someone you just want to see.” Blacky held him down, ready to handcuff him.

“I’m not making a deal, I’m making a request.” Jim gave in, he was still out on bail and being taken into custody could lead to a whole host of trouble.

Just then, Luke came over from the front and said, “Guys, let go first and listen to what he has to say.”

“Captain Lee, I was really framed.

I swear to God, I definitely didn’t know that the gold was stolen money from the kidnapping. I can hand over the gold, not a single piece.”

“Jim, it’s not just about the gold now, we need to keep the hostages safe. If the hostages die and the gang of kidnappers get away, you should know what the consequences are.”

Jim’s brain was covered with fine beads of sweat, “A while ago, a man named Tom contacted me and said he wanted to exchange a batch of gold, and I agreed.

We agreed that I would take away the gold today.

Two days later, hand them six million dollars in cash.

I believe that he should not tear up the check until he gets the six million dollars in cash.” Jim said with some chagrin, “No wonder he agreed to take away the gold first and pay the cash later, instead of handing over the money and gold in one hand.

It turns out that he was trying to use me to take the stolen money, I won’t let this bastard go, and I hope you guys can catch him too.”

“Do you know where the hostages are?”

“No, I don’t have a single thing to do with the kidnapping, and if I had known that the gold was stolen money obtained from the kidnapping, I would never have traded with them.

I know what money can be earned and what money cannot be earned.

This kind of money, have life to earn not life to spend.

Captain Lee, this isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with each other, you should know that I’m not that kind of short-sighted fool.”

Luke stared at the other party’s cheeks and tried again, “You really don’t have anything to do with the kidnapping?”

Jim’s tone was certain, “Yes, nothing to do with it.

I just agreed to help him exchange the gold.”

Luke stared at his expression, seeing no obvious signs of lying.

“Jim, can I trust you?”

“Yes, I would never lie to you.”

“That gold is not to be touched.”

“No problem.”

“Also, I need you to assist the police in stabilizing the kidnappers and rescuing the hostages.”

“I’m willing to help.”

“Very well, tell me about that Tom guy, since you guys can do business, you should know him.”

Jim shook his head, “I’m sorry, I’m not very familiar with the man, I don’t even know his real identity.”

The lieutenant shook his head, “Liar, this is a big deal and it’s impossible to make a deal if you don’t know the person well.”

Jim sighed, “You’re right, I thought the same thing before and used that excuse to turn him down.

But he sounded sincere and promised that he could give me the gold first and take the cash afterward.

I thought about it, and whether he was lying or not, I wouldn’t lose out.

If he really has the gold, this business is done.

If you don’t receive the gold or it’s fake gold, you won’t be able to benefit from me either.” Jim clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

“I didn’t expect that there was really gold under the piers of the Kalman Street overpass.

What’s more, I didn’t expect to be fooled by them.”

Luke wasn’t satisfied with that answer, “This doesn’t sound like the savvy Jim I know, man, say something useful.”

Jim nodded, “I was about to say.

Like the lieutenant said, I don’t like to do business with strangers, let alone such a large deal.

Although from the agreement, this business is a sure thing.

But I still felt uneasy in my heart, so I had someone follow that Tom guy.”

“That’s like the shrewd Jim I know.” Luke laughed.

“Where is he?”

The Tosta neighborhood.

As soon as the car drove into the neighborhood, something felt familiar to Luke, and the reason for that familiarity wasn’t because he’d been here before, but because the base station of the cell phone signal that the tech team had used to track the kidnappers had been positioned near this area.

It’s just that the situation in this area is more complicated, and it’s extremely difficult to line up.

After the car drove into the community, the community has both white residents, black residents and Mexican residents, perhaps this is one of the reasons why this community is more chaotic.

Jim sat in the back of the police car and pointed to a gray-roofed bungalow on the west side of the neighborhood and said, “That’s the house Tom went to.”

“Can we be sure?”

“Yes.”

Luke pulled out his walkie-talkie and said, “The gray-roofed bungalow located on the right side of the road is the house where the kidnappers are, watch for signs of human activity.”

“YES, Sir.”

After Luke finished speaking, he also took out his binoculars to observe the situation of that house.

After watching for a while, there was no movement in the house.

Jim couldn’t help but ask, “Are we going to keep waiting like this?”

Blackie asked back, “Man, do you have any good ideas? Don’t hesitate to speak up, maybe it’s your chance to get credit.”

Jim said, “Why don’t you use the infrared imager to look inside the house.”

Black shrugged, “That thing can’t penetrate walls at all, why would you think that?”

“I’ve seen Fast and Furious, an infrared imager can even go through a big metal door.”

Blacky laughed, “Then you should see part 9, two guys drove a car into space and knocked over a satellite, the space suits were still duct taped, Musk will be pissed off when he sees that, haha.”

Jackson turned his head from the driver’s side and said, “Movie and TV shows have drama added, don’t take it too seriously.”

Just then, not far away drove over a green van with a blue label ‘Carter’s Cleaning Company’ affixed to the side of the body.

The cleaning van pulled up outside the gray-roofed bungalow and several men in cleaning uniforms stepped out of the van, grabbed their tools from the vehicle and walked to the door of the house.

One of the older white men rang the doorbell and there was no response.

He knocked again and there was still no response.

He then lifted the carpet from the doorway of the house, grabbed a key from underneath and opened the door.

Luke and the others saw the scene.

Blackie looked puzzled, “What are these guys up to? Destroying evidence?”

Jackson said, “They opened the door by themselves, there is likely no one in the house, could the kidnappers have gotten away?”

Luke took out his walkie-talkie, “I’ll go down and take a look, the others stay put for now, Lieutenant, you’re in charge of command.”

“Roger.”

Luke got out of the car and walked up to the door of the gray roofed house and looked inside, a couple of guys in janitorial uniforms were assigning cleaning duties.

“Hi, good morning, I just moved into the neighborhood and stopped by to say hello.”

A white man approached, “I’m the manager of Carter’s Cleaning, Jovis Carter. The homeowner isn’t home.”

Luke asked rhetorically, “Why are you cleaning when the homeowner isn’t home?”

Jovis Carter said, “It was the homeowner’s request, he went up to the store yesterday to schedule the service and told us the key was under the footrest at the front of the house so we could open the door and come in and clean it ourselves.”

“I’m new to the neighborhood and my house needs cleaning, can you come out and talk?” Luke guessed that the odds were that the kidnappers had gotten away, but there was a chance that the house would still need to be searched just to be on the safe side.

“Sure.” Jovis Carter agreed painfully.

Out of the house, Luke directly flashed his badge, “LAPD, we’re investigating the owner of the house, this house is most likely the scene of the crime, so nothing in the house can be moved, call your people out of the house, and move as little as possible, understand?”

“Okay.”

The Carter Janitorial people pulled out of the house.

Luke led a search of the house and found no suspicious people.

Blackie said, “What did I just say, these kidnappers have already run away, and they hired the cleaning company to clean up the house, actually to destroy the evidence.

Luckily we arrived in time, if we were ten minutes later, just ten minutes, everything here would have been destroyed.

Even if we could find some lingering clues, we wouldn’t be able to use them in court anymore.”

The lieutenant bristled, “If Jim hadn’t been right there in the police car, I’d have thought it was all your boy’s doing.” Speaking of Jim, the lieutenant asked, “Luke, what about Jim?”

Luke thought for a moment, “Let him go.”

“Why?” Jackson revealed a puzzled look, “This guy is not clean in the first place, and, even if he leads us here, there is no way to prove that he has nothing to do with the kidnapping.

What if he’s also a participant in the kidnapping and we let him go and he runs away?”

“You’re right, it’s a real possibility, but Jim has to be released.” Luke explained, “This gang of kidnappers is very cunning, they don’t go to get the ransom themselves, but let Jim’s people go to get the ransom, just to avoid the risk.

The gang of robbers must all have their eyes on Jim.

If Jim is arrested by the police, it means that the hostage’s family has called the police, and with the gold gone, the kidnappers will definitely run.

Any decision is risky. To ensure the safety of the hostages, we can only let Jim go.

If Jim does run away, the responsibility will be mine.”

Luke waved his hand, “Don’t freeze, call the tech team to survey the scene.”

“YES, Sir.”

Luke arranged the task.

The lieutenant patted him on the arm, “Luke, let’s go over there and talk.”

Luke looked at him preoccupied and asked, “What’s the problem?”

“This case has given me a sense of déjà vu from the beginning.

The feeling has gotten stronger as the case has progressed.” The lieutenant’s face was grave as he recalled.

“Ten years ago, I was involved in the investigation of a kidnapping case, the case was led by the FBI in the investigation and we were responsible for assisting.

The victim of the kidnapping was a ten-year-old girl, and the place where she was kidnapped was in a park near her home.

The victim’s father, a diamond dealer, received a ransom call from the kidnappers demanding five million dollars worth of diamonds.

The demand was for each diamond to be two carats or more, with good color and clarity.

The little girl’s father loved her very much and immediately prepared five million dollars worth of diamonds as requested.

A day later, the kidnappers called again, also asked to trade diamonds at night.

That night, the kidnappers changed the location of the transaction several times, and finally, asked the hostage’s father to put the diamonds on the side of the road next to the trash can.

Half an hour after the hostage father left, a man of Mexican descent took the diamonds by the trash can.

The FBI apprehended the man and immediately interrogated him about the whereabouts of the hostages.

But the Mexican man did not recognize himself as the kidnapper, according to his confession, he was only instructed by a black marketer to come here to get the diamonds.

The FBI also followed this lead to find the black market trader, the two men’s statements were consistent, he also did not admit to participate in the kidnapping, only that someone contacted him to realize a batch of diamonds.

The FBI didn’t exactly take their word for it, conducting intense interrogations while investigating the kidnapping.

But the kidnappers haven’t been in touch since then.”

Luke listened attentively and nodded, “The modus operandi of these two cases is indeed quite similar, one is to extort diamonds and the other is to demand gold, both of which shift the most dangerous part of delivering the ransom to the black marketers.

What happened to the little girl who was kidnapped?”

“The FBI hasn’t been able to locate the little girl.

It wasn’t long before the girl’s father was said to have died from grief.

You did the right thing, Jim really should have been let go.” The lieutenant sighed, a hint of determination coming through in his tone, and

“That guy is back, and this time, I’m going to get him!”

Luke said, “It’s us.”