Chapter 501

Detective Bureau.

When Luke returned to the Detective Bureau, Squadron One was already assembled under the building.

The lieutenant took the initiative to report, “While we were following up on Brett Martell’s trail, we found his credit card swipes from the early hours of yesterday morning, located at a motel.”

Luke nodded, it made complete sense that Brett Martell had gotten into an argument with his wife over work, gambled and left home, and then checked into a motel.

If he really was the deceased, that was probably the first scene of the killing.

“Lieutenant, go back and rest first, I’ll lead the team to the motel to investigate.” The rest of Luke’s team waved, “Guys, get in the cars and get going.”

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, I’ll bring you some delicious donuts.” The lieutenant watched the group get in the car, although he would have liked to go along to the scene, his age was here, and after working all day, he did feel a little overwhelmed at night.

Rosa Motel.

This motel was located just off the highway on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

Each motel room is separate, with two floors, a garage on the lower level and rooms on the upper level, making it very easy to get around.

Luke and Blackie found the front desk of the motel and explained the purpose of their visit.

The motel receptionist checked the credit card records, Brett Martell’s credit card opened a three-day room, the room number is 108, according to the monitoring display, open the room is exactly Brett Martell himself.

As to whether Brett Martell was in the house now, they were not sure, motel guests could just drive in and out with a lot of privacy.

After asking for clarification, Luke took Blackie to investigate in room 108, where a red Dongfeng Nissan sedan was parked in the garage below room 108.

Luke touched the front of the car, there is still residual warmth, which indicates that there is likely to be someone else in room 108.

He made a wink with Blackie and both pulled out their pistols.

Luke waved in the distance and Ramon came over with a couple of officers to support him.

Luke had figured out a plan of action before he came, and he gestured, signaling the crowd to follow Plan A.

The crowd gingerly made their way up the stairs to the second floor, with the two men, Blackie and Jackson, standing on either side of the room’s doorway, left and right.

The door is a common wooden door, Blackie is very familiar with it, only to see him raise his right foot, kicked the door lock.

“With a bang, the door opened.

Jackson was the first to rush into the room, “LAPD don’t move.”

“Put your hands up.”

“Move again and we’ll shoot.”

The crowd quickly rushed into the room to a mortifying sight.

A white, middle-aged man was naked, kneeling on a bed, and in front of him lay a woman with long brown hair in a red dress that had receded to her waist.

The two were plastered together clapping for love.

“Jesus, what are you guys doing?” Black sounded like he was questioning, but his tone was vaguely excited.

“Don’t shoot, we’re unarmed.” The white middle-aged man looked a little funny as he held up his hands and knelt on the bed, not daring to move.

The red-skirted woman in front of him lay on her back on the bed, pushing her skirt down with both hands, not daring to move around either.

Luke was also a bit speechless when he saw this scene, he sized up the white man and recognized the other party, “What’s your name?”

“Brett Martell.” The white man calmed down and asked, “Why are you breaking into my room? Can I get dressed first?”

Luke shook his head, “Really should show your wife what you look like now.”

“Sir, I’m not breaking any laws, I’m just dating a friend.”

“A friend?”

“Yes.”

“So tell me what’s the name of this friend of yours?”

“Uh …… we just met, we don’t know each other very well yet.”

“Acquainted how? On the street?”

Brett Martell sighed, “You’re breaking into my room without any reason, that’s against the law, shouldn’t you have said something first?”

“We’re investigating a homicide, your wife came running to say you were missing and suspected you were the victim, who would have thought you’d be here in a drunken stupor?”

“It’s a misunderstanding, I don’t have anything going on, I’m just getting together with my friends, sir, you can leave now.”

Xiao Hei said, “You don’t even know her name, and you still have the nerve to say you’re a friend, do you think the LAPD is stupid?

Or is that the only excuse you can come up with?” Kuro walked over to the bed and looked at the woman with the long brown hair and

“Ma’am, you’re supposed to be smart, tell me, what’s your relationship with her?”

“Friend.” The brown haired woman’s face was hidden by her long hair, making it hard to see what she looked like.

“What’s his name?”

“We just met.” The brown-haired woman’s voice was small.

“What’s your name?”

Black scrutinized the woman’s clothes, dress, and belongings; in his experience, this one was probably a streetwalker, just check to see if she had a prostitution record.

“Riley Cress.”

“Get your ID out.”

“My ID is in my bag.” The woman slowly sat up, opened her purse, and took her driver’s license out of it and handed it to Blackie.

Blackie took the driver’s license and froze.

“Reilly Kress.” The picture on the driver’s license was actually a Latino man.

“Is this your ID? Look up.”

The woman with the long brown hair slowly lifted her head and the crowd got a good look at him.

“You’re actually a guy!” Black dropped the driver’s license in his hand with some disgust and looked at Brett Martell again, “Your wife is at home worrying about your well-being, but you’re messing around with a man in a motel, can you stand up to her?”

The people in the room also had varying expressions.

Luke stared at the man with long brown hair and finally got a good look at his face, it was indeed a man, wearing female makeup, not very tall, wearing a female red dress, and with that ambiguous pose just now, it was easy to be mistaken for a woman.

Luke waved his hand, “Take this ‘lady’ out, I want to talk to Brett Martell.”

Numerous police officers left the house one after another, leaving only Luke and Blackie to question Brett Martell.

Brett Martell took the initiative to speak, “Sorry, I lied, he is not my friend, I …… just want to have some fun.”

Black revealed a curious look, “Did you know he was male?”

“Yes, I know.”

“Whose car is downstairs?”

“It’s his.”

“You admit to whoring.”

“Can we not tell my wife?”

“We can keep quiet about your whoring, but she’s always thought you were missing, and we have to tell her now that we’ve found you.”

Brett Martell covered his face with his hands, “Can I …… keep my secret? I don’t mean the whoring thing, but his gender, I don’t want loved ones, friends or even children to look at me in a different light.”

Blackie pressed, “They don’t know you’re gay?”

Brett Martell shook his head, “Don’t say they don’t know, I didn’t know myself before ……

I’ve been under a lot of stress at work in recent times, and I was looking for a way to release that stress, and I found some videos online of men clapping for love, which I found exciting and a great stress reliever.”

“I swear I really didn’t know I had a tendency towards that until then, I always thought I was straight.”

As if to hide his embarrassment, Brett Martell changed the subject, “Why do you guys think I’m involved in homicide.”

“Do you have to go through the L.A. River to get to work?”

“Yes, I cross the bridge over the L.A. River almost every day.”

“We found the body under the bridge, it was damaged beyond recognition, and you disappeared at a similar time as the body died, which is why we’re investigating your whereabouts.”

Luke explained and then asked rhetorically, “Did you cross the bridge over the Los Angeles River the night you ran away from home.”

“Uh, yes.”

“Did you see anything unusual?”

Brett Martell thought for a moment and recalled, “I do remember what seemed like a car stopped on the bridge, a black Buick sedan, and a man stepped out of the car and seemed to throw something under the bridge.”

“What was it?”

“It seemed to be a dark colored bag, it was a little dark and I couldn’t see it very well, but the bag wasn’t too big to hold a body, and the man probably had nothing to do with the case.”

Blackie tapped his cell phone and pointed to the photo on it, “Is it this kind of bag?”

“Yes, it’s very similar, it should be this bag.”

Luke asked, “Do you remember the license plate number?”

“It was too dark for me to see it.”

“Recall carefully the features of the car and the man.”

“I only remember that it was a black Buick, and the person was about one meter eight or so, wearing a hat, I couldn’t see his face, but judging from his build, it should have been a man.

I’m sorry, I was in a depressed mood after a fight with my wife, and I wasn’t in the mood to observe anything else.”

“Tell us the exact time at that time?”

“It should be around 12:20 am.”

Luke recorded the time and took out a business card from Blacky’s pocket and handed it to him, “You can call Inspector Marcus if you remember any clues.”

Blacky was confused.

Why me?

“I will, and I hope you’ll keep my secret, thanks.” Brett Martell said pathetically, like a child who had done something wrong.

Black looked at him and sighed, “Man, apologize to your wife and go back to your life. If you really like …… it you can get your wife a short haircut.”

Brett Martell “……”

I fucking thank you.

Luke “……”

After leaving the motel, Luke rearranged the task, ready to be divided into two groups, one group to go home and sleep, to recuperate tomorrow to continue the investigation; a group of overnight investigation of the suspect vehicle, and strive to find out as soon as possible the murderer’s clues.

The task of investigating the suspect vehicle fell on Ramon and Jenny.

Luke returned home, it was already ten thirty at night.

The house was lit, Luke opened the door, entered the living room, and saw Daisy sitting on the sofa wearing a black lace tulle nightgown, which felt all covered up, but vaguely visible, making people itch.

Luke was a little surprised, “I thought you weren’t coming tonight.”

“As a lawyer, the most important thing is to keep your appointments.” Daisy’s lotus steps came over, her slender fingers gently traced Luke’s cheeks, “To reward you for your valor, I can satisfy any request you have tonight.”

Luke smiled, “Then be prepared to be late tomorrow.”

During the night, Daisy was very active and served Luke with great care.

There was no doubt about it.

The next morning both got up late couldn’t be bothered to eat breakfast before heading straight out to work.

Luke, who was physically exhausted last night, definitely still needed to eat breakfast, and bought a beef burger, a hot dog, and a carton of milk on the way.

After arriving at the Robbery and Murder Division office, he finished his breakfast in ten minutes, drank another cup of coffee, and his mental energy came back.

Luke called the crowd to a meeting.

The lieutenant brought a box of donuts to the table, “Who wants donuts? With coffee, it’s a real treat.”

“Thanks, I’m full.” Luke politely declined, he was still more inclined to eat some protein than just sugary foods, after all, what you eat makes up for what you have.

Luke swept his gaze past Ramon and looked directly at Jenny, “How did it go last night?”

Jenny said, “There is no surveillance on the bridge where the body was dumped, we could only investigate the surveillance near the bridge, and a black Buick sedan was indeed spotted around 12:20.”

Jenny walked over to the projector and put up a couple of photos, “Here’s a high definition screenshot of the suspect vehicle, the driver was wearing a hat and it’s hard to see his face but he looks like a man by his build.

We had Brett Martell identify it, and he thought the hat and clothing, resembled the suspect he saw throwing the black bag on the bridge.

The car did not have its license plate number obscured, and we were able to find out the owner’s information based on the license plate number.”

License plate number, 8ASb323.

Owner, Arnett Stone.

Gender, male.

Height, 183cm

Weight, 170 pounds

Eye color, blue.

Hair color, brown.

Date of birth, March 13, 1983

Cell phone number, 828 836 4736

Residential address, 207 Leitner neighborhood

Luke stared at the information on the projector; based on Brett Martell’s description, the driver of the black Buick sedan was probably the shredder.

And the owner of this suspect car was either the killer.

Or the victim.