Chapter 654

High in the sky, an airplane landed at the Las Vegas airport.

Luke stepped out of the door of the cabin and couldn’t help but frown slightly; the sun was a little stronger in Vegas, pulling his sunglasses out of his pocket and putting them on as he walked down the steps and out of the plane.

After talking to Orty at length yesterday, he’d decided to take on the commission.

At the time, he was still out of the excitement of having just purchased a car, thinking that Las Vegas wasn’t far from Los Angeles, so he would simply drive his newly purchased Hellcat to Las Vegas.

However, after Luke slept on it, that excitement was pretty much consumed, or decided to be lazy and take an airplane.

Luke walked to the departure gate, his eyes scanning the crowd, and saw a white man holding a sign that read Mr. Luke Lee.

Luke walked over and greeted, “I’m Luke, are you from the Nitro Hotel?”

“Mr. Lee, I’m Barron Ackerman, senior assistant at the Nitro Hotel, nice to meet you.” The white man who said it was around thirty years old, dark hair, medium, wearing a white suit, much like a southern European.

Barron Ackerman volunteered, “Let me help you with your luggage.”

“Thanks, I can carry it myself.” Luke only had one suitcase with him, and it wasn’t too much effort to lug it around.

“My car is just ahead.” Baron Ackerman made a please gesture and said, “Vice President Kieron Powell originally wanted to pick you up in person, but something came up at the hotel temporarily and he really couldn’t get away, so he sent me? You go back to the hotel.”

Luke nodded his head, just listen to this kind of talk, he didn’t really believe it anyway.

It was good that someone was there to pick them up, it didn’t really matter who it was.

Luke put his bags in the trunk and got in the back of the car.

Baron Ackerman drove the car out of the airport.

Because he didn’t know if the other party was clear about the purpose of his visit to the hotel, Luke didn’t take the initiative to talk about this commission.

The car drove for ten minutes and had already entered the downtown area of Las Vegas, Barron Ackerman asked, “Mr. Li, I have already opened a room for you. Do you want to go back to your room and rest first, or do you want to meet with Vice President Kieron Powell first?”

“I would like to meet with Vice President Kieron Powell first.”

“Okay. When we arrive at the hotel in a while, I’ll ask the waiter to take your luggage back to your room first.”

“Thanks.”

After a few more minutes, the car pulled into the Nitro Hotel and parked in front of the hotel’s lobby door, and immediately an attendant came forward and took the initiative to help Luke open the car door.

Barron Ackerman opened the trunk of the car, and the attendant lifted Luke’s suitcase down again, and Luke gave the other person a tip.

Barron Ackerman barked a few more words at the attendant to return Luke’s suitcase to the guest room.

Barron Ackerman then led Luke into the lobby.

The lobby was high, with crystal lights hanging from the top and dark gray marble tiles plastered around it, making it look opulent.

The two of them entered the elevator, Barron Ackerman swiped his card and pressed the button for the 17th floor, and then said to Luke with a smile, “Mr. Li, the first floor of the hotel is a restaurant, the second and third floors are entertainment halls, and there is a gymnasium on the fourth floor, so you can go there anytime if you need to.”

“Okay.” Luke answered and asked again, “Are you the assistant to Vice President Kieron Powell?”

“Yes, my main job is to assist Vice President Kieron Powell with his daily work.”

During the conversation, the elevator reached the seventeenth floor.

Barron Ackerman stepped off the elevator, made a gesture of invitation, and led Luke toward the east side of the corridor.

Barron Ackerman stopped in front of the door to the vice president’s office and knocked on the door, “Knock knock.”

“Come in.” A middle-aged man’s voice came from the room.

Baron Ackerman pushed the door and walked in, saying, “Boss, I picked up Mr. Li.”

A white man wearing gold-framed glasses stood up from behind his desk, walked towards the door, and smiled, “Mr. Lee, it’s good to see you.”

“Same here, Mr. Powell.”

“Have a seat.” Kieron Powell made a gesture of invitation, signaling Luke to sit on the couch, “What would you like to drink? Black tea? Coffee?”

“A cup of black tea.”

Baron Ackerman turned to pour the tea.

Kieron Powell continued, “I originally wanted to pick you up in person, but there was a temporary incident at the hotel that I needed to deal with, and I just couldn’t get away.”

“It’s okay, we’re not meeting here.”

“You’re right.” Kieron Powell smiled, “Mr. Lee, I’ve heard of your great name for a long time, but you yourself are a bit different from what I thought. You’re different from those traditional images of police heroes, I think you’re more energetic and real.”

Luke added, “More handsome, too!”

“That’s right, the girls in Las Vegas are going to love you. You’re a hero to a lot of Vegas girls.”

Baron Ackerman came over with two cups of black tea and smiled, “And that includes my mom.”

These two men’s words weren’t entirely bragging; Luke was indeed famous in Las Vegas.

A year ago, there was a terror attack in Las Vegas that caused nearly a thousand casualties, and was the most casualty-ridden terror attack in the United States with clear records.

At that time, the entire Las Vegas police officers were shocked by the firepower of the attacker, only Luke, an LAPD officer, stepped forward and killed the gunman in the first place, also avoiding greater casualties.

That night is one that will last a lifetime for all Las Vegas citizens.

From a certain perspective, Luke’s popularity in Las Vegas was not smaller than that of Los Angeles, and there might even be more people who knew his name.

Luke took a sip of black tea, “President Powell, I heard that your hotel has encountered some troubles.”

“Yes, not long ago, our hotel received two letters.

The first letter was found on November 21st, someone had put the letters in the hotel’s complaint box.

The second letter was found on November 22nd, right on my office doorstep.”

“Did you call the police?”

“No, because it’s just an ordinary threatening letter, even if you report it to the police, it won’t have much effect, instead it might scare the guests and affect the normal business of the hotel.”

“Can I see the two letters?”

“Sure.”

Kieron Powell got up and walked over to his desk and took the two letters out of the drawer and handed them to Luke.

Luke put on his gloves and opened the envelopes; the letters read the same as he had seen on his cell phone.

“Where is the complaints box in your hotel?”

“In the side lobby on the first floor.”

“Is it monitored?”

“No, it’s a hotel rule that no surveillance is allowed around the complaint box.”

Luke nodded, “Is the complaint box opened every day?”

“Once a week.”

“Which means it’s impossible to determine exactly when the first letter was delivered?”

“Yes.”

“And the second letter?”

“It was right in front of my office door, and I just happened to see it as I was walking to the door.”

“Did any of the surveillance cameras catch it?”

“Since this floor is an office area, there’s no surveillance either.”

“Who are all the people who can come to this floor?”

“Only hotel executives have elevator cards for this floor.”

“And is the stairwell locked?”

“No.”

“That means anyone could theoretically climb the stairs to access this floor.”

“You could say that.”

“Has anything like this happened before?”

“No.”

“Do you have a suspect?”

Kieron Powell hesitated for a moment and said, “There’s a Hotel Cristo across the street from our hotel.”

This hotel is similar in style and consumer base to our hotel, and there is strong competition.

Although I have no evidence that the threatening letters are related to their hotel, if anything happens to our hotel, their hotel is definitely the biggest beneficiary.”

Luke pursued, “If Hotel Cristo really has something to do with the threatening letter, what do you think their purpose is?”

Kieron Powell shrugged, “That’s why I invited you here.”

“May I view the surveillance of your hotel?”

“Of course.” Kieron Powell craned his head behind him and pointed to his assistant, “Contact Baron Ackerman if you need anything.”

Luke nodded and got up, “Let’s talk about this for today, I’d like to look around the hotel.”

Barron Ackerman said, “Mr. Lee, I can be your guide.”

“No, I want to walk around by myself.”

Kieron Powell stood up and sent Luke outside the office.

Baron Ackerman, on the other hand, escorted Luke to the elevator.

Luke was in no hurry to investigate and took the elevator to the first floor of the hotel to fill his stomach with lunch first.

There were five restaurants on the first floor, one of which was a buffet restaurant, and the rest were an Italian restaurant, a French restaurant, a Korean restaurant, and a Turkish restaurant.

Luke was not interested in any of these restaurants and went straight into the buffet restaurant.

I don’t know if it was because it was noon, there weren’t many people in the restaurant, Luke took a plate and started to choose the dishes.

There were quite a few types of dishes, Luke served some of each and found a quiet place to dine, while also observing the people around him.

For this case, Luke was also at a loss right now, and could only do as much investigation as possible before looking for a breakthrough.

After briefly finishing his meal, Luke left the restaurant and began to make his rounds in the hotel.

He first went to the side hall on the first floor and checked the complaint mailbox in the field.

The side hall was connected to the lobby and also had a separate side door to enter and exit, and there was no surveillance inside the side hall or around the side door, making it difficult to track based on this clue.

After that, Luke checked the stairwells, which were all unlocked and unmonitored, and had access to the seventeenth floor office area.

The clue of the source of the letter would be difficult to continue to follow.

Luke could only look for other clues.

He toured the entire hotel and had a general understanding of the environment and basic situation of the hotel, however, he did not see anything unusual.

Just after three in the afternoon, Luke slipped away and went across the street to the Cristo Hotel.

According to Kieron Powell, the Cristo Hotel had a competitive and hostile relationship with the Nitro Hotel, and the two threatening letters could have come from the Cristo Hotel.

With this suspicion, Luke entered the Hotel Cristo.

The lobby of the Christo Hotel was more inclined to the natural style, the decoration was not considered to be gorgeous, but it gave people a very comfortable feeling.

This hotel also had a gambling hall, even if one did not stay in this hotel, one could likewise go to the gambling hall to play.

Luke went to the gambling hall to play for a while, and then turned around in the hotel, and also lay by the pool to look at beautiful women for a while.

In the evening, after six o’clock, he had a dinner in the restaurant of the Christo Hotel.

Luke had the same buffet, and the variety of dishes was about the same as at the Nitro Hotel, but the flavor was significantly better.

By the time he left the Christo Hotel, Luke had basically ruled out this hotel as a suspect.

The reason was simple, this hotel was a bit better than Nitro’s Restaurant in terms of dishes, service, and environment, and the number of guests was significantly higher.

In the competition between the two sides, the Christo Hotel was clearly at an advantage, so why would it be necessary to engage in any threatening letters?

As for why Kieron Powell suspected Hotel Cristo, Luke thought that it might be that in the long-term competition, Hotel Cristo brought a great sense of crisis to Kieron Powell.

He knew that Kristo Hotel’s business was better, but was unwilling to admit that his own hotel’s management and service was poor, and could only look for reasons from other places.

Back at the hotel, it was already eight o’clock in the evening, and Luke was about to contact Orty when the door to his room suddenly rang: “Knock knock ……”

“Come in.”

The door opened and Baron Ackerman walked in carrying an exquisite bag, “Mr. Lee, are you still satisfied with this room?”

“Not bad at all. Assistant Ackerman, are you still off duty?”

“Off duty, I came over to see if you need anything else, in addition, our hotel has prepared a small gift for you.”

“Thanks.” Luke took the bag, which contained a bottle of red wine.

He put the bag aside and invited Baron Ackerman to sit on the sofa, he didn’t think that the other party had come to simply care about himself, the probability was that he had come to inquire about the progress of the investigation.

Luke took the initiative to say, “I went to the Christo Hotel today to investigate and didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, and I personally feel that the Christo Hotel might not have anything to do with the threatening letter incident.”

Assistant Baron Ackerman nodded, “Mr. Lee, you are a professional, I believe in your point of view. By the way, if you’re going out tomorrow, you can contact the front desk directly and they’ll arrange a vehicle for you for free.”

“Thanks.” Luke politely asked, “Assistant Baron Ackerman, how long have you worked at this hotel?”

“Three years.”

“Then you should know the Nitro Hotel very well, do you have any comments on the two threatening letters?”

Baron Ackerman thought for a moment and looked hesitant.

Luke said, “There are only two of us here, and there won’t be a third who knows.”

Baron Ackerman said slowly, “I think that it’s likely that an internal employee wrote it.”

“Why that judgment?”

“I have also seriously considered this matter, the first letter was put in the complaint box, in fact, very few people will use the complaint box.

Guests will respond directly if they have a problem, the efficiency of the complaint box is too slow, moreover, many guests simply don’t know where the complaint box is located, nor do they know if there is any surveillance around the complaint box. One more thing, the hotel laid off some employees some time ago.”

Luke pressed, “Who is in charge of the hotel’s human resources department?”

“Vice President Kieron Powell.”