Chapter 670
Okaji neighborhood, Will Stout’s house.
The white woman’s body trembled slightly and she took a step back, her body paralyzed with some weakness.
Jenny rushed to assist her, helping her to sit on the couch.
After a while, she calmed down and held her forehead, “Who killed him?”
Luke confirmed, “Was he Will Stout?”
“Yes.”
“We just found the body too, we haven’t determined his cause of death yet.”
“Oh my God, this is horrible.”
We spoke on the phone yesterday …… and he said he’d take me on a vacation to Hawaii with him …… How did things turn out like this?”
“What’s your name?”
“Viola Bello.”
Luke asked, “Viola, didn’t you and Will Stout break up? And why did you make a date to go on vacation together?”
Viola Bello wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and sighed, “We’ve been dating for many years, and it’s not the first time we’ve broken up; break up, get back together, break up, get back together …… repeated many times.
This time the breakup was proposed by me, the main reason is that he is too unmotivated.
He is not willing to work, always thinking of getting something for nothing, I have to pay all the bills when we are dating, I am really tired and exhausted, I am a woman, I also need people to love, also want to find someone to rely on. I don’t see a future with him at all.”
Viola Bello paused and continued, “Yesterday morning he called to get back together with me and I refused him.”
He called me again in the afternoon and said that he was rich and would let me live a comfortable life in the future.
I originally didn’t believe him, but soon I received a transfer of fifty thousand dollars.
We had an agreement that we would get married as soon as we had saved enough fifty thousand dollars.
The next thing I knew, he called and said that the fifty thousand dollars was to compensate me for all these years and that he hoped I would get back together with him.
I asked him where he got the money and he said he won the lottery.
I didn’t believe him, but he wouldn’t say more and told me to come see him today to take me on a vacation to Hawaii.
This morning, he hadn’t contacted me and his phone didn’t work, so I came to the house to look for him. Who knows ……”
Viola Bello shook her head and sighed, “I knew winning the lottery would not be that easy, there must be something wrong with him suddenly having money ……”
Luke pursued, “Did he say before that he had any way to get money?”
“No. If it worked, we wouldn’t have broken up. I’m not a money-minded woman, I really love him …… but I’m really too tired ……”
“Does Will Stott have any friends around him who are ne’er-do-wells or have previous convictions?” If Will Stott was really involved in the kidnapping of Henrik Laurie, then he would have had associates.
“Yes, he would often meet some messed-up friends for drinks, and I don’t like those people and rarely hang out with them.
So, I only know the name of one of them, Marico Lugo.”
“Where does Marico Lugo live?”
“A neighborhood not far from here, I forget the name.”
“Did Will Stout say how much money he made this time?”
Viola Bello shrugged, “I asked, but he didn’t say.”
“Where would he hide money or important things?”
“He likes to hide it in the kitchen cabinets.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve seen him do it a lot.”
Luke winked at Porter, who entered the kitchen and searched it, after a while Porter came out and shook his head, “The cupboards show signs of having been rummaged through, no money or other important items were found.”
Luke wasn’t too surprised, it showed that the murderer searched carefully, calmly and with plenty of time.
At the same time, Luke pondered the question, where did Will Stott get his money?
From the existing situation, Henrik Laurie’s disappearance should be related to Will Stott.
Assuming, Will Stott was really involved in Henrik Lawley’s kidnapping, then the money should have come from ransom, and who was the one who paid the ransom?
Henrik Lawrie’s wife?
Or the campaign manager, Hans Dragoon?
Earlier, when Luke had gone to the hotel to meet with them, he had inquired if they had received a ransom call, and when both of them had said no, Luke had seen that both of them were lying or hiding something.
So, Luke had been sending people to keep an eye on the hotel, and once these two left the hotel, someone would immediately report back to him.
But Luke had not received any news that the two had left the hotel.
Luke instructed, “Jenny, contact Matthew and ask him to investigate Will Stout’s financial status, account transaction information.”
“Understood.”
Half an hour later.
The vice squad arrived at the scene with the forensic and technical teams.
The technical team used reagents to restore the scene, Will Stott died on the floor of the living room, there was a large amount of blood around the body, the murderer should have cleaned the floor with disinfectant afterward, which was why the other side opened the window to ventilate the room.
As for the forensic side, because the body was frozen, the progress of the investigation was a little slow, need to wait for the body to thaw before the next step of identification.
Afterwards, Luke arranged for the people to split up and investigate, collecting community surveillance, visiting the homes of the surrounding neighbors, and searching for the dead man’s friend, Marico Lugo.
Luke searched the house, and the killer didn’t leave many clues, expertly.
Jackson walked in from outside the house and said, “Captain, I investigated the deceased’s communication records and found a contact named Marico Lugo, with whom there had been frequent contact recently.
I got Marico Lugo’s address, which is only a few minutes drive from here.”
“So what are we waiting for?”
Luke finished speaking and rushed to Marico Lugo’s address with several team members.
The Criss neighborhood.
It was also an older neighborhood, dominated by bungalows, but it was relatively better, at least the community highway wasn’t bumpy.
Jackson pointed to the pointy house not far away, “This is it, number 125.”
Two cars pulled up to the curb, and the people stepped out one by one.
As soon as Luke approached the yard, he saw a black Rottweiler running out of the backyard, barking at Luke and the others, “Woof woof ……”
Blackie stood outside the yard, whistled at the Rottweiler and said with a smile, “This guy is really strong looking, I always wanted to have a dog like this, but my mom didn’t agree. Even less so now that I have kids.”
Jackson asked rhetorically, “Why? A dog is a child’s best companion.”
“That’s what I thought, but my old mom wasn’t.” Black shrugged and looked over at the still barking Rottweiler, “This guy doesn’t look too friendly, did anyone bring food?”
Just then the door to the room opened and a white woman in her fifties or sixties with a wealthy figure stepped out, “Mark, don’t bark, come back.”
The Rottweiler barked again at Luke and the others, and then ran to the white woman with his ass on the ground.
The white woman looked at Luke and the others, “What can I do for you, gentlemen?”
“Is this Marico Lugo’s house?”
“No, he’s just staying at my house on loan.”
“What is your relationship to him?”
“I’m his mother, who are you?”
“LAPD!” said Jackson, flashing his badge, “Is Marico Lugo home right now?”
“No.”
“Do you know where he went?”
“That’s what I was going to ask, remember to let me know if you find him.” The white woman finished and turned to head for the house.
Luke called out to the other woman, “Ma’am, I can tell you’re a kind person.”
The white woman stopped, “Why do you say that?”
“Because you’re not good at lying.”
The white woman froze and nodded, “You’re right, this does seem a little hard for me. That guy is in the house, I’ll get him out.”
“Thanks.”
The white woman returned to the house, followed by a loud noise from the house.
“Mom, why did you do that? Didn’t I tell you? If anyone comes looking for me, just tell them I’m not home.”
“Shut up, you’re a liar yourself and you’re trying to make me a liar too. Get out of my house right now so you really aren’t home and I don’t have to lie anymore.”
“I’m your son.”
“That’s right, or you’d be sleeping in the street instead of having a warm bedroom. Go get your shit together or don’t ever come back into my house.”
“Mark, get this asshole out of my house!”
“Woof woof woof ……” came a sharp bark from the house.
“I can’t believe you let a dog do this to me, I’m your son ……”
Who the hell is your son?”
The door to the room opened again amidst a clamor and a white man was driven out of the room.
“Fuck, you stinking dog, I’ll skin you sooner or later!” The white man grumbled, turned around and saw Luke and the others, and tried to run, but realized that the path around them had been blocked.
“Good morning gentlemen.”
Luke glanced at his watch, “It’s getting late. Mr. Marico Lugo, we would like to talk to you.”
“I don’t know the guys.”
Black pointed to the badge on his chest, “Recognize it?”
“Yes Sir, what do ye want with me?”
“Do you know Will Stout?”
“Yes, he’s a friend of mine, what’s the problem?”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“What happened to him?”
“Answer my question first.”
“Yesterday.”
“What time yesterday, I need to know exactly?”
“About twelve o’clock last night.”
“What were you doing?”
“Going to a bar for a drink.”
“Which bar?”
Marico Lugo froze for a moment and replied, “The Nassim Bar.”
“Will Stout went to the Nassim Bar last night?”
“Yes, we go to that bar all the time, what’s the problem?”
“In the past, you may have frequented the Naseem Bar, but last night the police had a presence at the Naseem Bar and Will Stott was not there. You lied.”
Marico Lugo looked a little flustered and pursed his lips, “I’m sorry …… I may have misremembered.”
“Then think about it, where have you been?”
Marico Lugo asked rhetorically, “If you want to check on Will Stout, why don’t you go ask him directly?”
“He’s dead.”
“What? Dead!” Marico Lugo’s mouth opened wide in surprise, “Who killed him?”
Luke pointed at Marico Lugo, “You.”