Chapter 123
The Rideau neighborhood.
Luke slept until twelve noon.
His brain was still a little dizzy, and he hadn’t slept at night, so even if he caught up on his sleep during the day, he would still have a hard time.
It was only after washing his face that he felt a bit more refreshed.
He was too lazy to cook and ran to eat at the restaurant in the community square.
The name of the restaurant was called Home Cooking.
Luke ordered a boiled beef dish, a cucumber fried shrimp dish, and two bowls of rice.
The two dishes, one light and one heavy, were a great meal.
After the meal, drive to work.
Although the perjury case was cleared up, the murderer of Abu Ghra had not yet been caught, and the top brass of the city council continued to push very hard.
Luke arrived at the police station and everyone was there except Blackie.
Like David said, Luke and Blackie were the only two on the team who liked to touch fish, and they were even assigned to a team.
Luke brought David and Ramon each a beef burger combo, and the four of them, he, Ramon, Jenny, and Susan, didn’t get off work, pretty much working back-to-back.
It was really hard work.
David took a big gulp of coffee first and raised his chin at Blackie’s table, “The kid needs to be prodded, he’s still just going to work and feeling his way around, and if he’s left unchecked, he’ll soon become late and leave early.”
“Am I qualified for that?” Luke shrugged.
In terms of position, Luke did have the qualifications to supervise Blackie right now, but he didn’t want to be in charge.
If Susan really wanted someone to supervise Blacky, she wouldn’t have arranged it under her own hand.
The lieutenants, David, and Ramon were all much harsher than he was.
David shook his head, “That’s right, you’re just as unreliable as he is, and there’s no chance that you’ll be the one who’s late and leaves early first.”
“Who’s to say.” Luke grinned.
When Luke really became a divine detective in the future, being late and leaving early would not be a problem.
Of course, the current him didn’t have that capital yet.
At two o’clock in the afternoon, all the people arrived.
Susan called the crowd to a meeting.
Jenny said, “This morning the deceased’s parents arrived at the police station, I brought the deceased’s parents to identify the body and gave them a statement.
According to the deceased’s parents, Abu Gera had a dream of stardom since he was a child.
When he was twenty years old, he came to Hollywood to break into the world, hoping to achieve a career.
His appearance is good, but the star road is not very smooth, has not been a good opportunity.
Because of his resemblance to Lucas, he became his understudy, thinking that this would give him access to the higher-ups in the cast and perhaps more opportunities to perform.
According to his parents, Abu Ghra cherished this opportunity and expected it to be a new start on his path to stardom.
But unfortunately, this dream of his did not come true.”
Raymond went on to say, “After sitting on the perjury charge, Rosie Beal, Belle Grew, and Enosha Souter were also subjected to a physical examination, and no teeth marks of the murderer were found on their bodies either.
For the time being, we can rule them out as the murderers of Abu Ghra.”
Luke made a brief note in his notebook, “Looks like you guys have done a lot in the few hours I’ve been off.”
“And me.”
Matthew joined the meeting and raised his hand, “I found out that Abu Guerra was once suspected of fraud, but he ended up settling with the victim and wasn’t charged with jail time.
The victim’s name is Connor Simon and she’s a native of Los Angeles.”
Susan went straight to task: “Luke, Marcus, you two go talk to Connor Simon.
Lieutenant, Ramon, David, Jenny, you guys talk to the crew, confirm the victim’s movements during his lifetime, and find out who he’s been in contact with.”
“Yes, captain.”
St. Monica Beach.
This was one of the famous attractions in Los Angeles, the scenery was beautiful, blue skies, soft sandy beaches, seagulls skimming from low overhead.
Not far away was a small amusement park with a small roller coaster and Ferris wheel.
A roller coaster would be fine, but a Ferris wheel in this part of the world must have a beautiful view.
Luke fell in love with this place the first time he saw it.
Speaking of which, he hadn’t had a good time in Los Angeles except for the last time he and Daisy took a cruise on the wheel.
He loved the ocean and the beach, and envied people who could lie on the sand and sunbathe.
The scenery was beautiful and so were the people.
Luke removed to his sunglasses and scanned the beach with his eyes, “Are you sure the fraud victim, Connor Simon, is here?”
Blackie’s eyes were wide as his gaze swept over the bikini girls, “Does it still matter?”
“Then let’s have a good look around.” Luke grinned.
The two began to skate along the beach, turning from the west side of the beach to the east side of the coast, walking and looking at each other for twenty minutes or so.
Luke glanced at his watch, “Call her and get a location.”
Black took out his cell phone and called Connor Simon, “I asked, she has long blonde hair, wearing a blue bikini, and is in her mid-thirties …… Wow, a little expectant.”
The two started skulking around again, looking for the blonde blue bikini girl.
After looking all over, they finally locked on to the suspected Connor Simon.
The blonde hair and bikini fit, but the age and weight were more than the two expected.
Not far away, a blanket was spread out on the beach, and on it lay a middle-aged woman who was about 175cm tall and weighed at least two hundred pounds.
Luke raised his chin, signaling Xiao Hei to come forward and ask.
Blackie took a deep breath, “Hi, is this Ms. Connor Simon?”
The woman glanced up and slowly sat up, layers of flesh piled on top of each other, “You’re Detective Marcus.”
Black froze for a moment before slowly saying, “It’s me, this is Detective Luke. We’d like to get some information from you about Abu Ghra.”
Connor Simon picked up the drink next to him and took a sip, “Abu Ghra, I remember, how has he been?”
“He’s not very well.”
Connor Simon bristled, “He swindled again?”
“He died.”
“Really?”
“Of course, that’s what we came for.”
“Even so, that’s too bad. To be honest, I kinda miss him.”
“Is that rhetorical?”
“Sincerely.”
“You forgive him?”
“Of course, everyone makes mistakes, I do too, as long as the other person is willing to change.
I think we should give him a chance, a little more forgiveness and the world would be a much lovelier place.”
Marcus nodded, suddenly feeling more than a little good about the woman in front of him as she was quite kind.
Connor Simon looked at Kuro and then at Luke, “What did you guys want to see me about? Don’t think I killed him, do you?”
“No, we just want to know something about a case he was suspected of committing fraud on.”
“It was a long time ago, maybe a year or so.” Connor Simon thought for a moment and continued, “At that time, I had just celebrated my 35th birthday and suddenly felt …… like I wasn’t getting any younger.
A little anxious, a little unhappy …… and don’t really want to find friends to talk to, sometimes it’s hard to open up to people who are too familiar with each other instead, you should understand.
So, I just look for friends to chat online, found an interesting person, his avatar is very much like Lucas, super handsome, I was instantly fascinated by him.
I really like the Brazilian Lovers starring Lucas, and I’m kind of his little fan, so I started chatting with the other guy, wanting to get to know him.
After chatting a few times, I felt he was quite nice.
We met in real life.
Wow, he really looks like Lucas in person, especially at night, with his side profile, super handsome.
I liked him a lot.
But was a bit scared to meet him, you know …… my profile is a bit …… plump.
But he didn’t mind, the two of us met and talked happily, eating and chatting together.
I felt very happy during that time, and felt like I was in a dream.
Not long after, he began to borrow money with me, all kinds of reasons to borrow money.
At first I met his requests, but then he was a bit unlikeable, and I could feel that he was becoming more and more perfunctory with me, meeting for the purpose of borrowing money.
I just like him, not stupid.
Then …… I called the police.”
Luke asked, “Did he have an accomplice?”
“I haven’t seen any.”
“Did he have any enemies?”
Connor Simon shook his head, “I don’t even know which of his statements is true and which is not. Unfortunately, I probably can’t help you guys.”
Blackie was a little upset for Connor Simon, he was scum but he never cheated women out of their money.
“Why are you willing to reach a settlement with him?”
Connor Simon smiled, “You guys really want to know.”
“Sure.”
“We did.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means what you think it means, three times.”
“We’ve known each other for two months and seen each other many times, but he’s all about scamming, not into me at all, and never acted too intimately.
But in order to reach a settlement, he offered to propose that he could have sex with me ……
I …… agreed.”
Black pursed her lips and nodded, feeling that she had just jumped to a somewhat premature conclusion.
Connor Simon seemed kinda nostalgic, smiling, “I remember that night, the light was a little dim, and he really did look super like Lucas.
One of those times I even visualized him as Lucas and ……”
Luke interrupted the other man, “That’s enough, you don’t have to talk about it anymore. That should be a good time that belongs to the two of you, no need to share it with anyone else.”
“You’re right, he’s dead but I’ll always remember that night. I really liked him, and if he had chosen to be with me then, even if I knew he didn’t like me and that he was in it for the money, I would have been willing.
Maybe then he wouldn’t have died.” Connor Simon was a little sad, “Can I ask how he died?”
“SORRY, the details are not readily available.”
Luke asked a few more questions and then left the beach.
Blackie was a little emotional, “I really didn’t think it would be a settlement in this way, Abu Ghra is also a ruthless man.”
Luke’s focus was not on this, but the experience of Abu Ghra’s deception.
Human nature is greedy, and many fraudsters get a taste of it and find it hard to stop.
It was likely that Abu Guerra would scam again, and just because Connor Simon would forgive him didn’t mean that other victims would.
Back at the Detective Bureau.
Luke finds Matthew and asks him to look into Abu-Ghra’s communications and internet records, maybe he can find a clue to the murder.
“LOL ……”
Just then, the office door opened.
Chief Reed walked in, “Gentlemen, there’s something I’d like to take a few minutes of your time for.”
The vice squad complained, “Reed, don’t even think about making us work overtime again, no amount of overtime pay will do.”
“I know everyone has worked hard the last two days, that’s not why I’m here.” Reed spread his hands and continued, “The producer of the movie Vanishing Lovers, Rosie Beal, has been released on bail.”
“FUCK! I knew this would happen.” The lieutenant disgruntled.
Jenny asked, “Perjury is a felony, even with bail, it’s too fast.”
The vice squad sighed, “This is America, this is the power of capital, I’ve seen too many things like this in my life.”
Reed explains, “Hey, don’t think so extreme.
It’s true that Rosie Beal had knowledge of the perjury, but he was only an accessory, acquiesced to the Lucas’ behavior, and wasn’t overly involved in the case.”
“Why are you defending him?” The lieutenant grumbled.
Reed took a deep breath, “Is it that obvious?”
The lieutenant bristled, “I know you too well.”
Reed glanced toward the door, “In that case, I’ll get the word out. Rosie Beal is willing to donate a million and a half dollars to the Detective Bureau, three hundred thousand of which is to be used as a reward for solving the murder of Abu Ghra.”
Blackie gave an expectant look, “Is that three hundred thousand dollar bonus for us?”
Reed nodded, “You guys should also know that Rosie Beal is not deeply involved in the case, and if we continue to pursue the case it will indeed cause him some trouble, and the result will be an increase in the amount of bail.
Instead of him getting more money to post bail, we could donate it to the detective bureau. What do you guys think?”
Luke nodded, “Make it easy on yourself with others.”
Reed snapped his fingers, “Yep, that’s the idea.”
Black smiled, “I think it’s not bad, Rossi has money, he donates some of it to the detective bureau.
It would allow the detective bureau to better serve the citizens, it’s a win-win.
Why not?”
No one else said anything.
Under the premise of complying with the law, the police department had a certain degree of maneuverability in the investigation of the case, and they could provide some convenience to Rossi as long as they were willing.
It was sort of like the police’s version of a prosecution-defense deal, only a little more subtle.
It’s not illegal.
In the absence of a grudge against each other.
Who’d fuck with the prize money?
After work.
Luke didn’t go home right away. He slept until twelve o’clock in the middle of the day, and he couldn’t sleep even if he went back now.
Daisy was working overtime today, and Luke didn’t really want to stay home alone.
So he simply ran to the club to practice his gun.
In Ramon’s words, hitting fixed targets couldn’t make your marksmanship more refined, but it could keep you proficient.
To put it bluntly, this stuff was like martial arts, you had to practice every day.
Luke accepted his advice humbly, and decided to shoot two targets regularly after work, which was just a few minutes of work, and wouldn’t interfere with anything else.
“Ringing ……” Luke’s cell phone rang, it was Blackie calling.
“What’s up?”
“I have good news for you.”
“Did you catch Abu Ghra’s killer?”
“No, but I found your little baby.”
“What is that disgusting accent of yours, it makes me want to punch you when I hear it.”
“There are so many people who want to punch me, they could probably line up from Los Angeles to New York City, you want in?”
“What the hell? Come on.”
“I found Harley.”
Luke held the gun in his right hand and fired a flurry of rounds at the marker, emptying the magazine before asking, “Where is it?”
“I’ll tell you only if you promise me a condition.”
“What condition?”
“I’ll get it back for you, but you’ll lend it to me to drive occasionally.”
“I don’t lend out my car.”
“Then you wait for that rookie patrolman, maybe he’ll surprise you at Christmas.” Blackie said with a bad smile.
“FUCK!” sighed Luke, compromising, “You can borrow it, but only if I don’t use it.”
“Deal.”