Chapter 130
In the afternoon, the case went into the closing phase.
Luke dislikes organizing the tedious file and closing procedures.
Taking advantage of the break to run to the police station gym to exercise, in Los Angeles as a police officer without a strong body can not be, not many people in the gym during working hours, he and Blackie are among the regulars.
The two usually staggered their time in order to avoid the lack of manpower on the team.
“Hey Luke, you’re really here.” Not far away, Deputy Director Reed’s voice rang out.
“Chief, you’ve come to exercise too.” Luke was a little heartbroken.
“I rarely exercise during office hours, I came to see you.”
“Yes?”
Chief Reed threw Luke a bottle of water, “I’m here to congratulate you, the Abu Ghra case went well, the division chiefs praised you.”
“Really?” At the level of sub-commissioner, Luke had met him only a handful of times.
“Of course.”
Luke unscrewed the cap of the bottle and took a sip of the water, “Wowow, my pleasure.”
“In the future, if you encounter difficulties in life and work, you can come directly to me. No need to be polite.”
“I will.” Luke smiled and then said “I’ve been working overtime all the time in the last few days and I feel particularly tired, can you grant me a few days off?”
“It’s a small matter.
But the actress Courtney’s case is still open, and the case has a lot of influence, and the precinct chief will have to hold a press conference when it’s closed, so you’ll have to catch up a bit.”
“That means vacation is out.”
“I’ll give you a big vacation when you solve Courtney’s case. I’m a man of my word.”
“You came over to see me just to talk about this specifically.”
“No, actually, I wanted to surprise you.”
“What surprise?”
“Half a month from now, the LAPD will hold a rank promotion ceremony, and I’ve applied for a rank promotion slot for you, so if there are no surprises, you’ll also be on the list of this batch of promotions.”
Luke was a bit surprised, “I was only promoted to detective first class last year, according to the rules ……”
Reed interrupted Luke, “It’s what you deserve, do a good job, I’m optimistic about you.”
Reed finished and turned to leave the gym.
How?
Although he knew that Reed was drawing a big pie, this piece of pie was indeed very tempting, the level of police rank is linked to the salary and allowance, and also indirectly affects the job promotion.
Luke suddenly felt motivated to work ……
Men, what’s wrong with a little hard work?
In the afternoon, Luke unprecedentedly added half an hour of work, which is to make up for the time of the movement.
Of course, overtime pay is still to be calculated.
In the evening, after dinner, he lay in the bathtub to relieve his fatigue.
He liked taking a bath very much, this time he could relax his body and mind, discard distracting thoughts, and what he originally couldn’t think of, he might be able to figure it out.
Suddenly, a voice rang out in his head, [Completed a Strange Encounter Experience, Strange Encounter Card activated, used].
Immediately followed by the system rewards arrived.
[Congratulations to the host for solving the ‘Buried Corpse Case’ and successfully arresting a suspect, rewarded with 30 draw opportunities. Congratulations to the host for detecting the first murder case after being promoted to detective, system upgrade to version 2.0. (Specific upgrade content: drawing a new card will display an introduction to the new card’s function.)]
The rewards for this case were quite generous, probably related to the fact that the case had a greater impact and spread more widely.
The last time he solved a hired injury case, he was rewarded with five draw opportunities.
He thought that the number of times was too few and did not draw the prize.
Now on the lottery screen, 35 times was written in the lower right corner.
Luke didn’t wait and drew the lottery!
The pointer stopped, one thousand dollars.
After 35 draws, he won three cards and $32,000 dollars.
The draw rate was less than ten percent, somewhat low.
Two of the old cards, a Chance card and a pistol card.
One new card, an observation card.
Function, you can learn and train observation quickly after using this card.
“Cool.”
Although the chances of winning were not high, this new card was very powerful.
It was one of only two study cards.
The other study card was a pistol card, which allowed for quick learning to improve pistol marksmanship.
Although he had only used one, he could feel his marksmanship improving greatly.
And this card could quickly learn observation.
Both of these abilities were very important for a criminal police officer.
Moreover, unlike other types of consumable cards, these two cards became their own skills when learned, which amounted to enhancing Luke’s own abilities.
If they were to be categorized, they would belong to skill cards.
In the long run, the value of skill cards was higher than consumable cards.
The System Warehouse now had 13 Reserve Cards and 85,000 dollars in reserves.
Adventure cards, 3 cards.
Pistol Card, 3 sheets.
Accuracy card, 2 sheets.
Bullet Avoidance Card, 2 sheets.
Detection card, 1 sheet.
Appraisal card, 1.
Observation card, 1.
In addition, he had $35,000 invested in the stock market and a thousand dollars in cash.
Originally, Luke had planned to take a shower and sleep, but now he had the ‘Observation Card’.
He couldn’t wait to learn the training method of observation.
Subconsciously in his mind, he thought of using the ‘Observation Card’.
Can quickly learn and train observation power, effective for 3 hours.
There are thirteen types of training for observation power, which are stationary object observation training method, moving object observation training method, life observation training method, drawing training method, room training method ……
In his last life, Luke was a police officer, and had once thought of exercising his observation power, and looked up some information, but after learning for a period of time, he had not been able to get started and was not effective, and he gave up after not sticking to it for a long time.
This time, with the assistance of the observation card, he felt that he could learn twice as much with half the effort, and those data-driven learning methods became vivid ……
The following morning, nine o’clock.
Luke got out of the Mercedes with a yawn, and just as he walked into the police detective building, he saw three people walking head on.
Ramon, Jenny, and Blackie.
“Hey, what did I miss?”
Jenny sighed, “I should ask, what didn’t you miss?”
Luke shrugged and got into the passenger side of the Ford Explorer, “What mission?”
Black started the car as he said, “Found out about the woman who was following Courtney at the hotel.”
“You found out?”
“No. Ramon and Jenny accessed the hotel surveillance and saw the woman from the monitored parking lot and the camera captured the woman’s license plate number.” Blackie had a you-know-what look on his face.
“Progress on the case early in the morning, good news.” Luke also raised his energy, as long as he could solve this case, his own police rank promotion would be nine out of ten.
Blackie twisted his head to look at Luke and laughed, “Hey, remember our agreement?”
“You’re liable to get your ass kicked if you keep using that give-it-a-shit tone.”
Black made a face, “You’re just as violent in nature as David, only you hide it better.”
“You think I’m a hypocritical violent person?”
“You said so yourself.” Black shrugged, “Actually, I was going to say, lend me the Harley.”
“OK, it just so happens that the rookie informed me that I’m picking up my car from the Canyon Precinct today, so go ahead.”
“May I?”
“I’ll call him and ask.”
“Wow wow, super cool, I’ve always wanted a Harley, behind a Cadillac of course. If this test drive feels good, I might consider a Harley when I get a Cadillac.”
Luke chimed in, “Good plan.”
Jolly neighborhood.
Two cars pulled up in front of a white two-story house.
Luke and the others stepped out of the cars and checked their pistols and gear.
Jenny walks over and calls the door as Luke and the others hide on either side of the wall.
“Knock knock ……”
“Who’s out there?”
“Community Services, there was a complaint about noise at your house last night.”
“Cluck ……”
The door opened and a woman in a long home dress said, “Trust me, that man must be a donkey or his ears couldn’t be that long.”
Seeing nothing unusual in the room, Jenny flashed her badge, “LAPD.”
The woman immediately turned pale and said in annoyance, “Liar.”
“SORRY, we’re just worried about your safety.”
“What do you mean?”
“Were you at the Betsy’s Hotel on April 30th just after 2:00 p.m.?”
“I can’t remember.” The woman said perfunctorily, “I’m fine, I don’t need police help, so if there’s nothing else, please leave.”
Luke said, “If that’s your attitude, then let’s get this straight, we suspect you’re involved in a homicide and ask you to return to the station to assist in the investigation.”
“You guys are mistaken, I don’t have anything to do with the homicide case.”
Luke asked, “What is your name?”
“Ikarine Asmar.”
“That’s you.” Luke sounded certain, “Come with us.”
Ekaline sighed and hesitated for a long time, “I …… need to change my clothes.”
“Jenny, follow her.”
Ekaline refused, “I won’t let anyone watch me change.”
“She’ll be waiting at the bedroom door.”
Ekaline glared at Luke and somewhat helplessly went into the bedroom.
Luke also went into the house and saw a pair of men’s leather shoes on the doorway, but there were no men’s everyday items to be seen in the house.
A few minutes later, Ekaline came out of the bedroom, “Let’s go.”
Luke asked coldly, “Are you married?”
“No.”
“Is there anyone else in the house?”
“No,” Ekaline closed the door to the room and followed Ramon and Jenny to the police car.
After about ten minutes or so, the door to the room opened from the inside and a white man wearing a hat and mask came out of the house, looking left and right.
Seeing that no one was around the house, the white man breathed a sigh of relief and exited the yard, walking away at a fast pace.
“Woohoo ……”
A Ford Explorer drove by, reducing its speed to almost parallel to the man.
Luke poked his head out of the passenger side and greeted, “Hey, we meet again.”
The man craned his head to look at Luke for a moment, then walked faster as if he hadn’t heard him.
“Boris Bose, I know it’s you.”
The man was one of the boyfriends of the deceased Courtney.
Although the other party was wearing a hat and mask, Luke’s observation skills were not practiced for nothing, and he recognized the other party immediately.
“Detectives, what do you want to see me about?”
Luke smiled, he didn’t expect these two to be related, it was quite a surprise: “Get in the car, let’s have a chat.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible, I still have things to do today.”
“It’s just as well, we’re not doing anything, so we’ll follow you, and when you have time, we’ll talk.”
“Hey, you guys can’t do that, it’s interfering with my freedom.”
“Then I’ll just have to arrest you for burglary, I just asked Ekaline, she lives alone and doesn’t have anyone at home.”
“Wait, we have nothing against each other, why are you targeting me?”
“I’m not targeting you, I just want to talk to you, like a friend kind of thing. Talk about Courtney, talk about Ekaline, talk about the relationship between the three of you. I’m curious.”
Black, who was driving, put his hands together, “I’m curious too.”
Boris said angrily, “I’m under no obligation to satisfy your curiosity.”
“Marcus, get out of the car and arrest him for burglary. If you resist, shoot him.”
“YES, DETECTIVE.”
“You can’t do this to me, no one does this to me in Vegas.”
“This is Los Angeles, and the LAPD has a duty, and a right, to arrest a burglar.”
Courtney had just died and her boyfriend was living with the woman who’d stalked her, so hell if she was going to say there wasn’t a problem.
Black got out of the car and handcuffed Boris, who was angry but didn’t dare to resist after all when he saw Luke with a gun in his hand.
Detective Bureau.
Ramon and Jenny brought Ekaline into the lounge for questioning.
Ramon had a stern face and asked, “Where were you on April 30th, just after two o’clock in the afternoon?”
Ekaline shook her head, “I told you, can’t remember.”
“Then I’ll help you remember.” Ramon took out a photo from the file, the photo was a Betsy Hotel surveillance video, in the center of the photo was a woman wearing a black dress, “Look carefully, is it you.”
Ekaline pursed her lips, “You’re right, it’s me, I remember, I did go to the Betsy Hotel that afternoon.”
“To do what?”
“For afternoon tea.”
“Drink?”
“Went into the hotel and then suddenly didn’t want to drink it.”
“Why?”
“I’m on my period, is that okay?”
Ramon pulled out a picture of Courtney, “Do you recognize her?”
Ekaline glanced at it and hurriedly turned her head aside, “No.”
“Look closer before you say it.”
“Look a few more times and you won’t recognize her.”
“Then why did you follow her?”
“I didn’t.”
“We saw you very clearly on the surveillance that you were following her, trailing her all the way into the room.”
“I wasn’t tailing her, it’s just that the two happened to be walking in the same direction, so I can only say it was rather coincidental.”
“Coincidence?” Raymond asked rhetorically, “Then did you know that it was even more coincidental that the woman you were following was murdered a few hours later.
You were one of the suspects.”
The woman picked up the two photos and looked at them, “That doesn’t mean anything? I have a clear conscience, I don’t know this woman and had nothing to do with her death.
If you have evidence, show it; without it, I’m leaving.”
Ramon intoned, “Hey, we’re not trying to get on your bad side, but we don’t want you to get involved in a maelstrom; we’re trying to help you.”
“Thanks, but I don’t need help.” Ekaline got up to leave.
“Cluck ……” the door to the common room opened.
Luke walked in from outside, “Ekaline, can we talk for a minute?”
“I’m done talking.” Ekaline glanced at Luke, not wanting to give him face.
“It’s just a few words, it won’t take you long.”
Ekaline glanced at her watch and sat back on her stool, “I’ll give you three minutes.”
Luke got right to the point, “What is your relationship with Courtney?”
“Your coworkers have already asked, I don’t know Courtney and have no relationship with her.”
“Then why did you kill her?”
Ekaline said angrily, “Who are you to say that? I didn’t kill anyone! If you say that again, I’ll sue you.”
“SORRY, but that’s not what I said, that’s what Boris said.”
“No way, Boris couldn’t have said that.”
“He said it, and he said a lot of things about the feud between the three of you, like how Courtney stole him away from you, which you never got over, did you hate Courtney very much?”
“I …… don’t like Courtney, but I’m not going to kill her.”
“You admit that you knew Courtney?”
“Yes, but I had nothing to do with her death?”
“Then why did you lie?”
Ekaline took a deep breath, “I just didn’t want to bring her up.”
“OK, since you won’t talk about it, we’ll have to take Boris’ confession.”
In fact, Luke was swindling Ekaline, although he brought Boris back to the police station, Boris didn’t cooperate and only admitted that Ekaline was his ex-girlfriend, and then refused to say any more, and asked for his lawyer to be present.
That’s why Luke thought of prying open Icalyn’s mouth first, and asked some valuable clues from her.
Ekaline was a little worried, “What did Boris say?”
“We found evidence of his murder at Courtney’s house, and he identified you as the mastermind behind it, and himself as just an accessory.”
“Impossible, there’s no way Boris would admit to the murder.”
“It is useless for him to deny it in the face of conclusive evidence.
We received definite information that Boris was hiding in your house, we were originally there to arrest him, only to bring you to the police station first to ensure your safety.
Unexpectedly, you are the ultimate Big Boss.
This is also considered a windfall.”
Jenny on the side was dumbfounded, this is too much to pull off.
Obviously, you were late for work, and you didn’t even know the specific tasks set by the captain, but you made it sound like you were the big boss behind the scenes.
“No, I didn’t have anything to do with Courtney’s death, and I’m not behind anything, Boris he’s making things up, this ungrateful thing, he abandoned me for that bad woman before, and now he’s trying to use me to get out of it.
I’m not going to let him have his way.” Ekaline was shaking with anger, “I really had nothing to do with Courtney’s death, I just told Boris about Courtney going to the hotel.
The killing was his own idea, I had nothing to do with it.”
Luke complied, “Describe it in detail.”
“On the afternoon of April 30th that day, I went to the Battersea Hotel and afternoon tea and saw Courtney.
She was well covered up, but I recognized her.
I saw her enter the same room as the man and I took photographs and sent them to Boris.
Boris was furious.
I know Boris, he couldn’t stand the betrayal and will definitely get back at Courtney.”
Ekaline sighed, “The next day came the news of Courtney’s murder.”
“Did you know he killed Courtney?”
“He was a very city man, and even if he had killed her, there was no way he would have told me. Besides, I’m not sure he didn’t do it.”
“Even so, you still want to be with him?”
“Do you smoke? Don’t you still smoke even if you know it’s poisonous?”
Ekaline didn’t know much, but with a little questioning, Luke had figured out one thing; Boris had known about Courtney and the producers applauding for love on the afternoon of April 30th.
He had motive.
It only took three or four hours to drive from Las Vegas to L.A. He had the time to commit the crime.