Chapter 176
Mariandel Bay Marina.
Around five o’clock in the evening, Luke sailed his boat back to the marina.
The haul from this sea fishing trip wasn’t too much.
One of the people who fished the most was Reid.
The second was Luke.
The other three all caught only a few fish.
Luke and Reed were left with 10 fish each, and the rest were shared among the others.
Once on the dock, Luke put his catch in the trunk of his car and said goodbye to the group.
Reed walked up to him, “Luke, how are you feeling today?”
“Not bad.”
Reed patted him on the shoulder, “The purpose of sea fishing is to relax and unwind and provide a place for people to talk.
It’s also a good way to get to know more fellow officers, making it easier for everyone to work together in the future to better serve the citizens of Los Angeles.”
Luke handed him a cigarette, “Are you familiar with Sheriff Percy?”
“Yes, we’ve known each other for over ten years.
He’s done a good job with Internal Affairs.
As you should have heard, he also wanted his son to follow in his father’s footsteps, but his son wasn’t interested in the Internal Affairs job.
Instead, he wants to join our Robbery and Murder Division.
He organized this bureau today, very hastily.
It wasn’t easy for him.
With his special status, he rarely participates in sea fishing, let alone organizing a bureau.
But for the sake of his son ……,” Reed said with a you-know-what expression.
“Of course, most of the time the purpose of sea fishing isn’t so clear. More often than not it’s a way for people to get out together. Meet some fellow officers from other departments.
It may not be useful now, but there’s no chance it’ll come in handy later.
A lot of things will be different with one more acquaintance.
You’ll learn about it later.”
“Ringing ……”
Luke’s cell phone rang.
“OK, why don’t you take the call and we’ll talk some other time.” Reed waved and left.
Luke waved back and then while down to answer on, “Hello, this is Luke.”
“I’m Daisy’s father, Laurence, can I talk to you?” A man’s voice came from the phone.
Luke was a little surprised, “What do you want to talk about?”
“To talk about Daisy.”
Luke thought for a moment, “Where?”
The Flying Bar.
Luke was no stranger to this bar, it was where he and Daisy met for the 2nd time.
“Hi, I’m here.” An older white man with gray hair waved, none other than Daisy’s father, Laurence.
“Luke, can I call you that?”
“Sure.” Luke greeted the bartender and ordered a whiskey. “What did you want to tell me?”
Lawrence shrugged, “Nothing really, just wanted to talk about Daisy. How long have you guys been together?”
“A while,” Luke asked perfunctorily, rhetorically, “How long has it been since you and Daisy have seen each other?”
Laurence smiled a little awkwardly, “And a sharp young man.”
“Thanks.” Luke took the whiskey the bartender handed him and took a sip.
Lawrence followed up, “Did you tell Daisy about our meeting?”
Luke put his glass down, “No. Isn’t that our little secret?”
“You’re right.” Lawrence nodded and the atmosphere of the conversation fell into a brief silence.
The reason Luke came to see Lawrence this time was out of respect for Daisy’s father, and then he also wanted to know more about Daisy.
He and Daisy had known each other for three months and had been dating for two months, but he didn’t know much about Daisy’s family, and Daisy never mentioned anything about it.
To put it bluntly, the communication between the two was limited to themselves, and there was hardly any communication between their circles.
Luke has twice invited Daisy to family dinners, but the latter refused.
He got the impression that Daisy was a rational person who found it difficult to open up.
Luke guessed that this might have something to do with her upbringing.
After a long time, Lawrence slowly spoke, ”You guessed right, I really haven’t seen Daisy for a long time.
I am not considered a good father, and divorced Daisy’s mother when she was in her teens.
Daisy has always lived with her mother and we are not considered too close.
I’ve tried to improve our relationship, but it hasn’t been very effective.
What about you? How did you and Daisy meet?”
Luke said, “I’m a police officer, and there were some encounters at work where we had a mutual liking for each other, and it was natural for us to get together.
What are you doing here to see Daisy this time?”
Lawrence sighed, “Daisy’s brother had a little incident.
The other day, Daisy’s brother went to a friend’s party and they had a good time and drank a lot.
The friend then showed off his new car and offered to let Daisy’s brother test drive it, and Daisy’s brother agreed.
But he wasn’t familiar with the car’s performance, and he had been drinking, and got into an accident.
When the insurance company wouldn’t pay the claim, Daisy’s brother’s friend flipped out.
Claiming that Daisy’s brother stole the car and wrecked it, he demanded compensation from Daisy’s brother.
This is a false accusation.
Daisy’s brother was not that kind of person at all, but the problem now was that the party was full of the plaintiff’s friends and no one was willing to step forward to help testify.
Those cops arrested Daisy’s brother indiscriminately and he is still in the police station.
I wanted to help him, but there was nothing I could do.
Only Daisy can save him now, so ……”
Lawrence drained his glass, “One more.”
Luke hadn’t seen anything in any official information about Daisy having a brother.
“How come I didn’t know Daisy had a brother?”
“Uh …… Daisy’s mother and I divorced before her brother Gordon was born, and while they didn’t see much of each other as siblings, she was aware of his existence.”
Luke pressed, “Did Daisy and Gordon ever meet?”
“Of course.”
“How many times did they meet?”
“They met at my mother’s funeral.”
Luke nodded, generally understanding the relationship.
Knowing what Luke knew about Daisy, she shouldn’t have taken too kindly to her father and her so-called brother, whom she’d only met once.
“Why do you say that only Daisy can save your son?”
“Daisy is a lawyer, she has the power, and Gordon was framed, an innocent man shouldn’t be treated like that.”
Luke said, “You should trust the police.”
Lawrence shook his head, “In my decades of experience, not all cops are trustworthy.”
Luke laughed, “Then why don’t you get Gordon a lawyer?”
“I don’t really trust lawyers either, but Daisy is different, she’s Gordon’s sister and I’m more likely to trust her.”
“Don’t you think that this approach would be difficult for Daisy? In other words, if Daisy isn’t a lawyer, what are you going to do? Wouldn’t you have to hire another lawyer just the same?”
Lawrence sighed, “You’re right …… In fact, my financial situation is in trouble, and I can’t afford to hire a good lawyer now.”
“The police can provide you with a free lawyer.”
Lawrence shook his head, “Come on, not only are free lawyers not competent enough, they also won’t do their job, if we count on them, Gordon will not only go to jail, but also face a huge amount of compensation.
It would destroy the family.”
To put it bluntly, Lawrence was looking for a free lawyer.
Maybe this cheap sister of Daisy’s would even have to come up with the bail money.
This father of Daisy’s was pretty unreliable.
Luke picked up the glass of wine on the bar and drank it all in one go, with more than a little drunkenness on his face.
Seemingly casually, he asked, “Why did you and Daisy’s mother get divorced?”
“Good question.” Lawrence sighed, “Daisy’s mother was too controlling.
She was in charge of everything in the house and I had to do what she said, even if my shoes were in the wrong place, I could have yelled at her and I had a depressing time.
I had mental problems at one point and I went to see a psychiatrist. The other person told me to take the problem seriously, that it could turn into major depression if it progressed any further, and suggested that I change my living situation.
So I filed for separation.
Daisy’s mother was particularly angry, she felt I was making excuses and that everything was my fault.
Cussed at me and filed for divorce.
At that time, I was also having problems with my mental state, which didn’t work out well.
The conflict between the two people intensified and finally led to divorce.
Now that I think about it actually both people are at fault, both are not calm enough.
The one who was really hurt was Daisy instead, so I always felt guilty about her.
I also had no choice but to come to her for help.”
Luke took another drink, the drunkenness on his face increasing a bit more, “So what do you mean you came to me today?
“Well, I’m getting older, and all this stuff is weighing me down a bit.
Just want to find someone to talk to, and still have some ease in my heart.
Thank you for listening to me rant for so long.” Lawrence said it simply, but actually had his own little plan.
His relationship with Daisy had never been good, one could even say it was somewhat poor.
But in his opinion Daisy’s brother was innocent and Daisy shouldn’t hate her brother.
He didn’t have the money to hire a good lawyer and didn’t want his son to go to jail and lose money, so he wanted to ask Daisy to help him with the lawsuit.
But the two hadn’t been in touch for years, and he didn’t know how to ask before trying to find out more about Daisy’s news and situation.
When he was accidentally discovered by Luke that morning, he was not psychologically prepared enough at that time and had not yet figured out how to face Daisy.
That’s why he made Luke promise not to tell Daisy about meeting him.
He went back and thought carefully for a day, and still didn’t know how to face Daisy.
He knew very well that Daisy might not want to see him and might not be willing to help Gordon.
If he met with Daisy and asked her to do so, it might backfire on him.
That’s when he thought of Luke.
Luke is Daisy’s boyfriend, if he tells Daisy about this matter, it may be better than directly looking for Daisy to say.
At least, Daisy would not turn her back on her boyfriend’s face.
This is also the purpose of him looking for Luke today, will be the original cause of this matter to tell Luke, let him first communicate with Daisy communication, test her attitude.
Even if it doesn’t work out, there will be a buffer so that it won’t be rejected directly by Daisy.
Luke poured another glass of wine and his eyes were already starting to get a little misty.
Seeing that Luke was a little bit drunk, Lawrence cursed the drunkard in his heart and hurriedly said, “Luke, aren’t you a police officer? What do you think Gordon should do about this case?”
Luke asked for another glass of whiskey and slowly said, “Investigating a case is about evidence, and without a full understanding of the case’s human and physical evidence, as well as the situation at the scene, it’s not good for me to comment more.”
Lawrence sighed, “You’re a police officer will definitely help the police, I can understand that.
That’s why I’m asking Daisy for help.
Do you think Daisy will agree to be Gordon’s lawyer?”
Luke was perfunctory, “I don’t know.”
“Then can you talk to Daisy? Help me talk her into meeting with me.”
Luke laughed, “You two are father and daughter, why would you want to meet through me, an outsider, don’t you think it would be more awkward?”
“Aren’t you her boyfriend? How can you be considered an outsider?
Gordon really needs help right now, and he and I would appreciate it.”
Luke took another sip of wine, “SORRY, I kind of drank a little bit too much today, my mind is a bit unclear, let’s talk about this matter some other time.”
Lawrence was a little disgruntled, “I’m talking about something important and you’re drinking all the time.”
Luke said to the bartender behind the bar, “Man, remember to take me home later.”
The bartender wiped his glass as he snickered, “No problem, I’ll drop you off in front of the police station.”
“I couldn’t care less, I’m going to take a break.” With that said, Luke fell asleep on the table.
“FUCK, Daisy actually got an alcoholic boyfriend, I can’t believe it!” Lawrence whined a few times and waved his hand away.
The bartender called out, “Hey, you haven’t settled your bill yet.”
“Put it on his tab, it’s on him.”
When Lawrence was completely gone, the bartender tapped the table, “He’s gone, that’s thirty dollars.”
Luke pulled out two twenties and handed them over, “The rest is your tip.”
“Thanks.”
Luke was pretending to be drunk.
The purpose was simple, he didn’t want to get involved in Daisy’s family’s personal affairs, and he didn’t want to be Lawrence’s messenger.
Because once involved in this matter, Luke would become difficult.
Considering from Daisy’s point of view, her relationship with her father and cheap brother would not be too good.
She shouldn’t be willing to be a free lawyer either, and this matter is said by Luke, although it’s not his intention, but it’s also he who directly causes confusion to Daisy.
Even if Daisy didn’t say anything on her lips, she might blame Luke in her heart.
Besides, Luke didn’t want to reject Lawrence directly.
In the end, he was still Daisy’s father, and in case Daisy was moved to save her brother, Luke couldn’t be the bad guy in the middle.
Their father-daughter relationship eases, Luke is not a person outside, the situation will be more difficult.
So why not just pretend to be drunk, people are easy to forget things when they are drunk.
Lawrence mentioned this matter again, he said he was drunk and forgot.
True or false does not matter, the important thing is that Luke has an excuse.
Tonight, Luke learned a lot about Daisy, and it was a small gain.
He thought long and hard about it, and this was something he should still give Daisy a heads up about.
Some people might think, “Then why are you pretending to be drunk? It’s not necessary.
It’s not.
If Luke agreed to help Lawrence pass the message, it would give Daisy a feeling that she was on Lawrence’s side.
It’s a crooked ass to begin with.
In addition, once he agreed to Lawrence, it would be the same as Daisy knowing about it, and Daisy would be in a passive position.
Luke pretending to be drunk is the same as not promising Lawrence, he told Daisy privately, the initiative will be in Daisy’s hands, and can be dealt with from a comfortable position.
This is not only favorable to Daisy, but also will not offend Lawrence, two birds with one stone.
As for when to tell Daisy, he hasn’t thought about it yet.
Find a suitable opportunity to say.