Chapter 18
Luke looked around and didn’t notice anything unusual before walking to the door and knocking, “Knock knock ……”
No response.
“Knock knock.”
Luke was knocking on the door, still no response.
“Lindsay, open the door, I know you live here.”
After a moment, a slight movement sounded in the house, “Who are you? What can I do for you?”
“I’m David’s partner, we met two days ago and David asked me to deliver something.”
“No, I don’t need it, go away.”
“David is watching from the car, you should know David’s temper, if you don’t open the door, when he comes over he’ll just kick in this door, don’t complicate things.”
“Cluck ……”
The door opened and Lindsay stepped aside with her head down and waved Luke in.
The room was a mess, all sorts of things lying around randomly, there was some leftover takeout on the table with a pair of men’s boots underneath, and against the wall sat a large headed TV, the likes of which were rare in the country anymore.
Lindsay picked up the boots and threw them into the bedroom, “Say, what’s it to me?”
Luke didn’t want to stay long and handed over the naloxone, “This is from David, it won’t help you get clean, but it will lessen the harm caused by the drug.”
Lindsay picked up the naloxone, “I know this drug can bring addicts back to life …… I used to give it to others, I never thought I’d have this day.”
Luke guessed, “You used to be a paramedic?”
“No, cop, narc. David didn’t tell you?”
Luke was silent for a moment, “We rarely talk about personal things.”
“That’s good.” Lindsay opened the door to the house and posed as if she was sending him away, “Don’t let him come back, don’t let me affect his future.”
Looking at the downtrodden former coworker, Luke didn’t know what to say and walked right out of the house.
Luke got back into the car and David looked a little perturbed.
After a moment of silence, David asked, “How is she doing?”
Luke wasn’t going to say anything about the boots; David, as an experienced criminal investigator, should have guessed that a long time ago.
Poking that window dressing would be embarrassing for everyone: “Your wife was a cop?”
“Uh …… that was a long time ago, at first I thought she was cheating on me, all kinds of excuses to stay out at night, didn’t realize she was addicted to drugs, by the time I found out it was too late ……” David sighed softly.
“Anyway …… thanks.”
“Ringing ……” Luke’s cell phone rang.
“Hi beautiful.”
Daisy’s voice came from the cell phone, “Luke, I checked the law firm’s surveillance and found no suspicious people had entered my office.
But there was an unexpected power outage Wednesday night and the surveillance wasn’t working for a while.”
“Wednesday night?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“About forty minutes or so.”
“I see, save the surveillance and wait for my call.”
Luke hung up his cell phone and David asked, “That chick last night?”
“Yeah, there was a problem on her end.”
“Looks like things are going pretty well for you two.”
“It’s not what you think, she’s asking me for a favor.”
“Come on, I’ve been there, a lot of relationships start with a favor, it means she’s interested in you.”
“David, remember that mugger I caught?”
“Sure, the asshole’s name was Tim and I was involved in his interrogation.
According to Tim’s account he was short of money recently, so he wanted to make some quick money, and after seeing the news about the ‘Taser Robbery’, he wanted to copy the crime and frame the other party. Any questions?”
“Daisy is an attorney, and at dinner last night, she said that the law firm’s office had been moved, and I suggested that she check the security cameras, and found that there had been no surveillance for a while with a temporary power outage on Wednesday night. Don’t you think that’s too much of a coincidence?”
David asked, “Could she have been too nervous? Many victims of robberies are nervous and paranoid.”
“Daisy’s mental state is not bad.”
Last night Luke had analyzed two scenarios, but both of them were based on the aftermath of Daisy’s robbery.
And now that the surveillance’s showed that the problem appeared on Wednesday night, then the previous inference couldn’t be used.
It’s fine if it’s a coincidence.
What if it’s not?
Daisy’s office was broken into on Wednesday night and robbed on Thursday night.
Hypothetically, the suspect entered Daisy’s office with the intention of stealing items, but did not find them before committing the robbery the following night.
Analyzing this scenario, it is likely that the Thursday night robbery was not impromptu, but rather a case of premeditated crime with a clear goal.
The suspect, Tim, had lied and was likely hiding a larger conspiracy.
“I need to talk to Daisy.”
“You go ahead, I want to be alone.”
“OK, see you later.” Luke tried to get out of the car.
“Don’t be silly, you won’t even get a cab here, I’ll put you in a good cab ride.”
“You’re getting sweet.”
“Yea, just like that some guy is trying to change me.”
“I might consider not changing partners if you change your foul temper, be less reckless and impulsive in the future, and listen to good advice more often.”
David bristled, “Oh, you’d better replace me.”
Eleven-thirty a.m., the Fly Bar.
Luke and Daisy had arranged to meet here.
One, because both were familiar with this, and two, because it was less crowded at noon and quieter for conversation.
The bartender saw the two walk into the bar together and revealed a surprised look, “Wow wow …… so soon …… expert!”
“Danny, a lamb chop set menu and a steak set menu.”
The bartender made an OK gesture, and while Daisy wasn’t looking, he picked his thumb at Luke again.
Luke laughed and didn’t bother.
The waiter brought two glasses of plain water first and Daisy took a sip to moisten her throat, “Luke, what do I do now?”
“I’m going to ask you a few questions now to determine if the surveillance outage was accidental or if someone did it deliberately, OK?”
“OK.”
“Has your law firm ever had a power outage before?”
“Not once that I know of.”
“If the suspect committed the burglary on Wednesday night, you should have noticed something on Thursday, why did you only notice the anomaly on Sunday?”
“I was meeting with a client on Thursday morning and defending my case in court in the afternoon, so I didn’t have time to organize my paperwork that day.”
“Have you offended anyone recently?”
“No.”
“Don’t be so quick to deny it, you need to think carefully, have you offended anyone else at work? Or maybe some of your behavior could lead to other people’s interests being compromised.”
“I’m a lawyer, my duty is to safeguard my client’s interests, it’s normal to have conflicts of interest, but those are actions that are in accordance with the law, I can’t think of anyone who would commit theft.”
Luke squared his shoulders and said, “There’s more at stake than just the theft, if the theft incident wasn’t a fluke, it’s probably related to the robbery on Thursday night. This incident could be more serious than it seems.”
“You mean I could still be in danger?”
Luke explained, “Let’s say the suspect went to your office Wednesday night to steal something, but didn’t find it. The item was important enough to him or them to commit the robbery on Thursday night, and this time it didn’t work.
The suspect, Tim, definitely can’t get out, but he may have accomplices ……”