Chapter 184
“Jingling ……” a cell phone rang.
Luke took out his cell phone and looked at it, on the screen was an unfamiliar cell phone number.
He pressed the answer button, “Hello, this is Luke.”
“This is Daisy’s father, Rollins Miller.”
Luke was a little surprised that the old man had called from a different cell phone after having blackballed him earlier.
“What can I do for you?”
“I know you and Daisy probably don’t like me, but I’m really desperate, Gordon’s in a bad way right now and I have to find a way to bail him out.
I hope you can help me.”
“I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong person, there’s nothing I can do.”
“I approached Daisy this afternoon.
But she wouldn’t help me …… She’s still angry about what happened back then, but Gordon is her brother after all, and Gordon is innocent.
I hope you can help me persuade her, no matter how she can do to me, scolding me, beating me does not matter, just hope that she can help Gordon.
She is now in a state of anger and cannot listen to what I say, I hope you can persuade her.
After all, we are still family.
I still say that if you can help me, I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life.”
“I don’t need your gratitude.” Luke directly hung up his cell phone and once again pulled the plug on this cell phone number.
Luke then dialed Daisy’s cell phone.
After a while, the phone picked up, “Hello, this is Daisy.”
“Lawrence has approached you?”
“Yes, the old bastard found my law firm and made a scene.”
“Where are you? It sounds a little messy.”
“I’m at the Connaught Bar near the law firm.”
“I’ll come over and meet you.”
“No, I have to go back to the law firm later to work overtime, I’ve missed a lot of work today.”
“See you in a bit.” Luke hung up his cell phone and drove directly to Connaught Bar.
More than twenty minutes later, Luke arrived at Connaught Bar.
Daisy was sitting at the bar and drinking.
Seeing Daisy dry-drinking, Luke loaded some small snacks and came over, “Eat something, drinking on an empty stomach hurts your body.”
“Actually you don’t have to come over, I’m really fine.”
Luke ordered a beer, “Sure, I know you’re a strong woman and can take care of yourself.
But I’d be unsettled if I didn’t come over and see for myself.”
“Thanks.” Daisy grabbed Luke’s hand and asked, “Did Lawrence contact you again?”
“Yes. He called from a different cell phone number and I pulled the plug again.”
Daisy gave a thumbs up, “Good job.”
Luke took a sip of his beer and was concerned, “He went to see you at the law firm?”
Daisy nodded, “He called me this morning and I refused to meet with him over the phone.
As a result, he found the law firm in the afternoon, pretending to be pitiful and trying to win my sympathy.
Said he regretted that year, sorry for me and my mom, want to make up for the previous faults to obtain my forgiveness, hope that in the future can be common to me to do a father’s responsibility.
He’s really good at saying that, obviously he’s the one who came to ask for my help when he was in trouble, making it seem like I can’t leave him as a father.” Daisy sighed softly, took a sip of her wine, and continued
“No matter how nice he said it, I still turned him down.
At first he didn’t give up and told me about that so-called ‘brother’ Gordon again.
Said he’d always wanted to recognize me as his sister, said how pathetic he was now and how he needed my help, and mouthed off that it was all his fault, but Gordon was innocent.
All he could think about was his son, Gordon Gordon Gordon ……
If Gordon was innocent, what about me?
Did he ever really care about me?
Would he have come to me if something hadn’t happened to Gordon?
Thinking about all this made me even angrier, and I told him in no uncertain terms that there was no way in hell I was going to lawyer up for Gordon.”
With that said, Daisy asked rhetorically, “Do you know what he said next?”
Without waiting for Luke to answer, Daisy continued, “He actually asked me for money to post Gordon’s bail.
I refused dryly, without any leeway.
After I refused again, he became irritated and made a scene.
Yes, that’s the Lawrence I know so well.”
Luke said, “Let me know if he goes back to the law firm for trouble and I’ll clean him up for you.”
“I didn’t spoil him either, I just had security kick him out. He’s already on the law firm’s blacklist and it’s no longer possible for him to enter the firm.
Don’t forget, I’m a lawyer.”
Luke clinked glasses with Daisy, “It’s good to meet and talk it out, he should be dead in the water this time.”
“You’re right, it’s a relief to see him having a bad time.”
Luke smiled, “Let me take you home.”
“No, as I said earlier, I still have to work overtime at the club law firm.”
“You’re having a bad day, take the day off.”
Daisy shook her head and sighed, “Just because of his arrival, it’s delaying my work progress, I have to finish the work that needs to be finished before I can do so.
I can’t sleep at all if I can’t finish the work.”
“Then what time do you get off work, I’ll pick you up.”
“Phone call.” Daisy got up and kissed Luke on the cheek, “It’s much more comforting after talking to you.”
Witnessing Daisy leaving, Luke was in no hurry to leave, anyway, he had already come, might as well have a drink and relax before leaving.
Luke drank while observing the people in the bar.
People of all shapes and sizes, with different identities, each with their own lives.
Sometimes, Luke was eager to experience the lifestyle of others.
A white middle-aged man walked into Luke’s line of sight, sat at the bar diagonally across from him, and ordered a beer.
The man appeared to be around forty years old, wearing a white shirt with traces of sweat stains remaining on the shirt collar, and hadn’t taken his eyes off his cell phone since entering the bar.
Luke was observant enough to recognize the man just by looking at him.
He didn’t know the man, exactly, and had never seen the other man before, but Luke had been to his house and had seen his picture.
The kidnapped man Betty’s father – Brown Kenneth.
Why was he here?
According to his earlier statement, he shouldn’t have gotten off the plane yet?
Even if he had arrived in LA shouldn’t he have gone to the police station first thing?
Why would he run to the bar to drink?
Moreover, looking at the other party, he didn’t care about drinking, his eyes kept staring at his cell phone and occasionally swept the crowd in the bar.
From Luke’s experience, he should be in contact with someone very important, or waiting for a call or message from someone.
He instinctively thought of a blackmail call.
During the previous case discussion, the main issue discussed by the crowd was the suspect’s purpose of the crime.
If it was a real kidnapping case, the suspect would have made a ransom call.
But both Li Mei and Brown Kenneth denied having received a ransom call.
The vice squad felt that Li Mei was lying.
Now it seemed likely that it was Brown Kenneth who was lying.
In Luke’s experience, the other party with this look looked very much like he had come to make a deal with the kidnappers to pay the ransom.
But the fact that he didn’t have a backpack on him meant that the deal had probably already been done.
He was waiting for the release of the hostages.
If the kidnapper could really release the hostage, naturally all would be happy.
But if the kidnapper has no intention of releasing the hostage, then once he receives the money and accomplishes his goal, he will likely just tear up the ticket.
This is a double-edged sword.
Luke took a picture of Brown Kenneth and sent it to Susan and briefly explained the situation.
Susan replied simply, see what happens and get to the bottom of it as soon as possible.
Luke walked over to Brown Kenneth with his glass of wine and sat down next to him.
Brown craned his head to look at Luke and continued to stare down at his cell phone, muttering under his breath, “Come on, come on …… It’s okay, Betty’s going to be okay.”
The voice was small.
However, Luke understood lip-synching.
Analyzing from his words to himself, Luke felt more and more that he had finished delivering the ransom.
“Bang bang!” Luke tapped the table with his right hand and raised his chin at Brown Kenneth.
Brown also looked at Luke, “What do you …… have to do?”
Luke lowered his voice, “Mr. Kenneth, don’t look at me when you talk.”
“How do you know my name? Could …… you be the contact.”
Luke asked back, “What do you think?”
“I’ve put the money in the designated spot and begged you to let Betty go. As long as you don’t hurt Betty, I’ll agree to any demands you make.”
“Have you called the police about this?”
“No, I don’t trust the police as much as you do, much less cooperate with them.”
“Where did you put the money?”
“It’s in the garbage can in the alley behind the Witten Steakhouse that you designated, didn’t you find it?
I did put it. Two hundred thousand dollars, every penny, no hyphen.”
“When did you put it there?”
“Twenty minutes ago, eight o’clock sharp.”
Luke continued, “Remember our agreement after that?”
“Remember, put the money in the designated spot and leave immediately, you will release my daughter when you get the money and tell me to wait for the call.” Brown seemed a little nervous, and involuntarily grasped his glass with both hands.
Luke secretly calculated in his mind, twenty minutes had passed since the release of the money, even if he immediately went to that restaurant now, he still needed at least ten minutes, which meant that by the time he arrived, thirty minutes would have passed since the release of the money.
A lot can happen in thirty minutes, there are too many uncertainties.
Among them, there were two biggest possibilities.
The first, the kidnappers have already got the money and escaped.
The second, the kidnappers didn’t dare to take the money right away, and were still watching, waiting until they were sure there were no police.
At this time Luke rashly ran to the location where the money was released, it is likely to be seen by the kidnappers in the dark, and then the hostages will be in danger.
To summarize the analysis, Luke rushed to the money release location now, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
He had already taken credit for discovering Brown, there was no need to take any more risks, and if he really got the hostages killed because of himself, it would be more than worth it.
Take a stab at it.
Besides, the kidnapped man’s father had chosen to believe that the kidnappers had handed over the money, so it would be better to wait a little longer, and if the kidnappers really released the hostages, the police would have no more worries.
Afterwards, Luke sent the interrogation out to Susan and let her make a decision.
If there is credit to be shared, if there is a pot, the boss will carry it.
Brown Kenneth took a deep breath and summoned up the courage to ask, “I’ve paid the ransom, when will you release my daughter?”
Luke didn’t answer, finished the beer in his glass and got up to leave.
There were too many people and ears here for him to reveal his identity.
A long-lost voice came to mind, [Completed an encounter experience, encounter card activated, used].