Chapter 204
The Vernal neighborhood.
It’s a white middle-class neighborhood.
On Sunday afternoons, many people have yard parties.
Meet family, friends or neighbors for barbecue, beer, and talk about sports, politics, and work; the conversations aren’t necessarily nutritious, but they’re a good way to relax.
Number 122 is Abal Frick’s house.
At this time, the Frick’s house gathered a lot of people, all nearby neighbors, adults and children gathered together, laughing and very lively.
“Wooo……” two cars pulled up near the Frick’s house.
Several people came down from the cars and walked towards Flick’s house, among them, the leading man was Luke.
He was followed by Ramon, Marcus, Jenny, and Jackson.
Luke looked like he was here for a party and smiled, “SORRY, we’re late.”
A woman in a red dress came up to him, not too tall, with a front and back, “Hi, I’m Pawnee Flick, this is my house and I don’t seem to recognize you guys.”
“Hello ma’am, we’re friends of your husband’s, he invited us.”
“Oooooooooooh ……” a tall white man walked up with a bottle of beer in his hand.
“Oh, you guys are here to see me? I’m not in the habit of inviting strangers to parties.”
“You better get used to it fast, because you’re about to party with more strangers who won’t be as polite as me.” Luke flashed his badge.
“You guys are cops? What’s the business of looking for me? Is this the wrong guy.”
“Are you Abal Flick?”
“That’s me.”
“That’s right then.”
Just then, two patrol police cars drove up as well and pulled up in front of Abal Flick’s house.
The party went haywire, some exchanged words, some retreated outside, and some came over to try to ask what was going on.
Mrs. Frick gave a disgruntled look and turned to Luke and questioned, “What the hell are you doing? Why did you come to our house?”
“That would be a question for your husband, what did he do?”
“I didn’t do anything, you guys must be mistaken.” Abal Frick defended.
“Mr. Frick, don’t you own a Colt Enforcer type pistol?”
“Uh ……” Frick opened his mouth, a panicked look on his face.
Mrs. Frick said, “Yes, my husband has a gun like that, so what?”
Luke laughed, “Mr. Flick, are you sure you want me to say this here? In front of your wife and neighbors?”
“Sir, I can explain that that gun was stolen the other day.
Whatever happened to that gun has nothing to do with me.”
“Stolen? Then why didn’t you call the police?”
“I was so busy, I forgot.”
“Time to party, no time to call the police, that’s a good reason for you, I’m sure the judge and jury will love it.” Luke waved his hand, “Cuff him.”
Blacky and Jackson stepped forward and handcuffed Abal Frick.
Abal Frick resisted somewhat, but didn’t dare openly.
A few neighbors exchanged words, but could only step aside in the face of the police.
Mrs. Frick looked furious: “How could you guys grab my husband at a party at my house, and why didn’t you give him a chance to explain?
If you don’t make it clear, I won’t allow you to take him away.”
Luke asked back, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes, I want an explanation.”
Luke nodded and pulled out an arrest warrant, “This is a warrant just signed by the judge, your husband is suspected of being involved in a homicide and we’re taking him back to investigate.”
Luke pulled out another document, “And if that’s not enough, here’s a search warrant.
The police have the authority to search your residence, including the yard where you had the party.
Is this account okay?”
Mrs. Flick covered her mouth, “Even Karma, husband say something, what the hell is going on? Why would you be involved in a homicide.”
Abal Frick said helplessly, “I told you, my gun was stolen.”
Mrs. Flick also questioned, “Then why didn’t you call the police, why didn’t you tell me, you had to wait for the police to come to your door and arrest me, have you thought about my feelings? How could you do that?”
After saying that, Mrs. Flick ran towards the house.
Jenny stopped her, “SORRY, Mrs. Frick, you can’t go back for a while until the police finish their search.”
Mrs. Frick pointed to the house, “This is my house.”
“We have a search warrant.” Jenny explained, “If you go in there now, we have a right to suspect that you might damage the evidence. You’ll also be arrested.”
“Even if I go to my own home, I’m going to be arrested too? Why are you guys being so overbearing?”
Jenny flashed the handcuffs on her waist, “I’ve explained it clearly, if you interfere with the police search again, we’ll charge you with obstructing law enforcement.”
Black shouted to the surrounding neighbors, “Guys, the party’s over early, you can go home.”
The officers then moved in, some to police the area, others to search the house, and Jenny and Ramon to take Mrs. Flick into the car to give their statements.
Luke, Blackie and Abal Flick were the only ones left in the yard.
Luke picked up a bottle of beer from the table, lifted the cap and took a sip, “Mr. Flick, do you want to talk here? Or do you want to go back to the police station interrogation room with us?”
Abal Flick shook his head, “You are mistaken, I have not broken the law, I am the victim.”
“Who have you been persecuted by? Have you called the police?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you call the police?”
“I …… have a hard time.”
Luke laughed, “Are you waiting until court?”
“No, I can make it clear right now, I was in a robbery, I was robbed of my cash, my watch.”
“When was the robbery? Where was the location?”
“Six days ago, that is, at ten o’clock in the evening of 6.25. On Kapor Hill.”
Luke took a sip of his beer, “Describe the crime.”
“Uh …… that night, I had a fight with my wife and she star punished me, I was depressed, so I drove out for a walk.
When I got to Mount Kapor, a redheaded girl stopped the car and asked me to give her a ride, so the two of us pulled over to look at the scenery.
Then I heard someone knocking on the car glass and turned around to see someone pointing a gun out the window at us.
We were being held hostage, he grabbed the stuff, tied me up, and pulled the redhead out to applaud for love.
What a sick, shameless bastard.”
Luke asked, “What does this have to do with your gun?”
“My gun was in the car and he took it with him.”
Black asked, “What were you doing in the car with the redhead? Don’t lie to the police?”
“Uh …… we were clapping for love, shirtless, and the gun was put next to us, otherwise I wouldn’t have been held hostage so easily. That fucking pervert.”
Black pressed, “What’s your relationship with the redhead? Tell us her contact information?”
“It’s the first time we met, and I don’t know her contact information.”
Xiao Hei laughed, “Applauding love on your first meeting, are you a love saint?”
“I’m not a love saint, but I have dollars.”
“That redhead is a lady?”
“Yes.”
Although Xiao Hei was flirtatious, he never did this kind of thing, and even despised it a little, “Your wife is quite pretty and has a good body, why did you do this?”
“Don’t look at me in such a way.
I’m not the kind of man you think of. Only when my wife inflicts Star Punishment on me will I ……” Abal Flick showed a you-know-what expression.
“What’s a star punishment?”
“Every time we have a fight, she goes cold turkey on me, doesn’t say a word, won’t allow me to touch her, and keeps going until she gets over it. Usually this cycle is a week to half a month.”
Xiao Hei said, “Your wife is angry enough, why don’t you coax her.”
“It’s not very useful, my wife’s anger is time-based cycle, no matter if you coax her or not, it will take a week for her to get better.
Once or twice is okay, but she regularly imposes star punishment, and I’m a normal man, I have needs.”
Xiao Hei said, “So you go up to the mountain to find a lady to solve it?”
“I make more than ten thousand dollars a month, most of the money goes to my wife, but she never takes the initiative to applaud for love with me, every time, she just copes with it, lying on the bed like a wooden statue, not even moving her ass.
Outside, I only need to spend three hundred dollars to clap for love with a girl, four hundred dollars will be very enthusiastic, five hundred dollars they will call me father.
But my wife never does. She takes everything for granted.
I really find it exhausting, even more so than working.”
Luke asked, “Why didn’t you choose to call the police when you were robbed?”
“Even though I have a clear conscience, it wasn’t something honorable after all, and I’m afraid if my wife found out about it, our marriage would be at an end.
I know I should call the police, but I have never been able to make up my mind, I originally wanted to take a weekday off to go to the police, at least it won’t arouse my wife’s suspicion.
I didn’t realize it would happen so soon.” With that said, Abal Flick looked over at Luke, “Can you tell me what case that gun was involved in?”
“On the night of June 28th, there was a robbery-rape-murder in the hills of Kabol, and the murderer used your pistol.”
“Even so!” Abal Flick looked remorseful, “I should have called the police, I should have called the police earlier, I should have thought that no good could come from the gun falling into that pervert’s hands.”
Luke smoothly inquired, “Where were you on the night of June 28th, between nine and twelve?”
“At home, with my wife, who can vouch for me.”
“Describe the suspect.”
“He was wearing a black mask, a dark long-sleeved shirt, gloves, and a black handgun, and he wouldn’t allow us to open our eyes.
All I could hear was his voice, it was raspy and very much like a fake voice.
I was too terrified to even look at him because I knew that if I saw what I shouldn’t, I’d be killed for sure.”
“How can I find the red-haired lady?”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe her features.”
“Red hair, height around 170cm, she has a heart tattoo on her right arm and ‘Come on’ tattooed on her back waist.
That’s all I remember.”
Blackie smiled, “Come on, you guys are really good at this. What’s her name?”
“I don’t know.”
Luke pulled out a picture of the dead man, Barron, “Do you recognize him?”
“No.”
Luke pulled out another picture of the three Yalts for him to see.
“Don’t recognize.”
Luke then inquired about some more details of the case, but Abar Flick failed to provide any more valuable clues.
Assuming Abar wasn’t lying, he wasn’t directly connected to the June 28th murder of Barron, and the suspect in both cases was probably the same person.
It’s just that the suspect became more brazen after grabbing his handgun.
Then there’s another possibility for the Barron murder, the killer is likely to have committed the crime randomly, and the common feature of both cases is the person who car-jumped at night in Carbon Hill.
Judging from the time and means of committing the crimes in the two cases, the first case was just a robbery for money and sex, while the second case has already killed someone.
The method of crime has escalated and the suspect has become more daring and vicious.
It is not ruled out that the suspect will continue to commit crimes.