Chapter 237

Eight o’clock in the evening.

Reid Community Square.

Luke ordered a grilled lamb chop and some kebabs with peanut burrata and a bucket of cold root beer.

The kebabs hadn’t been served yet, so Luke drank the beer and ate the peanut burrata.

It wasn’t long before a cab pulled up next to him and Black stepped out of it, “Hey man, I’m here.”

Luke asked rhetorically, “You gonna ride in a cab all the time?”

Blackie sat down in the chair across from him, “When I get paid this month, I’ll have just about enough money to buy a car, heh heh.”

Luke picked up a mug of root beer and handed it to him, “Good luck.”

Black took a sip of his root beer and laughed, “I’ve been lucky, you know.”

“You’re right.”

“Is it just the two of us tonight?

“I was going to call David, but then I thought …… better of it.”

Blackie stretched out his right hand and touched fists with Luke, “You did the right thing, David is a violent maniac, the two of us are now the best partners.”

Luke didn’t reply, he didn’t call David today just felt a little out of place.

Black rubbed his hands together, “I kind of can’t wait for those Chinese kebabs you were talking about.”

“Let’s try these two small dishes first, peanuts and maozu, they go well with the root beer.”

“Come on, you don’t think I’ve ever had peanuts?” Blacky picked up a peanut without thinking and took a bite, “The flavor …… is peculiar.”

Blacky finished eating and picked up another one and planted it in his mouth.

Luke thought to himself, “You’ve eaten a lot of things, but doing it differently is another flavor.

Soon the restaurant’s waiter brought up a small grill and set the lamb chops and skewers on it to maintain optimal heat and flavor.

Blacky inhaled hard, “It’s completely different from the smell of grilled lamb I’ve smelled before, it’s the flavor of cumin, I know this seasoning.”

Luke sliced off two lamb chops, handed Xiao Hei a piece, and couldn’t wait to gorge himself.

It was charred on the outside, tender and flavorful in the mouth, more or less greasy, and perfect with a bite of onion.

Blacky gave a thumbs up, “GOOD, I love the texture and flavor.”

Luke thought to himself, “Eat up, we’ll talk when you’re full, save you the trouble of eating later.

Luke also started to feast, in his last life, he loved eating lamb, especially enjoying grilled lamb chops.

But to be honest, the number of times he has eaten is not much, the main reason is still relatively expensive, not that he can’t afford to eat, just can’t afford to give up.

Occasionally, it was not very convenient to roast the whole mutton by himself, and there was no venue.

Of course, the reason why he likes grilled lamb chops and can’t forget it may also have something to do with eating less.

This life has money, open to eat, go out once a week to eat barbecue, eat in a restaurant shabu-shabu hot pot, without a little pressure.

The freedom to eat beef and mutton was realized.

Seeing that Xiao Hei had eaten almost as much as he wanted, Luke started to talk about the main topic, “How are you and Reporter Jones doing now?”

Xiao Hei grinned widely, “Very good, I like this relationship now.”

“What relationship.”

“I don’t know what to call it?

Should it be considered a lover?

She’s not very clingy and we both have our own space.”

“Do you love her?”

“Why use the word love?

I like her, but I can’t talk about love.” Black clinked glasses with Luke, “I know what you’re worried about and I know you’re doing it for my own good.

But don’t worry, I’m not James Bond or Ethan Hunt, I’m not going to be mesmerized by women and I’m not going to hold back on my work.

I’ve seen a lot of women and I can hold that line.

Man, have a little faith in me, OK?”

“If you were to break up with a female reporter right now, what would you do?”

“Come on, you’re not going to play the either/or kind of thing, even though you’re more important in my mind, it’s not necessary.

We’re both just playing around, there’s no chance she’ll take the initiative and dump me one day, there’s really no need.”

“That means you and the female reporter are using each other?”

“Although the meaning …… is almost the same, I don’t like this expression, I think it’s more appropriate to use mutual help. At work, in life …… you know.”

Luke nodded, “I see.”

“Dude, what’s wrong with you, what are you really going to say tonight? It can’t really be forcing me to break up with Pari.”

“No, it’s your freedom to be with whoever you want.”

“I came to you today just to tell you something.

It’s none of my business, but you’re my partner and I felt I should tell you.”

“Man, there’s no need to hesitate, just tell me if you want to. Like you said, we’re partners, and besides my mom, you’re the one person I trust the most.”

“What I’m about to say might be a little shocking.

Are you sure you’re up for it?”

“Sure, I’m ready.” Seeing the solemn tone of Luke’s voice, Blackie also took it a little more seriously.

“I saw Julian today.”

“She reached out to you?”

“No.”

“You saw her with another man?”

“No.”

“Man, just get on with it, don’t beat around the bush, I’m strong enough to accept it even if Julianne has a new boyfriend.

It’s normal, just like I had Pari too.

Everyone is free.”

“Uh ……,” Luke pulled out his phone, “Read it and judge for yourself.”

“You’re no fun.” Black bristled and took the phone to view it, “It’s really Julianne, does she work as a waitress in a restaurant?”

Xiao Hei partially zoomed in on the picture, “She’s still so pretty, I really like her, if she’s not in a hurry to get married …… we’ll definitely be happy ……”

Xiao Hei suddenly fell silent, frowning, and continued to zoom in on the picture, “She …… seems to have gained weight, why would she only gain weight on her stomach …… is it because she eats too much?

She didn’t look like this before.”

Blackie scratched his hair and looked at Luke with a helpless face, “Man, you tell me why?”

Luke spread his hands, “I’ve never been married either, so maybe …… it’s just like you think.”

“No…… I’m not thinking anything, no way.” Blackie picked up his glass of wine, drank it down, and said to himself.

“This can’t be …… must be a joke.

Is today April Fool’s Day?” Blacky looked at Luke somewhat handily, “Tell me it’s ps.”

Luke didn’t answer, silently eating his roasted oysters.

“I’m going to call her and find out.” Black took out his cell phone and hesitated, “No, I can’t call, it would be the angle of the photo, she must have gained weight.

That’s right, leaving such a good man like me, she must have regretted it, and then gave herself up to eating and drinking.

I can’t contact her at this time.

She’ll be even sadder.

Maybe in a little while, she’ll be able to sort it out.

Do you think I’m right?”

Luke said, “I don’t have much experience in this area to advise you.”

Black let out a long sigh, pressed his fingers to his temples, and asked breathlessly, “Where did you meet her?”

“The Big Ding Bone Steakhouse.”

The next day.

There were no recent cases at the police station, and Luke found an excuse to remain out of work.

Perhaps it was due to the initial realization of economic freedom, Luke was a bit disheveled.

This might be laughed at when he said it, after all, he only had a total of just over a million dollars in assets.

Buying a house in a big city would have cost him all of that, and it might not even be enough.

But the thing was, buying a mansion was Luke’s ideal, but not his must-have option.

Renting a house in Los Angeles was just as dashing, and as long as he didn’t fall behind on his rent, he could get his foot in the door.

To put it mildly, that was enough money to retire on as long as he didn’t get married or have kids in his life.

Luke’s mindset was more relaxed now, since he didn’t want to go to work, he would just wave for a few days.

Isn’t the purpose of working hard to be able to enjoy life happily?

After having breakfast, Luke drove to the beach, some time ago, he won 3 snorkeling cards in a lottery, and he happened to use them today.

This was the primary purpose.

Secondary purpose, recently it was the time to swim at the beach, and there were many pretty girls on the beach.

Looking at girls is a kind of enjoyment in itself, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a how-do-you-do.

Of course, with the right opportunity, it can also be how so and so.

In Luke’s previous impression, the climate in Los Angeles are relatively warm, thought that except for the winter most of the time can swim in the beach.

But when he actually came over here, he realized it wasn’t that way.

The really suitable season for swimming is July and August, and the sea water will be a bit cool in the other months.

Of course, this has something to do with personal habits, other months there will be white people swimming in the water, but almost rarely see Asian or Asian tourists in the water.

When Luke arrived at the beach, he was not in a hurry to see the girls and was ready to find a snorkeling instructor first.

He had checked online and there was a Wilka Swimming Club in the neighborhood.

Luke had read the club’s profile online, and in addition to teaching swimming, it also operated a water sports rental business.

The club’s store was in a more prominent location on the beach, and there were already quite a few tourists standing around renting water sports.

The person in charge of reception was a man in his thirties, white, brown curly hair, and looked quite honest.

“What can I get for you, sir?”

“I’d like to hire a snorkeling instructor.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No, the website only allows members to make appointments, and I’m not a member.”

“Do you know how to swim?”

“Yes.”

“How many hours will you be learning today?”

“Six hours or so.”

“Snorkeling instructors pay between $50 and $100 an hour, and the price varies a bit from instructor to instructor, are you comfortable with that?”

“Sure.”

“Do you have any other requirements?”

“Female coaches are preferred.”

“OK, you wait a moment, I will contact the snorkeling coach for you.”

After paying the deposit, Luke bought a cold Coke and slumped back in his chair to watch the chick drink her Coke.

In Los Angeles one could see all kinds of races of people and all kinds of chicks, mostly in bikinis, and it was a sight to behold.

Sometimes, Luke felt that he had lived a wasted life, never seen, never played, not to mention the enjoyment of it, and do not know what to live for.

What a loss.

“Sir, is it you who wants to learn how to snorkel?” A woman’s voice sounded next to him.

Luke twisted his head to see that it was a Latin beauty in a bikini, with a dimpled body, wasp waist and buttocks and long legs, very attractive to the eye.

“Yes, you’re the snorkeling instructor?”

“That’s right, my name is Ortie, and for $100 an hour tuition, is that acceptable?”

“Sure, my name is Luke.” One hundred dollars an hour for tuition isn’t cheap, but isn’t that what earning money is all about?

It’s hard to buy a brother happy with money.

Soon, both sides began one-on-one teaching.

It felt really good to learn swimming from a bikini beauty.

With the added power of the snorkeling card, Luke learned quickly and soon mastered the theory.

Afterwards, Orty was going to take Luke into the water for training.

Considering that the sea water was complicated and fluctuated too much, Orty first took Luke to the club’s swimming pool to practice.

Learning snorkeling consists of two main aspects, one is swimming and the other is closing the air.

Snorkeling is usually underwater, so mostly breaststroke and butterfly are used.

Ortie explains the difference between the two types of snorkeling, and Luke chooses the more specialized and less strenuous butterfly, but it may be a little more difficult to learn in the early stages.

There were also some essentials in terms of air closure, Orty spoke in detail, and with the added power of the snorkeling card, Luke learned quickly.

After practicing separately for a while, Luke began to officially try snorkeling.

Luke took a plunge into the water and disappeared, only an underwater shadow could be seen, and when he showed his head again, he had already appeared at the other end of the pool.

“Snap ……” Orty couldn’t help but applaud, the semicircle in front of his chest trembled along with him, “Wow wow …… you swam great, you really haven’t learned to snorkel before! ?”

“Thanks for the compliment, I just met a good coach.”

The morning passed quickly, Luke made rapid progress, and near noon, he could already do a two-minute-long snorkel underwater.

Learning to snorkel was still important.

If one was just in a swimming pool or relatively calm water, learning to swim would be enough.

But if you encounter windy water and a wave hits, you can see the importance of snorkeling.

Luke wanted to play surfing, motorboating, scuba diving and other water sports in the future, so it was kind of an early foundation.

Although it’s a bit out of the ordinary.

But living another life, Luke wanted to experience this wonderful world.

At noon, Luke invited the beautiful coach to eat with him.

The two ate Mexican food.

Ortie took a sip of lemonade: “Thank you for lunch.”

“You’re welcome, eat more so you have the strength to teach me this afternoon.”

“You’re making more progress than I expected, there’s nothing more I can teach you about theory, I want to take you snorkeling in the ocean this afternoon.”

“Is it any different?”

“Of course, the sea water is flowing, snorkeling will be disturbed by some external forces, you can snorkel for more than two minutes in a swimming pool, but you’ll be lucky to last a minute and a half in the sea.

The situation under the sea is also more complicated, and sometimes you will encounter some accidents that need to be reasonably circumvented and solved.”

“Sounds like fun, I can’t wait to try it.”

Orty smiled and looked at Luke, “Your eyes are black and beautiful, do you have Asian blood?”

“Yes, are you?”

“I immigrated to the United States from Venezuela with my parents when I was five.”

“No wonder you’re so pretty, it’s a shame you’re only a snorkeling instructor.”

“You have a good eye.” Orty leaned forward, “I’ll let you in on a secret, snorkeling instructor is only my part-time job.”

“Then what’s your real job?”

“I’ll tell you next time we meet.” Orty pursed her red lips and smiled, “What about you? What’s your job?”

“Isn’t it a bit unfair that you don’t tell me but ask me about my job instead.”

Orty was about to say something in the middle of saying something when her cell phone rang, “Ringing ……”

“SORRY, I have to take a call.”

“Be my guest.”

Orty walked over to the pool and pressed the answer button, “It’s me.

Please call me Coach Orty.

I’m right here with him.

Yes, he’s looking at me, but we’re pretty far away and he can’t hear me.”

Seeing Luke look at him, Orty waved and continued.

“Of course I can snorkel, I learned synchronized swimming when I was a kid, and the mermaids were drawn after me.

Don’t you think it’s a good chance to watch him?

No, he won’t be able to find out. His lustful eyes are no different from any other man’s.

I can tell he’s interested in me. That’s when a man’s IQ drops.

But he’s really talented at snorkeling and learns super fast.

OK, don’t worry.

I’m sure of it.

He can’t find out.”

After lunch.

Luke and the two of them went to the beach and laid down on beach chairs for half an hour.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, the two of them started snorkeling under the sea, and Luke used another snorkeling card.

Luke dove headfirst into the water and immediately felt a huge push, completely different from what he felt in the pool.

Orty reminded from the side, “Don’t resist the seawater yet, feel and get used to its fluctuations.” At the same time, Orty pressed Luke’s shoulders to prevent him from surfacing.

Luke stayed underwater for more than a minute, couldn’t carry on, and came out to change his breath.

Breathing heavily, just like what Olti said, it was really hard to snorkel under the sea water.

However, Orty had been teaching Luke on the side, teaching him some precautions and tricks.

Luke quickly adapted to the impact of the sea water and gradually began to let go of his hands and feet to snorkel.

At first, he could only dive under the sea for more than a minute, but after practicing for some time, he could reach two minutes.

And the depth of the dive is getting deeper and deeper.

Luke’s learning ability once again surprised Orty, and instead became a little more restrained when facing Luke.

Luke also began to gradually feel the beauty of snorkeling.

Swimming in the ocean was a completely different feeling, he could enjoy the scenery under the sea colorful swimming fish, coral, strange rocks, and big long legs.

Ortie surfaced, vaguely feeling that someone was staring at her, her eyes scanned the beach and did not find anything unusual.

She didn’t care too much, having long ago gotten used to the feeling of being watched.

Orty took a deep breath and dived into the sea again, searching for Luke’s figure ……

A few dozen meters away, Luke had begun to dive deeper into the sea, and he found that he liked the feeling of being under the sea.

It was like another world out here.

Suddenly, Luke saw a figure in the distance.

Amazing.

The silhouette had been floating underwater, Luke had already changed his breath once, and the other person was still swimming slowly in the water.

Encountered an expert.

Luke tried to swim over and wanted to say hello to the other party.

However, the more forward swimming, the more feel wrong, this buddy hands and feet is not like sliding, more like follow the water flow.

Moreover, it’s been a few minutes, and he still maintains a posture.

Swimming forward again for a while, he finally saw it clearly.

The guy had a rope attached to his right foot, he wasn’t carrying an oxygen tank, there seemed to be a heavy weight falling below him, and the whole person seemed to be in an unconscious state floating in the water, and unable to float to the surface because of the heavy weight on his feet.

“FUCK!”

Luke floated to the surface for air and took a deep breath.

“Luke, how did you swim so far?” Orty followed.

Luke pointed down, “There’s something underwater.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“A corpse.”

Orty frowned slightly, “Are you kidding?”

“No, you’d better get ashore and call the police first.” Luke finished and dove head first under the sea again to observe.

It was indeed a dead body, black male, boy to be exact, and looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old.

Luke felt movement next to him and turned his head to see that Orty had swum down as well.

Luke gestured and the two floated to the surface together.

“God, this is the first time I’ve seen a dead body ……,” Orty showed a horrified expression.

Luke looked at her and patted her on the back, “Don’t worry, I’m a cop, I’ll protect you.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Orty took a deep breath, “I feel better, what do we do now?”

Luke scanned around and memorized the general location, “Swim to shore first and call the police.”

The two swam to shore, Luke grabbed two towels and handed one to Orty, “Are you okay?”

“I’m feeling a little dizzy, I’m going to get some rest.

That was horrible, it’s the first time I’ve seen ……”

“OK, go ahead and get some rest, I’ll come over and check on you when this place is taken care of.”

Orty nodded and walked towards the swim club, draped in a towel.

Luke called the police and a patrol of officers soon arrived nearby.

Instead of letting them salvage the body, Luke had them take the yacht and go around the body to guard it from vandalism.

After waiting for the arrangements to be made, Luke rushed to the swim club, his eyes scanned around and didn’t find Orty’s figure, and asked the curly-haired man at the front desk,.

“Where’s Coach Orty?”

“Oh, she said she saw something awful and left.

Is there really a body under the sea, sir?”

“Yep. You might want to consider taking a short vacation for yourself. BTW, what’s Orty’s full name? Give me her cell phone number.”

“SORRY, I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know either? Isn’t she the coach of your club?”

“Ah, this situation is a bit complicated, she belongs to the temporary coach ……”

“What do you mean by temporary coach, make it clear?”

“Oh, this is not very convenient to explain.”

Luke flashed his badge, “What did you just say? I didn’t hear you clearly.”

“You’re a cop?”

“LAPD, tell me everything you know about Orty.”

“This morning, you said you wanted a snorkeling instructor. There were no appointments, so I needed to make an impromptu contact, which might take some time.

At this time, she, that’s Orty, came up to me and asked if the place needed a swim instructor.

Wow, you saw her too.” The curly-haired man gestured a curve with his hand, “Who could say no to such a great looking coach, so, I agreed to give her a try.

Moreover, I already gave her the trial fee just now.”

“She didn’t leave her identification and cell phone number?”

“No, she seemed to be frightened by the corpse and left in a hurry.”

Luke stared at Curly, “I want the surveillance here.”

“Why?”

“Do you want me to get a search warrant and investigate your club for harboring a murderer on the side?”

“No, I’ll give you the surveillance video.”

“Thanks, you’re a good citizen.”

Just then, a black man came over, “Lieutenant Luke, the woman you were with is gone.”

This black man was none other than Annelec Lauer who had gone to Luke’s house to steal the vinyl records.

He had been developed into an informant by Luke.

In fact, Luke had realized that something was wrong with Orty.

Luke had learned lipreading and could decipher what was being said by looking at the shape of someone’s mouth when they spoke.

When Orty was on the phone, he couldn’t hear, but he could see what the other person was saying.

Although he couldn’t see it all, he knew that this woman was coming at him and seemed to have something up her sleeve.

Therefore, Luke called Anlek in advance and asked him to come over to keep an eye on Orti.

He just didn’t expect to accidentally find a teenager’s body at the bottom of the sea.

“How did she get away?”

“It was by car, a white Toyota, I wrote down her license plate number.”

“Nice work.” Luke smiled and handed the other man five green bills, “Thanks man.”

“Lieutenant Luke, happy to oblige.” Annelec Lauer took a step back, afraid to take the money.

“Take it, you deserve it.”