Chapter 255

It was just after six in the evening when Luke got off work on time.

He walked down to the Detective Bureau building, while walking, wondering what to eat tonight.

Walking near the Mercedes, he saw a pretty figure standing beside the car, tall with long legs and a thin waist, none other than Orty from the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

“Isn’t this Ms. Dean? What a coincidence?”

“I came all the way here to express my gratitude to you and was just about to call you.” Orty shook the cell phone in her hand.

“Thanks for what?”

“Last time you warned me about the thief, I looked into it and the guy did have a problem.

You helped me, and I wanted to thank you personally.”

“I appreciate the gesture, but dinner is not necessary.”

Orty said, “I’ve already reserved the restaurant, you won’t bear to let me eat alone.”

Luke guessed that the other colleagues were about to get off work and didn’t want to dwell on it with Orty.

Although it wasn’t something unseemly, he didn’t want too many people to know about his relationship with the Pinkerton Detective Agency for the time being.

“I don’t usually accept impromptu invitations, but I’m willing to make an exception if it’s Ms. Dean.” Luke opened the passenger door and made an inviting gesture.

“An honor.” Orty got into the passenger side.

Blackie walked down and was ready to greet Luke when he saw him, just in time to see this scene, and his hand stopped in mid-air ……

What’s the deal with this guy? What is that pretty girl? A supermodel?

What the hell, he’s been picking up chicks behind my back again?

Scummy guy!

A look of envy appeared on Xiao Hei’s face, then shook his head, I’m a family man now, it’s not the same as this kind of scum.

There’s nothing to envy.

I’m not envious at all.

Really.

Inside the black Mercedes.

Luke didn’t read Blackie’s expression, and wouldn’t care if he did.

There is no such thing as the best of both worlds in this world, one can’t take advantage of all the benefits, since you chose the stability of your family, you have to cut off the outside world of flowers.

“Where’s the restaurant?”

“Just a block ahead, a Venezuelan restaurant called Cariga. Do you like Venezuelan food?”

“I was thinking of trying it.”

“The one I’m taking you to is the most authentic in L.A. The restaurateur and chef are also Venezuelan, and it’s hard to get it anywhere else.”

“COOL.”

Luke drove to the restaurant, Ortie had already made a reservation, and the waitress was also a dimpled Latin girl, although her face and body were not as good as Ortie’s, she was still a proper model’s body.

There was no way, it was a racial talent.

The two of them sat in the window seat, and Orty handed Luke the menu, “What would you like to eat?”

“Whatever the guest wants, you order.”

Orty flipped the menu and reported the names of a few dishes, Luke sounded and felt something like Mexican food.

Soon his thoughts were answered.

The dishes that were served were, tacos, fried plantains, fried dumplings, beef casserole, paella, and beef short rib soup.

The dishes were not considered beautiful, but they were relatively affordable and tasted good.

While eating, Luke didn’t mention the thief, more is better than less, Luke didn’t want to take the job on himself.

Seeing that Luke kept quiet, Orty picked up his glass, “Lieutenant Luke, I’ll drink to you, and thank you again for your help.”

“Ms. Dean, you’ve already invited me to dinner, don’t say any more words of thanks.”

“You’re right, there will be many opportunities for us to work together in the future, so I won’t be polite to you.” Olti took a sip of red wine.

Luke still didn’t answer.

He always felt that this woman’s invitation to dinner was not pure.

Because there wasn’t much communication, the meal was eaten relatively quickly.

After the meal, the two of them went out of the restaurant.

Luke did not take the initiative to send the other party home.

It’s not that Luke is fake noble, who doesn’t like a pretty girl?

But if this girl is so good at picking up, she would have been picked up by other men, and would not have taken the initiative to find herself.

Ortie also did not have the intention of taking a taxi to go, directly on the passenger side.

After getting into the car, Luke was too embarrassed to kick the other party out of the car and asked, “Ms. Dean, do you want to go home now? I’ll give you a ride.”

“Actually, I came over today, and there’s one more thing I want to talk to you about.”

“What is it?”

“This afternoon, I received a commission from a client, the case is not complicated and the commission is very substantial, I thought of you first and thought it would be a good time to give you a try.”

Luke smiled, “How much is the commission?”

“Twenty thousand dollars.”

Luke politely declined, “I’ve been quite busy lately, I don’t have time to take a case for the time being, let’s talk about it next time there’s a suitable opportunity.”

Ortie didn’t give up and pressed, “Are you not satisfied with the commission?”

Luke can see, he did not say clearly, this girl will not give up: “There is part of this reason, I hope that the commission commission price in more than fifty thousand dollars.”

Orty said, “Large commissions are not unheard of, but they are relatively rare.”

“I’m willing to wait.” Luke did not feel that his opening price was high, knowing that fifty thousand commission firms have to take a thirty percent cut, and also pay taxes, and get their hands on an estimated twenty thousand dollars or so left.

Olty advised, “Luke lieutenant, you may not know much about the detective industry, some cases with lower commissions are simpler to investigate, the payoffs and benefits are actually more cost-effective.”

“Money is only one aspect, ordinary commissions are not challenging for me either.” Luke wasn’t going to be easily fooled by her.

He had $320,000 a year in consulting fees even if he did nothing, so why mess around for some low unit cost case that would only lower his grade.

Ortiz said: “I suggest you listen to the content of the case, maybe you will be interested in it? If you’re not interested after hearing it, it’s not too late to decline.”

“No, I’ll stick to my principles.”

Olti sighed softly, a smile still on her face, “OK, although the first cooperation didn’t work out, at least, we got to know each other better.”

“You’re right, cooperation itself is based on mutual understanding and trust.” Luke started the car and drove Orty home.

On the way, Luke also inquired about some things about the Pinkerton Detective Agency, and Olti would answer him one by one.

In fact, Luke was somewhat psychologically prepared for Olty’s visit today, just like Grandpa Robert said, capitalist’s money is not that easy to take.

When you take money, the other party wants you to do things.

However, the contract between the two sides is written clearly, Luke as long as the name in the detective agency, you can get 320,000 yuan a year consulting fees.

Whether or not he accepts the commission is all voluntary.

This was also the reason why Luke directly refused without listening to the content of the commission.

He just wanted to see how the Pinkerton Detective Agency would react if he refused?

For the first time cooperation, Luke could not trust the other party without reservation.

In fact, not only Luke, Ortie was testing Luke as well, each other was testing the other’s attitude and bottom line.

This situation is like a spring, if you’re strong it’s weak, if you’re weak it’s strong, as long as it doesn’t pull apart, the tougher the attitude, the easier it is to take the initiative.

Although the two sides are cooperating, there will be priorities.

If Luke is too good to talk, it will be Olti to take the initiative, randomly arranging commissions, what about Luke’s own work?

He didn’t want to be led by the nose by a woman.

He hoped that he could take the absolute initiative in the cooperation with Orty.

Of course, it’s not that he won’t take the commission, the first commission price has to be right, the second he has to have the time, and the third, he wants to take it only.

You can choose not to give the commission to me, I can also choose not to accept the commission.

You have the right to suggest, I have the right to decide, this is the basis of our cooperation.

The following morning.

Just after eight o’clock.

Luke ate a sandwich, a glass of milk, a cup of coffee, and prepared to go to work.

Just as he left his room, he saw his neighbor Marshall putting his suitcase into his car.

Although Luke was too lazy to mind his own business, he was still vigilant and relatively concerned about this neighbor, “Mr. Smith, are you going out of town?”

“Yes, the company asked me to make a trip. Just in time for me to return and the house to be renovated.”

“Where are you going on a business trip?”

“New York.”

“Have a good trip.”

“Thanks.”

The two men each got into their cars and left.

In the car, Luke was also thinking about Marshall, thinking about what kind of person the other person was, should he check it out?

From the intuition of a police officer, the other party should have no malice towards him.

Besides, the person had run away to another state, even if he had done something illegal, he couldn’t care.

The car drove to the police detective station just in time to run into Xiao Hei who had parked his car.

Xiao Hei walked to the Mercedes and curiously said, “Where did you go last night?”

“Nowhere, at home.”

Xiao Hei squeezed his eyes and gossiped, “I saw it all.” Gesturing with his hand, he made an S-curve, “That chick with the awesome body, what’s your relationship?”

Luke laughed, “A suitor.”

“You’re chasing her?”

“She’s the one chasing me?”

“Seriously? You’re not impressed by that kind of chick? I don’t believe it.”

“You’d be better off caring more about Julian.” Luke patted him on the shoulder and walked in to the Detective Bureau building.

At 9:05, Susan had her usual meeting.

Although Susan had meetings every day, Susan had one thing going for her, and that was no bullshit.

After the meeting, Luke began to go through the previous case files, the last case was not complicated, but it was more involved.

After Luke solved a case, he would reorganize the case and summarize the experience and skills of solving the case.

At ten o’clock in the morning, Reed came to the Robbery and Murder Division and called Luke to the conference room.

Luke took the initiative to ask, “Chief, what do you want to see me about?”

Reed said, “A friend of mine had a leaky roof on his house, and he hired a construction crew to fix the roof, and the builder had an accident while working on the house and fell off the roof and died.

That friend wasn’t home, only his wife was.

His wife was terrified ……

I’d like you to come over and check on the dead guy.

Accident? Suicide? Or homicide?”

“What is the name of that friend of yours? What’s the address?”

“I’ll send it to your cell phone later.”

“Okay.”

After the two talked, Luke stepped out of the conference room, checked in with Susan, and rushed to the scene of the accident with Blackie.

The Acres neighborhood.

It was an upscale white neighborhood.

Almost every home had a swimming pool, and it was the kind of house Luke had always wanted, he just couldn’t afford it for the time being.

However, Luke believed that with the speed at which he was making money, he would also have a luxury villa of his own in the near future.

There were quite a few residents in the community watching the action, some stood in their yards, some chatted on the streets, and others walked towards the west side of the community.

A home in the southwest corner of the community had a police car parked outside and a cordon drawn.

Several uniformed patrolmen had arrived on the scene.

Usually, after a crime, the patrolmen were the first to arrive at the scene and judge the situation before reporting to their superiors.

If it was a simple case, they handled it themselves.

Only the more significant cases would be handed over to the Robbery and Murder Division.

Luke flashed his badge and asked a white patrolman with a higher rank, “I’m Lieutenant Luke of the Robbery Murder Division, what’s the situation here?”

The white man was large and had his hands on his belt, “Lieutenant Luke, we haven’t been on a police report.”

“We were on a mission in the neighborhood and heard a murder over here, so we came over to check it out.” Luke gave a perfunctory, “How did the person die?”

The white patrolman introduced, “The deceased was a construction worker who died after falling from the roof, the ground had been hardened, it was most likely an accident.”

Luke glanced at the roof of the house, more than two floors, plus the top floor attic, probably about ten meters high.

In Luke’s experience, as long as it is not a fall to the vitals, such as the head, cervical vertebrae, this height is unlikely to fall directly to death, more like a fall to disability.

“Where’s the informant?”

The patrolman pointed to a white woman in her forties, “That’s the one, Mrs. McCombs.”

Luke observed that Mrs. McCombs was tall, nearly 5’8″ or so, and was wearing a white dress with a slightly anxious look on her face.

“Hello, I’m Lieutenant, Luke, of the Robbery-Murder Division.

Are you Mrs. McCombs?”

“It’s me, Lieutenant Luke, thank you for coming over.” Mrs. McCombs rushed to shake Luke’s hand.

“Ma’am, I heard you called the police?”

“Yes.”

“What was your relationship to the deceased?”

“My house leaks in the winter, and I fix it every two or three years; I’m not busy this time of year, so I hired a construction crew to fix the roof ……” Mrs. McCombs took a deep breath.

“It was the second day of the job and I was having coffee on the second floor when I suddenly saw a figure through the window and then heard a ‘bang’! of a sound.

I freaked out and rushed out to check.

Found a worker fell on the ground next to the swimming pool, that scene was horrible ……

I didn’t dare to go near, then two other workers came over and checked ……

and said he was dead.

Jesus Christ, I didn’t think that would happen.”

Luke looked over to the two construction workers standing off to the side, “Are you the dead man’s workmates?”

An Asian man said, “Yes, I was down there getting repair materials, I also rushed over here when I heard a loud noise, I felt Adams’ nostrils and he was dead.”

“Did you see him fall off the roof?”

“No.”

Luke looked at the other Chicano man, “Where were you?”

“I was on the roof, working with Adams.

I was down and busy and Adams said there was some dizziness.

Since it was a hot day, I thought I’d say take a break and then continue.

I just raised my head and saw Adams fall straight down ……” The Mexican-American man’s eyes were red and he said with some remorse, “If I had realized it earlier, he might not have died.”

Luke got the general idea and asked, “Where’s the body?”

A patrolman led Luke toward the backyard.

I have to say, the house was really big and the pool was beautifully built.

Next to the pool, there was a white man lying on the ground, the man’s head and arms had traces of fall injuries, but there wasn’t too much blood.

Luke guessed that the dead man should have died soon after the fall, which was consistent with the description of the witnesses.

Luke crouched down, close observation, saw that the deceased’s lips were blue, there was a bitter almond taste in his mouth, his upper body was dry, his pants were wet, and there was a faint smell of urine.

In Luke’s experience, the deceased does not look like a fall, but was poisoned to death, most likely possessing highly toxic cyanide ……