Chapter 302

The following morning.

Detective Bureau.

Perhaps it was the relaxation his body got from the hot springs, Luke woke up this morning feeling refreshed.

At 9:05 a.m., Luke walked out of his office with a cup of tea, “Guys, get ready for the meeting.”

The lieutenant asked, “Did Marcus take his vacation?”

Luke said, “Don’t mind him, he should be out poking around.

Guys, tell us about your investigation.”

Matthew said, “I checked the road surveillance around the bank and tracked the suspect vehicle’s pre-crime trail through the road surveillance, and eventually tracked it down to a neighborhood with no surveillance cameras.

No road surveillance in any of the neighborhoods around there to be exact, making it difficult to continue tracking the source through surveillance.”

Luke scratched in his notebook, “What about the others?”

Raymond said, “We retrieved the recent vehicle theft records from the police system, three of the cars matched the make, model, and color of the suspect vehicle, and after some meticulous comparison, one of the car owners described a situation that basically matched the suspect vehicle.

For example, the scratches on the car, the decoration inside the car, etc.”

Luke asked, “Is the owner of the car a suspect?”

Raymond said, “We’ve only communicated on our cell phones, and I made an appointment for him to give a statement this morning.”

“Good.” Whether the car owner was a suspect or not, it provided some valuable clues.

If the car owner was also involved in the bank robbery just follow the investigation.

If the car owner was not involved in the bank robbery, but only had his car stolen, he would also be able to know the exact time and place where the car was stolen.

The lieutenant asked, “How’s the situation on the FBI side?”

“Not very good, one FBI agent was killed instantly by the explosion, several agents were injured, Anthony himself was also injured, the FBI handed the case over to the LAPD.

The police department handed the case over to our First Squadron to investigate.”

The lieutenant said, “Doesn’t sound like a good job, is it possible that we could be blown up too.”

Luke asked rhetorically, “Should I refuse?”

The Vice Squad analyzed, “The police department has assigned the case to us to investigate, not only because we participated in the initial investigation of the bank robbery, but it also represents the trust in the First Squadron.

If we refuse at this time, we would be failing the police department’s trust.

For old men like me who are about to retire naturally have no effect, but for you and other team members ……

will definitely be labeled as distrustful by the police department.

How to choose, you choose yourself.”

At this time, Luke naturally couldn’t beat a retreat, and turned his words around, “The matter of the FBI being injured by the bombing has further solidified the suspicion of Jerome Gaddafi.

Currently, this person’s whereabouts are still unknown, his cell phone is out of contact, and I’m going to apply for a wanted notice on him.

Lieutenant, Matthew, you guys investigate his peripheral connections.”

Luke put a piece of information on the projector, “Finally, let’s summarize the loss of this bank robbery, 76 private lockers were stolen from the bank vault, mostly some precious gold and silver jewelry.

In addition, according to the bank manager there was another 12.7 million dollars stolen from the vault.”

Luke returned to his desk and picked up his calculator, “I tested it last night, the dollar value of 100 hundred dollar bills is .2314854 pounds, and $12.7 million is about 294 pounds.

There are five suspects, and the average load per person is about 60 pounds, and with the equipment on the robbers, and the belongings in the lockers, a rough estimate is that the average weight of the robbers could be over 100 pounds.”

The lieutenant frowned, “That’s too heavy.

Even if the robbers were strong enough, it would be difficult to walk fast with such heavy items on their backs, and their escape route is still the sewer, which has an even harsher environment and makes it more difficult to escape.

I guess there might be other accomplices in the sewers to take over.”

Luke said, “There is some truth in the vice squad’s guess.

However, according to the FBI agent in charge of the tracking, there was no sign of the other suspects, so there’s a question mark as to whether or not there was a pick-up crew.”

Jackson asked rhetorically, “But if there was no pickup, how could they have taken so much cash and belongings?”

Luke said, “Or maybe the robbers didn’t take as much property as they thought.”

Jackson said, “You think the suspects might have hidden the money and belongings somewhere inside the bank?”

Luke nodded, “That scenario is also possible, but it would be more difficult to evade police searches.”

Sensing something in Luke’s words, the vice squad guessed, “It’s also possible that the bank lied and the lost belongings weren’t that much at all.

Or even the bank robbery was something they directed themselves!”

Ten o’clock in the morning.

Robbery-Murder Division Lounge.

Luke summoned the bank manager, Potobay Flick, to come to the police station to make a statement.

Portobay Flick seemed to not expect to be questioned by the police again so soon and looked a little nervous.

“Captain Luke, haven’t I already given a statement? Why do you need to make a statement again.”

“We just suffered a robbery yesterday, you were more nervous at the time you might have forgotten some clues, and after yesterday’s investigation, we found some new clues and evidence, and would like to ask you to come over and verify them.”

Potobay Flick inquired, “Did you catch the robber?”

“Yes, we found one of the suspects, Jelan Gaddafi, by investigating the customers of the bank’s lockers, and the police have successfully arrested him in the early hours of yesterday morning.” Luke said while staring at the other party’s expression and noticed that the other party showed a panicked look.

Yesterday, Luke had also given a statement to Potobay Flick, but at that time, the robbery had just happened, and Potobay Flick, as the victim, had been in a state of panic, and it was hard for him to see it even if he had lied at that time.

“Great, finally caught.” Potobay Flick tried to look as happy as possible, “Did you find the cash and belongings that were lost from our bank?”

“Found it, but only some of it, the rest is in the hands of other accomplices, the police have put out a wanted notice, I’m sure we’ll be able to catch them soon.” Luke’s face didn’t have the slightest abnormality when he told the lie.

It wasn’t just a matter of experience, the key was that he said it brightly and justifiably.

“Captain Luke, thank you so much.

Yesterday’s robbery left our bank facing a huge loss, and recovering the looted property means a lot to our bank.”

Luke asked, “You should have insurance, right, even if you were robbed the insurance company will pay for it.”

Potobay Flick sighed, “The insurance company is shrewd, the compensation is capped, take the customer’s locker for example, the compensation is capped at fifty thousand dollars per locker.

Even if the locker contains the crown of the King of England, they will only compensate 50,000 dollars, and the rest of the damages can only be borne by the customer.”

Thinking of his own gold coins, Luke pursued, “Is the compensation cap the same for every bank?”

Potobay Flick explained, “That’s not necessarily true, just most of them.

There is also a small percentage of bank lockers that have higher compensation, but the rent will also be more expensive.”

The value of the gold coins obtained from Luke’s adventure treasure hunt could be more than fifty thousand dollars, and if they were to be deposited in a bank locker, they would also need to find one with a higher compensation amount, so that their hearts would be too solid.

Luke had a change of mind and asked about the case again, “Does your bank robbery insurance company have a cap?”

“Yes, but it’s not the same contract as the customer locker.”

“And how much compensation will you get from the insurance company for this bank robbery?”

“That’s hard to say, it also depends on how much cash your police department can recover, the insurance company will make up the difference in losses.”

“Is there a compensation cap?”

“There is.”

“How much?”

“Uh ……,” Potobay Flick frowned, “I can’t remember.”

Luke could see that the other party was showing signs of lying and laughed, “Your bank was robbed yesterday, and you didn’t actually find out about the insurance company’s compensation terms, you’re a bit of a less responsible manager.”

“You’re right, when I get back, I’ll learn about it.”

“Which insurance company did your bank insure with? You should remember this one, right?”

“The FDIC.”

Luke looked up the phone number of this insurance company on his cell phone, and then directly dialed it.

A few moments later, a woman’s voice with a curry accent rang out, “Hello, this is FDIC customer service, what service do you need?”

“This is the Los Angeles Police Department, Robbery and Murder Division Squadron One Captain Luke Lee, investigating the North Hollywood bank robbery.

This bank is insured with your company and I’d like to inquire about something.”

“Sir, can you prove your identity?”

“What do I need to prove?”

“SORRY, I haven’t come across a similar situation.”

“Miss, please transfer the call to the head of your Los Angeles branch.”

“Captain Luke, I haven’t encountered this situation before, it may take some time.”

“No problem.”

Luke had two purposes for letting the head of the insurance branch answer the phone, the first purpose was to put pressure on Potobay Frick.

As for the other purpose, it was a matter of doing it in passing, and there might be an indirect unexpected gain.

After a few minutes, a man’s voice rang on the cell phone, “Hello, this is the general manager of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Seabrook Zeman.”

Luke said, “This is Captain Luke Lee, Squadron One, Robbery and Murder Division.”

“Hello Captain Lee, what can I do for you?”

“Does your insurance company provide coverage for the North Hollywood Bank.”

“Yes.”

“I was giving a statement to the manager of the North Hollywood Bank and the conversation came up about your insurance company’s insurance limit limit, and Potobay Flick said he couldn’t remember, so, I wanted to check with you.”

“That’s right, I’ve been following this matter as well, and I checked the relevant insurance contract yesterday, and if the customer’s locker is insured up to $50,000 in the absence of fault on the bank’s part, the bank’s own loss is capped at $12 million.” Seabrook Zeman stated the figure seemingly without thinking.

“Thank you, that figure will give us some basis for our investigation.”

“You’re welcome, Captain Luke, I’d like to ask if the police have caught the suspect yet?”

“I’m sorry, this can’t be disclosed for the time being.”

“So the cash loss at the North Hollywood Bank was $12.7 million dollars?”

“We’re verifying that, and we’ll let your insurance company know when we have the results of the investigation.”

“Thanks.”

Luke hung up his cell phone and asked, “Did the insurance company give the right cap on the damages?”

Potobay Flick thought for a moment, “It seems like …… is right.”

“Then your bank’s loss is not too big, it was robbed of 12.7 million dollars, the insurance company compensated 12 million dollars, so it only lost 700,000 dollars.

When you recover some of the stolen money taken by the robbers, you may not even lose a cent, congratulations.”

Potobay Flick smiled sarcastically, “I hope so too.”

“However, I have a small problem here.” Luke turned his words around and said, “According to the suspect, Jerome Gaddafi, they did rob the bank vault, but there wasn’t even that much cash in it.

We only recovered a small portion of the cash from him.”

Potobay Frick gulped, “Could it be that he lied and hid the rest of the cash?”

“That’s what I thought, but he was adamant that they couldn’t take $12.7 million in cash at all.

I’ve thought about it carefully which does make it somewhat difficult; $12.7 million weighs 294 pounds, and with the belongings and personal gear in the lockers, a rough estimate puts each robber’s load at over 100 pounds.

Do you have any idea what that’s like?

It’s probably impossible to move an inch in a muddy, narrow, rugged sewer, much less escape the FBI.

So …… Portobay Flick, I’m going to give you another chance to reload, how much cash was actually robbed from the bank vault?”

“God, why is it like this, I just went through the robbery yesterday, why do I have to go through this …… again,” Potobay Flick scratched his hair, showing a chagrined look.

Luke advised, “You should know that the charge of cheating on your insurance is a serious one, and the suspicion of a huge fraud could land you in jail for the rest of your life.”

Potobay Flick just shook his head, still refusing to relent.

Luke continued to apply pressure, “I see.

The reason you won’t talk is not because of the insurance fraud, but because of a bigger crime.

You are the mastermind behind this robbery, planning this bank robbery with the robbers inside and outside.

Congratulations, you have a fixture of your own in prison.”

“No, I had nothing to do with the robbery!” Potobay Flick loudly retorted, emotionally, “I …… admit that I lied.

But I was only instructed to do so, and it is not for me to decide such matters.”

“Who instructed you?”

“The president of the North Hollywood Bank, Hogni Klien.”

Luke made a mental note of the name and tried again, “So, he planned this bank robbery and then had you assist the kidnappers from it.”

“That’s not true, I had nothing to do with the bank robbery.

I got my cell phone back after I was rescued by the police before I got in touch with Hogni Klien, who told me to lie about the amount of cash stolen from the bank.

I didn’t want to do it, but there was no way ……”

Luke pressed, “Insurance companies aren’t that easy to scam, so why did Hogni Klien do it?”

Potobay Flick said, “I’m not sure of the exact reason.

But business has been bad for the past two years, and thousands of banks have gone bankrupt in the United States.

The North Hollywood Bank is not doing well either, and is probably the next bank to go bankrupt, so it’s not easy for everyone.

My guess is that he’s also just trying to use the compensation money to give the bank a breather.”

“And what about you? Doing what he tells you to do, knowing it’s against the law?”

Potobay Flick sighed softly, “I had just been through a robbery and my mind was in a whirl.

He suddenly ordered me to do this on the phone, I didn’t even react, it was …… habitual to follow his orders.

I had a family to feed too and needed the job.”

“Did you have a recording at the time?”

“No.”

“Then how do you prove that he instructed you at the time and you didn’t do it on your own.”

“We have a record of the call.”

“That only means you were in contact, it doesn’t prove that he instructed you to cheat on your insurance.”

Portobay Flick said, “This kind of thing isn’t as easy as it seems, the bank’s daily flow of money and access to it is recorded, as is the cash in the vault.

A bank manager like me can’t handle it at all, only the president can step in to unclog and modify the records.”

Luke pressed, “What is the actual cash deposit in the bank vault?”

“Nearly five million dollars.”

“That means you are suspected of cheating the insurance company by nearly ten million dollars.” Luke secretly said, no wonder the insurance company was in a hurry to find the Pinkerton Detective Agency to investigate, the total compensation involved was as high as 17 million dollars, and how much does it cost to hire a detective?

With the first deception, Luke didn’t trust him anymore.

Who knew if Potobay Frick had avoided the truth.

Soon, Luke took people to Hogni Klien’s house and gave him a statement at the first time, and under Potobay Frick’s identification and confession, Hogni Klien admitted to instructing him to exaggerate the fact that he was robbed of cash to cheat the insurance.

However, Hogni Klien also did not admit that he was involved in the robbery, much less that he was behind it.

He claimed that he only came up with the idea on the spot to minimize the bank’s loss after learning that the bank had been robbed.

Afterwards, he also regretted that he didn’t sleep well last night after being scared, but it was too late for regrets.

Luke recalculated, if there is only about five million dollars in the vault, there are still more than two million dollars of new bills left in the vault, and the robbed bills are around 2.5 million dollars, the total weight is nearly 58 pounds, the average weight of more than eleven pounds per person, which is more reasonable.

At the same time, another question occurred to Luke.

Two and a half million dollars was a lot of money, but it really wasn’t a lot of money to rob for a bank robbery that risked so much.

At least, Luke felt that it was somewhat more than enough.

Or perhaps, the robbers’ purpose of robbing the bank was not for the cash, and robbing the cash was just incidental, or maybe it was to cover up the real purpose.

Luke guessed that the real target of the robbers was probably the bank’s private locker.

The robbers most likely got the information in advance that the private locker of the North Hollywood Bank was hiding items of great value, and only then did they take the risk of carrying out this operation.

Luke had one more direction to investigate, checking the private lockers again to see if he could find any valuable items in them, something that could make the robbers rise to the occasion.

As long as he could find out the real purpose of the robber’s robbery, he would be able to follow the clues to find the robber.