Chapter 308
Inside the interrogation room.
Luke sighed, “Solstice, if you don’t confess, I can’t help you anymore.”
Solstice took a deep breath, “Please don’t turn me over to the FBI.”
“As long as you cooperate with the police, the FBI has no reason to take you away.”
“Thanks.” Solstice said, her face changed and she sneered.
“Come on, one sings the white face and the other the black face, think I’m a freshly minted white boy?
Still want me to be grateful to the police, this trick is outdated.”
“You don’t have to be thankful to anyone, but you do have to take responsibility for what you’ve done, you instructed your men to blow up an FBI agent, they’re bound to check you out.
The FBI agency is all over the United States, and all your previous life experiences will be dug up by them, the people you cared about, the people who cared about you, and the people you hurt, all of it will be on the FBI’s desk.
They’ll also pick out some of the ones you really care about to put on the interrogation table ……”
Luke didn’t go into too much detail, he was sure Solstice would understand.
Very few people in this world could be truly free of wants and needs and attachments.
As long as you still have things you care about, you have to make relative compromises.
Don’t pin what you care about on the other party’s bottom line.
Solstice was also a man of understanding, he knew that his options were few, never mind whether Luke had an element of acting or not, choosing the police to work with did seem to be a better choice than the FBI.
“I admit to being involved in the North Hollywood bank robbery and the kidnapping of Muriel Baldini, but I’m not the mastermind of the case, Mabry Carr is.
As for Mabry Carr planting a bomb in Jerron Gaddafi’s house, I had no knowledge of it, and I had nothing to do with the FBI agent’s death.”
“You’ve managed to brush yourself off quite well, but your accomplices Andres Downs and Jerron Gaddafi have both identified you as the mastermind of the case.”
“They’ve been lied to, Mabry Carr is the mastermind, he orchestrated everything, I’m just the scapegoat he pushed into the foreground.”
“Putting the blame on a dead man, you’ve got the same old tricks, you think we’re going to believe that?”
“I’m telling the truth, I admitted to the crime I committed, as for whether you believe it or not, that’s your business.
I’m willing to assist the police in their investigation, but you can’t make me admit to something I didn’t do.”
Solstice leaned forward, “Captain Lee, think about it, I can sign a plea agreement anytime.”
Luke understood the hidden meaning in Solstice’s words, he was avoiding the issue by not admitting to instructing his accomplice to blow up the FBI agent, not admitting to being the mastermind of the case, and only admitting to being involved in two cases as an accessory.
If the police agreed with what he said, he would sign the appropriate plea agreement, the case would be solved, and everyone would be happy.
If the police do not agree, then he will go to court.
This was kicking the ball back to Luke.
“Do you think the FBI will agree to this plea deal?”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Luke got up, “Then there’s nothing to talk about.”
“OK, I want to see a lawyer.”
Robbery and Murder Division, Squadron One office.
Luke had just returned to his office when Anthony smiled, “Luke, it looks like that guy isn’t very willing to cooperate with the police, leave him to me.
The FBI has a way of interrogating him plainly.”
Luke asked back, “How do you interrogate him? Tell me about it.”
“Uh ……,” Anthony spread his hands, knowing that Luke knew there were some things he couldn’t say too clearly, and was deliberately waiting for himself here.
“Like you told the hijacker, we have FBI agencies all over the United States that can look into his past and find more evidence to make him confess.”
“Have you found it yet?”
“It’s going to take some time.”
“Then go find it, and if the FBI is sure he’ll plead guilty, I’ll consider turning him over to them.”
“Then why not now? There’s no chance he’ll wimp out once he’s in FBI territory.”
Luke didn’t answer directly and looked at Vince, who was on the sidelines, “Lieutenant, what do you think?”
“Anthony, we’re the ones who caught the robbers, don’t even think about it if you expect to take someone away with a flippant remark.” The vice squad wasn’t going to spoil him.
“OK, I’ll look for new evidence, I’ll find it.”
Luke laughed, “Get down to business, Thorst won’t get away with it at the station.”
“Why does it feel like I’m working for you guys?” Anthony shook his head and exited the office.
Jackson asked, “Captain, if Anthony does find evidence that makes the robber confess, will you really turn the suspect over to the FBI?”
“Of course.”
Blackie said, “We’re the ones who captured the man, but we have to hand him over to them for interrogation, wouldn’t that be too stifling.”
“I don’t want such a situation either, but we can’t let the suspect escape the law just because we’re fighting for our breath.” Luke knocked on the table.
“Guys, what we need to do now is to find stronger evidence, and as long as we can get Solstice to plead guilty, there’s nothing left for the FBI to do.
Get moving and recheck all the clues, evidence and suspicions in both cases.”
“YES, Sir.”
Being told this by Luke, all of them held their breath in their hearts and were energized.
Sometimes, people do need some positive competition in their work.
Of course, people were still different.
That obviously didn’t have much effect on Marcus, and half an hour later, Luke saw him groping fish again.
Luke was a big fish groper himself and was too embarrassed to talk about him.
The lieutenant had been verifying the information, though, and he just plain didn’t like the FBI.
Otherwise, he was old and smart, how could he be cockblocked because of a few words from Luke.
Luke looked around carefully and realized that his words had the most obvious effect on Jackson.
This young man is really doing ah, since Anthony left, sitting at his desk to verify the information, eating all the time to watch the surveillance video.
Ramon and Jenny were more serious about their work, just less persistent and reckless compared to Jackson.
Luke suddenly understood why some bullish departments also recruit newcomers, not only because these newcomers have high education or have access, but also because the newcomers are energetic and motivated, and can bring some new atmosphere to the department.
Five o’clock in the afternoon.
Jackson knocked on the door of the captain’s office.
“Come in.”
“Captain, I found some new leads.”
Luke pointed to the chair across from him, “Sit down and talk.”
Jackson placed a file on the desk, “I found something while checking on the North Hollywood bank robbery.” Jackson turned over a list, “This is a list of customers who had their bank lockers stolen.
The previous lead on the bank lockers was investigated by the FBI, and they found the suspect, Jerron Gaddafi, when they were going through the locker customer profiles.
This was followed by a bomb attack at the home of Geraint Gaddafi.
The bank locker lead may have been shelved by them as well.
I found a new suspect when I rechecked, one of the lockers never came to be claimed, and I investigated the locker owner’s identity in the police system and found that he had disappeared some time ago.”
Jackson took out another piece of information and handed it to Luke, “Here are the details of the missing client.”
Name of missing person, Jakob Johnston.
Gender, male
Date of birth, age 40
Cell phone number, 626 476 1252
Residential address, 202 Cundill neighborhood
Social Security number, 623-53-3454.
Date of report, September 27th.
Company of Employment, Baldini Fund Investment Management, Inc.
Jackson pointed to the last message, “Captain, the president of this company is the kidnapped person, Muriel Baldini.
I suspect that the North Hollywood bank robbery and the kidnapping of Muriel Baldini were not coincidental, and that the two cases are intrinsically linked in some way.”
“Employee disappears, boss kidnapped ……,” Luke said thoughtfully, “Any idea what Giacobo Johnston kept in the bank’s storage locker?”
“Not yet.”
“Why don’t you go out and inform everyone that the meeting is in five minutes.”
“YES, Sir,” Jackson got up and left the office.
Luke picked up the information and scrutinized it, when they were investigating the case before, the police had always thought that the robbers had robbed the bank to seek money, and kidnapped Muriel Baldini for money, but now it seemed that they probably had other purposes.
The robbers may have robbed the North Hollywood bank in order to get what Jakob Johnston had stored in the bank’s locker.
Is there any connection between the robbers kidnapping Muriel Baldini and then also taking the belongings in Muriel Baldini’s bank safe.
Jakob Johnston was again an employee of Muriel Baldini’s company, which meant that both cases could have been against Baldini Fund Investment Management.
Luke ventured a guess that the robber’s real objective might have been to rob an item or document related to the company.
After clearing his thoughts, Luke exited the office.
“Guys, let’s have a meeting.” Luke looked aside to Jackson, “Tell everyone what you found out.”
Jackson cleared his throat and recounted what he had said earlier in the office.
Blackie said, “If what the rookie said is true, then the robbers are too crazy to rob a bank vault for a single item.
Moreover, if they had kidnapped Jakob Johnston, then they should have gotten the key and combination to the safe from Jakob Johnston, so why didn’t they just open the safe, but chose to rob it instead?”
The Vice Squad said, “There is no perfect case in this world, no matter how well planned before committing a crime, all sorts of accidents will occur when the crime is actually committed.
Since the robbers chose to rob the bank, it is obvious that they didn’t get what they needed to open the safe from Jakob Johnston.”
Jenny said, “But when we interrogated both Andres Downs and Jaron Gaddafi before, they didn’t say anything related to the locker? Just that they robbed banks for money.”
Luke also thought about this, “I think there are two possibilities, the first is that they were also involved in the kidnapping of Jakob Johnston and didn’t want to add to their crime.
The second possibility is that they are just peripheral to this criminal gang, and were only used by Souster, not even realizing that Souster had another purpose for robbing the bank.”
Luke himself preferred the latter, because during the interrogation, no obvious signs of lying had been found in Andres Downs or Jaron Gaddafi.
And Soest had been ghost-writing.
Blackie asked, “What in the world could have made Soest take such a big risk, first robbing a bank and then kidnapping Muriel Baldini.”
The lieutenant said, “It’s not clear what it is, but the fact that they robbed the bank and then committed the kidnapping means that they didn’t get what they wanted in the bank locker, or all of it.
Which means that what’s hidden in the safe at Muriel Baldini’s house is the point.”
Black shrugged, “That’s easy then, talk directly to Muriel Baldini, she must know what’s in her safe, and we’ll know what the robbers are really after.”
The vice squad shook their heads, “It’s not as simple as you think, this item must be very important to Baldini Fund Investment Management.
If it is favorable to Muriel Baldini, she might talk.
If it had a negative impact on her, she wouldn’t tell the police truthfully.
There’s a lot of messy business going on in these big companies, either business rivalry between companies or power struggles within the company, and the fight is still about profit.
It’s better for us to investigate ourselves first, and then talk to the other side when we’ve figured out some of the situation.”
Luke thought about it and agreed more with the vice squad’s words, and instructed, “Ramon, Jenny, you two go and find out more about Jacob Johnston’s disappearance case.
Lieutenant, you’re in charge of contacting the families of the missing cases.
Jackson and I will go talk to the robbers, maybe we can get some clues from them.”
The first person Luke arraigned was the suspect, Andres Downs.
Andres Downs was handcuffed and sat across the table in a regimented manner, “Captain Lee, what do you guys want with me?”
Luke asked, “Who was the mastermind of the North Hollywood robbery?”
“Souster.”
Luke pulled out a picture of Soister Victor, “Is that him?”
“Yes.”
“What was his purpose in robbing the bank?”
“To rob the vault of cash and lockers.”
Luke pulled out a picture of Jacob Johnston, “Do you recognize him?”
Andres Downs took the picture and looked it over, “No.”
“Have you ever heard of Baldini Fund Investment Management?”
“No.”
“Do you think that Thorsten Victor could have been robbing the bank for a different purpose?”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Let’s say it wasn’t cash he cared about, but the contents of some bank locker.”
Andres Downs recalled for a moment, “Captain Lee, hearing you say that, I did think of a situation.
When we divided the loot after robbing the North Hollywood Bank, dividing the cash was relatively simple, everyone just split it equally.
But the things in the locker were all kinds of things, not very good valuation, so they were all put together and distributed as evenly as possible, no one was allowed to hide anything.
At that time, there was a paper bag found inside the many gold and silver jewelry, and when opened, it contained many documents.
It didn’t make any sense to me, so I complained, who carried this broken bag back?
Solstice waved her hand and directly asked for the paper bag with the documents.
There was nothing of value inside, so we didn’t care. It does look suspicious when you think about it that way.”
Luke pressed, “What was written on the document?”
“Investments …… funds …… something like that, I guess, I didn’t care at all, that stuff was worthless to me, and who cares about a piece of paper when you’re faced with a table full of gold jewelry and diamonds.”
Andres Downs’ words answered some of Luke’s suspicions, but Luke didn’t fully believe him either, and later arraigned another suspect, Jerron Gaddafi.
Jeronne Cazafi had the same description as Andres Downs and could prove that Soest did indeed take a document.
This reinforces the fact that Souster had another purpose for robbing the bank.
In the end, it all comes back to square one.
Luke once again arraigned the main culprit, Soister Victor.
Before Luke could speak, Soister Victor took the initiative to ask: “Captain Luke, how’s your verification going? Have you written that plea agreement of mine?”
“You are quite confident.”
“It’s in everyone’s best interest, so why not?”
“You want a plea deal answer me a few questions first.”
Solstice spread his hands, “OK, go ahead and ask.”
“Why did you rob the North Hollywood Bank?”
“Oh, for the money, of course, what else? What else could a bank be but money?”
“According to your accomplice, you brought back a file from the bank storage locker, where is it?”
“Uh …… I burned it, it doesn’t mean anything.”
“You robbed the bank for the purpose of this document, I don’t believe you burned it easily.”
“No, I robbed the bank for the money.”
“Is that right?”
“That’s right.”
Luke pulled out a picture of the missing man, Jakob Johnston, “Do you recognize him?”
Thorst-Victor saw the photo, the corner of his mouth twitched, closed his eyes, and didn’t answer.
Jackson tapped the table, “Are you dumb? Speak.”
Solstice gave Jackson a hard stare, “No, I don’t know this guy.”
Luke pointed to the picture, “His name is Giacobo Johnston, he’s an employee of Baldini Fund Investment Management, he’s the one who kept the file you grabbed in the bank locker.
Do I need to go on?”
“So what? I was robbing the locker and put it in my backpack by hand, then I read the information inside and burned it when it had no value, I don’t give a damn about the name of the owner of the locker.”
“That’s right, you cared about his company and then kidnapped the president of Baldini Fund Investment Management, don’t tell me that’s a coincidence.”
“You’re right, it is coincidence.”
Luke could see the signs of lying on the other man’s face, “Why did you do it? What does this company have to do with you? What do you want from this company?”
Solstice Victor shook his head, “You’ve got it wrong, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I suggest you see a psychiatrist, maybe there’s a delusional disorder of some sort.
A kind reminder.”
Luke stared at the other man’s expression and asked coldly, “Is there someone else behind these two cases?”
Thorst-Victor shook his head, his tone firm, “No.”
Lying.
“Who was the mastermind?”
“Hey, I promised to cooperate with the police, but I don’t feel the sincerity of the police, only the feeling that you are deliberately targeting me.
I refuse to answer any questions right now.” Thorst Viktor made a gagging gesture.
Luke wasn’t afraid of his poor attitude, he was afraid of not answering.
“Thorst, you should know that evasion won’t solve the problem.
If you want the police to believe you, answer my questions.”
“I want to see a lawyer.”
“If I remember well, you’ve already seen a lawyer today.”
“I’m not feeling well and I’m going to stop the interrogation.”
The two men stared at each other for a moment before Luke stood up, “OK, then get some rest and we’ll talk tomorrow.”
Jackson picked up the information on the table and followed Luke out as well, closing the door of the interrogation room heavily, “Captain, how do you know that there’s a mastermind behind Souster?”
“Outlaws like Soest and Baldini Fund Investment Management Company are not even close to each other, there is no reason at all to grab a company document, which means that there should still be a bridge between Soest and the company, and this so-called bridge is most likely the mastermind behind it.” Luke had only guessed at first, but from Souster’s reaction, it was clear that he had guessed correctly.
“How are we supposed to investigate the mastermind behind this when Soster refuses to be questioned by the police on the grounds that he’s not feeling well?”
Luke asked back, “What do you think?”
“Should we re-arraign Andres Downs and Jaron Gaddafi to see if they have any clues as to who’s behind this?”
“Andres Downs and Jaron Gaddafi could be questioned, but I think the odds are that they don’t know.
As long as it’s under the guise of a bank robbery, there’s no need to tell them at all.
Andres Downes and Geraint Gaddafi weren’t even interested in that document either.
The advantage of this is that even if the police catch Andres Downs and Jerron Gaddafi, they still don’t know the real purpose of their robbery, and the masterminds behind it are still safe.”
Jackson sighed, “That means that the only person who knows the identity of the mastermind now is Soest, and he’s not willing to cooperate with the police at all right now, so do we really have to turn him over to the FBI?”
Luke said, “Even the smartest person in an emotionally out of control state can make a mistake, just now when I mentioned the mastermind Soster panicked a bit.
He made a mistake, bringing up someone he shouldn’t have, to be exact.”
Jackson recalled, “A lawyer?”