Chapter 410
Luke smoothed out his thoughts and now had four questions.
The first question, was Albus Stone the buyer of the ten robbed paintings?
The second question, did Albus Stone die of natural causes, or was he killed?
If it was a homicide, was it related to the ten wall-robbed paintings?
Third question, if Albus Stone died of natural causes and was terminally ill, what was he doing dumping the paintings?
Fourth question, where are the paintings?
If Albus Stone had been alive, Luke would have simply asked.
Albus Stone was now dead, but needed Luke to investigate by himself, the difficulty of which increased exponentially.
These doubts forced Luke to leave Albus Stone’s house.
He needs more evidence and clues to prove his judgment or disprove his assumptions.
Albus Stone had just died, and Luke couldn’t rush to search the hearse without sufficient evidence.
Such a thing is taboo and could easily cause resentment from the family.
After learning from Detective Michelle Harold that Albus Stone was the client, Luke had a reason to start an investigation on Albus Stone.
Before he went to Albus Stone’s house, he had already assigned tasks to the team members to split up the investigation.
At 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the team members returned to the police station one after another, and Luke called for a meeting.
Luke got right to the point and said, “Guys, I went to Albus Stone’s house, he’s dead and the family is holding a wake.”
The lieutenant said, “Dead? Can you confirm it was Albus Stone himself?”
“His body is housed in a freezer and it looks like Albus Stone himself.” Luke didn’t sound too sure; after all, he’d only met Albus Stone once in a hurry at the door of the ward.
The lieutenant ran the fingers of his right hand through his hair, “Would that be too much of a coincidence? Was it a natural death?”
“According to Mrs. Stone, the husband’s condition was so serious that there was no hope of a cure and he just kept putting it off.
Two days ago Mr. Stone figured it out and volunteered to have the medical instruments removed and the doctors and nurses left.
Last night at eleven-thirty Mr. Stone passed away, peacefully, and Mrs. Stone was the first to notice.”
The lieutenant grunted, “Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Stone, all the words are Mrs. Stone’s.
It couldn’t have been easier for her to get her husband killed.
Dead men don’t stand up to rebuttal.”
Jenny was a bit speechless, “Vice Squad, not all couples have conflicts, there are also those who rely on each other and love each other.”
The vice squad said, “They are not ordinary couples, this Mr. Stone is known as the California ‘Buffett’, similar to this kind of rich family affection is like a piece of paper, a finger can poke through.”
Jenny shook her head, “You’re too extreme.”
“I know that Mr. Stone is old and has a high chance of dying of natural causes.
But old men have human rights, and just because they’re old doesn’t subjectively rule out the possibility of homicide.
Besides, eighty-something isn’t a lot of years for a rich man, and it’s far from the average for a rich man’s life expectancy.” The lieutenant had a set of ideas about couples that had been arrived at through decades of hands-on experience and were hard to shake.
Jenny said, “If, according to you, Mr. Stone’s death had something to do with his wife, but Mr. Stone had been in poor health and wouldn’t have lived long.
What reason would Mrs. Stone have to kill him?”
“If the motive for the murder is so obvious that it can be guessed in a few words, then everyone knows who the murderer is, what’s the point of having a robbery and murder division?” The vice squad spread their hands, “I didn’t say that Mrs. Stone was the murderer, I just think we should rule out the possibility of his murder first.”
The vice squad’s words did remind Luke, that day he and Jackson went to Stone’s house, Albus Stone was sick, at that time, there were instruments to monitor and paramedics to resuscitate in time, Albus Stone was able to retrieve his life.
In fact, there is no need for someone to deliberately harm him, as long as the monitoring instruments and medical personnel are removed, Albus Stone can not live for a few days.
Therefore, the evidence of murder is hard to conclude.
If it is true, as Mrs. Stone said, that his husband stopped tossing and turning, didn’t want to suffer any more, and wanted to leave in peace, and took the initiative to remove the medical instruments, then it would be a natural death.
If Mrs. Stone had asked for the medical instruments and medical care to be removed, then the issue was more complicated, but equally difficult to determine.
Since the vice squad was more attentive to such matters, Luke simply left it to him.
The lieutenant agreed readily, “I’ll talk it over with Mr. Stone’s doctor.”
Luke asked, “How’s the investigation into Mr. Stone’s immediate family members going?”
Matthew replied, “Mr. Stone has a wife and a son and a daughter; the son works for Mr. Stone’s company and is now the company’s general manager and executive director; the daughter is a long-time resident of New York and purchased a flight ticket to Los Angeles in the early hours of this morning.”
Luke said, “What about the financial situation?”
Raymond said, “We went to the banking system and Mr. Stone is in good financial shape.
Ten million dollars in cash was taken out of the account two months ago.”
Jackson said, “Could that ten million dollars have been used to purchase the ten paintings that were robbed?”
Blackie said, “The purchase price of stolen goods is usually between five and twenty percent, and the market price of those ten oil paintings is at $20 million, so if they were purchased on the black market it would only be between $1 million and $4 million, so it wouldn’t have been possible to use that much money.
That amount doesn’t match the stolen money.”
The vice squad said, “Nothing in this world is set in stone and is full of surprises.
I’ve interrogated a lot of criminals who have well planned crimes, but every time they commit a crime, accidents happen, there are no perfect cases in this world.
The same is true for this oil painting robbery.” The vice squad seemed to be feeling a bit hot and took off their jackets, continuing, “The suspects originally intended to steal from the Getty Museum, with a bit more initiative, and would definitely pick some precious oil paintings.
Even the price of one oil painting can exceed the total price of these ten oil paintings.
But because the security measures of the Getty Museum are too tight, so they chose to rob the transportation of the oil paintings.
In that case there would be much less autonomy, and it would be up to the museum to decide how many oil paintings to transport and which ones to transport.
So the mismatch between the cash Albus Stone was prepared to spend on the oil paintings and the value of the paintings is perfectly explainable.”
Blackie said, “If Albus Stone was really the buyer, why would he want to purchase the looted oil paintings when he was dying?”
Jackson said, “Is it possible that Albus Stone was just pushed to the front and the real buyer was someone else.
After all, he’s just an old man who can’t take care of himself, which isn’t hard to do.”
The lieutenant said, “That’s what I was going to say.
Albus Stone is being used, and when he’s finished using him to directly silence him, the trail of the oil painting will be broken.
And that’s the situation we’re facing now.”
Blackie suggested, “According to the time speculation, Albus Stone’s remains should have already been transferred to the church to hold a memorial service, then we have no more worries.
Can we just apply for a search warrant to search his villa.”
Without waiting for Luke to reply, the vice squad said, “It’s difficult to apply for a search warrant with the existing evidence.
Although we have found out that Albus Stone hired detectives to investigate the oil painting robbery, it is not illegal.
As for the two detectives posing as detectives, it’s not his business either.
There’s no clear evidence linking him to the painting heist, let alone proving that he’s the buyer.
Speculation is speculation and cannot be used as evidence.”
Black frowned, “Albus Stone is dead now, so we can’t investigate him directly.
And now we don’t have enough evidence to apply for a search warrant, and we can’t find more evidence without searching.
It’s hard to make progress on the case at this rate.”
The lieutenant shrugged, “While you have a point, that’s just the way it is.”
In fact, with Luke’s relationship with Judge Walker, it wasn’t difficult to apply for a search warrant.
It was just that Luke didn’t want to use his personal connections unless there were special circumstances or he was completely sure.
If the search failed to produce valuable clues or evidence, it would overdraw Walker’s trust in him.
As a captain, Luke also considered more comprehensively, even if Albus Stone was really the buyer, he might not necessarily hide the oil painting in the villa.
The police’s hasty search without knowing the location of the oil painting would probably come up empty, and then he, the captain, would still have to take the responsibility.
After thinking it through, Luke said to the crowd, “I’ll figure out the search warrant, but before that, meet the rest of Albus Stone’s family.”
The memorial service was over by the time Luke arrived at the church, and Albus Stone’s body had been transported to the cemetery, where a funeral would be held tomorrow morning.
Luke drove after him to the Walter Cemetery.
Walter Cemetery is located in the middle of the mountainside, beautiful scenery, the cemetery area are large, the cemetery has a separate mortuary, there are family rest park, can be buried, can also be cremated, all kinds of facilities, a one-stop service, buried here in the people are either rich or noble.
Luke is accustomed to seeing life and death, but also inevitably some sighs, alive when divided into three, six, nine, the same as the dead divided into high and low.
Mrs. Stone is old, because of excessive sadness and fatigue, some physical discomfort, has returned to the villa.
It was Tom Stone, the son of Albus Stone, who was now responsible for the aftermath.
When Luke found him, he was leading the men in digging a grave pit.
Luke opened the door and said, “Are you Mr. Tom Stone, the son of Mr. Albus Stone?”
“That’s me.” Tom Stone looked to be less than fifty years old, a few portraits of Albus Stone, with a big beard, similar to Luke’s height, on the thin side, with some high cheekbones, and didn’t feel like a good person to get along with.
“I’m Luke Lee, Captain of Squadron One of the Robbery and Murder Division.
Mr. Tom Stone, I’d like to talk to you if it’s convenient.”
“My father just passed away, and I don’t have the heart to talk about anything else until I’ve dealt with his funeral.” Tom Stone refused dryly.
“In fact, the purpose of my coming here today is about your father.”
“My father is dead, are you too late.”
“Your father is involved in a major criminal case, no matter if it’s sooner or later, we have to find out.”
“Are you scaring me?”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“My father has been seriously ill for a long time, how can he be involved in any criminal case?”
“We’re hoping for a mistake too, that’s why we’ve come to visit you, to set the record straight and clear your father’s name.”
Tom Stone shook his head, “My father was innocent in the first place, there is no need for you to prove anything, you leave.”
“It’s better to talk now than for me to come tomorrow with a warrant.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m just being businesslike.”
“Screw your business, I’m not going to eat your ass.” Tom Stone pointed a finger at Luke, sounding a little disgruntled, and
“You know what?
I know a deputy chief of police.
I’ll ask him sometime if this is official business.”
“You know what?
I know the President of the United States.
He personally gave me a medal.
I said it was.
It is.”
Luke smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Wait.” Tom Stone pinched his forehead and sighed, “Tomorrow morning is my father’s funeral.
I don’t want to be affected ……”
“I don’t want it to either, that’s why we need to talk about it, don’t you think?”
“OK, then talk.”
“Great.”
“Let’s go over there and talk.” Tom Stone led Luke to a more distant position, “If you have any questions, just ask.”
“I heard that your father’s company has been handed over to you to take care of.”
“Yes, he has been seriously ill for the past few years and no longer has the energy to take care of the company, and he doesn’t feel comfortable handing the company over to a professional manager, so I can only work a little harder.”
“I can see that he trusts you.”
“With only two children, he doesn’t have many choices.”
“Some time ago, your father took ten million dollars in cash out of the bank, did you know about this?”
Tom Stone thought for a moment, “No, that’s his money, he doesn’t have to report it to me.”
“He has hired private investigators recently, did you know that?”
“No. Why hire a private investigator?
Was it to investigate me or my sister?”
Luke asked back, “Why would he want to investigate you?”
“It’s not unusual for many family heads to do a little ‘getting to know’ of their heirs before they die.”
“Unfortunately, your father wasn’t interested in you siblings, he sought out private investigators to investigate a robbery.”
Tom Stone frowned slightly, “What robbery?”
“Some time ago, there was an oil painting robbery at the Getty Museum, where ten oil paintings were taken by the robbers.
Your father also hired detectives to investigate the case.
As the saying goes, knowing your father is like knowing your son, you think, why would he do that?”
“I ……” Tom Stone hesitated for a moment, “I don’t know.”
Luke took out several sketch portraits, including the professor’s criminal investigation sketch, “Is there anyone you recognize in here?”
Tom Stone looked at it and shook his head, “No.”
“Look closely.”
“Yes.”
“Has your father purchased any new oil paintings lately?”
“No.” Tom Stone answered dryly.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I like oil paintings too.
If he had bought an oil painting, he would have let me admire it.”
Tom Stone swore.
Luke, however, felt that he was a little nervous and seemed to be suspected of lying.
He should know some inside information.
Could ……
he be the buyer behind the scenes?