Chapter 412
The oil painting was found.
The buyer who acquired the oil painting is dead.
The only person who now knows the truth about the case is the mastermind of the robbery of the oil painting, the Professor.
The professor was at large, and Luke had applied for a warrant.
Luke had some speculations about Tom Stone’s doubts.
According to the clues found by the police, the professor also did not want to rob in the beginning, but wanted to steal, and his target of theft was the Getty Museum’s most precious several oil paintings, which was corroborated from the mouths of several arrested accomplices.
It was only because the Getty Museum’s security measures were so tight that the plan to steal was difficult to carry out, and it was changed to robbing the paintings.
There was less danger, but more variables, and there was no way to choose which paintings to rob.
This can also be seen in the stolen money that Albus Stone prepared.
Albus Stone had previously withdrawn ten million dollars in cash from the bank, so the value of the stolen oil paintings should be between fifty million dollars and two hundred million dollars, and Albus Stone only ended up paying three million dollars, showing that he was not satisfied with the ten robbed oil paintings.
But it had happened, and he was seriously ill and his days were numbered, so he had no choice.
The police found the robbed oil paintings, and the cause and effect of the case was basically clarified.
Albus Stone likes to collect oil paintings, hoping that after his death can be accompanied by a few precious oil paintings, but this idea did not get the family’s approval.
Perhaps because of his serious illness, which increased the obsession in his heart, he wanted to acquire some precious oil paintings at a low price as a burial object.
This coincided with the ‘professor’ who was engaged in stealing antiques.
The most difficult thing about stealing oil paintings is to sell the stolen goods, because these oil paintings are not allowed to see the light, and it is difficult to realize the cash.
But as burial goods there was no effect, and there was a basis for cooperation between the two parties, with plans to steal the valuable oil paintings from the Getty Museum, for which Albus Stone paid a portion of the deposit.
However, the theft plan does not go well and the professor decides to commit robbery instead.
Twice, he engineered the murder of police officers in order to silence them.
In the end, most of the robbers were caught and only the professor escaped.
As for some of the details of the case and the exact content of the deal between the professor and Albus Stone, I’m afraid that the truth will only be revealed after the professor is captured.
Luke didn’t give up on tracking down the professor, and learned from the interrogation that the professor had been to Albus Stone’s house on December 24th, he searched the surveillance around Albus Stone’s house, and also lined up some black vehicles, but didn’t find any clues of the professor.
This suspect is cunning and has strong counter-surveillance skills.
At night, Metzker’s Bar.
With three cases solved, the crowd could finally breathe a sigh of relief and go to the bar to celebrate in the evening.
“Cheers!”
“Haha ……”
Everyone was excited tonight, not only because the cases were solved, but more importantly, the bounty from the Getty Museum could be obtained by finding the oil painting.
Blackie couldn’t wait, “The reward is two million dollars, how much can each of us share?”
The lieutenant put the fingers of his right hand on his mouth, “Keep your big mouth down, you want everyone to know?”
Blackie lowered his voice, “Sorry, I’m just so excited.”
“Are you short on money right now?” Luke put his glass down and threw a nacho into his mouth.
“You think everyone is like you, one person to feed the family.
I’m not alone now, I’ve got a wife to support and a baby on the way.
Always need to earn a little more money.” Xiao Hei sighed with a preoccupied look.
The lieutenant nodded, “Responsibility is the medicine that drives a man to grow up fast.”
Blacky suggested, “Is Reed here yet? Should we ask him about it?”
Jackson shrugged, “I don’t reckon it’s any use asking, it’s the Getty Museum that offered the reward, there’s no way it’s going to be handed over to the police department so soon.”
“Rookie, you’ve only been here a couple days.” Black stood up, his big eyes searching the bar, “Hey Chief, we’re here.”
Reed walked over and grimaced, “I don’t remember asking you guys out tonight.”
Black pulled Reed down and sat down, “We’re the ones who missed you and wanted to update you on the progress of the case.”
Reed asked rhetorically, “Got a lead on the professor?”
Blacky “……”
Luke wanted to punch him.
The lieutenant said, “The world is so big and there are so many perverts it’s impossible to solve every case perfectly, if that were the case how would the term ‘unsolved’ even exist.
Only the police in dramas solve every case, reality can’t be that perfect.
The professor is just a small hiccup, it doesn’t matter.
Listening to his nickname, we can tell that he’s a yakuza who’s watched too many TV dramas, we already have his criminal investigation sketch, so if he commits another crime, we’ll definitely be able to catch him.”
“Makes sense.” Reed said faintly.
Other people’s face was not given, but the face of the vice squad still had to be given, this old man was considered to be the person who knew him best.
Reed hadn’t solved every case in his many years on the police force, and it wouldn’t look good on his face in case this old man told about the unsolved cases he had investigated back then.
This bad old man is definitely capable of doing it.
Xiao Hei rubbed his hands together and asked with a smile, “Director, how should the reward be distributed?”
“What reward?” Ruide had an expression of I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Blackie was anxious, “We recovered the painting, the Getty Museum promised a two million dollar reward, they won’t disown it.”
Reed snickered, “Put your heart in your stomach, who do they owe money to, but they wouldn’t dare to owe money to Inspector Marcus.
The person in charge of the museum took the initiative to find me today and mentioned the bounty, so I guess it will arrive tomorrow.”
“So soon?” Happiness came so suddenly that Blackie recoiled and felt that it was unreal.
Ruide smiled and asked rhetorically, “You want to get the two million dollar bounty early, they are just as eager to get back the twenty million dollar oil painting early, who do you think will be more anxious?”
Xiao Hei’s eyes rolled and he whispered, “If we hold the oil painting for a while longer, will they increase the reward amount?”
The vice squad slapped him, “You kid is crazy thinking about money, have some face.”
Xiao Hei gave a sarcastic laugh, “I’m just saying it off the top of my head.
Two million bounty is quite a lot, how will it be distributed when the time comes?”
Reed said, “The oil painting was found by your first squadron, how it should be distributed is up to your own squadron to decide.”
Luke raised his glass, “To Reed.”
The crowd raised their glasses as well, “To Reed.”
The lieutenant put his glass down, “What about the stolen money?”
Albus Stone acquired the ten robbed paintings and paid more than three million dollars of the stolen money, of which several hundred thousand dollars of the deposit might have been used to prepare the equipment for the robbery, and the rest of the three million dollars were divided, of which, in addition to the stolen money that the professor took away and a portion of the money squandered by the other robbers, two million dollars of the stolen money was also recovered.
Of course, not all of this stolen money fell into the hands of the Detective Bureau, the FBI and the Southern Division also recovered a portion of the stolen money, and the Detective Bureau only recovered about a million dollars.
Reed smiled, “The police department is responsible for keeping the stolen money.
Although the oil painting was found by you, it is equally indispensable to the help of other departments, such as the Technical Division, Forensic Science Office, and even the FBI and the Southern Division, and the police department will consider giving some funding to the other departments in a comprehensive manner.”
The lieutenant nodded, “Fair enough, do we have funding for the 1st Squadron?”
Reed asked rhetorically, “That two million reward isn’t enough for you guys to share?
If you guys don’t think it’s reasonable, the police department can consider uniformly distributing the oil painting bounty and the stolen money.”
“No, that’s good enough, it’s appropriate for the stolen money to be distributed by the police department, we’re satisfied.” Luke, the captain, spoke up.
The others chimed in, fearing that Reed would really withdraw the right to distribute the bounty.
After dispersing, the crowd didn’t go home immediately, but went to Luke’s house for a small gathering and opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
Drinking was only incidental, the main thing was to find a quiet and secluded place to discuss how to distribute the bounty, something that wouldn’t be appropriate in a bar or at the police station.
Luke made a few snacks as a drink, and the people drank while discussing the distribution plan of the bounty.
The bounty was two million dollars, and there were a total of eight members in Squadron One.
Luke as the captain split three hundred thousand dollars, the vice squadron two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, Ramon and Blackie two hundred and twenty thousand dollars each, and the other team members two hundred thousand dollars each, which was one million seven hundred and ninety thousand dollars.
The remaining two hundred and nineteen thousand dollars was split between Reed for one hundred thousand dollars, the tech team for thirty thousand, the forensic lab for thirty thousand, and the remaining fifty thousand dollars for the team.
It was the team funds that were used for the drinks at the bar together tonight.
This fifty thousand dollar bounty plus the previous intra-team funding, the total funding is up to more than sixty thousand dollars.
The team has more funds, in the future, we can also often get together to eat, drink, police work itself is very stressful, more high high can also be a combination of work and rest.
2023, January 16th, ten o’clock in the morning.
Highway 1, Los Angeles, California, United States.
On the right side of the highway were parked thousands of police cars with flashing lights and sirens, like a long glittering dragon.
Not far away, the overpass is also filled with police cars and standing officers.
Two cranes were parked on either side of the overpass, with their booms raising a huge American flag, and a number of smaller flags were planted on the overpass.
The Robbery and Murder Division’s 1st Squadron, led by Luke, also stood on the curb to honor the four slain officers.
The four officers included Patrolman Jens Haurage and three officers from the Southern Division who were killed in the bombing of the robber’s stronghold.
“Woo hoo ……”
In the distance, hundreds of police motorcycles split into two rows to make way in front of them, followed by hundreds of police cars with flashing lights and sirens, in a grand and imposing scene.
Thousands of police officers on the right side of Highway One got out of their vehicles and stood in a line.
Luke, Ramon, Blackie, Jackson, Jenny, and Porter were among them.
“Salute!”
“Swish.”
All the policemen raised their right hands and saluted the convoy.
It was not until the four hearse drove past and the convoy disappeared from sight that the crowd lowered their right hands.
“To be seen off by so many people, it’s considered a life without regrets.” Blackie lamented.
Potter touched his chest and said with a palpitation, “I still want to live well.”
Last time, in the action of capturing Mamba Porter was swept by a bullet in the chest, good thing at that time, separated by a wooden wall, he also wore a clip with a steel plate body armor, the injury is not very serious, after a few days of treatment has been basically recovered, today specially rushed to participate in the funeral of the four slain police officers.
Blackie swept his gaze around, “Why didn’t the vice squad come?”
Jenny said, “Don’t blame him, it’s not that he doesn’t want to come, it’s just that he’s too old to see this kind of scene.”
Blackie pressed, “Is he going to cry? I kinda want to see it.”
Jenny said, “He won’t cry, but he’ll be scared and might even lose sleep.
Don’t ask me how I know, my grandfather is like this, when he was young, he was not afraid of the sky, as if he had seen everything.
But when he got really old, he started to be jealous of life and death instead.”
In the evening, Luke’s house.
Luke was contentedly lying on the bed with his right arm around Daisy.
The oil painting robbery implicated two other cases, which were more complicated and took a long time to investigate, and Luke hadn’t relaxed for a long time.
This was the third time tonight.
Daisy pulled back her long hair and stretched out her shapely body, “Are you still going to the bathroom? I’m going to take a shower.”
“Why don’t we shower together?” Luke offered.
“No, I should go to bed, I have to work tomorrow.
I’ve already overdrawn my energy for tomorrow tonight, I don’t want to overdraw the day after.” Daisy said, shaking off Luke’s arm and going to the bathroom.
After this period of time, Luke and Daisy had already formed a tacit understanding, we did not interfere in each other’s life and work, and when there was time, they would make a date, and they would help each other in areas where their work intersected.
Both of them are very satisfied with this relationship.
Daisy finished her shower, and Luke also briefly rinsed.
Luke lit a cigarette and took a drag, handing it to Daisy, who didn’t have a smoking habit, just the occasional puff.
“I’m going to New York for a while, any gifts you want? Come back and I’ll buy it for you.”
Daisy planted the cigarette back in Luke’s mouth and applied eye cream with the fingers of her right hand, “New York has everything L.A. has, there’s nothing to buy.
But why are you going to New York, off-site on a case?”
“No, I’m going to my father’s house for Chinese New Year.”
“A Chinese holiday?”
“Yes, it’s the western equivalent of Christmas.”
“Wow, that sounds great.”
“Do you want to go and see it?”
“I’d rather not, I’m not interested in festivals.”
“Did you have a bad Christmas?”
“Same as always, a bit boring, the upside is that I get a couple days off bright and early.
It would have been perfect if that little girl wasn’t pestering me all day.”
Seeing Daisy with a smile on her lips, Luke said, “Looks like you kinda like her.”
Daisy had a half-sister.
“She’s the only family I have in this world, and I have no reason to hate her.
And under my mother’s tutelage, she’s very close to me.” Daisy turned off the light and turned her head to look at Luke, “When are you leaving?”
“Are you going to drop me off?”
“Sure, if there’s time.”
Luke kissed her forehead and laughed, “Never mind, you’re so busy with work, you’d better get some rest sometime.
I’m going to New York with my brother.”
“OK, have a safe trip.
When you come back, I’ll personally cook to greet you.”
Luke patted her thin waist, “It’s a deal then, I want oysters.”
“I’m going to bed or I really won’t be able to get up tomorrow.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
Luke lay in bed, tired, but unable to sleep.
He often slept alone, and there was an extra person next to him instead, he was a bit uncomfortable.
[Congratulations to the host, successfully solved the oil painting robbery case, the patrolman shooting case, and the Highway 1 body dumping case, rewarded 120 points.]
The system’s voice rang in Luke’s head.
It was the first time he had received such a high reward of points.
[The host has performed well during the case, rewarding an unknown function card, please ask if you want to redeem it?]
Luke smiled, this time the case he investigated was more complicated, obtaining a high amount of points was expected, but this unknown function card reward was an unexpected pleasure.
Since the detective system was upgraded, Luke could redeem the card independently according to his needs, increasing the controllability of the system, which was good for Luke.
Luke’s only concern was whether he would still be rewarded with cards with new functions.
Now that he received the reward of the unknown function card, this worry was eliminated.
Luke opened the system and clicked on the unknown new card, the first redemption required 100 points, it was too harsh.
In addition to the newly acquired one hundred and twenty points in the system, one hundred and twenty points had been accumulated before, totaling two hundred and forty points.
Luke had quite a few cards stored in his system, and for the time being, he didn’t have much of a need for redemption, so he simply used 100 points to redeem the unknown function card.
[Shotgun card, can quickly learn shotgun, use time limit of 3 hours].
Shotguns, also known as shotguns, use gunpowder or compressed air as an energy source, and can fire bundles of pellets, characterized by fierce firepower and high hit rates.
The king of melee combat, nothing can stop it.
That asshole David likes to use shotgun, old fierce.
Luke has long been keen on shotguns, just never had the time to practice, now with a shotgun card can be said to be twice the effort.
A shotgun learning card is not enough, Luke exchanged two more, each card 40 points, and used up another 80 points.
Luke now has 60 points left.
This time, Luke used up a bulletproof card and an accuracy card, originally he wanted to supplement it, but the system has not many points left, but also to keep it in case of emergencies.
So he simply stopped redeeming them first and waited until he had more points next time.
After staying up for another half hour, Luke was also a little sleepy, and with the joy of obtaining a new card, he entered the dream ……