Chapter 550
Luke returned to the Detective Bureau with his team once he had the information on Rohrer Horn and the surveillance video from the drug trial period at Kalman’s.
Luke arranged for his team to split up and investigate, then went back to the captain’s office.
Inside the office, Luke laid out all the clues and evidence about Roher Horn’s case on the table and refreshed his investigative thoughts.
First of all, whether Roher Horn’s death was a suicide or a homicide was still inconclusive.
Personally, Luke is leaning more toward homicide.
One, because the police did not find the container with the drugs at the scene of the crime, and it was likely taken by someone else, suggesting that a second person may have been present at the time of Roher Horn’s death.
Secondly, from the available information Rohrer Horn was a responsible person who could not have left his wife and young children to commit suicide, which does not make sense.
The third point is that the fire at Kalman Pharmaceuticals was too much of a coincidence.
Rohrer Horn died on July 10th, and the fire at Kalman Pharmaceuticals occurred on July 11th, there might be some connection between the two.
Luke checked the surveillance of July 9th when Rohrer Horn went to Kalman to participate in the trial drug testing, and although Rohrer Horn at that time was not smiling, he didn’t find any obvious abnormality.
Luke also had someone investigate the situation of the same batch of test drug people and might be able to find out some clues.
“Knock knock ……”
There was a knock on the door from outside.
“Come in.”
Xiao Hei pushed the door and walked in, “Captain, we found something.”
Luke walked out of the captain’s office with Blackie and went to Jackson’s desk.
Jackson said, “Captain, as you requested, we compared surveillance video near Kalman Corporation and the neighborhood where Roher Horn died.
A suspicious black Chevrolet sedan with license plate number 2Huy377 has been spotted.”
Jackson paused and continued, “At 3:00 p.m. on July 10th, the car went to the neighborhood where Rohel Horn died and left at 5:00 p.m.
On July 11th at 9:00 p.m., this car went to the neighborhood of Kalman Pharmaceuticals and left around 12:00 p.m.
It fits perfectly with the time of the crime in both cases, and I think the owner of this car is a major suspect.”
Luke played back the video, comparing the cars from the two videos, and asked, “Did you find out the owner’s information?”
Owner, Ronnie Prada.
Gender, male
Height, 177cm
Weight, 150 pounds
Date of birth, March 16, 1984
License plate number, 2Huy377.
Address, 405 Marbury neighborhood.
Prior criminal record, suspected of intimidation, violent debt collection, and intentional injury.
Luke remembered the previous conversation with the homeless man Martin, according to Martin, the deceased could not find a suitable job and had to maintain the family’s expenses, and for some time had been relying on gambling to make ends meet, and at the beginning of the luck also made some money, but a long time to gamble will lose, and ultimately owed a lot of loan sharks.
This Ronnie Prada is likely to be a member of the loan-sharking organization, Rohrer Horn may have borrowed money in their organization.
But usually loan shark organizations rarely kill the borrower, it’s simple, who pays back the money when the person is dead.
On the night that Kalman Pharmaceuticals caught fire, Ronnie Prada’s car was still in the neighborhood, and I’m afraid that this matter was not as simple as simply collecting a debt.
Luke could not guess what the relationship between the three was for a while.
Subsequently, the police investigation focused on Ronnie Prada.
Monopoly Casino.
The casino covered an area of nearly 10,000 square feet, with all kinds of entertainment, baccarat, blackjack, roulette, poker, slot machines, and so on.
A black man wearing sunglasses and a gold chain walked into the casino lobby, waving his hands and shouting, “Hey, yeah yeah yeah ……
Today is a happy day, and I believe that Lady Luck will be mine tonight.”
His loud voice, coupled with his exaggerated expression, quickly caused the surrounding gamblers to stare.
But the black man didn’t care, and walked to the side of the roulette wheel with a wobble, took out two five hundred dollar chips from his pocket, and slapped them on the roulette table, “I’m betting on red.”
‘Bang!’
His strength was so great that the table trembled as he slapped it, drawing the dissatisfaction of the other gamblers.
The black man didn’t care and glared back with a fierce gaze.
This arrogant black man was none other than Blackie who came with a mission.
The police found out that a black Chevrolet had been to two crime scenes during the time period of the crime, and the owner’s name was Ronnie Prada, who had a criminal history of collecting loan sharks.
Luke guessed that the deceased would have lost money at the casino and would have approached Ronnie Prada for a loan shark to get in touch with each other.
Ronnie Prada is likely to have some connection with the death of the deceased.
The police began to search for Ronnie Prada’s whereabouts.
Only, most of the information left in the police station by repeat offenders like Ronnie Prada was not true, and it was impossible to find him with official information.
Therefore, Luke could only think of other ways.
Luke had someone check the deceased’s credit card records and found that he had often spent money near this casino for a period of time, Luke guessed that the deceased should have gambled and lost money in this casino, and most likely borrowed from loan sharks in this neighborhood as well.
That’s why tonight’s luring the snake out of the hole.
At this time, a roulette wheel had begun to spin.
A small yellow ball rolled in the roulette wheel and stopped at the red 12 area under the watchful eyes of the crowd.
Haha!”
Xiao Hei’s shouts attracted the attention of the surrounding gamblers, some cast envious gazes, some were disgusted, and some directly ignored.
Xiao Hei’s chips also changed from one thousand to two thousand.
Xiao Hei grinned widely and pressed two five hundred chips and one thousand chips on the betting table: “I’ll bet on the odd number.”
The other gamblers also placed their bets, there were many ways to play the roulette wheel, everyone could have a different way of pressing their bets, and the odds varied as well.
The roulette wheel spun again, and all eyes looked toward the yellow ball, which stopped at the black 15 under the gaze of the crowd.
Odd number.
I will be the King of Gamblers tonight!”
Xiao Hei’s bravado once again drew the attention of the other gamblers, some were envious, some were dissatisfied, pointing at him, and some were waiting to see his face when he lost.
The chips in Blacky’s hand became four thousand dollars.
Blacky pressed his chips into the 1-12 area, “Come on, baby, I’m ready to play a big hand!”
Xiao Hei won two in a row, and attracted many gamblers at this time, before there were people who were optimistic about Xiao Hei, thinking that he was lucky, and wanted to follow a hand, but seeing that his probability of betting this time was low, and then some people backed out.
The yellow ball rolled within the roulette wheel and slowly stopped at the red 3 position.
“Oh! Haha ……” Blackie waved his hands and jumped up high, followed by a space step.
That’s the beauty of gambling, doubling, even doubling and tripling your chips instantly.
The odds for this game were 2:1, and Blacky won eight thousand dollars straight up, with twelve thousand total chips.
Xiao Hei won three games in a row, and coupled with his ‘outgoing’ personality, he quickly became the center of attention in the casino.
With a smile on his face, Xiao Hei placed his chips in the area of 13-24: “I’ll win again, for sure!”
Xiao Hei’s confidence drew more attention, he had won three games in a row and was in full swing, there were a few people who were moved to bet along with him.
But there were still more gamblers who chose to wait and see, or bet in their own way.
The roulette wheel spun again, the yellow ball rolled, and finally stopped at area number 30.
Instantly, Xiao Hei’s face drooped.
A few people who had followed his bets also looked chagrined, “FUCK!”
“I’ve been punked by this asshole.”
“I shouldn’t have followed him!”
The other gamblers were also talking, some said that Xiao Hei was too reckless and shouldn’t have bet all his chips, some said that Xiao Hei’s luck had run out and he should just take what he could get.
Some people said that Blackie desecrated the goddess of fortune and deserved to lose money.
At this moment, Xiao Hei’s face had resignation and chagrin, watching the lottery officer take away the chips, as if he was about to cry.
He turned his head to look at the white man with a big belly on the side: “Hey man, you saw, I won three games in a row before, I was lucky.
It was just a mistake just now.
Can you lend me some chips?
I’m sure I can win this time and pay you back right away.”
The big-bellied white man laughed, “Do I look like an idiot to you?”
Blacky looked at the voluptuous Chicano woman on the side again, “Hey, beautiful, can you lend me some chips?
When I win, I’ll buy you a drink tonight.”
The woman of Mexican descent rolled her eyes, “Go home and get a drink from your mom.”
“Haha ……”
The surrounding gamblers let out a burst of ridicule.
Sometimes watching others lose money was happier than them winning themselves.
In particular, Xiao Hei’s previous arrogant behavior made many gamblers very disgusted in their hearts, and at this time, when they watched him suffer, their hearts couldn’t mention how happy they were.
Xiao Hei’s face was a bit ugly, looking at the roulette wheel fondly.
Just at this moment, a white man with a flowing earring came over, “Hey man, I saw it. You won three in a row.”
Xiao Hei glanced at the other party, “That’s right, I’ve been very lucky today, I just missed just now.
I can still win back.”
The white man with the earring touched fists with Blacky, “I believe in you. Tom.”
“Marcus.” Blacky looked at the white man, Tom, and asked in an expectant tone, “Man, can you lend me some chips? I’ll double it back when I win.”
“I can’t, but I know who can.”
“Who?”
Tom patted Blackie on the shoulder, “Come with me, I’ll take you to borrow money.”
Blackie asked, “Where to?”
“Not much farther.” Tom saw that the other party was a bit hesitant, “If you want to borrow money, follow me.”
Xiao Hei hesitated, but still followed the other out of the casino and got into a white Toyota and left.
“Where are we going?”
“To take you to borrow money, it will be here soon.”
The car drove for a few minutes to the back of a nearby apartment building and Tom got out, “Come on, the man who can lend you the money is in this apartment.”
Blackie stood next to the car, “Man, don’t tell me, you’re a loan shark?”
“Yes, I am indeed a loan shark.” Tom straightened up and pointed at Blacky, “Look at you, who else would lend you money besides me?”
Xiao Hei waved his hand, “I don’t want to borrow loan sharks.”
Tom snorted, “Dareless fellow, didn’t you claim that Lady Luck is on your side?
You just won eleven thousand dollars with a thousand chips, as long as you win again, will you still care about that little bit of interest?”
Xiao Hei thought for a moment and took a deep breath, “You’re right, I’ll go with you.”
“That’s right, come in with me, I’ll take you to meet a big man.” Xiao Hei’s display of refusal instead won Tom’s trust and led him into the apartment.
After entering the apartment, Tom led Xiao Hei to climb the stairs to the fourth floor and knocked on the door of room 401.
“Cluck ……” the door opened.
A bald man stood next to the door, and upon seeing Tom, flashed aside to let the two in.
Tom led Blackie into the apartment, which was a small office with a few desks and a white man with a big beard sitting at the desk smoking a cigar.
Blacky instantly recognized the other man as none other than Ronnie Prada.
Tom revealed a pleasing smile, “Boss, this is a new client I brought, a lucky guy who won three times in a row in the casino.
In the end, because of a mistake, he lost it all.
He wants to borrow some money to win it back.”
Ronnie Prada looked at Black sharply, “You want to borrow money from me?”
“Yes.”
“Know the rules?”
“No.”
“That’s okay, I can teach you.” Ronnie Prada smiled, stood up, and asked, “What’s your name?”
“Marcus.”
“I asked for the full name.”
“Marcus Smith.” Black made up a name off the top of his head.
“OK, Mr. Smith, how much do you want to borrow?”
“One thousand dollars.”
Ronnie Prada wiggled his fingers, “That’s too little, that’s not enough money to play in the casino.
If you want to win, you have to have enough capital.
You’ll never get rich with too little guts.”
Blackie gritted his teeth, “I want to borrow three thousand dollars.”
“That’s more like it.” Ronnie Prada reached out, “What do you want to pledge?”
“Uh …… I have nothing right now.”
“Then give me your papers?”
“What kind of papers?”
“Driver’s license or social security card.”
Black shrugged, “I don’t have it with me.”
“Hey, man, you want to borrow money, you gotta be sincere.
Don’t take me for a fool, uh-huh.”
The bald man next to him blocked behind Xiao Hei, his fists clenched ‘cackling’.
“OK, I brought my social security card.” Blackie fumbled in his pants pocket and pulled out a flat leather wallet from which he took out his social security card and handed it to Ronnie Prada.
Ronnie Prada reached for the Social Security card and looked at the name on it.
“BANG!”
Just then, there was a pop from outside and the door was blasted right open.
Several men with guns rushed in.
“LAPD!”
“Police, don’t move!”
“Put your hands up!”
Ronnie Prada heard the commotion and touched his right hand to his waist.
Blacky moved as well, and went straight into a savage charge that toppled Ronnie Prada, who landed hard on the ground.
Black swung his right fist, directly at Ronnie Prada’s head, knocking him out and taking his pistol.
“LAPD, freeze!”