Chapter 558
Dolittle neighborhood.
Blackie strutted into the yard of Thomas Colley’s house and yelled, “Mr. Colley, our operation is over.
You can go back to your yard and drink your coffee in peace.
By the way, your drawing of the house structure sucks.”
Thomas Colley opened the door to his room, looked at Blackie and then at the police car, and waved his hand, a smirk on his face, but didn’t answer.
“LAPD!”
“Police, freeze!”
Just then, several officers rushed out on either side of the door, the first to hold Thomas Colley down.
Ramon then led the charge into the house to search it.
Luke also walked into the yard of Thomas Colley’s house, glanced at Thomas Colley, who was being searched, and then looked in the direction of the house.
He suspected that another suspect, Walda Baker, was also hiding inside.
“Clear!”
“No suspicious persons found.”
Soon, Raymond led a search of Thomas Colley’s home, but found no sign of the other suspect, Walda Baker.
More than a little disappointed, Luke walked up to Thomas Colley and asked, “What’s your name?”
“Thomas Colley, I told you.
What’s gotten into you guys? Why are you arresting me?”
“You are suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of Miriam Cooney.”
“You’re slandering, I’m not.”
“Where is Walda Baker?”
“I don’t even know any Walda Baker, this is a complete plant.” Thomas Colley looked angry, “Let me guess, you didn’t get the suspect so you’re trying to take me as a scapegoat.
Come on, I just helped you guys, you can’t do this to me.”
“Stop your sophistry, the kidnapped hostage Miriam Cooney has recognized you.”
Thomas Colley laughed, “Don’t you dare try to scare me.
I won’t admit to anything I haven’t done.”
“I’m not trying to scare you, if she hadn’t recognized you, do you think we would have just arrested you?”
The smile on Thomas Colley’s face froze a little, “OK, so tell me, how did she recognize me?”
“You admitted to being involved in the kidnapping of Miriam Cooney.”
“No, I don’t admit it, I’m just curious. If the hostage you mentioned really saw the kidnapper’s face, why didn’t the kidnapper kill her.”
“It’s true she didn’t see your face, but she could recognize your voice.”
“I don’t remember talking to someone named Miriam Cooney.”
“Would you like me to ask her to come over and re-recognize it?”
Thomas Colley shook his head, “No need.
I didn’t even do it, so why make it sound like I’m a criminal.
Besides, people don’t sound alike, they’re not very recognizable, so maybe I just sound more like the person who kidnapped her.
I haven’t heard of convicting someone just by their voice.
What do you think Sir.”
Just then, Ramon walked over and said softly, “Captain, we searched Thomas Colley’s house, but found no trace of Walda Baker or any items suspected to be the tools of the trade.
However, I found a prepaid cell phone in a drawer in Thomas Colley’s house with no call logs, but only one cell phone number recorded in the directory.”
Luke took the cell phone and tapped on the address book; he thought the number was somewhat familiar and simply pressed the dial button.
A few moments later, the cell phone was connected, and a somewhat nervous voice rang out from the phone, “Hello, this is Lydia Cooney.”
That’s right, this cell phone number was the same prepaid cell phone that the kidnapper, Walda Baker, had left for the mother of the kidnapped hostage.
“This is Luke from the Robbery-Murder Division.
Ms. Lydia Cooney, you have nothing to worry about, your daughter has been successfully rescued.”
“Thank you, Ms. Jenny has informed me and I’m on my way there.”
“Okay, I’ll hang up then.”
“Thank you again, Captain Lee.”
Luke hung up his cell phone and questioned Thomas Corley, “How do you explain this?”
Thomas Colley grunted, “Is it a crime to have a prepaid cell phone? If a cell phone alone is a conviction, then there are too many guilty people in this world.”
“You’re right, it’s not illegal to have a prepaid cell phone.
But the only number recorded on this cell phone is the cell phone that the kidnapper left for the hostage’s family.
And this cell phone was in a drawer in your house, how do you explain that?”
Thomas Colley blushed a little and kept his head down.
Luke continued to advise, “Come on, don’t hold your breath.
With the hostage’s identification and the kidnapper’s cell phone found from your house, it’s already enough to build a case against you.
Do you think that when it goes to court, the jury will take your word or the hostage’s?”
Thomas Colley slowly looked up with an angry scowl, “FUCK!
It must have been that asshole Walda Baker who entered the cell phone number, what an idiot.” A look of remorse crossed Thomas Colley’s face, “It was a mistake, I should have gotten rid of this phone a long time ago, it would have been safer.”
Luke didn’t think so, some things just have to be done to leave a trail.
It was only a matter of time before a man who was cooking in his kitchen would lose it, let alone several major criminal cases in a row, and it would only be a matter of time before he convicted Thomas Colley.
“You admit to being suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of Miriam Cooney?”
Thomas Colley took a deep breath, “I was just an accessory, helping out with the hit, Walda Baker was the main culprit, I was completely compelled by him.”
“Did you get Roher Horn killed?”
Thomas Colley shook his head, “I don’t know who Roher Horn is.”
Luke could vaguely see signs of lying on his face.
“Did you do the arson together?”
“Walda Baker did it, I was just watching Miriam Cooney for him, that’s all.”
Once again, Luke could see the signs of lying on his face.
It was obvious that the guy was ready to avoid the issue and put the blame on Walda Baker.
“Where is Walda Baker?”
“I don’t know.”
Lying.
Luke wiggled his fingers, “I don’t like liars, tell me where Walda Baker is.
If you help us catch Walda Baker, I can get you turned into a tainted witness.”
Thomas Colley thought for a moment, “That guy ran off, ghosted me and left me here to watch Miriam Cooney.
That asshole got me killed.”
“Where did he run off to?”
“I don’t know.”
“How did he run away?”
“I don’t know.”
Luke stared at the other man, realizing that he’d been lying all along, and it was obvious that he was supposed to know the whereabouts of Walda Baker.
Luke had promised to help him turn a tainted witness, so why wouldn’t he talk?
“What’s your relationship with Walda Baker?”
“Just plain old casual acquaintances, met at the casino, then had a few drinks together at the bar, I’ve been rather short of money lately, then he offered to hook me up with a job.
I didn’t want to do it at first, but he threatened me.
Said I already knew about it and would kill me if I didn’t do it.”
“Were you close to Walda Baker?”
“Average, just an acquaintance.”
If the relationship was average, there was even less need for Thomas Colley to hide Walda Baker’s whereabouts.
Luke suddenly thought of a possibility, “When was the last time you saw Walda Baker?”
“Last night.”
“Where?”
Thomas Colley pointed to house number 406, “Right there.”
“Did he say anything about leaving then?”
“No.”
“When did you realize he had left?”
“I went to the house early this morning and found it empty, I thought he had just gone out at the time so I waited in the yard, but instead of waiting for Thomas Colley to come back, I waited for the police.
I almost peed myself when I saw you guys.
God forbid, it’s a good thing I have a stronger bladder.”
Luke, sensing that the other man was still lying, and that the other man was desperately trying to cover up Walda Baker’s whereabouts, most likely in order to avoid further culpability, tried, “Is Walda Baker dead?”
Thomas Colley’s eyelids fluttered and he looked at Luke with some consternation.
There was drama.
Luke pressed on, “Did you kill him?”
Thomas Colley gulped, “I didn’t, you’re making false accusations.”
Luke could see the signs of panic and lying on his face, “Sure enough, you killed him.”
“I said I didn’t, don’t try to put a messed up charge on me.”
“Where did you bury his body?”
“Are you crazy?” Thomas Colley shook his head, “I’ll tell you again, Walda Baker is the mastermind of the kidnapping, go get him if you can, don’t put dirt on my head.”
Luke was more and more certain that Walda Baker might have been killed by him.
He in turn was in no hurry, Walda Baker couldn’t get away anyway, “Why did you guys kidnap Miriam Cooney?”
“Walda Baker told me to.”
“Why did you listen to him?”
“He promised me two hundred thousand dollars when it was done, but the bastard got away.
Believe me, I want to catch this asshole more than you do.”
Luke shook his head, not a word of truth came out of this guy’s mouth, and he kept avoiding responsibility.
However, Luke also judged some clues he wanted through micro-expression analysis.
When this guy answered the questions, he was either false or he was looking the other way, shifting the blame to Walda Baker and falsely claiming that Walda Baker had fled.
As long as the police couldn’t catch Walda Baker, they wouldn’t be able to detect his lies, and then, as an accessory to the crime, he could also get a lenient sentence if he pleaded guilty better.
In Luke’s experience, this guy was Walda Baker’s handler and mastermind, always hiding behind Walda Baker, killing Walda Baker when his purpose was accomplished, creating the illusion of the other party’s escape, and letting Walda Baker take the fall for him.
If Luke did not see through his lies, it is estimated that he has gotten away with it, and the police painstakingly tracked Walda Baker has become a dead body.
Luke gathered his men back and said, “Walda Baker has probably been killed by Thomas Colley, what we need to do now is to find Walda Baker’s body.
Marcus, you are in charge of searching at Thomas Colley’s house.
Ramon, you lead the search at house 406.”
“Okay, Captain.”
Thomas Colley got a little antsy, “Hey, what are you guys doing? Why are you digging up my lawn, you have no right to do that!”
Blacky hemmed and hawed, “Hearing you say that makes me more motivated.”
Blacky started digging harder, muttering under his breath, “You know what? I hate it when other people’s yards are prettier than ours.
Every time this time, my mom would yell at me, you big lazy bum, hurry up and go weed the yard and don’t forget to water my flowers.
How did I give birth to you lazy ……”
The desire to destroy the lawn made Blacky energized and soon dug up the yard, but did not find any suspicious objects.
It wasn’t long before Ramon came along, “Captain, no suspicious objects were found around the 406 house.”
Thomas Colley shouted, “I told you, I didn’t kill him.
It’s the guy who got away, you should have put out a BOLO instead of digging in the dirt like a gopher.”
“Don’t need you to teach me that.” Luke finished, turned to Ramon and ordered, “Take Thomas Coley back to the station.”
“Yes, Captain.”
After Thomas Colley was taken away, Luke was in deep thought, where did Walda Baker go?
Luke’s eyes fell on the garage of house 406.
The garage had been searched earlier and it held a black Chevy sedan, but no one was there.
Luke called the loan shark owner, Ronnie Prada, over and pointed to the black Chevy sedan, “Is this your car?”
Ronnie Prada circled the black Chevy sedan, “It’s mine.
Captain Lee, did you let that bastard Walda Baker get away again?”
Luke didn’t answer and asked instead, “Any changes to this car?”
Ronnie Prada looked around the car carefully again, “It’s gotten cleaner, that Walda Baker guy is so lazy that he won’t wash the car once every few months.
Last time I saw the car there were still mud spots on the bodywork above the tires, it’s much cleaner now.”
“Any other changes? Like any new damage or additions, missing items.”
Ronnie Prada opened the door and inspected the car again inside and out, “I haven’t used the car in a long time and I don’t see any other changes.”
Luke turned the tables, “I remember you saying at the police station that a friend of your friend’s met Walda Baker yesterday afternoon.”
“Yes.”
“And someone else saw this black Chevy sedan driving back into the neighborhood from outside this morning?”
“Yes.”
“Can you confirm that?”
“Can.”
Luke nodded, “Okay, go ahead and claim the car when the case is investigated.”
Ronnie Prada glanced at the black Chevrolet sedan, his eyes somewhat complicated, and turned to leave.
Luke was once again in thought, according to Ronnie Prada, Walda Baker should not have died yesterday afternoon, then it was likely that she was killed in the evening, then, Walda Baker couldn’t have driven out in the Chevrolet sedan in the morning.
In other words, the person who drove the black Chevrolet sedan in and out of the neighborhood early this morning was most likely Thomas Colley.
Luke speculated that the bastard had probably driven out to dump the body.