Chapter 581
Palisades neighborhood.
There weren’t any big cases in the past few days, so Luke basically went home from work, enjoying the comfort and ease brought by the mansion.
When Luke came home, he directly stripped off his clothes and jumped into the pool in the backyard for a swim.
It was one of the best exercises, the resistance of the water could reduce the body’s injury, of course, provided that the water in the pool was clean enough.
After the workout, Luke took a shower and got a little hungry and ordered a takeout, fried chicken, fries, shrimp balls, fried fish and other snacks.
At nine o’clock in the evening, Luke set the snacks on the coffee table, grabbed a couple of cold beers, and sat down in the living room to eat the food and watch TV at the same time, the oversized TV screen and the premium sound equipment made the viewing atmosphere even better.
A bite of crispy fried chicken and a sip of cold beer is definitely the best combination to hit the taste buds.
At 10:00 p.m., just as Luke’s nightcap was about to end and he was about to take a shower and go to bed, there was an unusually loud noise from outside.
“Buzz ……”
He put down his beer bottle and walked out into the yard as an airplane flew overhead.
The plane wasn’t big, it wasn’t a helicopter or an airliner, it was kind of like a ……
a fire-fighting airplane.
Luke looked in the direction the plane was flying and noticed what looked vaguely like a fire flickering in the distance, lighting up half the sky.
If you can see fire from such a distance, it must be a big fire.
Luke returned to the living room, changed the news station, and listened to the news while he packed up his takeout.
His guess was good, there was a fire in Mogaro Forest Park, and the fire department, police, and ambulance had all arrived at the scene.
Luke packed up the takeout trash, briefly washed up and went to bed, and had to lie down even though he couldn’t sleep.
Since there was a large fire, there were likely to be casualties, and the Detective Bureau would likely be involved in the investigation of such a large case.
In Luke’s experience, the best thing to do now was to get some energy.
Sure enough, around twelve o’clock, Luke’s cell phone rang.
“Hello, this is Luke.”
“It’s Red.
There’s a fire in Mogaro Forest Park, did you know?”
“Yes, I saw it on the news.”
“I was there, firefighters found dead bodies in the park, and now our Robbery and Murder Division is in charge of this fire investigation.”
“Okay, I’ll be there with my men right away.” Luke had been prepared for this for a long time, shuffled his face, notified his team, and then rushed to the scene of the fire.
Mogaro Forest Park was still ablaze, and the neighborhood on both sides of the highway was a mess, with all kinds of vehicles parked, Luke’s car couldn’t even drive close.
Luke got out of his car and walked a little further before finding the police command center.
“Chief.”
Reed nodded and pointed to a middle-aged man next to him and introduced, “This is the fire chief, Mario Crouch.”
Luke sized up the other man, “Hello, Chief Crouch.
I’m Luke Lee from the Robbery-Murder Division.”
Mario Crouch grimaced and shook Luke’s hand, “Red, I’m going to the front.”
“Be safe.”
Mario Crouch left in a hurry.
Luke asked, “Is the situation serious?”
“Yes, the fire is still spreading, there are already firefighters injured, and Mario Crouch is under a lot of pressure.”
“Haven’t the fire-fighting planes already been used?”
“The site of the fire is located within the valley, it’s relatively hidden and not easy to detect.
Someone noticed the fire around nine o’clock last night and called 911, and by the time the fire department arrived, the fire had already spread in all directions and was burning over a large area, making it very difficult to extinguish in a short period of time.”
“Was it arson, or was it an accident?”
“The main work in the early stages was to extinguish the fire and maintain order, the cause of the fire has not yet been investigated.” Reed looked at Luke and patted his shoulder, “Come on, I’ll take you to see the body.”
At this time, there were quite a number of onlookers around, and some of the officers were still needed to maintain order.
Luke walked forward a few dozen meters and saw the coroner in protective clothing, next to a charred body, and could vaguely smell a sickening smell.
Luke turned to the medical examiner Sheila and asked, “Can you identify the deceased?”
“No objects have been found that would identify the deceased.” Sheila looked up at the two men, “I’m sorry, Sirs, I have to concentrate on this body and can’t answer your questions at the moment.
Of course, you can watch from the sidelines, just don’t say anything.”
Luke and Reed looked at each other and wisely chose to leave.
The two talked for a little while longer, and when Luke saw that the men from First Squadron had arrived, he excused himself to Reed and gathered his team to talk.
“Hey guys, good morning.”
“Morning?” The lieutenant frowned and smiled bitterly, “Yes, it is indeed morning, just a little too early to be good at all.”
Black yawned, “Captain, we’re here to catch an arsonist?”
Luke sighed, “I’m afraid it’s more than that, the firefighters found the body on the hill.”
The lieutenant pressed, “Was it a homicide?”
Luke shook his head, “The body was charred, I can’t tell how it died anyway? Let’s wait for the medical examiner.”
Black rubbed his nose, “Geez, no wonder I always smell a roasted meat.”
Luke swept his gaze over the crowd and said, “Although the current situation is unclear, we can’t be idle, let’s all split up and visit the investigation to gather as many clues related to the fire as possible.”
“YES, Sir.”
“Man, wait first.” Just as the group was about to split up and investigate, Porter called out to the group, carrying a case of canned coffee from a side car to distribute to the group.
The lieutenant opened the can and took a sip, “I’ve never been a big fan of canned coffee, but it feels pretty good today.”
Blackie wondered, “Why do you have so much coffee in your car?”
Potter explained, “I used to work as a night detective at the southern precinct and got used to keeping some canned coffee in my car.”
“Good habit, thanks.” Luke raised his cup in acknowledgement, it was inevitable that the crowd would be a little tired after being on a mission most of the night, and Porter was indeed in the best spirits of the crowd.
The crowd then split up to investigate, with Porter and Black in a group, going out into the crowd to seek out witnesses.
By the streetlights and firelight, Potter vaguely saw a familiar person from the crowd.
It was a white middle-aged man, medium-sized, with a somewhat slim figure, his eyes looked in the direction of the fire, the corners of his mouth slightly hooked up, with a wry smile on his face.
Porter frowned slightly, could it be him?
Porter pushed his way through the crowd and walked quickly towards the man, the man also noticed Porter and turned his head to look over, the smile on his face froze before he turned and ran.
“Stop, LAPD!”
Potter immediately chased after him.
Black was a little confused, not sure what was happening, but out of trust in his coworker, he also chased after him.
The white man was running with his legs crossed in a somewhat odd position, and wasn’t going very fast.
It didn’t take long for Porter to catch the fleeing man, hold him down, handcuff him, and read the Miranda warning.
“Hey, you’re hurting me!” The man struggled a bit reluctantly.
Blackie ran over as well and laughed, “Fuck, how much Viagra did you asshole take.”
The white man glared at Blacky, “I’m not you, I don’t need that stuff.”
Blackie teased, “Porter, did you frisk him?”
Potter revealed a look of disgust, “I think it would be better to wait a bit longer.”
Blacky’s eyes scanned the surrounding area and didn’t see any scantily clad women, “Hey man, where’s your date? Introduce me to them.”
The white man spat, “Fuck you, you nigger.”
“No girlfriend, so it’s a male companion, haha.” Blackie laughed out loud and turned to Potter on the sidelines again, “How did you know there was something wrong with this guy?”
“I’ve arrested him before, this guy was jailed for arson last time, I didn’t expect to get out so soon.” Potter seemed to think of something and asked back, “I assume you’re still on parole?” Porter looked at the other man’s expression with growing certainty, “That’s right, who’s your parole officer?”
“I don’t want to mention that guy, just out for a walk.”
“Walking around?” Porter grunted, “Walking to the scene of a fire, you expect me to believe that?”
The white man laughed, “And what do you think I’m doing here?”
Porter tried, “Did you start the fire at Mogaro Forest Park?”
The white man’s face changed and changed, gulped, and his tone was a little excited, “That’s right, I set it.”
Xiao Hei pulled out his ears, as if he thought he had heard wrong: “What did you just say?”
“I set the fire in Mogaro Forest Park, I set it!” The white man’s voice was so loud that it immediately drew the attention of the surrounding crowd.
Luke also walked over, “Marcus, what happened?”
“Captain, we caught the arsonist!” Black pointed at the white man, “That’s the guy, Porter caught him to be exact.”
Porter said, “Captain, this guy is an arsonist, I’ve caught him before, he should still be on parole.”
Luke nodded and sized up the white man, “What’s your name?”
The white man looked at Luke, “Volod Russell.”
“Why are you here?”
Warold Russell asked back, “Who are you?”
“Captain of the Heist and Murder Division, Luke Lee.”
“I know you.” Wolord Russell smiled and asked back without fear, “Are you investigating this case?”
Luke nodded, “Are you involved in this arson case?”
“Yes.” Wolloyd Russell looked at the blazing fire in the distance, as if admiring his own masterpiece, a smile floating at the corner of his mouth, “I set the fire.”
Luke stared at the other party’s cheeks, not seeing any obvious signs of lying, and reconfirmed, “You lit the fire in Mogaro Forest Park?”
“That’s right, it was me.” Wolloyd Russell’s tone grew firmer.
Luke still didn’t see any signs of lying from the other party and said to Porter who was beside him, “Man, congratulations on your credit!
If I had known I would have skipped the coffee and gone back to sleep.”