Chapter 656
Orty asked, “If Baron Ackerman did have something to do with the threatening letters, what was his purpose in doing so?”
It was a question that Luke was also wondering.
First, there was the feasibility of the speculation.
Barron Ackerman was not only an employee of the Nitro Hotel, but also an assistant to Vice President Kieron Powell, delivering the threatening letter was easy for him and there was no difficulty.
As for Barron Ackerman’s purpose for doing so, nothing could be seen on the surface, and some in-depth analysis was needed.
First of all, there was the content of that threatening letter, which consisted of only one short sentence: “A big gift will be given to the hotel on Thanksgiving Day.
“It doesn’t say what the gift is. It doesn’t say what the requirements are. Technically, it wasn’t really much of a threat, except that the letter was delivered in a somewhat bizarre manner, along with an eerie, bloody skull at the bottom of the epistle.
The hotel was also worried that something would go wrong on Thanksgiving Day, which was why they had asked him to investigate.
Luke’s mind went back to the not-quite-intimidating threatening letter, “A big gift will be given to the hotel on Thanksgiving Day.” Breaking that sentence down and analyzing it, there were three main points; time, place and a big gift.
Judging from Baron Ackerman’s current financial situation, he was very short of money, but sending these two threatening letters could hardly bring him financial gain, and Luke guessed that he should have been instructed by an outside party.
Then, what effect could be achieved by this threatening letter.
From the consequences caused may be able to invert the motivation behind the curtain just.
The first guess, the threatening letter is to affect the hotel’s business, so that the hotel can not operate normally, but as far as we can see, the threatening letter of this matter is only known to the hotel executives, for the grass-roots employees and guests have no impact on the hotel’s business is not much.
The second speculation, the threatening letter is to target someone in the hotel, Vice President Kieron Powell?
Nope, the second threatening letter didn’t have much of an effect on him either, even though it was placed on his doorstep.
Luke speculated that the second letter was given to Kieron Powell solely because Baron Ackerman was his assistant and could exert influence on the matter covertly.
The third speculation, that this matter was directed at the Pinkerton Detective Agency?
The Pinkerton Detective Agency was all over the United States, and such a small commission could hardly have an effect on the detective agency.
Then there is only a fourth speculation, this so-called threatening letter is a game, in order to lure themselves into the game.
In a thousand words, these were just Luke’s speculations.
The first thing he needed to confirm was whether Baron Ackerman was related to the threatening letter, and as long as he was sure of that he could follow the trail to find the mastermind behind the scene.
Luke drove back to the Nitro Hotel and went directly to Vice President Kieron Powell’s office.
Kieron Powell invited Luke to sit down and handed him a cup of coffee, “Mr. Lee, is the investigation still going well today?”
“Yes, already found out some clues.” Luke took the coffee and took a sip.
“I really didn’t look at the wrong person.” Kieron Powell smiled.
Luke put down his coffee cup and said, “President Powell, I still want to ask you a few questions.”
“Go ahead and ask.”
“What was your first reaction when you saw the threatening letter?”
Kieron Powell held his coffee cup and recalled for a moment, “Call the police.”
“Then why didn’t you call the police.”
“It was Baron Ackerman who reminded me that if I called the police things would have gotten out of hand, that is might affect the hotel business, I thought about it and didn’t choose to call the police.”
“Then why did you choose to entrust me to investigate this matter?”
“Because Mr. Lee you are famous and capable, we believe you can solve this matter faster and better.”
“President Powell, thank you for thinking highly of me, but what I want to hear is some details of the process, for example, I am in Los Angeles, how did you think of me?
And how did you learn about the relationship between Pinkerton Detective Agency and me?”
Seeing Luke’s solemn look, Kieron Powell changed his tone and said, “To be honest, I didn’t deal with detectives and didn’t know where to find detectives to investigate, so I left this matter to Barron.
It was he who found the Pinkerton Detective Agency and recommended you to me.
As it happens, I’ve also heard great things about you, so I chose to entrust you with the investigation of the threatening letters.” Vice President Kieron Powell shrugged, “Is there a problem with that?”
Of course there was a problem.
Luke could now be certain that Baron Ackerman was definitely related to the threatening letter, and, he was using his identity as the assistant vice president to lure himself in step by step.
In order to avoid Kieron Powell from speaking out in front of Baron Ackerman, Luke reminded, “I found out during my investigation that Baron might have some connection with the threatening letter.”
Kieron Powell showed a surprised look, “Barron, how is that possible? He is my assistant and has been with me for two years.”
“Does he like gambling a lot?”
Kieron Powell thought for a moment, “He did love to go to the gambling hall to play a few hands before, but then I warned him and he didn’t go there anymore.”
Luke said, “He just doesn’t play at the Nitro Hotel’s gambling hall anymore, he doesn’t go to other gambling halls, I checked his financial situation, all his credit cards are maxed out, and his house and car are mortgaged. You should know more about these losing gamblers than I do.”
Kieron Powell grimaced, “Why did he do that?”
“Should have been instructed by someone.”
Kieron Powell sighed, “What do you need me to do?” Half an hour later, on the eighth floor of the hotel, Luke’s guest room.
“Knock, knock ……” a knock sounded on the door.
Luke opened the door to his room, and standing outside was Baron Ackerman.
“Mr. Lee, this is the recommendation letter that Vice President Powell asked me to send you.”
Luke took the letter of recommendation, “Come in and talk.”
Baron Ackerman entered the house and asked seemingly casually, “Did you investigate the former employees who were laid off today?”
“I met with Ron Winters today, the others haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
“Do you think Ron Winters was the one who dropped off the threatening letter?”
Luke shook his head, “I’ve spoken carefully with Ron Winters and it’s true that he was inappropriate with a hotel guest, but that guest wasn’t without a little bit of responsibility.
The guest sent the wrong message, and Ron Winters mistakenly thought that the guest liked him and wanted to go further with him, which is why he made such a bold move.”
Baron Ackerman nodded, “You’re right, that is indeed what happened. But hotels have hotel rules, and Ron Winters did violate them, which is the main reason why the hotel laid him off. By the way, have you investigated those other layoffs yet?”
“Not yet, and the numbers are a bit high, so I guess we’ll have our hands full in the next couple of days.”
Baron Ackerman smiled, “I’m not very good at investigating cases. However, if you need anything, you can always contact me.”
Luke could see that this bastard was not only finding himself a Ron Winters, but also throwing out the rest of the layoffs, obviously guiding the direction of his investigation.
To put it bluntly, the bastard was afraid that he would suspect him and kept finding himself things to do.
“Mr. Li, if there’s nothing else, I’ll leave first.”
“I’ll see you off.”
Baron Ackerman stood up and walked in the direction of the door.
However, just as he took two steps, he felt a heavy blow behind him and fainted with weakness.
I don’t know how much time passed, Barron Ackerman woke up in a daze, the back of his neck was still a little painful, his wrists were a little sore and numb, and there was a sound of running water in his ears.
Barron Ackerman opened his eyes and found himself sitting in the bathroom, with the toilet on his left and the bath behind him, the bath was filled with half a tank of water, and the faucet was still clattering, and violently, he had a bad premonition.
“Cluck ……” the bathroom door opened.
Luke walked into the bathroom, rolled up his sleeves and said with a smile, “I hate being cheated, and anyone who cheats me has to pay the price, are you mentally prepared?”
“Mr. Lee, is there some kind of misunderstanding, I’m just a hotel assistant, I haven’t cheated you.”
Luke pointed to the toilet, “Do you prefer this, or the bath?”
Baron Ackerman’s face went white with fear, “I don’t like either, please don’t hurt me, it’s against the law. You’re a police officer, you should know very well that this is wrong, you’re committing a crime.”
“I suspect you’re involved in a major terror attack, and given the seriousness of the case, I can use some unusual means in order to ensure the safety of the citizens of Las Vegas.”
“Please, please don’t hurt me.” Baron Ackerman seemed as if as if he had remembered something, “By the way, you’re LAPD, you don’t have law enforcement powers in Las Vegas. If you hurt me, you’ll go to jail too, and you should still be aware of how bad it is for a cop to go to jail.”
“Are you threatening me?” Luke pulled his FBI credentials out of his pocket, “I’m not only a LAPD, I’m also the Deputy Director of Counterterrorism for the FBI, and I have law enforcement authority in Las Vegas.
I’m sick of you being such a grunt. Since you won’t choose, I’ll do it for you.”
After Luke finished speaking, he walked over to Baron Ackerman, grabbed him by the hair, and dragged him over to the side of the bath.
“Ahhh …… don’t hurt me, please, I’ll tell you everything. I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you …… everything,” Barron Ackerman let out a murderous scream as he pressed his feet against the bath.
“Snap!” Luke let go of his hair and slapped him on the head, “Shut up, I ask a question and you answer it. If you dare to lie or hide, I’ll throw you in the bath.”
“I understand, I promise not to lie.” Baron Ackerman’s face was filled with horror, although he hadn’t encountered anything similar before, he hadn’t watched many similar movies.
The scene before him brought two words to mind, “waterboarding.” He didn’t think he could handle it, nor did he want to experience it.
Luke turned off the faucet and asked, “Did you write those two threatening letters?”
Baron Ackerman nodded, “I wrote them.”
“Why did you write the threatening letters?”
“It was someone who paid me a sum of money to do so.”
“What person?”
“Martin.”
“What’s his full name?”
“I don’t know.”
One day I lost money in a gambling hall and was so depressed that I ran to a bar for a drink.
A white guy with a big beard came up to me and asked me if I wanted to make money.
I told him I don’t do crime.
He said it was easy to ask me to do something that wouldn’t be a crime.” Barron Ackerman recalled for a moment and continued, “I asked him what it was. He wouldn’t say, he just gave me a sum of money and said it was a deposit.
Some time later, he found me again and gave me the same amount of money and asked me to write threatening letters to the hotel.
I’ve been working at this hotel for three years, and I didn’t want to do anything to harm the hotel’s interests, but …… I owed too much money and had no choice, and like he said, it was a simple matter, and even if it was discovered, the consequences wouldn’t be too serious.”
“What else have you done besides the threatening letters?”
Baron Ackerman looked up at Luke and lowered him again with some trepidation, “Martin also instructed me, to contact the Pinkerton Detective Agency and commission you to investigate the threatening letter.”
“Why did you commission me to investigate?”
“I don’t know, it was Martin’s request. I just did what he told me to do.”
“Where is Martin?”
“I don’t know.”
“How will you get in touch?”
“He’ll call me, I have his number recorded on my cell phone.”
“Can you get in touch with him for me?”
“No. I’ve called his cell phone before and it’s been unreachable. It was always him who initiated the contact.”
In Luke’s experience, the odds were that Martin was a fake name and the cell phone number was probably a prepaid cell phone, making it difficult to trace the man’s identity through both.
“Where have you all met?”
“We’ve only met twice at Bertram’s Bar.”
“How much money did Martin give you in total?”
“One hundred thousand dollars.”
“Besides the threatening letters, what else did Martin order you to do?”
“He told me to keep an eye on you and keep you in Vegas as long as possible.”
Luke stared at Barron Ackerman, seeing no obvious signs of lying.
In fact, about that, Luke could analyze the threatening letter. “There will be a big gift for the hotel on Thanksgiving Day.” To put it bluntly, it was hoping that he would stay in Las Vegas until Thanksgiving.
Luke couldn’t help but have doubts rising in his mind as to why.