Chapter 74

Cindy Bottou’s house.

The black Dodge had disappeared, and from the outside Cindy Botetourt’s house didn’t look any different than it always did.

However, when you enter the house, you will find that there is something else.

Cindy Boto’s daughter sat on the couch with red eyes and a troubled look on her face.

Luke and David are whispering.

There were also two officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department sent in for backup.

There were more state and county police tracking the suspect vehicle.

It was Luke’s suggestion that the outside was loose and the inside was jin.

David asked in a low voice, “Where do you think Cole will take Cindy?”

Luke thought about it and said, “It would be easier to track if we knew the license plate number of the car Cole used.”

David nodded, “Yeah, there are too many black SUVs to track. And this isn’t the city of Los Angeles, there are few cameras.”

Luke mused for a moment, “Remember when we went to that restaurant called ‘Golden Corral’ yesterday? That big white lady has seen Cole before, so maybe he’s seen Cole’s car.

Instead of waiting around, why don’t we talk to her, maybe she can give us some clues, like the license plate number.”

David looked at the two county sheriff’s deputies next to him, “I’ll keep an eye on things here, you go ahead.”

“OK, do you need me to bring anything?”

“Just enough to fill you up.”

“See you tonight.” Luke stood by the window and looked out without seeing anyone suspicious before leaving the house and walking about a few hundred meters to get into the Dodge.

After driving for about ten minutes, Luke arrived at the ‘Golden Corral’ restaurant.

The white older woman greeted him, “Good evening, handsome boy from Los Angeles, good to see you again.”

“Me too.”

“What would you like to eat?”

Luke laughed, “Kuta.”

“OK, this dish definitely won’t disappoint, but it’s best served with a beer, it’ll be even better.”

“Good idea, I was just about to have a drink to relieve my fatigue as well.” After working overtime for the past two days and not resting well last night, my body was tired.

Drinking less alcohol was a bit more invigorating.

In less than twenty minutes, the white amah came over with a tray and placed it on Luke’s table, removing the domed lid.

An aroma of meat hit his nose.

The round tray held a pan-seared fish, topped with a thick sauce and padded underneath with onions and clipped mushrooms, which looked appetizing.

“I thought this dish had lamb?”

The large white woman smiled and said in a mysterious manner, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Luke stuck a piece of fish with his fork and ate it, the fish was tender, there were no thorns, and there was an aroma of mutton oil.

Looking down, the belly of the fish looked like it was filled with meat.

Grabbing a spoon and taking a spoonful, it was stuffed with mutton, the gravy was full of spices like black pepper and chopped onion, and mixed with the fresh flavor of the fish.

It was the first time I had eaten this kind of dish, the flavor was good, just a little bit greasy, a mouthful of cold beer just to relieve the greasiness.

In less than twenty minutes, Luke finished his meal and called the white amah over to settle the bill.

“How’s the flavor?”

“Very good, best dish I’ve had in a while.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” The white amah looked like she was proud of it.

Luke paid for the meal and tipped an extra ten dollars.

“Wowowow, that’s so generous of you.”

“You deserve it.”

“Thanks.”

“Can we sit down and talk?”

“Sure.” For the sake of the tip, the older white woman agreed readily.

“Did you see that FBI guy today?”

“No.”

“Ever seen his car?”

“I was too busy to care about passing cars. Can’t even remember if he was driving.” The older white woman finished, looking at Luke with some curiosity, and

“Why are you inquiring about the FBI?”

Luke didn’t hide anything and flashed his badge, “I’m LAPD, I’m here to investigate a case, and the FBI you saw is probably a fake. Remember to contact me if you see him again.”

“Even Karma, someone else dares to impersonate the FBI?Is he dangerous?”

“Yes, so don’t act rashly when you see him, call me.” Luke handed him a business card.

“I got it.” The older white woman collected the card.

Luke asked a few more questions, and the white amah couldn’t tell him any valuable clues, so the boss called out to her to serve the food, and the conversation between the two was interrupted.

Luke left the restaurant somewhat resentfully.

Investigating a case in the field will be very passive, if it is in downtown Los Angeles, you can directly pull out the surveillance video to track the suspect vehicle.

But that approach wasn’t very effective in the city of Hemlock.

Luke drove back to Cindy Botetourt’s house and happened to pass by the Telson estate on the way.

He instinctively looked at it and vaguely seemed to see a bright light in the manor.

That’s not right.

Did Hans Miller come back?

Shouldn’t he have gone to the LAPD to identify the body?

Thinking of this, Luke decided to check it out and pulled over to the side of the road.

Stopping the car, turning off the engine, loading his pistol, and putting on his bulletproof vest, he quietly approached the manor.

Climbing up the wall to check it out, he could vaguely see what appeared to be a car parked inside by the moonlight.

He squinted his eyes to carefully identify, the car seems to be black, SUV style.

Something snapped to mind.

Without making a move, Luke got off the wall and sent a message to David, calling for backup.

Was this car Cole’s?

Why was he here?

Didn’t he kidnap Cindy?

Did he think the most dangerous place was the safest?

Or was he here looking for something?

Had the oil painting been hidden by Cindy at the estate?

As these questions flashed through his mind, Luke grew more and more curious.

“Oooh ……”

A muffled sound came faintly from the manor, like someone being beeped and wailing through their nose.

Luke felt he couldn’t wait any longer or something would probably happen.

He climbed the wall again, still no sign of Cole.

He gingerly rolled down the wall and crept forward in the direction of the black car.

The further he went, the clearer the whimpering became.

The slower he crawled, the more careful he was.

Luke crawled underneath the car and looked off into the distance again to find a figure in front of the stone house.

Why was there only one person?

The person standing couldn’t be seen, but from the size of the figure it should be a man.

And where was Cindy?

Carefully identifying the whimpering sound, it felt like it should be in the same direction.

Luke guessed that Cindy was probably lying or sprawled out on the ground, with the weeds blocking the view to see.

In Luke’s character, he was trying to mettle.

Wait for David to bring the people before making his move.

But from the current situation, Cindy was in some danger.

In case Cole got the oil painting and killed someone, if Cindy died, the police would have one less important witness.

Thinking through the pros and cons, Luke took a deep breath and decided to capture Cole alone.

He continued to creep forward, holding a strong flashlight in his left hand and a gun in his right.

At this time, the darkness of the sky was instead in Luke’s favor, making it difficult for the other side to spot him.

Crawling a little further, Luke got a good look ahead and could faintly hear the man talking.

“Cindy, you said the oil painting is hidden in the manor, I brought you here, and now you say you don’t know the whereabouts of the oil painting, are you fooling me again?”

“Oooo……,” Cindy seemed to be trying to speak and couldn’t.

Cole yanked the towel from his mouth, “Don’t yell or you know the consequences.”

Cindy said breathlessly, “I don’t even know where the painting is.”

“Bang!” Cole went up and kicked her hard in the chest, “FUCK, do you want to die? How dare you lie to me.”

“You’ve been beating me up and threatening to kill my daughter, I had no choice but to name a random place.”

“GOOD! GOOD!” laughed Cole angrily, “How dare you trick me and kill your daughter now.”

Cindy shouted, “Go on, hurry up, the police are probably waiting at my house, you’re just in time to shoot yourself in the foot.”

“Shut up, and if you’re that loud, I’ll kill you right now, and since you don’t know the whereabouts of the oil painting, there’s no point in keeping you around.” Cole drew his dagger and threatened, “Last chance, where is the oil painting?”

“I really don’t know where the oil painting is.”

“Then you can die.”

“No, don’t kill me, there’s nothing to be gained by killing me.”

“I’ve also hidden a sum of money, we can run away together, I won’t rat on you, I’m as scared of the police as I am now.”

“Where did you hide the money?”

“You let go of me first and I’ll tell you.”

Cole sneered, “Do you take me for a fool? I’ve had enough, go to hell.” Cole raised his dagger and stabbed it towards Cindy on the ground.

“LAPD, don’t move or I’ll shoot!” A bright light hit, right in Cole’s face.

“FUCK!” said Cole, twisting his head aside and turning to run.

“Bang ……” Luke fired.

With the dagger in Cole’s hand, he had a valid reason to shoot.

That’s how it was in America.

Cole lunged to the ground and rolled a few times, dodging bullets.

Still, one of the bullets hit him in the left arm.

“Ugh!” He gritted his teeth and shuddered in pain.

“Bang ……”

The gunshot was still ringing, and Cole was dumbfounded, not realizing that this cop was so feisty.

He thought to himself that he hadn’t done anything overly aggressive.

Cole also pulled out his pistol and hesitated for a moment, not daring to return fire.

The policeman who shot him had turned off his flashlight, he couldn’t see where the other side was, and a flurry of shots in the dark would have an extremely low hit rate.

Moreover, once he fired, what ushered in might be even more fierce firepower.

LAPD are a bunch of assholes.

Luke was also depressed, after firing so many shots, he didn’t know whether he had hit or not.

The darkness was one thing, it was mainly because he was an average shot.

“Wooo……”

At this moment, there was a movement outside, it should be that the support had arrived.

Luke switched to a new magazine, “Cole, you’re under arrest, stand up immediately and put your hands above your head!”

Cole’s arm was injured, blood kept pouring out, and he bared his teeth in pain.

Knowing it would be difficult to escape, he slowly stood up, “I’m willing to surrender, please don’t shoot, I’ve been shot in the arm.”