Chapter 80
Lawn’s description was roughly the same as both Cindy and Cole’s.
The point of disagreement came after the money was split.
“You took all the paintings?”
“Yes.”
“Where is ‘Snowy Night’ by the Impressionist master Schilder Hasson?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t seen that painting since the beginning.”
“Lawn, since you’re turning yourself in, I expect you to show a good attitude, if you lie to the police, your act of turning yourself in will be greatly diminished.”
“I didn’t lie, I did get quite a few paintings, but none of them were Schilde Hassan’s ‘Snowy Night’. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be millions of dollars richer than I am, and I made the money I have now by my own efforts, without, of course, that starting capital.”
Luke stared at him for a moment and continued, “Where are the bodies of Anna and her son Shuart?”
“I’m not sure, Tony and Cindy handled the bodies.”
“What was your relationship with Anna?”
“Friends.”
“What kind of friends?”
“Anna was my lover.”
“Your lover died and you didn’t even care about her body?”
“Anna and I had a complicated relationship, and although we were in occasional contact, we were practically broken up. She was just enjoying the novelty of being with me, and I couldn’t give her the happiness she wanted.
We won’t work out either, she knows that and I understand that.
We were just passing through each other’s lives.
I was sad when she died, yes, but only sad.”
“Did you touch Shuart’s body?”
“No. The boy was spoiled and not very pleasant to be around, he didn’t like me and I had no reason to accommodate him.”
“Where is Mrs. Anna’s youngest daughter, Lily?”
Lawn looked out of the lounge, “Sophia, she’s Anna’s daughter.”
“You left most of your estate to Sophia out of guilt?”
“I love her, please don’t doubt that.”
“But as far as I know, your youngest daughter’s share of the property isn’t much, let alone compared to Sofia’s, or even to your stepson’s, why?”
“If you had met my stepson Brooke, you would know that he is a nice guy. I like him quite a bit, and the two of us watch a lot of football together and have something in common.
He loved my Porsche, and isn’t it nice to give the right thing to the right person?”
“So why is the written will different from the video will? Your wife and young daughter were devastated when they saw it, don’t you love them?”
“I’m a person who doesn’t do well in relationships, always have. I’m not fertile …… Oh, it’s not that I can’t, I just can’t have children of my own.”
“Then why did you adopt Sophia and not return him to his real father?”
“Well …… that’s a bit of a complicated question.” Lawn was silent for a moment, “In the beginning, I didn’t realize I was infertile and suspected Sophia was my daughter.
After spending a lot of time together and having feelings, she’s the only one who would call me dad, and she’s the only one who genuinely cares about me.
And I’ve asked around, Hans isn’t doing well, he’s not capable of taking care of Sophia.”
“Why don’t you leave your current wife, if you know you’re not capable of bearing children, and that the little girl shouldn’t be your own?”
“People don’t have secrets, and when two people live for a long time, even if they don’t talk about it the other person can pick up on some of the love affairs. Like that warehouse, I never told my wife Caroline.
But she knew where it was and never went looking for it.
Knew I had a secret and didn’t poke at it; she needed my income to make a decent living and wanted my inheritance.
If I had filed for divorce, the biggest possibility would have been a fish out of water.
Just like when she learned that most of the inheritance went to Sophia, got furious, beat and cursed at me in my hospital bed, and went to the warehouse that night.
Besides, Caroline was a pretty good wife except for that one time she cheated on me.
As I grow older, I experience more things, feel more, and know that life is not easy.
Some things also look down.
You are angry, that means you still care about her.
If you don’t care about her, it doesn’t matter.
Clinton can’t help herself, so what do I have to get hung up on.”
After giving his statement, Lawn made bail.
Throughout, Luke never mentioned the real cause of Shuart’s death.
It was useless to mention it.
If Lawn didn’t do it, he wouldn’t admit it.
If he did, he wouldn’t admit it.
If the police can’t get any evidence, Lawn will be able to bail out, so why start a panic.
Now that the cause of the ‘Telson Manor Disappearance Case’ has been identified, there are only two key points left.
Who patched up and killed Shuart?
Where was the oil painting worth ten million dollars?
That was a two hundred thousand dollar reward!
With that amount of money, Luke could live in style and take his family or girlfriend on a vacation.
What he hadn’t done, seen or eaten in his last life, he had to experience in this life.
There is nothing that can’t be done in America as long as you have money.
From the statements of the three men, the oil painting was most likely in Lawn’s possession.
The police also did find some oil paintings from Lawn’s warehouse, but not that ‘Snowy Night’.
Either Lawn lied and hid the painting somewhere else.
Either the oil painting really wasn’t in Lawn’s hands.
Nope.
There was another situation.
He doesn’t know the true face of the mountain.
Before crossing over, Luke was involved in solving a case of stolen paintings.
The suspect was caught, but the stolen painting was never found.
It was only after a surprise interrogation and in front of a large amount of factual evidence that the suspect explained the whereabouts of the painting.
The real painting was framed in the mezzanine of the fake painting.
Paintings within paintings.
A total of eleven oil paintings were found in the warehouse, was it possible that the ‘snowy night’ was hidden amongst these ordinary oil paintings.
Luke told Susan about this speculation.
Susan froze for a while: ”There can be paintings hidden in oil paintings? Matthew, is this operation feasible?”
Matthew thought for a while, “Theoretically it is feasible, but the operation is very difficult, in addition the thickness of that oil painting, it must be thicker than an ordinary oil painting.
However, I think it’s a good idea to ask an oil painting expert to appraise it.”
“Ringing ……” Luke’s cell phone rang.
Taking out his phone, he saw that it was the number of the day shift manager of the storage center, Borrett.
“Hello, this is Luke.”
“Officer Luke, there’s a warehouse auction tomorrow, I wonder if you’re interested?”
“What time tomorrow?”
“Around two o’clock in the afternoon.”
“OK, I’ll be attending.”
“Have fun bidding in advance.”
“Thanks.” Luke hung up his cell phone.
The System Warehouse had a reserve of up to 44,000 dollars, which he had been trying to liquidate.
Bidding on the warehouse was a good opportunity to realize the cash.
He only had a little over two hundred dollars right now, of which he had to pay a hundred dollars in advance for the cleanup deposit.
That meant there was only a hundred dollars or so in hand for bidding.
Can’t help but be a little worried, what if the bidding doesn’t work?
I don’t know how long he’ll have to wait for the next auction, so he’ll have to get some money.
Mom, no.
Daisy, no.
Fatty’s been picking up chicks lately too, so I guess he doesn’t have any money.
Who can I borrow money from?