Chapter 99
“Good question.” The lieutenant explained.
“I’ve thought about that too, two possibilities.
The first possibility is that the driver, Badman Pool, wasn’t alone in delivering the ransom, he brought others with him, and they were taken out together.
Their fingers were chopped off together and retaliated by putting them in the dead man’s mouth.
The second possibility, the murderer had an accomplice, and the ransom was partially withheld by Badman-Poel.
Causing the murderer and his accomplice to split the ransom, there was infighting, and the murderer took out his accomplice along with Badman-Poel. Took all the ransom money.”
Reed nodded, seeming to agree with the lieutenant’s analysis.
The Vice Squad scanned the crowd rather confidently, “Anyone else have any questions?”
Black rested his right hand on his cheek as he asked, “Is it possible that Bardman Quarrel isn’t dead?”
“Whoa whoa, good question.” The lieutenant was a bit surprised, not by the question, but by the person asking it.
“You’re right, just because we only found Bardman Pool with a broken finger doesn’t mean he’s dead.
Assuming he’s not dead, that makes this case another story.”
Blackie pressed, “What kind of case?”
The lieutenant thought for a moment, “In my experience, he should be dead, or else the follow-up wouldn’t have happened.”
Luke looked at Blackie, knowing that he might have an obsession in this matter.
Analyzing along Black’s line of thought, assuming that Badman-Poel really wasn’t dead, was the case valid?
After a while, Luke offered his thoughts, “Is it possible that this is all self-directed?”
Luke’s words captivated the crowd.
He continued, “Earlier, the shooting of the house of the deceased’s family by Bowen Cano was self-directed by the deceased, Riley Hare.
Bardman Pool, who was also involved as the deceased’s driver, could have learned this trick as well.
The real mastermind behind the blackmail was Badman Pool.
He got himself involved in the incident and even became one of the victims.
That way no one would suspect him.
And after all, Riley Hari was no ordinary person, sophisticated enough to see through his trick.
Badman-Poel was afraid of reprisals before he killed Riley-Harry.
And it’s also true that a large portion of that ransom money may have fallen into Bardman-Poel’s hands.”
“Good analysis.” Reed revealed an appreciative expression, “Those other two severed fingers were most likely Bardman-Poel’s accomplices, and he directly silenced them in order to avoid leaking the news.”
Luke nodded, “It’s also possible that it was someone Riley Hari sent to clean up Bardman-Poel after noticing the problem, only to be killed by Bardman-Poel in return.”
Susan summarized, “Guys, your analysis is good, but the evidence that is available now is not enough to support your reasoning.”
Black suggested, “Should we talk to Badman-Poel’s wife Laura, she might know something or even provide some clues.”
David shook his head, “That’s highly unlikely.”
“WHY?”
David sighed, “Use your head more.
It doesn’t matter for which purpose, whether Badman-Poel is the victim or the real culprit behind the scene.
It’s a fact that Bardman Pool cheated on his wife with the deceased, do you think he would tell his wife about it?
Come on, he’s not stupid.”
“Ding-dong.”
“Buzz.”
“You’re here with a text message.”
Right at this moment, the cell phones of the people present rang one after another.
“Wow wow …… finally got paid.” Looking at the text message transfer amount, Xiao Hei smiled heartlessly, “Got rich.”
Not just Xiao Hei, everyone present revealed a look of elation.
Susan said, “Everyone take a break.
Jenny, go to the technical division and press for the appraisal report.”
“Yes, captain.”
Luke clicked on the bank text message, and the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but curl up in an arc.
This time, not only the salary was issued, the oil painting bonus was also issued together.
The oil painting bonus processed salary arrived at a total of eleven hundred thousand dollars. (After tax)
Regarding the matter of the oil painting bonus distribution, Reed looked for Luke to specifically talk about it.
After discussion, the oil painting bonus got a more reasonable distribution program.
The two departments, the scene investigation team and forensics, each received a $10,000 bonus.
Squadron One of the Closed Murder Division received a $280,000 bonus, with Susan, the Vice Squad, David, Ramon, Jenny, Marcus, and Matthew receiving $20,000 each.
Luke received a $140,000 bonus for his significant meritorious service in the ‘disappearance of Telson Manor’ case.
The United States has a high percentage of tax deduction, which is very unfriendly to the middle class, and the deduction is a bit painful for Luke.
Luke’s total assets now amounted to 167,000 dollars.
“FUCK! Old me is finally out of the poverty line.”
In recent times, Luke had been looking at cars, and he had his eye on a BMW 730, which would probably cost around eighty thousand dollars.
Luke didn’t have any pressure to pay the full amount.
As for buying a house, he thought about it.
But $167,000 couldn’t buy the house of his choice.
For the time being, he didn’t plan to take out a loan to buy a house either, it was not easy to live again, so he didn’t want to put too much pressure on himself.
The biggest pressure of taking out a loan to buy a house is not the down payment, but the monthly mortgage.
In his last life, he was a slave to the house, reborn in Los Angeles is still a slave to the house, what is the figure?
The rental situation in Los Angeles and the country is also different.
Domestic law has almost no constraints on landlords, the interests of tenants are not protected, many tenants do not have a sense of security, feel that at any time may be evicted by the landlord, and at any time face the trouble of moving.
This is one of the reasons why many people buy houses.
Los Angeles is different, this side of the law to protect the interests of tenants, the landlord can not arbitrarily increase the rent, not to mention can not casually evict the tenant.
Many Chinese real estate investors have suffered similar losses, bought a house does not live, rented to Chinese students, accustomed to the domestic operation, the result was sued by the Chinese students.
They didn’t get evicted, and they had to lose money.
Twenty minutes later, Jenny returned to the office with the appraisal report.
Susan scrutinized the appraisal report, and then put the report on the projector, “The forensic pathologist repaired the Mexican descent deceased’s appearance as much as possible, and after comparison it resembles a missing person.”
[Name of missing person, Santos Mendin
Gender, male
Cell phone number, 626 871 5672.
Address, 122 Ollie Street.
Social Security number, 623-53-7243.
Time of disappearance, March 29th.
Family status, wife
Reported by, Carruth Ball]
The Lieutenant asked, “Carus Ball doesn’t sound like a woman’s name?”
Susan responded, “The reporting party is not the deceased’s wife, it’s the owner of the deceased’s company, the officer who took over the case tried to contact the deceased’s wife but has been unable to do so.”
The lieutenant spread his hands, “OK, you should all know what I’m going to say.”
“Don’t interrupt me, PLEASE,” Susan, slightly disgruntled, continued, “According to the medical examiner, the dead body and the finger cuts match, and the DNA identification is identical.
The finger in Riley Hari’s mouth belonged to none other than the deceased Santos Mendin, who was of Mexican descent.
No cell phone or identification was found around the body and the clothing was similar to the missing person description.
The body was buried in the ground and has begun to decompose, determining the time of death will be somewhat compromised.
The coroner estimates it would have been between the morning of March 30th and the early morning hours of April 1st.
The deceased was abused and beaten during his lifetime.
The fatal wound was a gunshot wound to the chest, though no bullet was found and it was likely removed by the killer.”
Luke asked, “What did the Mexican-American victim do? Any connection to Riley Hare and the driver, Bardman Quarrel?”
“Santos Mendin worked at a body store, and as far as connections to the other two are concerned it’s unclear at this time.” Susan added.
“This one is a proper car repair store.”
“Santos Mendin is an auto mechanic, and it’s likely that he removed the Mercedes’ locator device. So, he could be an accomplice of the murderer, or he could have been coerced.” After analyzing the situation, the vice squad smoothly arranged the task, and
“Jenny, contact Santos Mendin’s wife.
Luke, David go to the garage to investigate.”
Susan looked subtle, “GOOD.”
Leaving one word behind, she headed straight out of the conference room.
Raymond kindly advised, “Lieutenant, if you keep this up, a lieutenant will always be a lieutenant.”
“What else, do you think the bureau would promote a seventy year old man to be a captain?
Come on, I don’t care.”