1952 Do You Want to Continue? Definitely Not Me

Although Luke trusted Director George's character, he still asked, "The innocent suspect he killed isn't African-American, is he?"

Director George shook his head with a bitter smile. "He was white. That's why Bennett lost his job."

Luke finally expressed interest in the case.

Director George immediately took out a USB from his pocket and gave it to him. "The information I collected from Bennett is here. This case is really unusual. Don't force yourself if you're not sure about it."

Luke accepted the USB with a smile. "Don't worry. Safety first."

Director George couldn't help but recall a certain three-rule mantra circulating in LAPD. He really did believe it — just a little.

Luke had indeed been a lot more restrained after coming to New York, but at the very beginning, he had worked cases in his trademark style that he was known for in L.A..

His record of killing and injuring more than 50 people in Sergei's gang in one case alone clearly demonstrated that he wasn't an ordinary detective, or Director George wouldn't have recommended this case to him.

That was right, this was just an introduction, not a commission.

So, whether or not Luke picked up the case had nothing to do with Director George.

The good thing was that Director George didn't have to pay.

Director George couldn't afford the commission fee, to say nothing of paying Luke at all.

He didn't take dirty money and he wasn't that rich.

A good friend would instead help introduce a reliable bank manager to you if you wanted to borrow money.

After Luke obtained the USB, he continued chatting, drinking and eating at Aunt May's place, and Director George didn't say anything else.

It was normal to look for underlings and external help in doing work.

Luke's agency only had him and Selina on the surface, but they had so much external help; they didn't necessarily have to do anything themselves.

…

The next day, it was the Big Dipper clone who set off for Charleston.

The information Luke had obtained last night showed that the case was indeed unusual. He didn't want to take risks and bring Selina with him.

Actually, it wasn't a bad idea for the Joker to take Haley with him. The female doctor had caught a ghost with the Joker at the very beginning, and was quite interested in similar incidents.

Unfortunately, she was already busy in Europe, and Luke didn't want her to waste time coming back.

There was a lot of traffic on the streets of Charleston in the early morning, but it wasn't as dense as in New York.

There weren't as many pedestrians, not to the point of rubbing shoulders with strangers on the streets

Luke wasn't surprised.

West Virginia didn't have a booming economy, and it only had a population of two million.

Charleston was the state capital with less than 100,000 people.

About 92% of the residents were white, 3% African-American, and 1% Latino.

In a small place like this where Caucasians made up the overwhelming majority, it would have been very easy for Bennett to silence someone and get away with it.

Thankfully, a subsequent investigation showed that Bennett was just an ordinary police officer who wasn't inclined to seriously injure or kill anyone.

While Charleston didn't have a big population, their living conditions weren't bad.

The state had the largest coal mine in America, as well as oil fields, natural gas, rock salt, and so on. Charleston was also located at the intersection of two rivers.

It wasn't strange that the old four-story mall in front of Luke was abandoned.

This abandoned shopping center was located in the bustling city on the east side of the Kanawha River, and the few buildings that were around it were basically all under ten stories in height.

It was normal for an abandoned place like this to have security guards.

If nobody was watching it, it might be occupied by tramps or even criminal gangs.

If something happened or someone even died, the owner would be very annoyed.

Of course, this unlucky b*stard couldn't escape trouble now.

The last security guard on night duty died here a month ago. The suspicion was that he had mental issues, and had killed himself while patrolling the building.

Bennett, the unemployed police officer, replaced him more than ten days ago, and his sister, Angela, died not long after.

Both the local police department and the forensics expert from New York felt that Bennett might also be mentally ill.

In the end, that forensics expert from New York was dead, and Bennett was still alive.

Was this proof that mental patients could live longer?

As Luke puzzled over this, he crossed the low fence and entered the abandoned mall.

After the fire destroyed the mall, the broken windows were all boarded up, and the building still looked dark in broad daylight.

There were broken items scattered everywhere, as well as traces of dust and fire. It was quite eerie.

Luke walked unhurriedly as he scanned the ground with his lenses.

There weren't many tracks; at most, it was two or three different shoe prints along a fixed route. They were probably left behind by Bennett, who had started work recently.

The other scattered footprints were much older and were already covered in dust. They had probably been left behind by the people who had been drawn here by the death of the last security guard.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open and a figure rushed in.

He shouted, "Come out, come out!" and "Assh*le, come and kill me." He ran to a mirror on the wall and smashed it with a nearby chair.

The mirror wasn't damaged at all.

The man howled and fell to his knees in front of the mirror. Then… he saw a pair of military boots not far away.

Stunned for a moment, he subconsciously lowered his voice.

The person looked up and met Big Dipper's eyes.

Pondering for a moment, Luke ventured, "Why don't you keep crying and I'll come back after breakfast?"

The person: "…Who are you?"

Luke said, "You can call me Wilson. I'm here to investigate the death in this mall. You might be interested in talking to me, Mr. Bennett Carson."

Bennet was suspicious. "Are you… FBI?"

Luke shook his head. "No, just a private investigator."

Bennett believed him. This wasn't how the FBI worked.

Private investigators came from all walks of life, and it was normal if some of them weren't unreliable.

His mood settled a little at this interruption. He slowly got up. "What do you want to know?"

Luke didn't answer. Bennett found that odd. He looked at Luke, only to see that Luke was looking at the mirror on the side.

Bennet's heart turned cold. He suddenly turned around and saw two figures in the mirror grinning at them.

Bennet took two steps back, but Luke didn't move. He couldn't help but call out, "Wilson?"

As he spoke, Luke moved.

Cupping his chin in his hand, he looked at 'Wilson' in the mirror, who was sneering, and remarked, "Hm, what a stupid smile. It definitely isn't me."

Bennett: …Are you crazy?!

In the mirror, 'Wilson' looked blank for a moment, before his expression turned even more twisted.

'He' picked up a piece of broken glass, looked at Luke, and slowly slashed 'his' throat.

A hideous wound appeared on 'Wilson's' neck in the mirror. Blood gushed out and quickly dyed his body red.