Chapter 405 - New Neighbors, Old Neighbors
Luke told the patrol officers to check if what the “robber” said was true, and if it was, they could just let him go after recording his statement.
When it came down to it, what this “robber” did would be considered a prank at most, and there was no need to make a big fuss over it.
It was already eleven by the time they were done with the questioning, so the both of them promptly decided to knock off work and have lunch first.
After dropping some takeaway off with Elsa, they slipped off home.
These few days could in fact be considered a holiday for Luke and Selina.
There were no major cases, and they didn’t need to take the minor cases seriously. After all, Elsa wouldn’t check up on them.
Passing through their neighborhood on their way home, they saw a man and a woman get out of two separate cars that were parked next to a house with a “For Sale” sign.
The young woman rushed into the man’s arms.
Luke whistled. “Wow, a beautiful woman has come to our neighborhood.”
Selina looked at her enviously. “Her long legs are really beautiful.”
At that moment, the man lifted the young woman, who was wearing a white dress, and spun her in a half-circle, allowing Luke and Selina to see her breathtaking and perfectly straight legs.
Selina was 1.77 meters tall, which definitely wasn’t short for a female. She also had a healthy and beautiful body with smooth muscles and lines; if her pictures were posted online, there would absolutely be shut-ins at home licking their screens.
But her legs weren’t as pretty as this woman’s.
Most women didn’t have calves that long.
Even at the same height, her longer calves would make her look taller.
Selina sighed, then suddenly thought of something. “Is that the troublemaker’s house?”
Luke glanced at the house, but didn’t have much of an impression of it.
His interest was in cooking, but when it came to the other house chores as well as dealing with enthusiastic neighbors who dropped by, that was left to Selina.
He had no patience to deal with vapid neighbors, but in this sort of middle-class neighborhood, a good relationship with the neighbors would make life a little easier.
Otherwise, someone who didn’t like him might find an opportunity some day to report him to the neighborhood committee.
There were plenty of people like these who had nothing to do, and it wasn’t unusual for them to call the police when they thought that their neighbors were acting suspiciously.
Luke wasn’t scared of the police. It was just that he hated pointless headaches.
He asked casually, “Is there a troublemaker?”
Selina rolled her eyes. “I’m the one who has to deal with those annoying women in this neighborhood! When have you ever cared about our neighbors? Meg owned that house before. I met her a few times, and I felt like shooting her whenever she spoke.”
Luke turned his head. “Meg? I remember her. She might not be very friendly, but she isn’t an addict or some vixen, right?”
Selina sighed. “No, she isn’t, but you can always sense her snooty air whenever you talk to her.”
Luke found that odd. “Snooty? Toward you?”
He wasn’t really convinced.
There were quite a few extraordinary-looking women in this neighborhood. After all, everybody in this middle-class neighborhood prided themselves on appearances, and wouldn’t present too bad a face.
However, very few of them could compare with Selina, except for the woman in the white dress just now.
Secondly, the villa that Luke lived in was one of the best residences in the neighborhood.
The house that Meg was selling, though not bad, was only worth 550,000 dollars, while Luke’s villa was worth at least a million.
Whether it was home, looks, temperament or income, Meg, who was just an ordinary housewife, was far below Selina’s level.
Luke couldn’t understand where this woman got the confidence to look down on Selina. Selina shrugged and said, “You know, it’s that weird and pointed way they talk, and how they’re full of themselves. A lot of housewives here talk like that; it’s disgusting.”
Luke got it.
Some middle-class housewives enjoyed this sort of cryptic, veiled conversation.
But there was no way a candid and straightforward woman like Selina could be fond of that.
He consoled her with a smile. “It’s fine. If you can’t tolerate it, just tell her to beat it. It’s not like we rely on her for a living.”
Selina nodded, then suddenly exclaimed, “Karen is peeking at the new neighbors now?”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “Karen Gaffney? The interior designer?”
Selina nodded helplessly. “Yep. When will she stop with her conspiracy theories? Is it because her married life is too boring?”
Luke couldn’t help rubbing his forehead too.
The villas in this neighborhood were arranged in a circle. They looked beautiful, but the land size was limited.
Luke’s villa was on the fringe, and the lawn in front and behind the villa covered four hundred square meters in total. It was a lot quieter, without any buildings too close to them.
It was for this reason that Luke and Selina didn’t have much contact with the other residents in the neighborhood.
As police officers, they also left early and returned late, and focused on training when they got home; they had no time to participate in any neighborhood gatherings.
They also didn’t want everybody to know that they were police officers, or they wouldn’t be able to avoid getting caught up in a lot of troublesome matters in the neighborhood.
For the moment, they were like passers-by in the neighborhood and barely interacted with anyone.
But there was one exception – Jeff Gaffney and his wife, Karen Gaffney.
Jeff worked in the HR department of a big corporation. Because of his personality and job, he liked to talk to people.
He was also quite good-tempered, and always greeted Luke with a smile when he saw Luke on his walk.
Though Luke was uninterested in hanging out with the neighbors, he didn’t dislike this sort of sincere and nice fellow.
After a few months, Jeff became the neighbor that Luke was most familiar with.
Jeff had invited him to neighborhood gatherings several times. Though Luke tactfully declined each time, Jeff never took offense.
He sympathized with Luke’s busy workload and told Luke that he could talk to him if Luke was under too much stress.
Luke appreciated his good intentions, but there was no way he would ever talk to anyone about his mental state.
Jeff was a good guy, and his wife, Karen, wasn’t a bad person either. She was much better than the sardonic Meg.
Karen was a housewife as well as an interior designer who worked from home.
Perhaps, conspiracy theories were the biggest source of joy in her dull life, as she imagined a lot of thrilling possibilities to enliven her monotonous days.
That was right. This Karen was precisely the neighbor who almost called the police to investigate Luke and Selina.
