Chapter 538 - Don't Look Down On the Young
The black man was so frightened that the crowbar in his hand fell to the ground. He turned around nervously and awkwardly. “No, no need.”
Seeing the badges that were hanging on their chests, he became even more anxious. “Ah, I have to pee. Talk to you later.” With that, he slipped away.
Luke and Selina couldn’t be bothered to nab him.
There were too many such thieves in Los Angeles. If this one hadn’t been on the way and Luke could earn ten experience and credit points just by saying a few words, he wouldn’t have intervened at all
Scaring off the dumb thief who had failed to steal anything and had lost a crowbar instead, Luke was about to leave.
But even when dialed down to an ordinary level, his Sharp Nose was still more sensitive than a regular person’s, and he suddenly discovered something interesting. Staring at the car, he suddenly asked Selina, “Does the case file mention Jameson’s license plate?”
Selina searched the case file for it. “Hey, that’s right, this is it.”
Luke took out Jameson’s card from his pocket and dialed the number on it. “Is this Mr. Jameson? We just ran into someone trying to break into your car.”
In less than two minutes, Jameson came charging out in a rage. “Damn it, what’s wrong with Los Angeles? Is this hell on earth?”
He didn’t flip out at Luke and Selina.
He wasn’t stupid. While the police detectives of the Major Crimes Division didn’t necessarily have high positions, they had much greater power than regular police officers.
Also, petty theft didn’t come under their purview, and they could’ve just ignored it.
Luke simply nodded at him. “Mr. Jameson, is this your car?”
Jameson took out his key and pressed the unlock button, and the car instantly beeped. Luke said, “Can you open your trunk? The thief seemed to be trying to open it just now.”
Jameson found that strange, but did as Luke asked.
After the trunk was opened, Luke looked at what was inside with a mocking smile. “Mr. Jameson, isn’t that the brown paper bag provided by the casino? Judging from how packed it looks, does it contain the 20,000 dollars you lost?”
Dumbfounded, Jameson grabbed the bag and poured out its contents into the trunk.
Two wads of cash slid out.
Considering the amount and the denomination, and as long as a few notes hadn’t been pulled out, Luke felt that this was definitely the 20,000 dollars.
Looking at Jameson, who was checking the cash with utter disbelief on his face, Luke said with a smile, “Mr. Jameson, it seems that you can make a call and withdraw your case now, right?”
Jameson was vexed. “But I really was beaten up and robbed. How would I know that he would throw the money into my trunk?”
As he said that, he suddenly realized something. “Wait, did he cover my head precisely because he didn’t want me to see him throw the money into the trunk? Or he didn’t want me to see his face? He’s just making fun of me!”
Both Luke and Selina agreed with this speculation.
Unless Mr. Jameson had nothing better to do than call the cops over something that didn’t happen, this was more likely petty revenge than a robbery.
The robber didn’t take the 20,000 dollars when it was right in front of him; this was probably personal.
He beat Jameson up but didn’t hurt him, so he probably didn’t hate Jameson. He just wanted to humiliate him.
Even if the robber was found, it would be hard to convict him. After all, Jameson hadn’t lost any money, and he wasn’t hurt at all.
Luke and Selina didn’t waste any more time and simply told Jameson to park the car inside the hotel compound.
They didn’t know what the idiotic magnate was thinking when he parked the car outside the hotel and carried the cash on him when he left. He only had himself to blame for his misfortune.
Luke’s guess was that this guy wanted to flaunt his cash by spending it extravagantly.
Except for criminals, most people didn’t earn so much from their daily work.
On top of that, there were some occasions where using a credit card wasn’t preferred since it would leave a trail, so workers in certain trades wanted cash.
Labeling Jameson a playboy in his heart, Luke drove off with Selina.
Selina chuckled. “This guy’s family runs a newspaper. Though it’s based in New York, the department still doesn’t want to be criticized by the paper for poor law and order, which is why they gave the case to us. So, we cracked this case in half a day, right?”
Luke was amused. “Seriously? The newspapers in New York can say whatever they want. Which bigshot cherishes our reputation so much?”
Selina pointed at him. “Hush, you!”
Luke: “Huh?”
“Because that bigshot is Director Brad, our boss’s boss’s boss,” said Selina.
Seeing the awkwardness on Luke’s face, she burst out laughing.
After she was done laughing, she finally explained, “According to Elsa, Director Brad only came to L.A. after he was elbowed out in New York. When he left, he swore that he would return to New York someday.”
Luke smiled wryly. Was this a matter of sticking to your principles and upholding your dignity? Looking at his face, Selina added, “Also, I reckon that what our big boss meant back then was that he wanted the guys in New York to beg him to go back.”
What goes around comes around? Don’t look down on the young? When Luke recalled this saying, he instantly couldn’t help laughing. Director Brad certainly wasn’t a young man, and no one had ever looked down on him. He was one of the most powerful men in LAPD. His position as director of Westside LAPD could at most only be considered a minor setback in his life.
Dropping the discussion about their boss’s life, the two of them drove back to the police department.
Luke didn’t tell Selina that he actually knew who beat up Jameson. The scent of a certain unreliable “best hitman” still lingered on the bag of money.
From Luke’s contact with the guy, this really was something the guy would do, not for the money, but for fun.
But who knew exactly how Jameson had pissed off this “best hitman”?
However, the best hitman hadn’t gone so far as to cut Jameson into pieces. Perhaps, the grudge wasn’t too serious?Back at the police department, Luke examined the bodies and evidence that had been collected from the two bank robbery slash homicide cases.
Putting aside the man whose head had been smashed in, he discovered something new about the robber who had been hung with a rope.
Looking at the noose, Luke rubbed his chin. “This technique looks familiar.”
In fact, it wasn’t just familiar.
The knots and the height of the noose were similar to the skills of Todd Vince, that assistant director slash writer.
Luke could even picture how the noose must have flown through the air to land around the robber’s neck and hang him.
Todd Vince had already been crushed under the wheels of a big truck. He was as dead as could be.
Of course, a dead person couldn’t commit a crime. It could’ve only been done by someone with proficient rope skills.
