Chapter 194 - Slipping Away From Work
Luke drove the car today, and Selina endured his scolding as she bit into some cheese.
Cheese on its own was food for many Americans.
But for Luke, he had to eat it with other ingredients.
“You have time to eat, but you can’t go and buy some ingredients after getting off work? Is it so hard to buy some bread and milk? Just how lazy are you?”
Seizing a moment when her mouth wasn’t full, Selina hurried to say, “I can’t make any dishes anyway. The food would’ve gone bad even if I bought them. I’m not lazy. Just make me a list, and I’ll go to the supermarket and buy everything myself, okay?”
Luke was rendered speechless.
She did seem to have a point… except she didn’t! How could bread and milk go bad so easily? She was simply lazy!
Seeing how shameless his roommate was, Luke stopped nagging her.
It was indeed pointless for someone who couldn’t cook to keep ingredients in the fridge. In his previous life, too many fresh ingredients had gone bad in his fridge.
But he followed Selina’s suggestion. Getting her to drive the car, Luke made a list and put it in her purse.
Selina didn’t complain, but was quite happy instead. “Ah, darling, what are we going to eat tonight? I can buy us more ingredients.”
Luke: …Just shut up! I’ll be the one making the food in the end anyway!
Bickering all the way to the police department, they then went off to find their respective partners.
As usual, Elsa was earlier than Luke.
She generally arrived half an hour early, and Luke would get there fifteen to twenty minutes later.
Seeing that Luke had arrived, she got to her feet and said, “Let’s go to the boss’s office and report in.”
Following her, Luke asked, “Report on what? Our pleasant holiday in the capital of the
arts?”
Elsa snorted. “I’m going to ask for a case. We have no cases to work on right now.”
Luke nodded his head without objection.
For him, it was better to have too many cases than to have none.
When they entered Dustin’s office, they found Dustin already hard at work.
Looking at the stacks of files on the man’s desk, Luke secretly shook his head. This was the reason why he didn’t want to be promoted at all.
The local police departments across America had different systems, but generally speaking, police sub-bureaus in major cities like Los Angeles were headed by captains, while sub-bureau divisions were headed by sergeants.
Actually, a sergeant was the starting point for the administrative level in the police system. That was why one had to take a civil service test to become a sergeant.
As the boss of the Major Crimes Division, Dustin was a lieutenant, which was a level higher than sergeant. The word on the street was that he would be promoted to captain soon.
For administrators, coordinating their subordinates and distributing cases could be quite annoying; they had to spend a lot of time navigating office politics.
Luke had no talent in that area. He would rather be a specialist like Old Greyson.
Old Greyson wouldn’t have been as smart or as ruthless as an administrator, nor would FBI and CIA big shots be knocking on his door if he had become one.
Seeing Luke and Elsa come in, Dustin put his files down and gestured for Luke to close the door.
After the door was shut, Dustin said with a smile, “It seems you enjoyed your holiday.”
Neither of them said anything. It wasn’t the best time to brag about it.
Dustin soon got down to business. “You don’t have new cases on hand, do you?”
Elsa nodded her head. “That’s right, boss. We’re checking in to see if there are any new cases we can work on.”
Dustin was very pleased.
He had always appreciated Elsa, not just because of her ability to crack cases, but also because of her attitude toward work.
Without further ado, Dustin took out a few files and said, “The first case is kind of tricky. You can give it up if you don’t find any leads in a couple of days.”
Luke and Elsa knew that the case had to be a major one despite the lack of clues, so it had to be investigated.
Elsa immediately accepted the file.
Luke, however, looked at Dustin.
Noticing his expression, Dustin asked, “What’s up?”
Luke chuckled. “Boss, I’m thinking that Elsa can read the file today while I take care of some personal business. I’ve been away for two weeks, after all.”
no
Stumped for a moment, Dustin smiled. “You’re slipping off when you just got back from Paris? Didn’t you have enough fun?”
Luke, however, simply grimaced. “Boss, I’m only thinking about Elsa. Look at her. She still has jet lag. I’m afraid that she’ll crash the car if she goes out now. Why don’t you let her stay in for today and read the file?”
Dustin glanced at Elsa. Noticing the amusement on her face, he knew that Elsa had been unaware of Luke’s intention until just then. He found a document on his table and threw it at Luke. “What a scoundrel! Take this and get out!”
SCO
While Dustin hadn’t given him a straight answer, Luke knew he had gotten tacit approval.
Looking at the document, Luke smiled. “Haha, boss, thanks. I won’t have to use Elsa’s car today.”
Dustin pointed at the door, too lazy to say anything else.
Luke saluted him with a smile and left, not asking why Elsa was staying behind.
Elsa had been away for days. It was natural that she and Dustin needed to talk in private.
Just now, Luke had said outright that he was heading out on personal business. Other people might’ve been criticized for it, but Dustin was well aware of Luke’s attitude and abilities.
Given how Luke had managed to resolve the robbery at Nakatomi Plaza in an hour, it certainly wasn’t a problem if he wanted to slip away for a day or two.
After cracking the Sergei and Nakatomi Plaza cases, Luke could easily take off for a year if he wanted to.
The document that Dustin had tossed to him was actually a certificate for Luke’s own police car.
So, from today onward, he could drive himself wherever he wanted to go.
After Luke left and shut the door, Elsa asked, “Boss, how’s it going with the Nakatomi Plaza case?”