Chapter 343 - Falling Objects
Luke sneered. “Don’t think that rich guys are stupid. Wolf would be an idiot to leave behind any evidence that he bribed Lucas Barton, and without evidence, nothing that Lucas Barton says will count. Besides, I don’t think Lucas Barton would dare reveal Wolf’s name. If Mark Owen can die, so can Lucas Barton.”
Selina nodded quietly. She had seen for herself how savage the rich could be, back in Wolfkyle.
There were always scumbags in this world who had no regard for life.
Sonia joined them and noticed their unusual expressions. “Is there a problem?”
Luke shook his head. “It’s nothing. Have you found anything else?”
Sonia said, “I talked to the female officer named Lila yesterday, and she told me something interesting.”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“She said that Lucas Barton doesn’t like talkative colleagues.” Sonia had a complicated look on her face.
“And?” Selina grew curious.
Sonia took a picture out of a dossier. “And not long ago, the dog of a ‘talkative’ officer died.”
Selina glanced at the picture before immediately giving it to Luke. “Damn it! This guy killed a golden retriever?”
Sonia didn’t say anything, but she was obviously angry.
Many Americans regarded their dogs as part of the family. For example, the old golden retriever called Dollar was the darling of Selina’s family, and had been with them since Selina was a young girl. Dollar was old now, but still a loyal playmate for her brother and sister, and absolutely a part of the family.
Selina would have no qualms shooting whoever hurt her Dollar.
Luke was also fond of dogs, but not as much as Selina.
Staring at the picture for a moment, he asked, “Has anyone examined the dog’s body yet?” Sonia said, “That’s why I’m here; let’s go check out the autopsy results.”
Luke rose and said, “Let’s go and see what Officer Barton did to this dog.”
In the forensics department, they found the forensic scientist Scorsese, who was a young black man with curly hair.
“Did you find anything?” Luke got straight to the point.
Scorsese’s complexion didn’t look good. “A little bit.”
Sonia stared at him and said, “Wow, you don’t look very well.”
Luke was curious. “Hey, Scorsese, isn’t it your job to dissect bodies every day?”
Scorsese said, “I specialize in dissecting human bodies, not dogs.” Luke was speechless. Clearly, this man was a dog person too.
Scorsese avoided the uncomfortable topic and said, “All in all, we found two bullets in this golden retriever called Lightning. They’re from a mini-14 assault rifle, which is a standard gun in the county police department.”
Selina asked, “Is it the same gun that killed Mark Owen?”
Scorsese shook his head. “It’s the same model, but not the same gun.”
Luke asked, “Are there other leads?”
Scorsese shook his head again. “This is all we have.”
Luke nodded and said goodbye.
Sonia said in a low voice behind him, “During my investigation on Lucas Barton, I found out that a charity group called ‘County Police’s Home for Boys’ recently bought four mini-14 assault rifles.”
Luke nodded and said, “But it isn’t strange for a charity organization under the county police to buy some guns for training, right?” Sonia sneered and said, “But this County Police’s Home for Boys is actually a private organization, established and run by that level 2 deputy sheriff.”
Luke paused for a moment. “A private charity group using donations to buy guns? Is that their usual practice?”
Sonia said, “Not really. From buying records, this is the only time that the County Police Boys bought guns in the last two years.”
Pondering for a moment, Luke asked, “But the bullets in Mark Owen don’t match these four guns?” Sonia said, “No.”
Luke wasn’t really disappointed.
Lucas Barton was an experienced officer who wouldn’t make such a rudimentary mistake.
“Let’s go and visit this Officer Barton of honor and integrity,” said Luke.
They drove east.
They asked the receptionist at the county police department, only to learn that Officer Barton had gone off to host a fundraiser.
“Ha. What a great philanthropist,” Luke couldn’t help but remark when he got into his car again.
Selina, however, was focused on something else. “The county officers are pretty good, they can go bowling together. Why doesn’t our department have anything like that?”
Luke was as calm as ever. “…Actually, there was something like that once, but we went straight home after work and didn’t join them.”
Selina said, “What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Luke coughed and said, “My bad. I’ll let you know next time.”
They would be wasting several hours fooling around during a social activity like that, when they could spend the time training.
So, Luke had never intended to participate.
Selina wasn’t really bothered, as her thoughts once again turned to something else. “Home for Boys… That name… Hehe.” She glanced at Luke in the driver’s seat.
Luke shrugged. “Every man is a boy who will never grow up. That’s definitely true.”
Selina couldn’t help but remark, “Do you really think the county officers are boys?” She recalled the huge beard on Big Nick’s face.
At the venue for the fundraiser, Luke had a lot of mixed feelings when he saw the big “DINNER” sign above the bowling alley. “This is a swanky fundraiser, isn’t it?”.
Sonia and Alessandro joined them as well.
Sonia said, “It looks like the county police has much better benefits than we do.”
Luke nodded, “That’s right. Why don’t you talk to the boss about getting us more benefits too? You have my full support.”
Sonia rolled her eyes. Only an idiot would piss off their boss like that.
Leading them to the bowling alley, Luke said, “Don’t look like that. If the boss is reluctant, I can personally invite all the colleagues in our division to…”
BOOM!
A huge noise interrupted him.
Luke turned his head, only to see something land on a nearby car.
His face changed as he looked up at the sky.
“Holy sh*t!” He couldn’t help cursing. “Don’t run about, stay together!”
There were several black dots in the sky that were falling rapidly, and they crashed nearby with loud bangs.