Chapter 331 - Firmly Evading Non-Beneficial Matters
“Wait.” Selina suddenly opened her eyes. “If we hadn’t intervened, none of the robbers might’ve survived.”
Four robbers were caught alive because of her and Luke.
Considering the fierce battle between the police and the robbers, it was unlikely that they would have surrendered. They would probably have all been killed.
Big Nick wouldn’t have let them go when so many of his men were wounded.
Selina’s eyes glittered. “So, the black guy is the mastermind behind the curtain. He intentionally led Nick to this place to try and get his companions killed. While the robbers he sold out thought that the counterfeit cash was real, he could hijack the other garbage truck and take the money for himself.”
After that, she looked at Luke. “Is that the case?”
Luke applauded her with a smile. “Correct, my thoughts exactly.”
Just now, he had received the system notification.
Mission: Catch the bank robbers and reclaim the loot.
Total experience: 1,000. Total credit: 1,000.
Contribution rate: 60%. EXP +400. Credit +600.
EXP 16,890.
Selina asked, “Shouldn’t we go after him?”
Luke chuckled. “Don’t forget that the loot is in Dustin’s hands, so this isn’t entirely our case anymore. We should ask the boss what to do next.”
Selina was stumped, wondering when Luke had become so obedient.
Luke, however, knew that too much money was involved, and that it might not be good to go off on his own and detain criminal suspects without talking to Dustin first.
More importantly, the Federal Reserve hadn’t responded yet.
How could the Federal Reserve still be so calm when the robbers stole so much money? They should’ve sent out a request for investigation before this.
It was this unusual situation that made Luke decide to talk to Dustin first.
Sometimes, people wouldn’t necessarily thank you for cracking a case, and might hate your guts instead.
Luke returned to the police department and went to a corner of the underground parking lot, which had been cleared out and partitioned off with plastic sheets. A foul smell wafted out from the area.
Luke’s nose twitched, and he instantly shut off his Sharp Nose.
Elizabeth was guarding the entry point in the plastic sheets. Her big mask covered her pretty face.
Seeing Luke, she said excitedly, “Luke, you’re back. Do you know that the garbage truck… Forget it. The boss will tell you about it.”
Luke nodded with a smile. “That’s right. Don’t say anything that you shouldn’t.”
Selina patted Elizabeth’s shoulder and said, “Good girl!”
Elizabeth took out two masks from her pocket. “Take these. It doesn’t smell very good inside.”
Luke and Selina put on the masks and walked in.
Both Dustin and Elsa were inside.
Billy and Simmons were going through the trash meticulously.
On one side, Elsa was taking cash out from the black bags and throwing it into a plastic box.
Most of the garbage was shredded paper that had been compressed into round blocks.
This was also the source of the weird cash smell that Luke had detected earlier. Old dollar bills had been shredded and compressed into round blocks, and thus gave off a distorted smell of money.
Seeing Luke and Selina, Dustin waved at them. “Luke, Selina, over here.”
Dustin led them to one side. Elsa simply nodded, but didn’t follow them.
In the corner, Dustin asked in a low voice, “What’s the money about?”
Luke briefed him on what happened in the afternoon and shrugged. “I don’t know exactly what the money is about. I only found the garbage truck suspicious because it was in the wrong place. I don’t dare guess where the money came from.”
Various emotions flashed across Dustin’s face as he looked at Luke. “Who else knows about this?”
Luke said, “Just us, Sonia’s team, and the people who were with you, boss.”
Dustin nodded and said, “Keep this under wraps, and you don’t have to follow up on it.”
Luke hummed. “Got it. This wasn’t our case in the first place.”
Dustin was stumped. “Huh?”
Luke chuckled. “It was Sonia who watched the truck and you who examined the garbage. We didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Dustin was lost for words. It all sounds very reasonable, but why do I feel like beating you up?
“Then, we’re leaving, boss.” Luke said, “We’re making progress on the Mark Owen case. I need to follow up on it.”
Dustin looked at them and opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything.
He himself had told Luke and Selina to steer clear of this case.
Luke had also made it very clear that the money had nothing to do with him, and that he had done nothing more than ask Sonia to keep an eye on the truck. Any discoveries related to the truck could be attributed to Sonia’s team, or Elsa’s team, or even Dustin’s team, but they had nothing to do with Luke or Selina.
Since they weren’t involved in this case, Dustin couldn’t ask them to go through the trash here.
Waving his hand helplessly, Dustin said, “Get out of here.”
Luke chuckled. “Where’s Sonia and Alessandro? I need their help in our investigation.” Dustin said, “Call them yourself. Am I an
operator?”
Luke immediately saluted him. “Yes, sir.” He then ran away with Selina.
This case was so complicated that he didn’t want to touch it at all.
He wasn’t interested in the black man who was likely to be the mastermind either.
Luke wasn’t a man of pure integrity. This case entailed a lot of trouble and promised few rewards. He certainly would rather keep a distance from it.
The problem wasn’t the police, but the Federal Reserve.
The huge amount of money could’ve only been acquired from the Federal Reserve branch, but the Federal Reserve had yet to respond.
The FBI would search for leads like crazy even if only one dollar was stolen, to say nothing of the looting of tens of millions of dollars.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just about the money, but also about the holes in the Federal Reserve’s security system.
Who knew how much money would be lost the next time something like this happened?
Luke immediately withdrew from the case before he was too deeply mired in it, and threw everything to Dustin.
He could ask to join the investigation since he was the one who had found the initial leads, and Dustin trusted him, but what could he get out of it?
Even if Luke took the money, it would still be illegal cash. Like the millions of dollars sitting in his inventory, he wouldn’t be able to use it openly.
It wouldn’t help with getting a promotion either. Elsa had already said several times that no matter how he and Selina put it off, they would be promoted to level three detectives in a month, which was the highest level for detectives.
So, it was unnecessary for them to work for more credit.
If he was involved in this case, it was likely that the FBI would fully investigate Luke and his family, and that was something that Luke wanted to avoid.