Chapter 28: Chapter 28 Traces
Half an hour later, the two left the club.
David said, "I'm going to head back to the station and report Harry's situation to the captain, and then see if I can find Harry. What about you?"
Luke glanced at his watch, "It's time to get off work; I won't be heading back to the station."
"I should have known," David left those words behind and drove off.
Luke wandered around nearby and found a Korean restaurant that looked quite decent.
There are many Korean-Americans in Los Angeles, and consequently, a lot of Korean restaurants. In Luke's mind, Korean cuisine meant barbecue and kimchi.
Luke happened to be a carnivore.
He ordered pork belly, beef, lamb chops, intestines, chicken wings, and a chilled beer, which was utterly satisfying.
After working hard all day, he deserved to treat himself to good food and drink.
After eating his fill and drinking to his heart's content, Luke took a cab home.
As soon as he entered, he saw his mother Linda sitting on the living room sofa, watching a soap opera.
"Good evening, Mom. Where's that little pest?"
"Upstairs doing homework."
Luke smiled, not believing for a second that the little chubster was diligently doing homework; he was probably secretly chatting with that little girlfriend of his.
As Luke was about to head upstairs Linda called out, "Luke, don't forget next month's rent."
"Don't worry, I'm all set. I'll hand it over on time on the 1st."
"Good, just remember if you want to eat at home, you'll have to pay an extra hundred dollars."
Luke paused, having just spent over thirty dollars on dinner, a hundred dollars didn't faze him, "I'd be glad to."
"Good."
Returning to his room, Luke took a shower and was just settling down when he couldn't help thinking about the case he was investigating.
To tell the truth, when Luke told David he wasn't going back to the station earlier that day, he felt a bit embarrassed.
If it were before his rebirth, he would definitely have stayed to work overtime.
Times change, and Luke was feeling a bit conflicted...
"Whatever..." Luke shook his head, not wanting to think about work anymore.
He pulled out his phone and scrolled through TikTok for a while. The foreign girls were pretty, danced well, and seemed to have lots of fun, which made his mind wander to the image of a graceful figure.
Glancing at the time, it was already past nine in the evening. He texted Daisy, "Just got off work, exhausted. What are you up to?"
A few minutes later, as Luke thought she wouldn't reply, his phone pinged, "You're luckier than me. I'm still at the law firm looking through files."
"Weren't you the one who invited me for drinks today? Why are you working overtime again?"
"I did want to have a few drinks today, but I heard you had work, so I had no excuse to slack off."
"When do you plan to get off work?"
"I'll finish up the documents I'm working on, should be around ten or so."
"That's pretty late. You'd better call your boyfriend to pick you up."
"Boyfriend?
No, I don't have a boyfriend, that was just a polite lie to reject advances.
Sorry, I didn't think you'd remember that."
"So, I'm not your type?"
"It's that I'm too busy and really don't have time for dating."
"I didn't see that coming, you being a workaholic."
"Don't I seem like one?"
"Maybe you're just too pretty; it's hard to associate you with being a workaholic."
"You sure know how to talk." Daisy laughed and said, "I do get chased quite a bit, but… I hope to devote more energy to work while I'm young. Maybe I'm better off falling in love with work."
Luke joked, "Your boss must really like you."
"Haha..." Daisy chuckled lightly, "I can't talk anymore, I've got more stuff to do. Let's make plans another day."
"OK, just be safe out there."
"Thanks."
Luke yawned and thought to himself, "Even the chubby kid has a girlfriend now; I, as his brother, have to step up my game."
...
The next morning, after Luke got up, he enjoyed the same treatment as the chubby kid.
For breakfast, there were fried pancake, milk, and vegetable salad. The chubby kid ate reluctantly, but Luke thought it tasted quite good.
After breakfast, it was time to go to work.
"Bro, can I ride with you to school?"
"Why?"
"Because I think riding on the Harley to school is cool."
"Good taste."
"You agree?"
"I took a cab home yesterday, maybe another day."
The chubby kid rolled his eyes, somewhat disappointed.
"Beep beep..." The sound of a car horn came from outside.
"Mom, today's breakfast was delicious, bye." Luke greeted her and hurried out the door.
...
Outside, a black Dodge was parked.
As soon as Luke got in the car, he heard David's complaint, "I'm almost becoming your personal driver."
"Yay, I'm so touched. Want me to give myself to you?"
"Just drop dead."
Luke laughed and glanced at David, "Why panda eyes? Didn't sleep well last night?"
"Ergh..." David yawned, "After reporting to the captain last night, Raymond and I went patrolling near Tony's house. We also said 'hello' to some street racers, but we didn't find any trace of Harry. This guy must be hiding on purpose."
"Need me to drive?"
"No rush, you'll have plenty of chances to drive today."
"You want to continue patrolling?"
"Got any better ideas?"
"Track his cell phone, credit cards, and his home."
"Harry is a gang member; if he wants to hide, he won't make such amateur mistakes, and I had Matthew check—this guy doesn't have a fixed address."
Luke pondered for a moment, "But what I can't figure out is what's this kid's motive? Just because Alyssa refused to perform for him alone?"
David replied, "These gang members have a strong sense of revenge. Alyssa hurt his pride; he definitely wouldn't let it go."
Luke countered, "What about the other two victims? What's their relationship with Harry? If Harry wanted to get back at Alyssa, he could have just targeted her directly, why go after the previous two victims?"
David speculated, "Could the other two women have offended Harry too?"
Luke shook his head, "It's too big of a coincidence that three women with similar appearances all offended Harry."
David slapped his head hard, "Stop thinking about it. We'll know once we find that bastard Harry."
...
Twenty minutes later, the two entered the Robbery and Murder Department. Just as they approached the office door, they saw Raymond, Marcus, and Jenny heading out.
David asked, "Where are you guys going?"
Raymond said, "I was about to call you. We've located Harry."
David was somewhat surprised, "How did you find him?"
Raymond cocked his head toward Marcus.
The latter grinned and spread his thick lips, "Last night, I asked a friend from the gang to dig up information on Harry's whereabouts. This morning I got a message that the kid is staying at a motel near Virtual Avenue."
David felt dejected. He had patrolled the streets until midnight, asking dozens of street racers without finding Harry, and little black solved it with just a phone call?
Seeing little black smug with a self-satisfied look, winking and gesturing, he felt the urge to punch him.