Chapter 1741: Absence and Investigation
Three days later, Luke took Elena to Margaret’s high-end apartment.
Margaret, who had just come out of the elevator, was already waiting for them with a smile.
Luke didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Who would meet guests at the elevator?
But Margaret clearly didn’t care.
Elena didn’t care either. She hugged Margaret with a smile and showed her two bottles of red wine.
Margaret usually didn’t drink, nor did she care about the quality or price of alcohol.
After confirming that there was red wine, she looked at the food box that Luke was carrying. “Is it yogurt cake?”
Luke nodded. “It’s chocolate and strawberry. How does that sound?”
Margaret nodded quickly, as if she was afraid that if she said she didn’t like it, Luke would never bring his cake again.
Seeing that Elsa had arrived early, Luke greeted her with a smile and teased, “You have a lot of friends, huh? Plus, she’s a rich lady. You came running for the party?”
Elsa simply asked, “Where’s Selina?”
Luke said, “She’s busy with some work.”
Elsa narrowed her eyes at him. “Should I call her and ask her what she’s doing?”
Luke shrugged. “Sure.”
Surprised, Elsa really did call Selina. “Hey, when are you going to have your party? Oh, no, I’m not in a hurry… What are you doing? Work? Okay, bye.”
After hanging up, she looked at Luke, who was leisurely sipping his coffee. She couldn’t help but give him a thumbs up. “You’re really capable.”
Luke chuckled. “You’re the one who gave me this commission. Do you think Selina doesn’t know?”
Elsa chuckled and looked at Elena, who was examining the cake in the food box with Margaret. “Does your companion know why you’re here?”
Luke nodded calmly. “Of course.”
Elsa clenched her fist and tapped her forehead. “Fine, Dustin’s advice was right. I was wrong. I shouldn’t worry about your personal life.”
Luke looked at her sympathetically. “The boss is already married.”
Elsa’s hand froze.
Luke made things worse. “He’s no longer a lonely middle-aged man, so he won’t rebel against society like you.”
“Shut up.” Elsa grabbed the apple that was on the table and threw it at him. Wasn’t he implying that she didn’t have a boyfriend?
Luke caught the apple and tossed it back at her. “I’m just being polite. Isn’t it normal to show care and concern for each other?”
Elsa snorted and decisively dropped the unfriendly topic. “Are you confident about this job?”
Luke took another sip of his coffee and replied casually, “Let’s talk after I meet Haley. I’m not a relations.h.i.+p consultant. I don’t care about the relations.h.i.+p between the sisters; I’m just checking to see that they’re not in danger.”
Elsa was relieved to hear that.
Detective agencies always destroyed relations.h.i.+ps. The chances of a fallout happening increased rapidly when most family matters were taken to a detective agency.
Even if the main factor was the problem between the two parties involved, the agency was definitely an expert at adding fuel to the fire.
But Elsa wasn’t worried about Margaret at all. She just wanted her friend to realize one thing: Sisters couldn’t be together forever.
Haley was five years older than Margaret, and was already 29.
In society, it was normal for a 39- or even 49-year-old not to get married, but there weren’t many 29-year-olds who weren’t obsessed with work.
A strong commitment to work could lead to a promotion and higher pay, and some people enjoyed it.
Haley was clearly an ambitious woman. If she didn’t work hard now, would she wait until she was 40 or 50 years old?
There was some truth to the saying, “If you’re lazy in your prime, you’ll regret it in your old age.”
It had to be pointed out that most bigshots in specialized fields were under 30.
There were geniuses in Go or math who were even younger.
Haley had helped Margaret avoid being tracked down by the L.A. gangs for the last two years before going back to a normal life.
Not everyone could be like Margaret, who had a billion in a.s.sets and blithely became an artist who didn’t have to make money for the rest of her life.
As Margaret’s sister, Haley had already done a lot for her.
She couldn’t be blamed for wanting to focus on her career.
Elsa had only asked Luke to come to confirm that the sisters weren’t in any danger.
For Luke, however, checking out the situation and explicitly promising to keep them safe were two different things.
Margaret, who had finished examining the “gifts,” came over with Elena. The four of them chatted and laughed as they waited for Haley to come home.
However, after the feast which Haley ordered was delivered between 6 and 7pm, Haley herself had yet to show up.
They waited from 7 to 8pm, but Haley still didn’t return home.
The atmosphere in the room turned heavy. Margaret paced anxiously and called Haley every now and then, but n.o.body picked up.
Elsa gave him a meaningful look, and Luke nodded, then shook his head.
This meant that he was already investigating, and was telling her not to be hasty.
Luke quickly sent a message to Little Snail.
Although he hadn’t thought much of Margaret’s request two days ago, he had still collected information on Haley.
He didn’t need to look at previous info, and just looked at Haley’s records from the past year or so.
Little Snail began to put together information on Haley’s recent movements.
Haley hadn’t switched jobs. She had still been working as a psychiatrist at King’s Park Sanatorium for the past two years, but Luke discovered that the place had been renovated last year.
According to Margaret, Haley had been working overtime a lot since last year.
While the Clinton renovation company hadn’t gotten the main engineering project for the hospital, it had still received a few related small projects.
From the engineering quotes, it was clear that the renovations cost a lot.
After all, the renovation company only did the smaller jobs, but they were very lucrative.
It wouldn’t make sense for the sanatorium to spend money on minor things and save on the big project.
Luke checked the bank account and saw that the renovation project cost 12 million dollars, and that was for three months of work.
Luke raised an eyebrow. Wasn’t this too expensive? How long and how many patients would it take to recoup the cost?
The money would definitely be earned back. After all, doctors in America made a lot of money, and psychiatrists were like lawyers: they were money-making tools.
But to invest so much money in a short period of time, and not for a complete rebuild of the sanatorium, wasn’t a very smart move.
Few capitalists were stupid. Even if they didn’t understand anything, the professionals who worked for them would offer suitable suggestions.
So, exactly what did the sanatorium “renovate” in those three months?
Seeing that, Luke had his Level 2 clone head to King’s Park Sanatorium on the west side of Brooklyn.