Chapter 245 Party Invitation
America ushered in an age of affluence ahead of many countries in the world. Many people didn’t need to work too hard to live nowadays, so thrill seekers weren’t unusual.
After telling Selina his findings, Luke asked Selina, “What about you? Did you find anything suspicious?”
“With what you just told me, I do have something suspicious. For example, the details of the murder of Sandra’s mother a year ago are worth reviewing.” Sandra patted the case file in her hand.
Flipping to a particular page, she said, “Here in Sandra’s testimony, she claimed that she saw Cotton Whirry running away from her house at 10 pm. Her exact words are: ‘I saw the killer escape through my bedroom window.’ That was why Cotton became a suspect. What do you think?”
Luke thought for a moment and said, “Sandra’s room is in a corner of the house, so maybe she only saw his back? Also, it was late at night.”
Selina shrugged and said, “That’s right. When the police investigated a year ago, they found a coat stained with her mother’s blood in Cotton’s house, but Cotton was drunk when he was discovered, and couldn’t tell them what he had done at all.”
Mind whirling, Luke said, “Let’s go for a walk.”
Selina asked, “What are you going to do?”
Luke chuckled. “They have tricks, but I have high tech.”
Selina was confused. “Huh?”
They talked to Beverly and left the house.
Slightly worried, Beverly called Polk after they drove away, but Polk simply said, “Got it. Don’t worry about them. They know what they’re doing.”
Luke’s plan very simple.
Based on the case files that Selina had read, and after a call to Polk, they found out where Bily lived and headed over.
Then, they went to Stu’s house. He was the number 10 girl’s boyfriend, as well as the guy who had argued with Luke earlier.
Luke hid quite a few cameras in the trees around both houses and made sure that there weren’t any blind spots.
He then installed two signal boosters in a couple of inconspicuous spots nearby so that he would be able to receive the camera feed in most parts of town.
The cameras wouldn’t be on all the time. Instead, they turn on automatically at night, and the batteries would last three nights.
Luke believed that was enough. He didn’t think the two high school students were very patient.
After everything was done, they drove back to Polk’s and said goodnight to Beverly before they retired to their respective rooms.
Luke read the files on gangs in L.A. until four in the morning, before finally going to bed.
The next day was also warm and sunny.
Luke and Selina went to school, but before they could enter, they heard a broadcast: “School will be suspended for a week because of security risks. Please stay at home and do not go out, for your own safety.”
Ecstatic, the students exploded with cheers, applause and loud whistles.
Selina and Luke looked at each other in bewilderment.
A moment later, Selina turned around and asked gloomily, “Pretending to be a student and teacher? Secret investigation?”
While Selina and Luke wondered what they were going to do, a young man in a police uniform came out of the building with two girls.
One of the girls was excited to see Luke. “Ah, it’s you!”
The officer was also stunned for a moment. “You’re… the kid with Polk, right?”
Luke smiled and said, “Nice to meet you, Dewey. I’m Luke, this is my cousin Selina. May I know the name of this gorgeous girl here?”
The girl was none other than the one with the number 10 sweater.
She couldn’t be happier. “I’m Tatum. I’m Dewey’s sister.”
Luke chuckled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tatum.”
Mind whirling, Tatum said, “Right, there’s a party at Stu’s tonight. Would you like to come?”
Luke and Selina were both lost for words. Holding a party when the entire town was intimidated by a serial killer? How… exciting.
Luke nodded with a smile. “Alright, we’ll be there tonight.”
Tatum said, “Do you want me to show you the way?”
Luke said, “It’s fine. You better keep your friend company.” He looked at Sandra, who was the other girl with Dewey.
Tatum nodded regretfully. “Alright. If you don’t know the way, just ask Dewey to take you there.”
What a shame. Tatum had been hoping for a chance to talk to this handsome boy.
Watching them leave, Selina warned Luke, “Don’t be hasty. She asked you to look for her later tonight, didn’t she?”
Luke said, “You didn’t notice where the party is going to be held? I’m thinking about work, not s.e.x, alright?”
Recalling what Tatum said, Selina immediately got it. “You’re saying that Stu is up to something at his place?”
“If you’re going to hold a party at someone else’s place, you definitely need to ask for their permission first, right?” said Luke.
Selina nodded and said. “So, tonight…”
Luke grinned. “There are two mini-cams in the car. Let’s go to the party tonight. Chances are we’ll catch some interesting pictures.”
Selina said, “You sure it’s not going to be the kind of interesting pictures you took with Elena?”
Luke said, “Feel free to take those sorts of shots if you want, but I’m going to be focusing on the killer. I have to say that a certain someone is getting dirtier and dirtier.”
Selina gnashed her teeth. “Do you really not know who is the dirtier one between the both of us?”
Luke: “Hehe.”
“It’s still the morning. What should we do for the rest of the day?” asked Selina.
Luke said, “Let’s just keep an eye on those two brash young men.”
Cracking a case usually wasn’t half as exciting as most people thought.
It wasn’t unusual for two detectives to sleep and eat in their car for days while monitoring a suspect.
Luke hardly ever did this sort of thing. Most of the time, he would rather go out and look for leads.
Selina, on the other hand, had tailed a lot of suspects when she worked with Donald, so she was quite familiar with the routine.
It was a peaceful and boring morning.
Thanks to the signal boosters that Luke installed, the two of them could still roam the town in their car.
They had the local special at a restaurant at noon. The food didn’t taste bad; Selina didn’t complain, at least.
When it was slightly past five, Selina suddenly said, “Huh? Is Billy out?”