Chapter 325 Extravagant Big Nick
After a brief hesitation, the receptionist said, “Three days ago in the morning, someone ambushed an armored car, and four of our colleagues died in the line of duty.”
The faces of Luke and his companions turned dark after hearing that.
Those robbers really had guts to kill four police officers at the same time.
No wonder the receptionist had seemed busy and impatient.
Sonia apologized in part for the minor quibble just now, before they went over to the office that the receptionist had pointed at.
Sonia leaned in close and asked in a low voice, “Luke, isn’t this a bad time for us to visit?”
Luke said helplessly, “How could we have known we would run into this? But the ranger was a police officer too. We can’t give up on him.”
Sonia frowned and fell silent.
Four police officers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department died in the line of duty, but so did the Texas ranger called Mark.
Luke narrowed his eyes when they entered the office. Holy sh*t! Who are you declaring war on?
The office was plain with just wooden and gla.s.s part.i.tions, but it was quite s.p.a.cious.
In a room more than fifty square meters in size, a dozen police officers were aggressively checking their weapons.
Not only did they have M4A1s and AR15s, they also boasted expensive guns like the HK416, which was unbelievable.
Even the special forces only had submachine guns and shotguns as one part of their whole setup, but these county officers all had heavy firepower weapons. An officer noticed Luke and asked with a frown, “What do you want?” Luke flashed his badge. “Luke, from LAPD.” The man was stumped. “Why are you here?”
Luke replied, “I’m here about the murder of the Texas ranger.”
With an ugly look on his face, the man turned around and shouted, “Big Nick, a detective from LAPD is here on a case.”
Almost everybody in the office stopped what they were doing to look at them.
A moment later, a tall, bearded middle-aged man approached them with a displeased expression. “What do you want?”
Luke said calmly, “Do you remember Mark Owen, the Texas ranger who was shot dead on the road three days ago?” Nick frowned. “Yes, so what?” Luke said, “So, I would like to know who approved the transport route.” Nick grew cold. “It was me. What are you implying? Do you want to take me back to your police department for an interrogation?” Luke said as calmly as ever, “Mark Owen was a police officer who died in the line of duty. I believe his family would want an answer.”
Nick’s expression was ugly, but he didn’t dare say anything outrageous.
n.o.body liked a sc.u.mbag who would dare disrespect an officer who died in the line of duty, particularly when some of their own colleagues in the department had just died the same way.
“I can see that you’re all very busy. How about we save some time, and talk in private for a moment?” asked Luke.
Nick led them to a corner of the office and kicked a man who was preparing his gear there. “Off you go; make room for our dear colleagues from LAPD.”
The man was chased off, but the grin he gave Luke was full of ridicule.
Luke didn’t even bother to look at him.
He knew that he tended to be underestimated because of his looks, but he didn’t rely on his face to make a living.
Less than ten minutes later, Luke said goodbye and left.
Sonia was about to say something after they exited the office, when Luke interrupted her and said, “Let’s talk outside.”
Sonia looked around and closed her mouth. After they left the building and were on their way to the parking lot, Luke finally asked, “Sonia, did you notice something?” After a brief hesitation, Sonia said, “Luke, did you notice what they’re wearing?”.
Luke nodded and said, “It’s all custom made; it can’t be cheap. What else?”
Sonia said, “Their shoes. I didn’t recognize all of them, but I know the brand of the leather boots which Big Nick’s wearing: they’re from a particular boutique shoe store in Los Angeles.”
Luke chuckled. “Let me guess. The price is crazy, right?”
Sonia nodded. “I wanted to buy a pair as a birthday gift for my father before, but even the cheapest cost almost two thousand dollars a pair. The calfskin boots that Nick’s wearing, on the other hand, are at least twice that.”
Selina clicked her tongue. “Wouldn’t that be weeks’ worth of our wages?” She then looked at her own boots.
Well, she was wearing custom made boots too, but they weren’t branded — because they were modified by Luke. Nick’s calfskin boots were nothing compared with her genuinely special pair of boots.
The special alloy layer in them alone was worth almost ten thousand dollars, and didn’t even include Luke’s labor fee.
The young police detective Alessandro, who had the same name as the son of a drug dealer that Luke had taken down, spoke up. “Quite a number of them are wearing pricey watches too.”
Luke looked at him. “How much are they?”
Alessandro replied, “Some are worth thousands of dollars, and there were a couple that were worth over ten grand.”
Selina and Sonia were utterly nonplussed.
It wasn’t unusual for the odd police officer or two to wear an expensive watch, but something was definitely off when so many field officers had them.
Dirty cop!
Everybody thought the same thing. In a seemingly strict police system, a lot of police officers in fact weren’t clean.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was the biggest county department and the fourth biggest police department in America. It was responsible for the wider L.A. district, and provided law enforcement services to 42 of the 88 cities in the district.
It had as many employees as LAPD did, and the number of people in its jurisdiction rivaled the population of downtown Los Angeles.
It was definitely impossible for every police officer in this enormous police department to be loyal and dutiful.
Without sufficient diplomacy and skill, honest officers wouldn’t be able to navigate the complicated web of affairs and interests inside the department.Dustin was about to be promoted as captain, but he didn’t dare wear expensive clothes or watches at all.
Big Nick was only a sergeant, but had the b.a.l.l.s to wear them in public.
Luke had also noticed even more details.
With his keen sight, he had easily spotted identical tattoos on a handful of people in the room.
These were only the ones that he could see that weren’t covered — who was to say that more people didn’t have the same tattoo under their clothes?
Clearly, Sergeant Big Nick wasn’t alone, and had a bunch of loyal underlings or brothers.
As they spoke, they reached the parking lot, and got into their cars.
Sonia asked through the open window, “Where to now?”