Evening.

Police Detective Bureau.

Robbery and Murder Department's meeting room.

Luke reported on the progress of the case investigation and the arrest process.

Susan's gaze swept over Luke and Marcus, "Which one of you two hit the suspect?"

Luke said, "It might have been me."

Marcus shrugged, "Or it might have been me."

The situation at the time was a bit chaotic, with all three shooting wildly, so it was hard to say for sure.

Susan asked with concern, "Do you need to rest?"

Luke was already an experienced officer, and shooting didn't affect him much; moreover, David had already recused himself. If Luke took a break too, the team would be short-staffed.

"No." The will case was close to being solved, and Luke didn't want to back out halfway.

Marcus also shook his head, "When I could walk, I roamed the streets of the slums, the sound of gunfire is my lullaby, no big deal."

"Good, welcome back to the team."

Marcus laughed, "Is there a welcome ceremony?"

"Currently, there are no funds for that. If you want to dig into your pocket, we can arrange one for you."

"Captain, you're really considerate, but I'll pass."

"OK, the pleasant welcoming ceremony is over, let's continue discussing the case," Susan changed the topic, "How is Logan Salmo doing? Is he able to make a statement?"

Marcus replied, "He got shot in the arm, and this guy is using his injury as an excuse, claiming he is unable to make a statement for now and wants to wait until he's recovered."

Susan summarized, "So, we still don't know what relationship these two have with Lorne?"

Luke continued, "Actually, I've found some clues. I looked into Logan Salmo's phonebook and found a familiar number.

It's Emma, Lorne's younger daughter.

Logan Salmo and Emma had many call records, the last one being yesterday evening."

Jenny frowned, "Emma is only eighteen? I don't think she would kidnap her father at her age."

Susan analyzed, "Emma is only entitled to an inheritance of a hundred thousand US Dollars, while her sister Sofia is set to inherit several million US Dollars. Emma expressed her dissatisfaction numerous times after learning about the written will.

She has sufficient motive and reason to kidnap her father Lorne."

Luke said, "I tried calling Emma's cell phone, but no one answered. It won't be easy to find her."

Susan pointed at Marcus, "Marcus, can you find her?"

...

The next morning.

Luke rode his Harley into the detective bureau. Just as he parked, he saw three familiar figures coming down the stairs.

Raymond, Marcus, Jenny.

"Hey, where are you guys off to?"

Marcus bragged, "I've found out where Emma is."

Luke was somewhat envious of Marcus' ability to get information, "I'm coming with you."

Raymond said, "You and Jenny have another task."

After speaking, Raymond and Marcus left in the car.

Luke turned to Jenny beside him, "Where are we headed?"

"The bank." They got into the car, and as Jenny drove, she explained, "Matthew checked Lorne's bank account and discovered that this morning, a hundred thousand US Dollars were withdrawn from Lorne's account."

Luke smiled, "Well done, whoever withdrew the money is the person who kidnapped Lorne."

The two rushed to the bank, showed their badges, and requested yesterday's surveillance footage.

Seeing the person withdrawing the money in the surveillance footage, both were surprised.

Lorne.

Luke carefully reviewed the footage to confirm it was indeed Lorne himself.

Lindsay wasn't lying; this might not be a kidnapping, but rather Lorne wanting to escape.

"Ding-a-ling-ling..."

Luke's phone rang. He pressed the answer button, "Hello."

"How's the investigation going?" Raymond's voice came through the phone.

"We reviewed the bank surveillance, and it was Lorne himself who withdrew the money. He had woken up quite some time ago, and was just lying there watching the play. Have you found Emma yet?"

"Yes, she was high at the hotel and still a bit out of it when we talked to her briefly.

She doesn't know where Lorne is either.

Moreover, she admitted to hiring Logan Salmo to get Lorne out of the hospital.

However, she denies it was a kidnapping, saying Lorne instructed her to do so and promised to redistribute the inheritance."

"How did she meet Logan?"

"The two met through a dating app," Raymond said with a hint of resignation. "I need to sober her up and take her back to the station for a statement. We'll talk more later."

After a brief exchange of information, it was almost certain that Lorne had escaped.

But there's one thing Luke couldn't figure out—if Lorne intended to escape with Emma and Logan Salmo's help,

then the charges against Emma and Logan Salmo wouldn't be severe, and even if caught, they wouldn't face much of an issue.

Logically, Logan Salmo had no reason to shoot at the police.

Upgrading from a minor to a major crime just didn't make sense.

Luke speculated that Logan Salmo likely had other criminal records, which was why he was so fearful of being pursued by the authorities.

Thinking about the relationship between Emma and Logan Salmo,

Emma said they met through a dating app, but with a twenty-year age gap, they hardly seemed to have anything in common.

No, that's not right.

They did have one shared interest—using drugs.

Luke vaguely guessed the reason for Logan Salmo's gunfire...

"Luke, we've got the surveillance footage; time to go," Jenny called out.

They got into the car, and Luke said, "Jenny, let's not go back to the station yet. Let's visit Logan Salmo's house first."

"Why?" Jenny was puzzled.

"I think we might find a clue to Lorne's whereabouts at Logan Salmo's house," Luke needed a reason to search Logan Salmo's home.

They drove to Logan Salmo's house, where the yard was cordoned off with police tape and the door was sealed.

Luke had already reported to Susan on the way.

They broke the seal and entered the house.

Inside, the house was very unkempt, dirty clothes piled on the sofa, beer bottles scattered everywhere, takeout boxes on the coffee table emanating a sour smell.

Looking around the house, Jenny shook her head and said, "I really don't understand why these guys live like this?"

Seeing Luke searching around, Jenny couldn't help but ask, "Luke, what exactly are you looking for?""

"You'll know soon enough," Luke didn't spell it out, not to be deliberately mysterious.

Some things can be done, but not openly discussed.

Police investigations need a pretext; whatever is found is a different story.

If you want to investigate something legitimately, you must apply for the right search warrant, and that's no easy task.

Never mind whether it's granted, if you miss the optimal time for investigation, everything could change.

Jenny was not idle either, aiding Luke in the search.

After about fifteen minutes, Luke found a bag in the toilet tank, "Jenny, I've found something."

Jenny approached the bathroom door and saw Luke holding a plastic bag filled with smaller bags, which, based on her experience, likely contained hard drugs.

The quantity was enough to put Logan Salmo away for years.

"Wow, how did you know Logan Salmo had stashed a large amount of drugs?"

Luke smiled, "I was just looking for clues to Lorne's whereabouts, maybe it's luck."

Jenny didn't press further, "Hmm, lucky Luke."

Luke had suspected Logan Salmo of hiding drugs because when he went to the hotel to find Emma, he noticed signs of her using drugs.

Logan Salmo was also a junkie.

It's very likely that the two knew each other through drugs, considering their frequent contact.

Luke guessed Emma might have been buying her drugs from Logan Salmo.

Add to that the unreasonable act of Logan Salmo shooting at the police to flee, he might have hidden a large quantity of drugs, enough to be imprisoned if caught by the police.

Luke was neither DEA nor part of the Los Angeles Drug Squad; the best course of action was to search on the pretext of finding Lorne.