Chapter 78 - 78 Lockdown - Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth - NovelsTime

Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

Chapter 78 - 78 Lockdown

Author: Rack running
updatedAt: 2025-09-17

Interrogation room.

Luke and Jenny were once again interrogating Cindy Bout.

"Officer Luke, is my daughter okay? Can I see her?"

"She's also in Los Angeles, but you cannot see each other for the time being."

Cindy, choking back tears, said, "She always wanted to come to Los Angeles, but because of Tony...I always refused. I never imagined she would come back to Los Angeles in this way."

"Cindy, I have a few questions for you."

"OK, go ahead and ask." Cindy wiped away her tears.

"Who had contact with Shuayate after his car crash?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just answer my question."

"Let me think." Cindy recalled for a moment and then said, "The car Shuayate was in belonged to Tony. He was the first one to stop and check after the crash.

My car and Cole's were behind. Both of us went to check as soon as we realized something was wrong.

After that, Mrs. Anna ran over, hugged Shuayate, preventing anyone from touching him. That's when the conflict occurred.

I swear I never thought of killing the lady; it was totally an accident.

I didn't even know the lady had a gun, let alone think about using the gun to kill her."

The gun had been mentioned in the file and indeed belonged to Anna; Luke didn't comment further on this.

"At the time, were you certain that Shuayate was dead?"

Cindy slowly raised her head, "What do you mean?"

Luke didn't withhold any longer, "According to the forensic doctor's examination, the injuries from Shuayate's fall were not fatal. He was stabbed to death."

"What? He wasn't killed in the car crash?"

"That's right. Think carefully, who was the last to touch Shuayate's 'body'."

"At that moment, Tony and I were dumbstruck, Cole ran off, Lorne took the body away," Cindy asked with a trembling voice, "Oh my God, are you saying Tony isn't the killer who murdered Shuayate!"

Cindy covered her face and started crying, "Because of this, Tony was filled with guilt; he always thought he was responsible for killing Shuayate and Anna, and he lived every day in self-blame.

If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have turned to drinking, drugs, and he wouldn't have left me and Lisa.

God, why did you do this to us, why?"

Cindy had become a tearful mess, as if venting years of pent-up emotions.

Luke passed her some tissues and consoled her briefly; the interrogation could not continue.

As Luke and his colleague stood to leave, Cindy called out to them, "Officer Luke, please don't tell my daughter Lisa about Tony, and especially not to let her identify the body.

I don't want her to see her father as a corpse again.

She can't handle all this now.

It's not her fault."

Luke exited the interrogation room, and the deputy and Marcus also came out from another room.

They were in charge of interrogating Cole.

Susan and Raymond walked out of the observation room.

All returned to the office,

Jenny sighed, "What exactly happened back then? Why would anyone stab Shuayate to death! It makes no sense."

The deputy snorted, "Nothing is nonsensical. Falling from a speeding car, Shuayate must have been badly hurt, probably knocked out with a weak pulse and covered in a lot of blood.

In such an emergency, everyday people would panic, and they might mistakenly believe that Shuayate was dead.

Then, with Anna's accidental shooting, people panicked even more.

Under the temptation of money, they still divided Anna's wealth among themselves.

The property had gone from Anna's to theirs.

At this point, people change.

They wanted to protect 'their own money'.

Nobody wished for Shuayate to wake up.

"Everyone has a motive for the murder, and anyone could be the killer."

Susan said, "Looking at the current situation, Lorne is the prime suspect, Raymond. You're in charge of applying for the arrest warrant."

"Yes, captain."

The group split up and acted on their own.

The focus of the investigation now was to capture Lorne. As long as they found Lorne, the truth would come out, and they would find that painting worth tens of millions of US dollars.

No one could resist this point.

Xiao Hei was thrilled, as this was his forte. He was as energetic as if he had been injected with adrenaline.

He paced back and forth in the meeting room, constantly on the phone.

Suddenly, Luke felt a pang of envy. Should he develop some informants himself...?

Just then, the victim's husband, Hans Miller, hurried into the office, looking so rushed he didn't even notice Luke, and was led by Matthew into the break room.

Afterward, Matthew came out to pour a glass of water.

Luke asked, "What's Hans here for?"

"He's brought some photos of the lost items, the victim's jewelry, and that painting called 'Snowy Night'.

Wow, it's really beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing the real thing."

"Yeah, even if it were just a pile of dog shit, as long as it's worth millions, it would stand out," Luke laughed, as if he had just remembered something. "I recall there should be these details in the dossier."

Matthew said, "You're right, those are incidental. Hans's main purpose for coming here was to get a DNA test."

"Sofia?"

"That's right."

...

The Ino Community.

At Linda's home.

At that moment, Linda and her chubby son were standing in the yard, with two uninvited guests at the gate.

Andrew and his father, Thompson.

Thompson pointed at his son's face, "Hey, look at what that fat kid did to my son's face. Is this how you raise your child?"

Linda spread her hands, "I haven't figured out the whole story yet. Don't start accusing people."

Thompson fumed, "What story? It's already clear. That fatso was sitting on my son's head hitting him, my son's face is almost beaten to a pulp.

How do you want to settle this?"

Linda glanced at Andrew and then at her own son. The chubby kid had a bruise on his face too, but it was much less severe than the swollen mess that was Andrew's face.

"Jack, what exactly happened?"

"He started it. He was deliberately picking a fight with me on my way home yesterday."

Clearly, this reason couldn't convince Thompson, "What kind of bullshit excuse is that? My son initiates a conflict and ends up looking like a pig's head, is he out of his mind?"

The chubby kid defended himself, "I'm telling the truth. He's been harassing me recently. He's hit me before too, I just never ran to my parents about it."

Thompson questioned loudly, "What do you mean by that? You're saying you were right to hit my son? Look at him now. How's he supposed to go to school? You tell me."

Linda pulled her son behind her, "Hey, don't yell at my son. You have no right to do that. If you want to talk, let's talk properly.

If we can't have a civilized conversation, then we'll let lawyers handle it."

"OK, my demands are simple. Compensate my son for his medical and emotional distress costs. Moreover, have the fatso apologize to my son, and make sure he stays at least a hundred meters away from my son."

The chubby kid was livid, pointing at Andrew, "The one who should be apologizing is not me, it's him. He's the one that's been hassling me. He's the real piece of trash here."

Unlike what the chubby kid remembered, Andrew didn't retort this time, instead, he raised his eyebrows and stood innocently behind his dad.

"Shut up! You little moron, how dare you threaten my son."

Linda snapped back, "You're the moron. Don't you dare talk to my son like that. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I won't beat you up."

"Yeah, I'm terrified. It's because of people like you that your son turns out like this.

He'll end up in jail, I'm sure of it."

"Vroom..." A Harley parked not far away.

Luke took off his helmet and smiled, "Wow, it's quite lively here. Is this some sort of party?"

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