Dustin slowly ate two pieces of barbecued pork and weighed his options for a long time before he wiped his mouth and hands with a napkin. He turned around and said, "Given my many years of friendship with Brad, I'm sure this isn't his own idea, but it's definitely a request from someone he can't refuse."
Luke and Selina exchanged glances and understood.
Brad was the first deputy commissioner of NYPD, on the same level as the chief of NYPD.
The only direct superior he had was the commissioner.
Any higher, and the only people who could directly order him around were the big shots in New York politics like the city councilors and the mayor.
Had Kingpin's influence already expanded to this extent? Both Luke and Selina were surprised.
There was a huge difference between a force going from the shadows to the light.
No wonder Kingpin had been as steady as a mountain in the face of multiple federal and local law enforcement investigations.
It wasn't just the gang members in his community of interests, but also his allies in the government.
Thinking about how none of the gang members in Los Angeles had this kind of influence, Kingpin was indeed worthy of his title as the leader.
Dustin poured a cup of coffee and sat down again.
Observing Luke's expression, he said, "It's good that you know this."
At this point, he sighed. "This is New York."
The three of them fell silent for a moment and sighed inwardly; it really wasn't easy to survive in the center of the world.
Director Brad, who had basically been able to protect his subordinates in Los Angeles in the past, had been promoted for less than a month, and now he had to act as a mouthpiece for someone else.
But thinking about the first deputy commissioner's vow to return to New York, Luke couldn't be bothered to sympathize with him. Perhaps this was the life he dreamed of.
After a brief silence, he asked, "Walter doesn't know about this?"
Dustin said, "He should know something, but he's John McClane's boss."
Luke nodded.
"Do you think he's very tactful if he has such a subordinate under him?" Dustin smiled. "Walter really thinks that I took his position because of my connections, but he doesn't know that he never had a chance to be the director. Neither his boss nor his opponents want him to be promoted, but he doesn't know. "
He paused for a moment before continuing, "Some people know that I don't like to cause trouble like him. That's why I'm sitting here. If being able to solve cases really made you the chief, then John McClane would be sitting in that position right now. "
Luke sweated.
There was nothing wrong with this logic.
John McClane was more than qualified to be the sheriff of NYPD. However, he had only just been promoted back to sergeant, and his first promotion to sheriff had been eight years ago.
"Do your best to protect Walter while ensuring your own safety," Dustin said. "I don't want to give medals to my subordinates' families the moment I arrive in New York."
Luke nodded, and the two of them left.
On the way home, Luke's phone rang. When he picked it up, Christine simply said, "Molly's parents just arrived and are talking to her."
Luke said, "We'll be right there."
The car turned around and sped toward the Metropolitan Hospital.
Twenty minutes later, Luke and Selina arrived outside the ward and knocked on the door.
A moment later, the door opened, and a slightly chubby middle-aged man opened it.
Seeing Luke and Selina, he looked at them in confusion. "What can I do for you?"
Luke and Selina took out their badges. "Can we talk on the side?"
The middle-aged man looked at the ward and walked out. He closed the door and followed Luke and Selina. "Detectives, you're here about Molly, right?"
Luke nodded. "Mr. Richard Johnson, I'm Luke. This is my partner, Selina. We spoke on the phone this morning."
The middle-aged man, Richard, immediately stretched out his hands in excitement. "Thank you, thank you for saving Molly."
Luke didn't interrupt him. Although he wanted to ask about Molly's situation at home, he understood how excited the man was to find his missing daughter.
A moment later, he said, "Mr. Johnson, let's get down to business."
Richard said, "Just call me Richard, Detective Luke."
Luke nodded. "It's like this. There's something suspicious about Molly's disappearance, so I wanted to ask about her."
Richard became excited. "She's been very lively since she was a child. She loves sports and has a kind heart. Apart from being a member of the school's diving team, she's also a member of the student union. When she has time off, she volunteers in the community. She's like an angel. I can't think of anyone who would hurt her. "
Luke nodded. "Richard, sometimes, bad guys catch us off guard. We can't stop what's already happened, but I want to find this person so that he doesn't hurt more innocent girls, right? "
Richard panted like a red-eyed bull. "That son of a b * tch. If I knew who he was, I'd definitely blow his head up with a gun."
After a brief silence, Luke said, "Richard, you need to focus. Think about whether Molly met any strange people or encountered anything unusual before she disappeared. "
Richard looked at his calm face, and at last suppressed his anger and tried to remember.
But after talking for more than twenty minutes, Richard didn't have many clues.
Of course, this conversation wasn't useless. At the very least, it gave Luke and Selina an intuitive understanding of Molly's past.
To a certain extent, this eliminated a lot of possibilities.
For example, it was very unlikely that "he" was someone they knew, or that he had done something to Molly through someone they knew.
Given how much Richard loved his daughter, Molly's friends of the opposite sex would more or less catch wind of it.
But there had been nothing unusual about Molly before she came to New York for the competition.
Richard had already confirmed this repeatedly with her classmates and teammates.
When Molly's source of income during this period of time, she had withdrawn a large sum of money from an ATM machine.
The card that she had used to withdraw the money belonged to Molly herself. The card contained her scholarship, prize money from the competition, and so on, which amounted to about twelve thousand dollars.
Richard ran a seafood business in Massachusetts, which included Maine lobster, which was a bestseller.
That was why Molly, a high school student, had such a large sum of money on her own.
Molly had always been clean. Although her family was well-off, she didn't have the habit of squandering money.
Richard had first called the police at NYPD because it was very unusual for Molly, who had suddenly disappeared, to withdraw such a large sum of money. He suspected that his daughter had been kidnapped and forced to withdraw the money.
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