BXBX NOVEL Chapter 103 - Videotape for Videotape
The owner of this villa, David Smith, was much more normal. He gladly acceded to Luke’s request for surveillance footage, and said that he could take it back with him.
Luke thanked him and left his card, saying that David could contact him if he had any problems.
Luke returned with more than ten videotapes. He went straight to the forensics department.
With the equipment there, he began to go through the footage.
David’s villa was on the same side as Katie’s. The camera was aimed at the back door of his house, and also happened to include Jenny Gwenis’s back door in the frame.
Luke checked the footage and soon found something
But after watching it several times over, he shook his head and gave up.
Since there wasn’t any light late at night, nothing could be seen at the entrance to Katie’s house except an opaque shadow.
The shadow was blocked by the wall of David’s house. Only Jenny’s camera could’ve gotten a clear view.
However, as Luke continued watching, he figured out why Jenny was unwilling to surrender the surveillance footage.
Chuckling, Luke made a copy of David’s footage and found Elsa again.
Elsa was looking into the files, including confessions from suspects and reports from other officers on any anomalies in the past few days.
Luke tapped softly on her table with his finger to draw her attention.
Elsa asked impatiently, “What’s up?”
Luke said, “I went to David Smith’s house and got his surveillance footage.”
Elsa was stunned. “Whose house?”
Luke explained, “Katie’s neighbor.”
Elsa narrowed her eyes. “Do you have a suspect?”
Luke said, “I found something, but it isn’t important.”
Elsa didn’t say anything and indicated for him to continue.
Luke went on, “The important thing is that I’ve figured out why Jenny is unwilling to give us the surveillance footage.”
Elsa asked, “Why?”
Luke said, “There are a few people that I don’t recognize, but maybe you do. Do you want to have a look?”
Elsa rose quickly. “Let’s go to Dustin’s office He has a VCR.”
Half an hour later, Elsa and Dustin smiled at the video.
Both of them had “gotcha” expressions on their faces.
Luke was new to this place, so he wasn’t sure how important his finding was.
Elsa and Dustin, however, had worked here long enough for them to recognize the people who appeared at Jenny’s back door.
Elsa sneered. “No wonder she doesn’t want to give us the footage. She was secretly buying weed. Let’s see how she can refuse us this time.”
Seeing how optimistic the two of them were, Luke reminded them, “We better hurry, or she may destroy the footage to eliminate proof of her wrongdoing.”
Elsa and Dustin were both dazed for a moment. Elsa stood up quickly and said, “I’ll talk to her.”
Dustin said, “Okay, but don’t argue with her. What she bought isn’t important to the Major Crimes Division.”
Elsa nodded and left.
When she reached the door of the office, she suddenly said, “Luke, come with me.”
Luke nodded with a smile.
Elsa focused on the road, but did glance at Luke several times. She finally said, “You’re good. You were calm enough to find leads on your own. You’ll do a great job.”
Luke nodded with a smile.
He knew, however, that if he had gone and asked Jenny for the surveillance footage himself, Elsa would’ve been angry with him.
Elsa wasn’t Selina. She certainly wouldn’t like her partner doing things on his own.
Luke didn’t really care about the credit he could get in the police department. What he cared about was the rate of his contribution in the system.
He was fine with giving away most of the credit even if he had done most of the actual work.
There was no cheating in front of the system.
They arrived at Jenny’s house, only to be refused by the security guard again.
Now that she had the greatest trump card, Elsa sneered and said calmly, “Oh, she doesn’t want to see us? Go and tell her a few names: Bill, Curry, George and Locke. If she still doesn’t want to see us, I’ll come again with an official subpoena tomorrow.”
The guard hesitated for a moment, but still went back to Jenny.
Ten minutes later, the guard returned and opened the door. “Officers, please come in. Miss Jenny is waiting for you.”
Luke kept silent after they met.
Elsa asked Jenny to have everybody else leave the room before she said, “Miss Gwenis, we’re not interested in what you’re hiding; in fact, we found out via other surveillance footage, so it’s pointless for you to hide the tape that we need.”
As she spoke, she tossed a few pictures which she had gotten printed out over to Jenny.
Jenny panicked when she saw the people in the pictures. “Where... Where did you get these?”
Elsa smiled coldly, “Jenny, we don’t care about what you did. All we want is the videotape. We’re not the DEA, and the last thing we’re interested in is your personal life. Now, can you give us the videotape?”.
Jenny still hesitated, but in the end, she handed the videotape over at Elsa’s prompting
Thankfully, she wasn’t as clever as real criminals. She had kept the videotape in her room and never thought to destroy it.
Satisfied, Elsa left with the videotape.
Luke, however, rolled his eyes and stayed a while longer. He put his card on the table and said, “Miss Gwenis, I’m Luke. I’m now working in the Major Crimes Division. You can contact me if you have any problems.”
Jenny was too distracted to notice what he said. She even subconsciously hated the young man because of his connection to Elsa. However, opposite genders tended to be attracted to each other.
Luke wasn’t exactly handsome, but he certainly wasn’t ugly. His smooth skin and gentle smile could easily invoke genial feelings.
After Luke left, Jenny recalled what Luke said, and beamed. What a fool she was! This young man and that witch Elsa were responsible for the case together. Since he had left a card and offered to help her out, didn’t that mean that she could ask him for updates?