Elsa nodded her head. “You could put it that way. But Margaret Haley Johnson, his young wife, has been urging us to solve the case.”
Luke laughed out loud. “Who is she? She wants us to avenge a major gangster ASAP? She doesn’t know how many enemies her husband had?”
Elsa said with an odd expression, “It’s possible that she doesn’t.”
Luke was stunned. “What do you mean?”
Elsa said, “Based on the information I found, she truly thinks that her husband was a legitimate businessman. Also, she’s an art student at USC, and she’s only 21.”
Luke was speechless. “Are you saying that a 45-year-old gangster fell in pure love with a 21-year-old art student?”
Elsa shrugged. “Who knows? Anything can happen in this world.”
Luke continued browsing the case file. “Where should we start?”
Since Dustin hadn’t told them that the case needed to be resolved, they could give it up if they didn’t find any leads in the next couple of days.
What if William Johnson’s widow still insisted?
Whatever! There were too many gangsters in Los Angeles. William might have left her an inheritance, but it was impossible for her to try and push the case up to a higher level.
The big shots of WD-36 were rich, too. But could they complain in the media that LAPD didn’t care about the murder of an underling?
Of course not! Once they learned what the scumbag did before he was killed, the media and the general public would only gloat at his death.
Nobody would ever sympathize with such gangsters.
Elsa shrugged and said, “Let’s go to USC. We have to meet the widow. She’s kind of… innocent, but she’s not a bad person. If she makes a fuss about this case, it won’t be a big thing for us, but she might draw the attention of other gangsters and lose her wealth or even her life.”
Luke nodded his head.
It wasn’t easy being a boss’s woman.
If she were a capable woman, she might’ve been able to helm her husband’s gang in his place.
But since she was merely an art student, both she and her assets would be obvious targets for other gangsters.
Wealth earned through violence would be plundered with violence. That was the rule of the gangs.
The patent that Luke had applied for, for example, could hardly be stolen by the gangsters with violence.
Luke had too much evidence to prove that he was the legitimate owner of the patent, and the judge wouldn’t believe the gangsters at all if they couldn’t offer any counter-evidence.
However, most of William Johnson’s wealth was underground to avoid being investigated by the police and IRS. Other gangsters could take control of the wealth as long as they knew where it was.
If the widow inadvertently leaked the information that she had it, she would be dead very soon.
This time, Luke didn’t take Elsa’s car. Both of them drove separately to USC.
Luke wondered if he and this place were meant to be, since he had just spent half a day investigating the area yesterday.
Entering USC, Elsa found a studio. “She majors in painting. This is where she usually takes her classes.”
They opened the door to find a naked model in the room as well as some ten youngsters who were painting diligently. A middle-aged man who appeared to be in his forties looked at the intruders and frowned.
Luke looked like a student, but Elsa obviously wasn’t one. He was rather irritated about the unannounced guests.
After Elsa showed him her badge, the man’s expression looked even more awful. He quickly left the studio.
Closing the door, he asked, “Who are you? How can I help you?”
Elsa said, “I’m Detective Elsa from LAPD. This is Detective Luke. We’re here for Margaret Haley Johnson.”
The man said, “This is a school. Come again when class is over if you want to talk to her.”
Elsa narrowed her eyes. “Is your class very important?”
The man looked at her blankly. “Of course. This is a university.”
“Can anyone study here if they’re dead?” asked Elsa.
The man’s expression turned ugly. “Is that a threat?”
Elsa scoffed. “This has nothing to do with you. We’re from the Major Crimes Division.”
The man said with his head held high, “So what? You don’t run this place.”
Luke couldn’t take the man’s lack of cooperation anymore.
“You’re a teacher, right? The Major Crimes Division might not be a big deal, except that it handles criminal cases like homicides, gunfights and kidnappings every single day. Do you think we’re here to talk to someone for fun?” asked Luke.
The man’s face changed, but Luke continued before he could say anything, “We take a serious case every other day, and we have to work late all the time. Now, are you going to bring her out and stop wasting all of our time?”
The man hesitated for a moment, but finally went back into the studio.
He wasn’t really an idiot.
Luke had made it clear that they were here as part of a serious criminal case. The man certainly couldn’t ask the two detectives to wait until the students were finished.
Margaret wasn’t a distinguished painter anyway. She was only here to practice.
He was all about asserting his absolute authority in the studio, but he had chosen the wrong targets this time.
Elsa glanced at Luke and said, “You’re responsible for convincing and coercing our targets in the future.”
Luke nodded but said, “Don’t you like dealing with disobedient guys best?”
Elsa chuckled but didn’t say anything. She remembered what Dustin said.
A leader should have their trusted subordinates do the work rather than do it themselves!
By changing her role, she could also prompt Luke’s development, and both of them would benefit.
A minute later, Margaret came out. Elsa stepped forward to talk to her.
Her advantage as a woman was that she came across as less threatening and intimidating. It was easier for her to strike up a conversation.