Selina’s eyes lit up and she said, “Good. Use a notebook and write down the names of everyone at the party. Also, keep the kids around and don’t let anyone leave for now. Got it?”
Luke nodded. “Of course. But what if they insist on leaving?”
Selina said, “Note down the names of those who insist on leaving. You should know all of them, right?”
Luke: “Yeah, that won’t be a problem. I’ll get started. Oh, remember to tell Robert I’m helping out.”
Selina didn’t say much after that. She nodded and started maintaining order again.
She needed to first placate the people here while also pointing them to Luke to register themselves.
Before long, cries of alarm rang out again. Shortly afterward, a stretcher carrying a body covered with a white cloth was carried to the ambulance.
Evidently, the Michelle girl was dead.
The crowd started getting agitated, and many of them were preparing to leave.
Humans were sensitive animals, and when they noticed something abnormal, their gut reaction was to leave and head back home.
Luke was very busy, but fortunately he had Jimena as his girlfriend.
Jimena was one of the cheerleaders, and Michelle had been the captain of the cheerleaders. In fact, many of Jimena’s best friends were cheerleaders as well.
Now that Michelle suddenly was dead, the cheerleaders started to help Luke maintain order at Jimena’s suggestion.
They knew a lot of the girls there, as well as a lot of the guys. Most of them were easily persuaded to stay put.
After all, they were all young teenagers and their way of thinking was still relatively simple.
A homicide had happened. It was normal for the police to want them to stay behind.
They couldn’t do anything about those who had left, but for those who were still around, if they insisted on leaving even after being asked to stay, they might look guilty.
Furthermore, if they stayed, they could continue gossiping with their friends who had also stayed behind. Although they were no longer in a party mood, it was still lively at least, and they could try further figuring out what was going on.
After about 10 minutes, nearly all the town’s police officers had arrived. Apart from a policewoman on shift at the station, the others were here.
At present, Robert was greatly troubled.
What he was most worried about wasn’t the homicide itself. Rather, it was the excessive number of people at the crime scene.
From the information gathered, there were more than 200 people at this party.
More importantly, apart from the Knox High graduates who made up the majority of the partygoers here, there were also some underaged high schoolers, and even three girls who weren’t even fifteen.
That was right. The three were the so-called middle schoolers – eighth grade students who had been brought here by someone’s cousin to show them the ways of the world.
It was very likely that after tonight, the three would have a miserable summer. Their parents would most definitely freeze their allowance, and might even ground them.
But all that was their parents’ problem – what Robert was worried about was the fact that these minors most definitely couldn’t stay here for long. He would have to release them at midnight at the very latest. Otherwise, if something else happened, things might get even more troublesome.
This was also a sign that the upcoming investigation would be extremely annoying.
There were over 200 kids here, and even if they visited one every day, it would still require more than half a year to finish visiting all of them. And a large number among them had graduated and would be leaving on trips, for work or for further studies.
What could Robert do? He sank into despair.
They worked tirelessly, and slightly before midnight, they finally finished the initial casework. The exhausted Robert started to head for his car.
But what he saw was Luke, who looked just as exhausted, standing there, with a girl beside him.
Of course Robert knew who Jimena was.
Although he always bickered with Luke, he still cared deeply for him. Thus, he had known about Luke’s relationship with Jimena since long ago, and even had a rough understanding of their situation.
When he found out that Jimena was a decent girl, he stopped worrying about Luke’s relationship with her.
When he saw Luke, Robert asked, “So, should I consider this your first day of work?”
Although he was tired, Luke still flashed a smile as he replied, “It’s fine. Just consider tomorrow the first day.”
Robert flashed a helpless smile and said, “Thank you. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”
Luke pointed at Jimena beside him and said, “Luckily, she was here to help tonight. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to handle those troublesome kids.”
Robert nodded at Jimena and said, “Thank you, Jimena.”
Jimena was similarly exhausted, but she also smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it. I only helped maintain order. It’s what I should have done.”
Luke said, “It’s getting late. Let’s send her home first.”
Robert nodded and unlocked the car. Then, all three of them got in.
They arrived at Jimena’s home, and after she went in, Robert waved a hand and spoke to a woman who was there waiting for Jimena. “Sandra, let her get a good rest. She helped me a lot today.”
Sandra was Jimena’s mother, and when she heard Robert’s words, she waved her hand with a smile before shutting the door.
Next, the car started moving again, this time headed for home.
Robert suddenly said, “You were there. Did you notice anything?”
Some recollections surfaced in Luke’s mind, yet he said a different thing. “I’m not sure. In any case, Michelle was found in the pool. There’s a possibility that she just drowned.”
Robert sank into a short silence before saying, “Come with me to the station tomorrow. Tomorrow will be your official first day at work. We’ll be checking forensics for the autopsy report.”
A while later, Luke said, “Going to the morgue on my first day at work? You sure are taking care of me well.”
Robert laughed. “Brat, that’s a place you’ll visit sooner or later as a police officer. You need to get used to it.”
Luke sighed, lowered the seat so that he could sit in a more comfortable position, then said, “There’s a saying that a job is like rape: If you can’t resist it, you might as well shut your eyes and enjoy it.”
When Robert heard that, he roared with laughter before saying, “Haha, I was right: you’re indeed a natural at police work.”
Inside the dark car, Luke rolled his eyes. “Do you mean that police officers are all pitiful souls devoid of choice?”
That caused Robert to choke on his laughter and stop. A short while later, he flew into a humiliated rage. “Fine, I now feel like you should be a lawyer instead. Your mouth is as poisonous as theirs.”
Luke replied, “Sigh, I wish,” and sank into silence.
First, it was unknown whether he could actually get into law school. With the Super Detective System, it was impossible for him to become a lawyer, not in this life.
After they reached home, Luke took a quick bath before going to bed. He was completely exhausted from today.
Early the next morning, Catherine woke him up.
After he took a bath and went downstairs, Robert was already there having breakfast. “Faster, kid. This is your first day. You can’t be late.”