Dustin ate two pieces of barbecued pork slowly, weighed the pros and cons in his mind for a while, then wiped his mouth and hands with a tissue, turned around and said, "Based on my friendship with Brad for many years, I'm sure this was not his own idea, but it must be a request from someone he couldn't refuse."
Luke and the other man exchanged glances and understood each other.
Brad is the first deputy commissioner of NYPD, on the same level as the sheriff of NYPD.
His immediate superior is only the Commissioner.
If he goes higher up, the only people who can directly order him around are the city council members, the mayor and other bigwigs in New York politics.
Kingpin's power has expanded to this extent? Luke and the others were a little surprised.
There is a huge difference when forces move from the dark side to the light side.
No wonder King has remained as steady as a rock despite investigations by multiple federal and local law enforcement agencies.
His community of interests includes not only gang members, but also official allies.
Think about the huge gang members in Los Angeles, none of them has such a big hand. Jin Bing is indeed worthy of the title of leader.
Dustin poured himself a cup of coffee, walked back and sat down again.
After assessing Luke's expression, he said, "It's good that you guys know this clearly."
At this point, he sighed: "This is New York."
The three of them fell into silence for a moment, and they all felt a little emotional: It is really not easy to survive in the center of the world.
In the past, Chief Brad was able to protect his subordinates in Los Angeles. However, less than a month after being promoted here, he has to serve as a mouthpiece for others. Only he himself knows how this feels.
But thinking about the fact that the first deputy commissioner vowed to return to New York, Luke was too lazy to sympathize with him. Perhaps this was the life he dreamed of.
After a moment of silence, he still raised a question: "Does Walter not know about this situation?"
Dustin: "He should know something, but he's John McClane's boss."
Luke nodded.
"With subordinates like him, do you think he will be very smooth-tempered?" Dustin smiled. "Walter really thought I took his position because of my connections, but he didn't know that he never had the chance to be the director. Neither his superiors nor his opponents wanted him to be promoted, but he was unaware of it."
At this point, he paused, and then continued: "Some people know that I don't like to cause trouble like him, that's why I'm sitting here. If you really want to be the director by solving cases, then the person sitting in this position now should be John McClane."
Luke sweatdropped.
There is indeed nothing wrong with this logic.
Judging from his achievements in solving cases alone, John McClane is qualified enough to be the sheriff of the NYPD, but he has only just been promoted to sergeant, and it was eight years ago that he was first promoted to sheriff.
"Try to protect Walter while ensuring your own safety." Dustin said, "I don't want to give medals to my subordinates' families as soon as I arrive in New York."
Luke said he understood, and the two said goodbye and left.
On the way home, Luke's cell phone rang. When he answered it, Christina on the other end just said, "Molly's parents just arrived and are talking to her."
Luke: "We'll be right there."
The delivery vehicle turned around and sped towards the Metropolitan Hospital.
Twenty minutes later, Luke and his friend arrived outside the ward and knocked gently on the door.
After a while, the door was opened and a slightly short and fat middle-aged man opened it.
Seeing Luke and Selina, he looked at them in confusion: "What do you want?"
Luke and Selina took out their police badges and signaled, "Can we talk over there?"
The middle-aged man looked inside the ward and came out. He closed the door and followed Luke and the others to the side. “Two detectives, are you here for Molly’s matter?”
Luke nodded and said, "Mr. Richard Johnson, my name is Luke, and this is my partner Selina. We talked on the phone this morning."
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man Richard immediately stretched out his hands excitedly: "Thank you, thank you for saving Molly."
Luke did not interrupt the other party's thanks. Although he now wanted to ask about Molly's situation at home, he also understood the other party's excitement to find his missing daughter.
After a moment, he said, "Mr. Johnson, let's get down to business."
Richard: "Just call me Richard, Detective Luke."
Luke nodded. "Well, there's something suspicious about Molly's disappearance, so I wanted to ask about her previous situation."
Richard became excited. "She has been very lively since she was a child. She loves sports and has a kind heart. In addition to being a key player in the school diving team, she is also a member of the student union. When she has some free time, she will participate in various community volunteer services. She is a little angel. I can't imagine anyone would hurt her."
Luke nodded: "Richard, sometimes bad guys always catch us off guard. We can't stop what has happened, but I would rather find this person and prevent him from hurting more innocent girls, right?"
Richard panted rapidly, like a bull with red eyes: "If I knew who this bastard was, I would blow his head off with a gun."
Luke was silent for a moment before he spoke: "Richard, you need to concentrate. Think about whether Molly met any strange people or encountered any unusual things before she disappeared."
Richard looked at his calm expression, finally suppressed his anger, and tried hard to recall.
But after talking for more than twenty minutes, Richard still didn't have many clues.
Of course, this conversation was not in vain. At least it gave Luke and the others a direct understanding of Molly's past.
To a certain extent, this eliminates many possibilities.
For example, the possibility that "he" was an acquaintance or that he attacked Molly through an acquaintance was very small.
Given how much Richard loves his daughter, Molly's friends of the opposite sex would have heard something about it.
But Molly didn't have any abnormalities before coming to New York to compete.
Richard has confirmed this repeatedly with her classmates and teammates.
Molly's source of income during this period was the large sum of money she withdrew from the ATM.
The card used to withdraw money belonged to Molly herself. The card contained her own scholarship, prize money for participating in competitions, etc., totaling about twelve thousand US dollars.
Richard runs a seafood business in Massachusetts, including best-seller Maine lobster.
That's why Molly, an underage high school student, has such a large sum of money under her control.
Molly herself is a clean person. Although her family is well-off, she does not have the habit of squandering.
The reason Richard first called the police at NYPD was because it was 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.
As a result, the bank’s surveillance showed that Molly went to withdraw money alone during the day, and there was no one around to coerce her.