"Then why don't you ask him? He should know best."

"Of course, he does know, we've already asked him. The reason we've brought you here is to verify his testimony."

Triss sighed, "I've already told you everything last time."

"You did tell us, but the footage we got from the gas station shows 2:40 p.m., and Theodore had plenty of time to get back to school to commit the crime. So, after leaving the gas station, where did you go?"

Triss lowered her head, gripping her forehead tightly, a look of conflict on her face.

Luke urged, "Only the truth from you can save Theodore."

Triss lifted her head, took a deep breath, as if making a decision, "We were coming back from Highway 1, and Theodore received a..." Triss stopped abruptly, her eyes darting toward the window, panic written all over her face.

Luke turned to look, a dark figure flashed past the window.

He drew his gun and rushed out of the house.

Luke stepped outside, and the shadow was already fleeing into the distance.

Raymond followed, yelling, "LAPD, stop right there!"

This did nothing; the figure ran even faster.

"Be careful, this guy might have a gun," Luke said, taking off after the figure.

"Fuck! These damn black bastards!" Raymond cursed as he too gave chase.

The chase was on again.

The sky was growing darker, adding to the difficulty of the pursuit.

Luckily, Luke and his partner had been in the area twice before, and had experience with arrests here, which helped them keep the suspect from escaping.

Suddenly, the figure pulled out a gun from within and shot back without looking.

"Bang, bang!"

Even though the shots were off target, Luke and Raymond didn't dare let their guard down.

Luke returned fire.

"Bang!"

His shot hit the suspect's right arm.

"Ah!" The figure cried out in pain, and due to the hasty run, fell to the ground, tumbling several times, blood spilling everywhere from the arm.

The gun too fell aside.

Raymond was shocked.

He looked at Luke in disbelief.

The dim light of the evening already affected the shooting accuracy, and with the suspect running quickly ahead, Raymond was sure he would have missed nine times out of ten.

Luke had hit the suspect with just one bullet, and it hit the arm no less. That was incredible.

Coincidence?

Luck?

Or had his marksmanship improved?

Raymond couldn't figure it out. He remembered Luke's shooting used to be terrible, worse than his own. How come he was suddenly so impressive?

Luke holstered his weapon and ordered Raymond, "Cuff him."

"I've been shot, I've been shot. I need to go to the hospital. You can't cuff me."

"We can." Raymond pulled out handcuffs, but instead of cuffing the suspect's hands together, he secured only the left hand to the metal railing.

Luke placed the suspect's gun into an evidence bag.

Raymond seemed to recall something and asked Luke, "You hit him with just one shot?"

"Starting to admire me now?"

"Uh, well, maybe... just a little," Raymond said, pinching a small space between his index finger and thumb.

Luke laughed, "Don't be shy, lots of people admire me. Be confident."

"Why has your shooting become so good?" Raymond asked, a mix of envy and curiosity in his voice.

In Los Angeles, your shooting skills are your lifeline as a cop.

"I've been practicing my shooting skills lately with Raymond. He's a good coach and has helped me a lot." In truth, Luke had also used the Accuracy Card, otherwise, it would have been difficult to hit a running figure in the night, the difficulty was too high.

"Okay, buy me a drink tonight, and I might share some shooting tips with you. But now we need to have a good talk with this guy," Luke said, squatting down to examine the suspect's wound, as blood oozed out of the arm.

"Ah!" The suspect moaned in pain.

Raymond took off his jacket and used the sleeve to wrap around the gunshot wound to stop the bleeding.

Luke sat down nearby, lit a cigarette, and asked, "Why did you assault an officer?"

"I wasn't attacking the police; I was just shooting into the sky, trying to scare you off."

"What were you doing at Theodore's house? Planning to rob the place through the window?"

"No, you're framing me. I just wanted to look through the window."

"Look at what?"

"I heard that the man of the house was arrested, and I was worried the woman would be sad, so I wanted to comfort her."

Hearing this explanation, Luke laughed, "You're quite the good Samaritan. Why did you run, then?"

"Because you were chasing me."

"Are you doing stand-up for me?"

"No, you got it all wrong. I'm not a bad person. I was just looking through the window. I didn't do anything, didn't mean to harm anyone. I swear."

"What's your relationship with Theodore?"

"No connection. I don't even know who Theodore is. I just heard a man from that house was arrested and wanted to comfort his family."

"Who told you that?"

The suspect hesitated, "I can't remember clearly, might have been someone around here, I've got quite a few friends."

Luke wasn't buying any of it and was about to probe further when Raymond cocked his head, gesturing to Luke, and they stepped aside to speak.

"What did you find?"

Raymond nodded towards the man, speaking softly, "Did you see that tattoo on his arm?"

"The black skull?"

"It's a Skull Gang symbol; this guy is probably gang-affiliated," Raymond stated confidently.

Luke recalled, "Skull Gang, that sounds familiar."

Raymond reminded him, "Skull Gang is the biggest gang around here, even Maraboya High School falls under their control."

Luke pondered for a moment, "You think Skull Gang is related to the shooting case?"

"I don't know, but now that their members are involved in the case, why not ask? In my experience, they might have some clues the police don't know about.

This guy is a gangbanger; he won't dare to speak recklessly, and it'll be hard to get anything out of him.

Even if we break him, he might not know much."

Luke nodded. In the Robbery and Murder Department, Raymond was the one who knew the most about gangs.

"Can you get in touch with the Skull Gang's leader?"

"I'll try," Raymond said with some uncertainty, "but it's probably better to go tomorrow. Meeting at night isn't a good idea."

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