Chapter 12: The Grumpy Dad, and the Cowardly George

Selina took the chewing gum, unwrapped it with one hand, and stuffed it into her mouth. As she chewed, she mumbled, “If Robert was as thick-skinned as you are, he would’ve become Knox City’s chief of police by now.”

Luke didn’t seem to mind. “No, to become the chief of police, one must first be ruthless. Being thick-skinned is merely an extension of the trait.”

Selina pondered for a bit and found herself incapable of countering that. “So are you saying that Robert isn’t ruthless enough?”

Luke replied, “I meant that I’m not ruthless enough.”

Selina: “…”

As the two chatted, they arrived at their destination.

They got out of the car and followed behind Robert.

Robert didn’t even bother to press the doorbell. He yelled directly, “Buck, open the door.”

In less than two minutes, the door opened.

A middle-aged Caucasian man stood there looking at Robert before he said, “Come in, Robert. I’ve been waiting for you.”

When he saw the two behind Robert, he squeezed out a smile. “Selina, Luke, how are you doing? Come on in.”

And thus, the three entered the house.

This was a small town and they did things differently here. In a larger city like New York, for instance, before entering someone’s residence, the police would have to flash their badges and call out “NYPD” before they could enter.

As for Robert, he knew nearly everyone in town, and practically all the residents here knew him as well. Thus, he didn’t need to show his badge or introduce himself.

Of course, Robert was still dressed in his police uniform. His badge was thus naturally hanging on his belt.

After entering and taking a seat on the sofa, Robert said, “Buck, we’re here to ask George some questions.”

Buck hesitated slightly before he said, “Robert, since we’ve known each other for years, do me this favor and tell me: will George be fine?”

The hearts of the three officers thumped as they thought, “That’s an interesting choice of words.”

Robert remained silent for a short while before he said, “Buck, I can only promise that I’ll do whatever is within my scope of authority to take care of George.”

Buck smiled bitterly. “You’re still as strict as ever.”

Robert said, “Buck, Michelle is dead. This isn’t something we can just cover up and forget.”

Buck inhaled deeply and nodded before he turned and shouted up the stairs. “Get your ass down here! If you keep hiding, I’ll personally greet you with my gun!”

Luke was speechless, but this was Texas, and grumpy dads like this weren’t exactly rare.

Almost immediately, George appeared on the stairs. He had evidently been eavesdropping on them.

Looking at the 6’2″ tall guy step forward with a pitiful expression, Luke found it hilarious.

In truth, there was something else he hadn’t mentioned to Robert.

But that was related to his own privacy, and he had no intention of clouding Robert’s judgment, so he decided to keep silent.

Luke personally believed that the person who had left the large amount of sperm in Michelle was either George, Lorde, or Boris.

It was most likely George, as Luke had heard from the cheerleaders that George and Michelle had entered the house together earlier that night.

And what else could they have done inside? Most likely what Luke and Jimena had been doing, the only difference being Luke’s bad luck at being interrupted when he had barely gotten started.

But Luke didn’t think that George was the one who had murdered Michelle. At the very least, he was the least suspicious suspect.

That was because Luke knew that George was in truth a very cowardly person.

Moreover, George was actually aware of Michelle’s relationship with other men.

Likewise, Michelle was also aware of George’s relationship with a few of the other cheerleaders.

These two… were quite a pair. The man enjoyed messing around everywhere, while the woman was like a collector of special editions.

Luke was aware of all of it because George had once set his eye on Jimena, and for some reason, he had even stupidly decided to threaten Luke, telling him to give up on Jimena.

Luke hadn’t said anything on the spot, but after school, he had blocked George’s way when the latter was on his way home alone.

In less than 30 seconds, George was already begging for mercy on the ground.

The two of them were fairly different in size. George was 6’2″ and weighed more than 220lbs. With one look, anyone could see that he was obviously a sturdily built youth.

Luke was only about 5’9″ in height and only weighed about 170lbs. He was comparatively much smaller than George.

But Luke had been practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu since junior high, and was on a completely different level than George, whose only training was in football.

In roughly 30 seconds, Luke managed to place George’s arm in a lock, causing such pain that George started begging for mercy.

That was why Luke had never bothered to practice something else like boxing or Chinese martial arts.

Generally, Brazilian jiu-jitsu could be used to subdue and also disable an opponent. Moreover, it was good for close combat, and was very suited for day-to-day conflict.

With boxing, sure, it felt great to KO someone with one punch, but it would be way too easy to give someone a concussion in boxing.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu was more technical and size didn’t matter as much. So long as Luke could place George in a lock, it didn’t matter that George was bigger; his only choice was to beg for mercy on the ground.

After teaching George a lesson, that fellow had avoided Luke ever since. Only about a month later did things return to some level of normalcy between them, but George no longer dared to mess with Jimena.

And from this, Luke judged that George was simply a coward.

A coward that would appear strong before the weak and weak before the strong.

Looking at how George was currently behaving, Luke was certain that he was hiding something.

George walked over with an anxious look and stood there. Robert said, “Take a seat, George. I have some questions for you.”

At that, George broke out in a cold sweat while his gaze drifted to his dad, Buck.

Luke’s face twitched when he saw what a coward the fellow was.

Buck had a complicated look on his face. Anger, helplessness, and anxiety were all present. Ultimately, he clenched his teeth and said, “Tell Robert everything you did last night. Answer all his questions. Don’t think of hiding anything, unless you want to become a murderer.”

But when the three officers heard those words, their hearts thumped again.

This father and son pair must’ve talked about this before. Buck might already be aware of what happened last night. That was why he had agreed to let George be questioned.

But whether George was the murderer or not still remained unanswered for now.

It was quite typical that the more one tried to hide something, the more one revealed.

After hearing his dad’s words, George started talking with a sullen face.

After he was done talking, Robert had an odd expression on his face. As for Selina and Luke, they exchanged glances, both sending different messages with their eyes.

Luke sensed from Selina’s eyes that she was thinking something along the lines of, “Do you still claim that the kids in your school aren’t all that wild?”

While Luke’s eyes said something like, “That has nothing to do with me.”

Robert continued questioning George. As for Luke, he listened on while pondering what George had said earlier.

George had indeed done it with Michelle when they went inside. In any case, since the two had graduated, George had even stolen and brought over a bottle of his dad’s tequila. Thus, the two had been drinking madly as they did the deed.

Ultimately, George got completely drunk and only woke up after a while.

After waking up, he tried to wake Michelle up so that they could continue partying. She couldn’t be roused, however, and when he checked, he found that she was no longer breathing.