Chapter 942: A Stinky Rat Runs Into a Jinx

Glancing at Weasel, Luke said casually, “If possible, get your friend to prepare a notice to close down the business. Issue it to this Sister Margaret’s Bar tomorrow morning.”

John repeated his words to the person on the other end.

Looking at them, Weasel hesitated.

He had people in the ATF, and wouldn’t be scared by Luke’s empty words.

Luke and the others didn’t leave. They continued drinking Coke and beer and chatting.

Less than five minutes later, Weasel’s phone rang.

Looking at the number, his heart skipped a beat.

He walked away and picked up the call. The person on the other end said, “You stinky rat. You don’t want to do business anymore? How dare you provoke the Detective Bureau?”

Weasel lowered his voice. “What happened?”

The person on the other end of the line said, “My boss just told me that if I can’t solve your problem tonight, I’ll be dealing with your bar tomorrow.”

Weasel said, “…Your ATF doesn’t answer to the police department.”

The person on the other end said, “John McClane, the person who made the call; have you never heard of him? Can you afford to piss off this jinx? Listen to me: Call him quickly and resolve this matter, or I’ll have to personally issue you a suspension notice tomorrow morning.”

He then hung up.

Weasel put his phone away and took a deep breath. He turned around and walked over to Luke. A warm smile suddenly appeared on his calm face. “Okay, the problem is with me. I’ll refund you everything. How does that sound?”

Luke shook his head. “I’m a man of principles. So, you can keep the money and give me a hundred of the real deal.”

Weasel smiled bitterly. “How can I get you so many?”

Luke said, “I believe you have the ability. Good luck.”

Saying that, he called out to John and Joe, and they got up to leave.

Wade, who had been watching silently, suddenly said, “Wait.”

Luke looked at him.

Wade was reluctant, but he said, “Well, there might be some mistakes on the list I gave you…”

Luke smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “It’s fine. We’re old friends. Consider this payment for introducing Weasel to me.”

Wade was delighted. “Ah, that’s great. Boss, you can look for me next time you want to get to know someone.”

Luke nodded. “Of course.”

Wade, on the other hand, didn’t notice Weasel looking at him strangely when he listened to their conversation. Very good! It turns out that you lured these villains to me. Just you wait!

On the other side, Luke and his friends walked out of the bar and chatted as they walked 200 meters. They found a middle-class bar that clearly had better standards, and they went in. They ordered more drinks.

John and Selina didn’t ask why Luke was dealing with Weasel, nor did they ask what deals he had made with Weasel and Wade.

They were all seasoned detectives, and all of them had informants.

The Detective Bureau had a lot of work, and few people were interested in poaching cases from someone else.

The bar was much quieter than Weasel’s, and the four of them sat in a quiet corner.

Luke waited for the alcohol to be served before he raised his beer and clinked it with John and Joe’s. “Sorry to trouble you two today. It would’ve been hard for me to deal with that deadbeat without you. I owe you one.”

John shrugged. “It was just a verbal threat, it’s nothing.”

Even though he said that, Luke didn’t believe him.

To get the ATF to put pressure on Weasel, John also had to call in a favor.

Whether the suspension notice was issued or not depended on how big a favor it was.

After the pleasantries, John said in a low voice, “Luke, what do you think about the Norman case?”

Pondering for a moment, Luke said frankly, “The boss asked for my opinion, but I didn’t take it.”

John was surprised. “Are you scared of Norman? You really don’t want to investigate this case?”

Luke fell silent.

John glanced at Joe.

They drank in silence and didn’t press Luke.

Thinking for a moment, Luke shook his head. “I don’t want to get involved.”

John asked, “What’s the problem?”

He didn’t think that Luke was a coward.

Luke sighed. “There’ll be people who think we’re being nosy if we investigate this case. Don’t forget that there’s someone above Norman.”

John and Joe looked at each other and nodded. “You mean…”

Luke took a sip of his beer and said, “Now, they have Norman. As long as we investigate this case, this person will either commit suicide or go missing. Then, what reason do we have to continue investigating?”

John and Joe shook their heads with bitter smiles.

They were old detectives, and naturally knew what Luke was getting at.

Looking at them, Luke said, “Doesn’t anyone in the DEA know what Norman is doing? There must be a lot of people who do. If Norman dies and someone else becomes the captain, nothing will have changed.”

Looking at John’s gloomy face, he said with a smile, “Enough, it’s not like we’re counting on this to get promoted. The most we’ll be able to dig out is that New York’s drug prices have risen by 5%. In two months, it’ll be like nothing happened.”

John took a sip of his alcohol and said unhappily, “Why do you have to be so reasonable about it? I have nothing to say.”

Luke gestured at the four of them. “Because we’re only police officers who work cases, not bigshots who sit in the office. If you really want to deal with Norman and the others, then transferring the case to the IRS makes more sense. But do you understand the accounts and reports?”

Everybody looked at each other and shook their heads with bitter smiles.

Most of the time, internal problems were much harder to resolve than external enemies.

Passing over the heavy topic of Norman and the DEA, the four of them talked about the other police departments.

“One of the patrol cops said that he saw the boss treating a beautiful woman to a meal at a high-end restaurant…”

“What? He can’t have any lady friends if he’s the police chief?”

“That’s not it, but I always thought that he would be married by now.”

“I thought so too, but he really only has lady friends…”

…

The next morning, Weasel called.

The suspension notice, which hung high above his head, was mighty pressure.

The truth was that Weasel could still make a net profit of 10,000 to 20,000 dollars a month from his fake liquor business even after paying all the necessary expenditure.

200,000 dollars a year wasn’t a small amount.

His broker business would definitely be affected if his bar was suspended. He would lose at least 50,000 dollars a month.

After receiving the call from his ATF friend last night, he was full of regret, but not because he gave Luke the wrong information.

It was already customary for him to deal in half-truths. Compared with his fake liquor business, this was already very professional of him.