Without wasting any time, Luke asked, “Does she show any signs of drug abuse?”
The nurse shook her head. “It doesn’t look like it. She doesn’t have any old needle marks on her arms, and there are no drugs in her blood.”
Luke asked, “Any external injuries? Scratches, beatings, knife wounds, and so on.”
The nurse said, “Basically none.”
“Are there any signs of assault?” asked Luke.
The nurse’s expression turned dark. “Her clothes are still intact, but…”
Luke and Selina waited patiently.
“But, her clothes don’t look like what a minor would wear,” the nurse said. “Also, I.D. Sarrieri isn’t cheap. A lingerie set costs at least 500 dollars.”
Luke glanced at Selina, his expression asking if she had heard of the brand.
Selina nodded to indicate that the brand was indeed expensive.
Only then did Luke nod. “I’ll call people from the SVU over. A forensics team will come by later to collect evidence. Please tell the doctor not to clean her up for now.”
The nurse said, “Okay.”
Luke said, “We’ll be following up on this case, too. We might need to ask you about it. How should we address you?”
“Christine Palmer, E.R. nurse.” The nurse went back to work.
The two of them called the Special Victims Unit and handed the case over to them. They then prompted the forensics department to come and gather evidence, before finally leaving the hospital at 2pm.
The girl might have had an unfortunate encounter, but in New York, which had a population of eight million, there were many similar encounters.
She was already very lucky to be rescued in one piece.
There were thousands of similar cases in the SVU, and Luke and Selina couldn’t handle all of them.
Looking at the gloomy weather, Selina stretched. “It feels like it’s going to rain. I’m sleepy.”
Luke said, “You can stay at home with Gold Nugget this afternoon, and look at the files while you’re at it. I need to do something.”
Selina asked, “What is it?”
Luke said, “Arrange things for three problem girls, and visit an ‘old friend’.”
Hearing the emphasis on “old friend,” Selina stopped asking.
Luke didn’t have many old friends here; more likely, it was some “professional” he was acquainted with, or an enemy – this wasn’t something that should be discussed.
The sky in New York was gloomy at 5pm.
Luke arrived in New Jersey in a secondhand Ford.
He walked to a two-story building and took out a key.
After checking the facilities, he nodded in satisfaction.
This was a house which he had gotten a renovation company to fix up through an intermediary.
It was some distance from the Hudson River and there weren’t that many people around here, which made it a suitable location.
Most of the facilities in the house had already been installed by the company’s workers last night. He simply took out various equipment and materials from his storage space and quickly installed the necessary facilities.
It only took him an hour to do everything.
Looking at the gloomy sky and the drizzle that had already started outside the window, he keyed Butterfly’s basic programming into the house, and sent it a message to inform Stacy and the twin sisters to come to this new base in New Jersey.
The three girls had entered a second month of basic training, but they didn’t complain; it was time for them to start a new life.
After changing his clothes, Luke left.
He drove to the remote bank of the river opposite his house, and made a call. “I’m here.”
There was a man’s voice on the other end of the line. “Head 500 meters northeast. Harim Garbage Disposal. We’re there.”
Luke hung up and drove off.
A few minutes later, he clicked his tongue inwardly as he moved between piles of garbage.
The meeting place was simply out of a movie! If it were anyone else, they would definitely suspect that the other party was going to silence them in this place.
Walking past a pile of abandoned cars, Luke’s nose twitched, and he looked at a large garbage disposal unit nearby. “Still busy?”
“Haha, you’re here, V.” The voice of a young girl rang out.
A small figure in a purple wig crawled nimbly out of the control room of the disposal unit, grabbed the metal railings on both sides of the stairs, and slid down.
Looking at her short figure, Luke was lost for words. “You don’t seem to have grown much, Mindy.”
Mindy, who had been quite happy, was instantly dealt a heavy blow when she heard this. “Hey, I grew an inch taller, okay?” She even gestured at her head to indicate the clear progress.
Luke was lost for words. You should be more worried about the future at this rate!
He dropped the subject. While Mindy currently wasn’t getting taller, she also wasn’t growing sideways, which was her greatest fortune.
It would be a tragedy if she put on weight and not height, and turned into a stocky girl in the next few years.
“Where’s your father?” he asked.
Mindy pointed at the control room. “He’s taking care of the garbage.”
Luke nodded and gave her a box. “It’s been a long time. Here’s a little gift for you.”
Mindy was delighted. “Thank you.”
She opened the box and was stunned. Taking out a few thin items and examining them, she asked, “What’s this?”
Luke said, “Additional protective casings for the Titanium phone. There are seven colors in total. You can use a different mood color every day of the week.”
Mindy thought for a moment and found it interesting. “Mm, they’re very simple, but interesting. Thank you.”
As they spoke, Damon came out of the control room.
However, he wasn’t as reckless as Mindy. He climbed down sedately and stopped before Luke. “It’s been a long time, V.”
Luke shook hands with him and said with a smile, “I didn’t interrupt your business, did I?” He had smelled blood just now; it was obvious that the garbage Damon was cleaning up was human.
Damon chuckled and looked at the crushed car. “It’s fine. I was finishing up when you called.”
Pausing for a moment, he continued, “You said that you needed something. What is it?”
Luke said, “I think you might be one of the people in New York who knows the most about the drug cartels here.”
Damon wasn’t too surprised.
The first time he met the mysterious V, both of them had set their eyes on a drug gang.
Although he didn’t know what V had been doing recently, it wasn’t the first time he had asked for such information.