“Really?” Max’s eyes lit up, but she quickly came back to himself and coughed twice. “Let me make it clear first: I’m not going to any shady place.”
Caroline, however, secretly pulled her aside and whispered, “You’ve known each other for less than two hours, and it’s the middle of the night. Are you sure? Besides, you’ve been to a lot of shady places.”
“The least shady place I’ve been in for the last few months is the diner.” Max blinked. “Also, he’s very handsome. It’s fine if the place is just a little shady.”
Caroline choked.
There was no arguing that reason!
She was actually someone who looked at appearances, and she couldn’t call this man ugly.
If it were her, she wouldn’t refuse.
She nodded helplessly. “Alright, remember to get home early. I can’t make the cupcakes to sell tomorrow on my own.”
Max waved her hand and said casually, “Those customers won’t die if they eat less cupcakes. Can’t I rest for a day?”
Luke suddenly interjected, “Do you live together?”
Both girls turned around and nodded. “Roommates.”
“Co-renters.”
Luke understood. “Then do you want to come with us?”
Caroline was delighted. “Really? Can I?”
Luke shrugged. “I didn’t invite you earlier because I didn’t want to stop you from going home to rest, but now…”
They were roommates and colleagues, and were clearly best friends.
It was inappropriate for him to ask only Max out.
Of course, it was only a little inappropriate.
Doing so might be useless, and even if he didn’t, Caroline might not necessarily hate him.
But he was out to have fun tonight, and it wouldn’t hurt to bring one more person along.
Now that was sorted, there was one problem — no car.
Luke had been out for a stroll, and naturally didn’t have a car, much less take one out of his inventory.
The two girls, on the other hand, lived a few blocks away. If they didn’t leave work earlier in the evening, they would take the subway.
They were very familiar with the route home, and they rarely ran into hoodlums who tried to rob them. As long as they were careful and paid attention to dangerous areas ahead of time, they could still avoid being robbed.
Luke was about to take out his phone and look for a black cab, when Han closed up not far away.
Seeing that the three of them were still standing there, he asked them what was wrong.
When he heard that they didn’t have a car, Han volunteered to be the driver.
Luke and the girls had no objections.
From Mental Communication, Luke knew that this doll-like Han was a good person.
While Han was driving, Luke secretly asked Max and Selina if they wanted to take Han with them. Both of them had strange expressions on their faces.
It wasn’t disgust, but a little awkwardness.
Luke was amused. “It’s not like I’m telling you to take care of a kid. The most you have to do is keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t get lost, and then collect him again when it’s time to leave. In any case, he’s the driver, and can’t drink.”
The two girls agreed. If everyone drank, they would be short of a driver.
The three of them finally got into the car, and Han was pleasantly surprised when Luke extended the invitation to him. “Really? I wanted Max to take me to the club last time, but she said that they didn’t provide baby diapers, so she didn’t want to take me.”
Luke chuckled. “It’s fine, you’re a grown man.”
After getting into the car, Han took a detour home. Putting away the cash he had just collected, he immediately left the house.
Luke had found a place.
Luke didn’t know much about New York’s classy and luxurious venues.
Most of what he knew were names, locations, and the terrain, in preparation for future cases and private jobs.
Besides, most of these places had tighter security and fewer cases happened here. Many detectives liked to work cases like these, so Luke didn’t argue with them.
However, he knew all sorts of trendy, popular, and wild entertainment venues.
That was because a lot of cases happened in these places, and there were a lot of detailed records in his personal database, including information on the bosses and patrons of these places.
He chose a recently opened nightclub, Up And Down, which was trendy, lively, and pricey.
He picked the atmosphere for the three of them, while the price level was a factor for him.
Entry into an ordinary place wouldn’t be as tight.
It wasn’t uncommon for people to do some looting in places like that. In any case, there would be a lot of people, and the management wouldn’t be able to watch everything. As long as it wasn’t too big a fuss, they would turn a blind eye.
A high entry fee meant that those without money were stopped outside, and most of the guests who could enter were rich.
People who did business inside the club always followed the rules.
They could make polite enquiries with guests, but couldn’t threaten or beat them up.
If a high-end club’s reputation among the rich was tarnished, it would be very easy for it to fall from grace.
The quality of its guests would plummet, and in the end, it would become nothing more than a common street club.
For a top-notch venue like this that was starting out with tens of millions poured into it, no one would dare make a joke out of that much money.
Someone who could open a club like this had connections to either a gang or NYPD, which had the same effect and allowed the club to exist safely.
When Luke and the other three arrived, UAD had long shut its doors, and two brawny men stood at the entrance.
In front of them was the common meter-tall, gold stainless steel posts with a thin silver chain running from one to the other.
Without permission, anyone who wanted to enter the club could only negotiate with the bouncers outside this “chain barrier.”
There was a long line of dressed-up girls at the entrance. Whenever they saw a person who looked like they might be about to enter the club, the more brazen ones would flirt, and the shyer ones would smile expectantly.
These people weren’t professional workers; they were basically young women who just wanted to play in a fancy club and nothing more.
Of course, if most of the men who could bring someone in with them put in a little more effort, they had a higher chance of getting phone numbers.
Luke got out of the car and smiled as he said to Max, “I’ll pick a dance partner for Han here. Otherwise, we’ll have to get Caroline to dance with him.”
Max exclaimed, “Are you kidding me? I’ve lined up here before, but nobody paid attention to me even after 20 minutes. Why didn’t I meet someone as considerate as you back then?”
Luke looked at her. “You’re joking. If I saw you, you would be my first pick.”
Listening on the side, Caroline looked at Max enviously.
Luke saw it and smiled. “Of course, with your temperament, you can go in directly.”
Hearing that, there was a nostalgic look on Caroline’s face. “I’ve never been to this UAD. My family was already broke when it opened, but I went to 2-KAO a lot.”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “That celebrity nightclub?”
Caroline sighed. “Yes. I’ve practically forgotten what it’s like inside.”