章 22: The Employees at the Laundry
It was already over. Shouldn't he question him a little more? Ravi blinked and leaned away from the mirror, the confusion was written all over his face.
He looked surprisingly young and cute, Sarah chuckled and Ravi looked at her, his rumpled-up gaze returning, causing the small affection she felt now to disappear.
"Captain said that it was impossible for Mr Garfield to steal the money back. He had operated in Davenport for a long time. It would be disastrous for business."
The door finally opened and Arlen stepped out, Mr. Garfield in a pair of silver handcuffs followed behind him.
"Officer West, you are with me. We would go and collect the CCTV records from the Garfield Laundry home."
Ravi looked at Mr Garfield noncommittally before he turned his gaze back to Arlen, the question at the tip of his tongue but he swallowed it in.
"Yes, Captain." He saluted as he took the car key from where it hung and led the way.
"We don't need to go in person, I can send my boys to collect it." Mr Garfield tried to say but Arlen shut him up with one look. He then turned and smiled at Sarah, "We would leave the office in your care, Officer Adam."
"Will do, Captain," Sarah replied, her eyes softening.
The keys made a rattling sound in Ravi's hands and he lowered his head, feeling all the attention on him but he did not speak.
"It looks like Officer West is also impatient to solve this case and arrest the person or people involved," Arlen said, those ocean-blue eyes looking at him with something akin to mirth.
Him? Ravi frowned, his glare sharpening and penning Arlen down. It could have worked but soon, the Captain was moving Mr Garfield forward, he did not mishandle him and opened the door for him to enter inside the police car before he entered himself.
"Under the Universal Law, people who have been designated as villains have no rights so you should not hold back, Ravi." That decadent chocolate voice came again into his mind, wrapping around his neck.
"Officer West!" Arlen's voice broke his short gaze, the man's head was out of the window and he looked at Ravi who was standing right next to the door, key in hand.
Ravi caught his gaze and he asked, "Is everything alright, Officer West?"
"Yes, Captain." He just needed a jar of wine, maybe two or at least five bottles of beer. Good beer.
He twisted the key in and the police car accelerated.
A few meters in, the quiet middle-aged man instantly started talking. He first tried to make an easy conversation but when Arlen's face did not change, he got "And Mr Goldwood, when his child was deadly ill. You know the Virus from that Plague Prowler last year, the antidotes were more than 4000 dollars per injection, if not for the money that he won when he gambled, his only child would have died. If you think about it, Captain, both of us are kinda alike, we do everything that we can in order to aid the society."
Ravi turned the steering wheel smoothly, wondering if that was an example of a good story. Was he supposed to clap for the man who took his money to the gambling house, betting his child's entire future on a stroke of luck?
Well, the bet was successful in the end.
"And if the bet had not been successful, Mr Garfield, what would happen to the money and the child?" Arlen's voice sounded in the car, Ravi looked at the mirror and saw the beads of sweat dance on the smooth forehead of the man.
Serves him right for being so talkative.
"I..We..The…"
"We are here." Riva announced and Garfield all but jumped out of the car.
The laundry store appeared unassuming, its windows were adorned with crisp, white curtains that billowed softly in the cold morning air. Even though the owner was locked up in the police station, the laundry was operating as usual, rows of washing machines hummed as the distinct aroma of clean detergent wafted through the air.
Ravi did not know the name of the detergent but it was the same one that the Captain used to wash his clothes.
"Boss! You are back." A young man dressed in washed-up jeans and a faded blue top said as he came down from the counter. He did not look like someone that a gambling house would use at all, he paused and looked at the two officers, "Uncle, are you in trouble? Mum told you that one day, you would get in trouble."
"Just mind the laundry room." Garfield said, his cheeks had a faint red of embarrassment at being caught by his nephew like that.
Garfield led them through the rows of machines until they stopped at the door, they opened the door and a long winding staircase down suddenly appeared in front of them.
Garfield looked back at Arlen but the man did not seem to be concerned at all, or afraid and the young police officer behind him was even worse, they were not interested at all in those hazel eyes that looked at him, just plain boredom.
He coughed and explained, "The gambling room is down the stairs."
"Okay. Lead the way, Mr Garfield, we do not have time to waste."
Garfield led the way and sure enough, the aura suddenly changed the moment they opened the door to the gambling room. Low, red lights replaced the bright fluorescent of the upstairs laundry room and there was faint music playing.
Ravi looked at the gambling room, it was a small one, with three tables and less than 10 machines but from the wear and tear around the room, one can ascertain that it was a flourishing gambling house.
"Boss!" Two people called out. One person was cleaning bottles of beer and stocking them into the fridge and another one was wiping down the surface.
The two of them stopped what they were doing and walked to the three of them. They wore a stern expression on their face but Ravi could see the worry and concern in their eyes for Garfield. He was not a bad boss then.
It was a man and a woman. The woman was in his early thirties like Sarah, she had a piercing on his nose and mouth and her long blond hair was tied in a loose ponytail, the man was taller and skinny with black tattoos all over his body.
"This is Jenna and Marcus." Garfield looked around as if he was looking for another person. "The surveillance room is down the hall, Captain."
Arlen did not move, he looked around before asking, "Do you have just two workers?"
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