Chapter 190: Jane: You're so familiar with the detective, isn't it because of his daughter and niece?
"Are there any drug dealers around here?"
Jane looked at Detective Rostenkowski. "Can you find out the latest intel about the drug dealing networks around here?"
"You mean Scarlett was a drug dealer?"
Detective Rostenkowski finally understood Jane's meaning and exclaimed incredulously, "Impossible!"
The town's top housewife and chairwoman of the women's committee had suddenly become a drug dealer; the turn of events was too drastic to imagine.
"Detective, then how do you explain the continuous deposits of such large sums of cash?"
Jane looked at him in surprise. They had clearly exchanged knowing glances when she mentioned regularly depositing large amounts of cash.
"I thought..."
Detective Rostenkowski instinctively wanted to say something, but he swallowed the words and waved his hand, saying, "Never mind, I might be wrong. You're probably right."
"..."
Jane's lips twitched, and she glanced at Chuck.
Chuck remained calm.
He knew Detective Rostenkowski's thoughts. The sudden, regular deposits of large sums of cash didn't necessarily mean the victim was a drug dealer. Compared to the deceased's identity, returning to the roots and engaging in one of humanity's oldest professions seemed more reasonable.
Ordinary people, like the older sister Haley in Alex's eyes, even if they were in this ancient profession, wouldn't have the earning power comparable to drug trafficking. After all, it's a labor-intensive industry, earning only modest wages.
But the deceased's husband's profession and her position as chairwoman of the women's committee gave her access to many wealthy and influential people, allowing her to command premium rates comparable to drug trafficking.
However, out of respect for the dead, Detective Rostenkowski, even if he considered this, couldn't say it publicly before confirming.
"Whether it's true or not, we'll find out by asking around,"
Jane said, suppressing her sarcasm, not wanting to expose Detective Rostenkowski's male thought process. "Detective, could you please bring Gloria Pritchett in for a chat?"
"Sure."
Detective Rostenkowski personally went to get her, taking the opportunity to escape the discomfort Jane's earlier glance had caused him.
"Do you think I'm right, or is Detective Rostenkowski right?"
Jane couldn't help but complain to Chuck during this lull. "Isn't it normal for men's first reaction to think about sex rather than drugs?"
"That's normal,"
Chuck said calmly. "Sex, gambling, drugs—sex is the oldest, and it involves the biological imperative for reproduction. It's etched into human DNA. Most people can avoid being involved in gambling and drugs, but they can hardly avoid the subject of sex."
"That's really scientific and rational,"
Jane rolled her eyes at Chuck's overly frank and calm demeanor.
What he said might not be wrong, but something just felt off.
"Gloria, this is Dr. Chuck Wolfe, an advisor to the department, and this is his assistant, Jane Banner,"
Detective Rostenkowski led in the Colombian woman, whose figure was comparable to Beth Boland's, and introduced them.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you."
Gloria pointed excitedly at Chuck. "You were my husband Jay's accountant. He often talks about you, saying you're going to be very successful."
"Mrs. Pritchett,"
Jane interjected, drawing attention to herself. "You're one of the members of the town's Women's Committee. You must have been very close to Scarlett, right?"
"Of course!"
Gloria's expression darkened. "I got into the Women's Committee thanks to Scarlett. She was a very good friend and never discriminated against us foreigners."
At this point, she exclaimed emotionally, "You have to find out who killed her!"
"We'll do our best."
Jane nodded. "Do you know if Scarlett had any enemies?"
"She didn't have any enemies."
Gloria shook her head. "Everyone liked her, except Claire, but it definitely can't be Claire!"
"I heard that besides being a housewife and the chair of the Women's Committee, she also sold handmade jewelry?"
Jane didn't dwell on whether Claire was the murderer and cut straight to the point.
"Yes."
Gloria turned her head to show everyone, "See? These are the earrings Scarlett made. They're so artistic. She was so talented. Such a good person represents my biggest dream when I came to America. But why did something so terrible happen in a place like Haven? This isn't Colombia; it should be peaceful!"
"Yeah."
Jane couldn't help but glance at Gloria's impressive figure, then at Chuck, and said insincerely, "Many people come to Haven because of the name."
"Exactly!"
Seeing Jane agree with her, Gloria became even more excited, waving her arms and widening her eyes to emphasize her point, "This is not what I imagined America should be like!"
"Welcome to the real America."
Jane held out her hand, "By the way, how much are these earrings?"
"You mean these?"
Gloria touched her earrings, thought for a moment, and said, "Not expensive, only 20 dollars."
"Really?"
Jane glanced at Chuck and Detective Rostenkowski, tentatively saying, "They're so artistic, and you like them so much, I thought they'd be very expensive."
Gloria tilted her head, touching her earrings, and smiled awkwardly but politely.
Everyone understood.
They could shower their boss with compliments without expecting anything in return, and supporting their boss's side business with a little money was no problem, but if they were expected to actually pay a high price for these pieces, then sorry, they could only smile awkwardly but politely and remain silent.
Nobody was a fool!
Besides, if their boss truly had such exceptional artistic taste, people would have been snapping them up long ago; why would they need anyone else to foot the bill?
"A pair of earrings costs $20, so the other jewelry is probably in the same price range?"
Jane looked at Gloria and said, "Even if all this handmade jewelry is pure profit, to reach a revenue of $5,000, you'd need to sell 250 pieces. Are there that many people in town who would buy them?"
"Not that many."
Gloria immediately shook her head.
Although Haven isn't small and has many housewives and young women, not everyone is willing to spend this money.
Only those who frequently meet Scarlett and aren't short on cash would be willing to buy, or even buy several pieces.
But no matter how you calculate it, there couldn't possibly be as many as 250 pieces.
"This is interesting,"
Jane said meaningfully, "This quantity of around 250 pieces is weekly, and it's been going on for several weeks, so the total quantity may have already exceeded a thousand pieces. You really didn't notice at all?"
"Impossible!"
Gloria's eyes widened. "Even if you include all the nearby towns, it's impossible to sell that many!"
"You were often with her. Besides selling jewelry, what other side job do you think she had that could generate so much cash income?"
Jane looked at Gloria scrutinizingly.
"Cash? That much?"
Gloria muttered to herself, then noticed Jane's gaze and glared at her. "Are you suspecting me? Just because I'm from Colombia?!"
She crossed her arms, her leopard-print dress and glaring expression revealing her fierce nature. "In your eyes, anyone from Colombia is a criminal, isn't that right! You think I was supplying Scarlett with drugs, which is why she had so much cash income, right?"
"Don't get upset, I'm sure Agent Banner didn't mean that,"
Detective Rostenkowski quickly smoothed things over. "Right, Agent Banner?"
"I didn't mean that."
Jane was also a little confused; she just wanted to see if Gloria knew anything, how did it escalate to this?
"Stop lying!"
Gloria's eyes widened as she pointed at Jane, gesticulating wildly. "I know that look all too well. It's discrimination! Oh, you're from another country, so you're poor and ignorant. Oh, you're attractive but married to an older man, so you must be a gold digger. Oh, you're from drug-ridden Colombia, so you must be involved in drug trafficking!
I've had enough! This is all bullshit! Let me tell you, I'm not afraid of you! My sister is a cop! A senior detective in the NYPD's 99th Precinct Major Crimes Unit. In this small town, she could be the police chief! I'm calling her right now to see if you also suspect she's an undercover agent for a Colombian cartel!"
"Please don't get upset,"
Detective Rostenkowski said helplessly. "We really didn't mean that."
"Your sister is with the NYPD's 99th Precinct?"
Chuck asked. "Detective Rosa Diaz?"
"You know my sister?"
Gloria looked at Chuck in surprise while dialing.
She didn't have any problem with Chuck, after all, he hadn't shown any unusual expression throughout.
"I've worked a few cases with the NYPD's 99th Precinct,"
Chuck said. "I know her."
"That's even better."
Gloria glared at Jane. "See? I didn't lie to you! Let my detective sister talk to you, you can't discriminate against us!"
"We really didn't..."
Jane was speechless.
"Rosa, it's me! Your sister!"
The call connected quickly, and Gloria immediately put it on speakerphone and spoke rapidly. In her excitement, her Colombian accent came out strong, making Jane's head spin. She couldn't help but look at Chuck.
In Colombia, Spanish is spoken, and Hispanics make up over 18% of the US population, making them one of the largest minority groups.
Therefore, Spanish is a very important language, especially for law enforcement officers; knowing Spanish is even a significant advantage in promotion exams.
Jane, though not fluent, knew a little Spanish, but Gloria's accent was quite strong, and when she got excited, she spoke extremely quickly, making it impossible for Jane to understand.
However, she trusted Chuck to understand.
"She's explaining the situation and her perspective,"
Chuck said succinctly.
"Tell them, tell them!"
Gloria finally finished speaking, glaring fiercely at Jane and pointing her phone at her.
"They didn't say anything wrong."
A cold female voice came from the other end of the phone. "You're being too sensitive."
"What?!"
Gloria was stunned, and shouted angrily into the phone, "I'm your sister! How dare you side with outsiders instead of me?!"
"You married the man who should have been dating me, why didn't you remember you were my sister then?"
On the other end of the phone, Gloria's sister Rosa said coldly, "I met Jay first. He was originally going to ask me out, but you swooped in instead."
"This isn't the time to talk about this."
Seeing the gossipy glint in Jane and Detective Rostenkowski's eyes, Gloria's fierce momentum faltered. She took the phone off speaker and held it to her ear. "Besides, you weren't interested in Jay in the first place."
"I really wasn't interested in him."
Rosa's voice could still be faintly heard on the other end of the phone. "He's an old man in his sixties. So what if he has some money? He probably has to find excuses to avoid you when you're in the mood, otherwise you'll definitely wear him out. He simply can't handle your so-called passion."
"He's not like that at all!"
Gloria roared angrily. "And if you don't care, why bring it up?"
Her sister's words triggered a flood of memories, and she suddenly understood. No wonder her husband hadn't looked down on her for having a son from her previous marriage; in fact, he doted on the boy.
At thirty, she was in her prime. Whenever they were about to get intimate, her husband would excuse himself, and when he returned, their son would conveniently walk in, launching into a long talk about his school life, forcing her to suppress her desires and patiently chat with him.
She hadn't thought much of it before, but now, with her sister's explanation, she suddenly realized it was all because her shrewd, self-made husband knew how to pace himself.
Thinking even deeper, was her husband afraid she might "accidentally" exhaust him, inherit his fortune, and live a life of luxury with a younger man?
The crucial point was that she had joked about that sarcastically once, but she hadn't meant it at all. She truly loved him for who he was, nothing more. She felt utterly wronged.
"Because what I give you is truly yours."
Rosa, the younger sister, said coldly on the other end of the phone. "What you steal doesn't count."
"You!"
Gloria angrily hung up the phone, stood up, and stormed out.
Neither Jane nor Detective Rostenkowski stopped her.
Detective Rostenkowski genuinely believed this couldn't possibly be related to Gloria, and naturally wouldn't offend the angry wife of a multi-millionaire.
Jane felt the same way, and the intimidating feeling Gloria had given her completely vanished.
Why?
Aside from her most eye-catching, impressive figure, Gloria's looks didn't meet Chuck's standards of beauty at all, and her personality and behavior were simply unappealing to him.
Therefore, Jane's interest in her naturally disappeared.
"It's getting late, and everyone has kids to take care of at home."
An officer whispered a few words to Chuck, then Detective Rostenkowski looked at him. "Could the follow-up interviews be postponed until tomorrow?"
Chuck looked at Jane.
Jane hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Okay."
"Alright, that's a wrap."
Detective Rostenkowski waved to his subordinates, "They can go home now, but they need to make themselves available tomorrow."
It wasn't just the housewives with several children who needed to go home; the police officers wanted to go home too.
Solving cases is never a one-day affair. The kind of all-night investigations depicted in TV shows are just fiction.
In America, being a police officer is just a job, not even a job to protect the public, but a job to maintain order, prioritizing one's own absolute safety and livelihood before apprehending criminals after they've committed a crime.
Everyone finished work, and Jane and Chuck drove back to the hillside villa.
"You and Detective Rostenkowski are quite familiar?"
Jane couldn't help but look at Chuck, who was driving.
"Yes, we know each other,"
Chuck said succinctly.
"How did you meet?"
Jane asked curiously.
"He has six children,"
Chuck said as he drove, "His income as a police officer isn't enough to support them all. His wife runs an illegal daycare in the basement, and there were some tax issues."
"Oh, I see."
Jane paused, muttering instinctively, "It's not because of his daughter and niece..."
"Is that the kind of person you think I am?"
Chuck glanced at her.
"Of course not!"
Jane quickly explained, "I was just thinking out loud."
"Very good."
Chuck nodded. "Don't say that again."
Jane: "..."
For some reason, she felt something was off about those words.
(End of Chapter)
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