The Wolf of Los Angeles-Chapter 361 - : The Four ’No’s Patient

[Chapter 361: The Four 'No's Patient]

Frank opened a bottle of beer and handed it to Hawke across the table, asking, "Do you think there's something wrong with those people?"

Hawke shrugged in return, questioning, "What do you think?"

Frank took a big gulp of beer and replied, "Then why would you want to entice them to Silicon Valley?"

"Haven't you seen how chaotic the recent fires in Los Angeles were? The work capabilities of a lot of those folks... let's not talk about it," Hawke's thinking may be wrong, but he has his own judgment. "Future competitors of Twitter can only come from Silicon Valley, and if their team has a bunch of those people, that would be interesting to see."

He laughed, as if telling a joke. "If possible, they should be involved in every aspect of American tech."

Frank said, "That would make me hesitant to even board a Boeing plane."

Hawke replied seriously, "First-class talent does finance; second-rate fools get into politics, and those underachievers handle tech -- our societal structure would remain remarkably stable."

Frank was curious, "So, you plan to get into finance?"

"It's on the agenda; I'm just waiting for the opportunity," Hawke said simply. "Establishing an investment firm that integrates resources like Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, or Vanguard International."

Frank understood. "You want to sit at the poker table and be a player."

Hawke said, "One step at a time." He picked up a skewer of grilled meat. "You can't eat all the meat in one bite."

"You know why the management at Venice Beach decided to form such a rescue team?" Frank's question jumped abruptly back to women, "Did they really bring in six women of different skin tones, hair colors, heights, and facial features?"

Edward was surprised. "Wasn't it meant to just add some charm to the scene?"

Frank teased, "You and your fossil brain only understand that little bit between men and women."

He explained to Hawke, "Having lived in this beach parking lot for so long, I've made some friends. An old guy from the management retired last month. Before he headed to the retirement community in Orange County, I had him over for drinks and BBQ, and he told me those six women are from Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF)."

Having collaborated with that organization before, Hawke noted that the leader, Michelle, had been appointed last year as the deputy chief of the fire department by the former mayor, Antonio. He pinched his chin and mused, "Coincidence or something else?"

Frank asserted, "With all the mess you've been involved in and the profits since the new mayor took office, it's bound to attract attention. You folks are too unreliable in your dealings, so I decided to get involved personally and probe their intentions."

Hearing this, Edward nearly sprayed his beer, quickly turning his head to spew it onto the ground.

Frank had a thicker skin than both Hawke and Edward combined. "Don't worry; I'll get to the bottom of what these women's agendas are, and I will find out."

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Edward asked, "How are you going to investigate?"

Hawke cautioned Frank, "Feminists are usually tricky; you better tread lightly or you might end up getting burned yourself."

"Am I afraid of them?" Frank scoffed in bravado. "I have no property, no income, no fame, no relatives -- for someone like me, a homeless person, the LAPD wouldn't even bother. Public humiliation would mean nothing to me."

Hawke admired him. "The four 'no's patient, America's prime talent, the nemesis of the privileged class."

Frank chuckled with satisfaction.

Regardless, Frank had done a lot to help, and Hawke turned to Edward, saying, "You're responsible for keeping in touch with Frank; don't let those women swallow him whole."

...

His phone in his pocket rang, and Hawke pulled it out to see it was Jennifer calling. He stood up and moved to a less crowded area, answering, "How'd you find the time to call me? Are you inviting me to your wedding with Brian?"

Jennifer ignored his teasing and said, "Last month, didn't you ask me about the Ackerman family's estate settlement issues?"

Hawke replied, "Yeah, the Ackerman family's prime assets are quite tempting."

Jennifer responded, "Several large medical centers, foundations' funds, labs, and so on -- you can forget about it; Washington has claimed everything. Some will be processed in Los Angeles, including the charity shelters you mentioned."

She added, "Are you interested in a mansion? Beverly Hills, North Sunset Boulevard, the top-tier estate occupying an entire hill -- the Ackerman estate."

Hawke asked, "Is that house up for sale?"

Jennifer explained, "The victims need compensation. This case requires a lot of cash to settle, and all of Buddy Ackerman's faction has disappeared, so they have no choice but to auction off their fixed assets. While it's nominally a bidding process, there's plenty of maneuvering space."

North Sunset Boulevard was the most luxurious area in Beverly Hills. When Hawke first arrived in Los Angeles, he had sneaked in to see Buddy Ackerman's mansion, but two years had passed, and his memories started to blur.

He pondered for a moment, asking, "Can we go check it out?"

"No problem," Jennifer replied. "I don't have time today, but tomorrow I'll send an assistant over to take you on a tour of the estate."

Hawke said, "Sounds good."

Jennifer preemptively clarified, "It can't be less than $20 million."

"I'll take a look first," Hawke concluded the call.

On the other side, Edward was also done eating, and the two went back to the office directly.

---

In the afternoon, Hawke learned that Mehlman was heading back to Washington and made sure someone found Mehlman, preparing a selection of Los Angeles specialties for him and his chief of staff.

To pursue a $99,000 screw business required extraordinary channels.

Without corruption between politics and business, how could one expect to develop?

---

At Santa Monica Pier, several police cars arrived in succession. The first wave had already set up police tape.

Belonging to the West Division of the LAPD, they quickly, under Milner's command, moved to drive tourists and reporters away, keeping everyone as far from the scene as possible.

Detectives from the homicide division and technicians from the scientific analysis division also arrived.

Leading the team, Erica donned casual clothes, pulled out gloves and shoe covers, and quickly made her way toward Milner, greeting him. "What's the situation?"

Milner pointed to below the coast. "A sanitation worker checking the sewage outlet discovered a female corpse here and called the cops. The first officers on the scene found similarities between this case and the two bodies discovered previously in Beverly Hills, so they notified you."

Erica said, "I'll take my team down to take a look."

Milner followed closely, whispering, "I heard you might be getting reassigned from the detective bureau."

"It's related to this case," Erica glanced back, noticing the distance between others before saying, "Some people are worried I might uncover something, so they decided to promote me. It's highly likely I'll be moved to the Special Operations Bureau as a deputy commander overseeing training for Teams B, C, and D."

Milner remarked, "That's right up your alley."

Erica nodded slightly, "Makes things a bit easier."

The technicians from behind caught up and were the first to head down to the sewage entrance.

Then Erica and several of her subordinates went down as well.

...

The deceased girl was very young, looking around twenty years old. There were no clothes or any means of identification on her body, but there was a burn mark larger than a dollar coin on her lower abdomen.

The pattern was quite clear, depicting an inverted pentagram with a goat's head in the middle.

Some sort of satanic symbol.

Erica examined closely, confirming it matched the symbols on the two bodies previously found in Beverly Hills.

"That makes the third victim," Erica said, "This is already a serial case."

One subordinate asked, "Boss, how do we investigate this?"

Erica replied, "Just follow the normal procedures." She patted her subordinate's shoulder. "Don't worry; I'll take responsibility if anything comes up."

They got busy around there.

---

The next morning, Edward drove a bulletproof Mercedes to North Sunset Boulevard, where he met Jennifer's assigned staff.

The agent, named Catherine, led the way as they drove to the Ackerman estate.

Hawke had once seen Tom Cruise's mansion in Beverly Hills, which also occupied an entire small hill and covered more than 10,000 square meters.

The Ackerman estate was significantly larger. A wide, dual-lane granite road wound its way up the hill into the mountainside.

High walls were erected surrounding at least 3.5 acres of land from a high vantage point.

As the two cars approached, the automatic iron gate opened, revealing the structures, primarily consisting of a main building and an auxiliary building, both two-story formations with white walls and gray roofs.

In front of the main house was a small plaza with a sculptural fountain. guests arriving could drive right up to it.

Behind the house was a rectangular swimming pool, a small golf course, a garden filled with greenery, and a helicopter landing pad.

Hawke noted that the golf course could easily be transformed into a shooting range.

Catherine said, "It was cleaned up by hired help, so it's still pretty clean."

Hawke understood; as they entered the main building, the walls were in disarray. Any high-value decorations, artworks, and oil paintings had been removed.

Many pieces of furniture remained, but they were not to Hawke's taste.

Even though the house had been ransacked when the FBI raided, it would still sell for more than $60 million in today's Los Angeles real estate market, possibly even higher.

By the 2020s, that would unquestionably be a billion-dollar mansion.

Given to the average family, it would be unaffordable; just the annual property tax could break a millionaire.

In Los Angeles, the property tax rate for estates valued over $10.3 million stood at 5.5%.

These issues didn't concern Hawke. His previous absence from buying real estate had direct ties to the Ackerman family.

This time last year, the Ackerman family loomed large over Hawke.

Going further back, he had prepared multiple safe houses and escape routes for himself, ready to bolt at the slightest incident.

Now that the Ackerman family was in shambles, a clear road lay ahead.

Taking out Buddy Ackerman himself, confining Melissa and Sean in a secret room, had completely dismantled the Ackerman family's power, allowing him to buy the Ackerman mansion at a rock bottom price...

Perfect.

Hawke turned to Catherine, saying, "Tell Jennifer I want this place."

*****

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