The Search for a Room and the Homicide Case

Luke said with derision, "I'm still me, just in a different color. You won't understand. Alright, I'm leaving with my girl. Ain't nobody got the time to hang around here."

Jimena was still busy laughing when she was suddenly pulled away and lifted onto Luke's shoulder before she was carried away.

The girls around them weren't angry. They merely complained playfully and each of them gave Luke the finger.

After the two left the swimming pool area, Luke finally put Jimena down. Just like that, the two started strolling over the lawn as they chatted with each other.

This was a good point about Luke, and one that Jimena had teased him about repeatedly: she claimed that he was akin to a sister.

In truth, it was merely because Luke was a patient person and didn't mind listening to Jimena when she grumbled about something. Moreover, he would also gently share his earnest thoughts as he listened.

But in that way, he was indeed rather similar to one of those big sisters on the radio who specialized in listening to the troubles of others.

Although Jimena had teased him a few times about it, she was clearly very happy with Luke for who he was.

He was a person brave enough to protect her from a wild boar, and patient enough to be a good listener to her. That was something not even her family could do.

Luke didn't seem to care too much about her praise. With a wide smile, he put his arms around her and his hands roamed over her back as he said, "Remember, you're my girlfriend. If I can't be patient, I'd be left starving."

That left Jimena speechless, yet she didn't stop his hands from roaming over her back.

The two didn't spend too long strolling around. Jimena had always been a proactive girl, and in less than half an hour, she was done talking about all her recent troubles. As for some of her bigger troubles, there was no point talking about them as she couldn't do anything about those anyway.

Her eyes narrowed into slits and her arms curled around Luke's neck. With a light leap, she wrapped her legs around his waist before leaning forward to give him a deep and passionate kiss. Finally, she said, "You were sick during prom. How about today? Are you fine?"

Luke grinned and said, "Yeah, I'm all fine now."

"Prove it!" And that was followed by yet another long kiss.

Luke replied, "Much obliged."

Just like that, the two entered the building while still in each other's embrace and looked for some privacy.

The first bedroom they found was locked with the room completely silent.

The second bedroom was locked from the inside and gasps could be heard. Clearly, someone was inside. A man yelled, "Come in if you're a girl. Piss off if you're a guy."

Luke and Jimena laughed and moved on. The third bedroom wasn't locked, but the moment they pushed the door open, they saw two busy figures.

Even with Luke and Jimena standing at the door, the girl paid them no mind while the guy grinned before saying, "This room is taken. Please shut the door on your way out. Thank you."

Luke replied, "Oh, sure, you're welcome," before shutting the door and even helping them to lock it.

Jimena's gaze swept around before she whispered in Luke's ear. Then, the two headed toward the toilet, still in each other's embrace.

But when they were a few meters away from the toilet, they heard the groans of a man and woman from within – these two were clearly the bold and unrestrained type.

Jimena broke out laughing when she heard the groans.

Luke didn't seem to mind. He turned and started heading upstairs. This was a large residence with three floors. He refused to believe he couldn't find any privacy.

Thus, in their search for privacy, they bore witness to numerous scenes before they finally ended up on a particular balcony on the top floor.

In truth, this was an enclosed balcony which was connected to an attic room window.

If they stood up, they would be able to see that this balcony directly faced the swimming pool in the backyard.

This place was clearly well concealed and had yet to be discovered by anyone else. Thus, Luke and Jimena successfully found the privacy they had been looking for.

Their lips seemed glued together while their hands quickened in their exploration of each other.

Just as Luke's hands were about to start their conquest of the two vital spots on a girl's body, a clamor burst out at the swimming pool.

Different from the previous noise, the current clamor could be summarized in a few short words that everyone was repeating.

"Oh my god!"

"What's going on?"

"WTF?"

Yes, those were the words being repeated.

At that point, Luke and Jimena were leaning on the wall as they made out. They couldn't help but stop since something major must have happened.

They looked down at the same time and found the majority of the people there gathered around one spot by the pool.

From high above, the two could see that a girl in a bikini was lying on the ground while two other girls were busy giving her CPR.

Luke frowned and instinctively started scanning the area. In a particular corner of the pool, he noticed a figure streak past before it vanished into the darkness.

He didn't pay that figure too much mind as he said to Jimena, "Looks like something big is happening. Let's go down."

Jimena grabbed Luke's hand tightly and said, "Luke, it's Michelle! Is she dead?"

Luke looked down before shaking his head. "Things look bad. She's not moving at all. Whatever happened, it's highly probable that she's dead. Let's go and ask if anyone has called the ambulance."

There were a few dozen people here and all of them were town locals. Even if they were stupid, they would still know to call the police and ambulance in this situation.

The town wasn't that big anyway. Furthermore, Martha's house was located in the central part of town, which was less than five minutes away from the police department and the hospital.

Sure enough, the police arrived while Luke and Jimena were on their way down. By the time they got downstairs, the ambulance had arrived as well.

The benefit of having a large space became apparent, as the police car and ambulance drove straight into the backyard and stopped not far from the pool. In any case, there weren't any actual walls here, only some token fences.

When Luke arrived, he saw Robert getting out of the police car.

When he recalled Michelle's motionless body, he shook his head. It was very likely that a death had happened. Therefore, as the chief of police, Robert had to come.

Robert wasn't the only one here. When the ambulance arrived, a second police car arrived as well. This time, a Latino woman got out of the car.

Luke knew this woman as well.

This was Selina, known as the prettiest policewoman in town.

But of course, there were only two policewomen in the force. The other policewoman was Mary, who was over 40 years old this year, and had been the prettiest policewoman previously.

Luke didn't approach Robert. Instead, he brought Jimena to Selina, who was already controlling the crowd, and said, "Hi, pretty girl!"

No, no, that was a joke. He wouldn't say that to her.

What Luke actually said was, "Hi, is there anything I can help with?"

When Selina saw him, she heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Although you have yet to officially start work, you need to help with what happened."

Luke nodded. "Of course. I'm here to help. What do you need me to do?"

Selina glanced at Jimena and asked, "Your girlfriend?"

Luke nodded.

"You're also here for this party?" Selina asked.

Luke nodded and gave a simple explanation. "Yeah, this is a party held by a bunch of Knox High graduates. The people here are mostly graduating students from the same batch."