Chapter 379 Promotion and Pay Rise
Looking at the half-full box of regular donuts, and then at the special blueberry cheese donut in her hand, Elsa hesitated for a moment, then said, “Dustin isn’t a fan of donuts, anyway. I’ll just give him the half-full box.”
As for the blueberry cheese donuts, she decided to keep them for herself.
After sitting down at his desk, Luke gave the case files to Selina to screen as usual.
Elizabeth had returned too. She waved at Luke, indicating that she had something to tell him, and Luke nodded for her to come over.
She then told him that Samantha had returned to Arizona with Ashley and Mike. Chris had gone back with his aunt as well.
Jenny and Bobby had been negotiating with Chris about the mine on Luke’s behalf, and he hadn’t talked to them yet. He simply asked, “Is everything fine on your mother’s end?”
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment before she nodded. “We did everything like you said, except…”
Luke nodded. “Then that’s fine. Focus on work and don’t worry about what’s happening at home. It’s never bad to have more money, right?”.
Elizabeth nodded with a wry smile. Having money was better than struggling for years to pay off her college loan.
She then said in a low voice, “The Elsworths have been on the news a lot in the last two days. It would be good to pay them more attention.”
Luke nodded. “Alright, got it.”
There were a lot of things that Elizabeth wanted to say, but she felt that it wasn’t proper to voice them out. In the end, she simply said thanks once more and returned to work.
Luke turned around and looked at Selina. “Have you picked a case?” Selina didn’t lift her head as she continued skimming the files. “Pretty much. The weather has been nice recently. If you want to check out bikinis, there’s a case of a female body on the beach. There’s nothing special about the other cases.”
Luke grew interested. “What kind of body?”
Selina said, “The kind you’re imagining. You want to check it out?”
Luke rose and said, “Let’s go. You can enjoy the sun…”
The phone on the desk suddenly rang.
Luke picked up the phone. “Hello. Alright, at once.”
He put down the phone and shrugged at Selina. “Dustin asked us to go to his office.”
Selina said, “Hopefully it won’t delay our investigation.”
Luke said, “You’re more interested in catching some rays, aren’t you? But the sun’s about to set, and you won’t be able to get any sun now anyway.”
Selina said, “We can look for the best spot first, so that we won’t have to waste time later.”
Luke couldn’t say anything, and just gave her a thumbs up.
They soon returned from Dustin’s office with a promotion document each.
Luke smiled. “Alright, if we hurry up, we can finish the paperwork and change our IDs and badges today.”
Selina sighed. “Fine. I can skip out on sunbathing for a promotion and a pay rise.”
They then went off to finish the paperwork.
Luke didn’t really care about credit, but he had cracked a lot of cases, including some especially tricky ones, and had also helped obtain huge donations for Westside.
So, his promotion was inevitable. Now, he and Selina were both level three detectives.
Also, both of them had enrolled as part-time students at a L.A. community college recommended by Jenny.
This was a legitimate community college that had been approved by the Ministry of Education.
It was similar to other colleges, except that the exams weren’t as difficult, and the content that would be assessed would be specified beforehand.
Luke had signed both of them up after doing the background research, so that they could graduate in two years.
A two-year diploma from a community college certainly couldn’t compare with a four-year university certificate.
After they graduated, however, they could go on to apply for further study. Also, their diploma would be recognized by LAPD.
The crime rate in Los Angeles was rising steadily, but recruitment continued to decline every year, as fewer young people wanted to become police officers.
As one of the top three crime cities in America, Los Angeles was certainly worthy of its notoriety, so it was risky to be a police officer here.
Many university graduates didn’t want to do such a strenuous and dangerous job.
So, LAPD and LASD could only lower their requirements.
For example, the minimum age requirement had changed from 21 to 19, and the police now accepted two-year diplomas from community colleges.
Luke estimated that the age requirement might be reduced to seventeen and a half in a couple of years, as police school training took around half a year, so new officers would be eighteen after they finished the training, and could start work right away.
Luke and Selina’s annual salaries had also been raised to the level of seasoned officers, which was close to 90,000 before tax.
This time, Dustin had given Luke and Selina the treatment they deserved for their track record in one go.
From his performance in the last few months, Luke’s promotion was justified, and nobody dared complain.
This wasn’t based on his achievements in Houston or Shackelford, and wasn’t about the classified cases. He had been promoted based on the work that everybody had seen him do.
Luke was happy to accept it.
After becoming a level three detective, there were few detectives in the Major Crimes Division who had a higher level than he did.
Now, he was also a seasoned detective.
There was no need for a big celebration. A lot of people in the Major Crimes Division didn’t get promoted to level two detectives until they were almost thirty. Luke and Selina didn’t want to draw their envy.
Back at home, Luke made dinner for Selina to celebrate the promotion, and left the house at ten.
Selina snorted. “Going to see your Secretary Jenny again?”
Luke smiled. “Of course. Don’t forget about Chris’s mine.”
Selina couldn’t say anything; the gold mine was definitely important.
Luke picked Jenny up from her villa.
Even though Jenny didn’t mind, Luke hardly visited her villa and never stayed over; they always spent the night at a hotel.
Jenny had asked him why before, and Luke gave a very realistic answer: To avoid putting her in danger.
After all, meeting at a hotel and staying the night at her place were relationships at two different levels.
As Luke worked more and more cases, he would encounter more and more dangerous people. When he went to meet Jenny, he always disguised himself and made sure that nobody was following him.
Besides, on the nights he met Jenny, he often went out to earn experience and credit points.
If he were at Jenny’s place, he would have to sneak past the security guards; it was far less convenient than the hotels he picked.
In their hotel room, they snuggled in front of the window as Jenny told Luke what she had accomplished.
Chris McCormick, the son of the mine owner in Boom Town in Arizona, had struck a deal with Jenny.