At that moment, they were only three meters apart.
Unlike when he could only hear her voice over the phone earlier, Luke could now easily sense with his Mental Communication that this arrogant and harsh woman, who was well-known in New York’s upper-class circle, really admired him.
He couldn’t go ahead with his initial plan to sort this out with a few words.
Luke felt even stranger as they chatted.
Why did this Aurora sound like she was checking up on his background?
Why was she so interested in his education, work history, family background, and what he wanted in a future wife?
Luke wasn’t interested in discussing his personal matters with this lady. He just laughed and said directly, “Mrs. Soderberg, did you call me here just to ask these questions?”
Aurora chuckled and took a sip of her black tea. “Luke, I just said that you can call me Aurora.”
Luke said, “Okay, Aurora. Can you answer my question now?”
Aurora winked, and the sly expression unexpectedly made her look younger. “If I said that I really did call you here to talk to you about these trivial matters, would you leave right away?”
Luke raised an eyebrow and found it funny. Unexpectedly, she was telling the truth.
Of course, Aurora had no idea who she was facing. She didn’t try to hide her attitude at all.
She was in her early forties, but had never been poor since she was young, and thus had always taken very good care of herself.
Her daughter, Lindsay, was pretty even without makeup, and mother and daughter were similar in their looks.
Appearance aside, without taking her personality into account, she could completely charm men who didn’t mind the age gap.
The way she winked just now was even more at odds with her usual arrogance. It was a very casual action, and a lot more likable than how rich ladies acted.
Luke smiled. “Aurora, I’m just a minor detective, and I’m very young. I need to work while I’m on the clock. I don’t have time for idle conversation in my schedule.”
The admiration in Aurora’s eyes grew.
If it had been any other young man, most of them would’ve come at her invitation, and work wouldn’t have mattered at all.
But since Luke had made it clear, she couldn’t really say that she was inspecting him as her daughter’s “boyfriend.”
She coughed and said, “I need to thank you for what happened with Monroe. If you run into any trouble in New York, you can call me.”
Looking at the suddenly “benevolent” Aurora, Luke was a little uncomfortable. He felt that it was very bizarre when she was like this! This amiable approach really didn’t suit her.
Luke could only nod. “Okay. If I need anything, I will.”
I probably don’t have anything I need from you. Go find somewhere else to play, he couldn’t help but add inwardly.
Aurora said with a smile, “But I have a request.”
Not wanting to waste time, Luke said, “Go ahead.”
Aurora said, “If you have time, please give Lindsay some guidance.”
Looking at Luke’s surprised expression, she sighed. “I agree with what you said at the police department the other day. If it’s only about the law when it comes to family, then what’s the point of family?”
That was true. Luke had obtained another result.
“You must have heard about our family from your boss and colleagues in the police department. However, just ask around the department about our family two years ago, and you’ll know that we had no choice,” Aurora said with a self-deprecating smile.
She paused for a moment, her mood dropping a little. “Our daughter has grown up and has her own way of thinking after college. She always thinks that everything we say is wrong and that we’re interfering with her freedom. It’s just that we don’t want her to fall into the mud. Even if she can climb out of it, people will mock her sooner or later for not being clean.”
Luke understood what she meant.
Monroe was Lindsay’s “mud,” or more precisely, a scandal.
Aurora looked at him and said, “There are a lot of boys around Lindsay. In college, some were rich, some not. Some had power, some didn’t. Did we interfere? No. Except for this Monroe, we’ve never interfered with her freedom to make friends.”
Luke listened quietly. Aurora was still telling the truth.
She said with a bitter smile, “But who is this Monroe guy? All up, he’s taken more than a hundred thousand dollars from Lindsay, which made me suspicious. After a simple investigation, I found out that he’s promiscuous and addicted to drugs; not weed, but drugs. Do you think I can keep calm and let my daughter interact with a man like that and give him money to buy drugs?”
Luke couldn’t argue with that.
If this happened with Claire, he would think about making the man disappear off the face of the earth.
Once you got involved in gambling and drugs, you basically lost your bottom line.
When addiction kicked in, a person wouldn’t care about their family.
Nobody wanted their family to be mixed up with such a person.
Aurora said, “Our relationship with her is very fragile right now. Jeffrey told me not to do anything for the time being, but how can I not? She’s my daughter. I’ve always cherished her, from when she was young to now. So, I can only ask you to help me.”
Pondering for a moment, Luke said, “Aurora, I’m a young man and also an outsider. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
But Aurora said, “I know, but you’re at least a normal person. No, you’re an excellent kid. You did well in high school, you work hard, and have a good reputation…”
She then noticed Luke’s strange expression.
After a brief pause, Aurora apologized with a bitter smile. “I’m sorry, Luke. You know that we were paranoid about what happened with Monroe, so I ran a basic check on you, but it was limited to your background in the police department. I don’t mean to pry into your privacy.”
Luke believed that.
If she had investigated him in detail, they might not be having this conversation.
Compared with an artist addicted to drugs, a young man who had taken down hundreds of armed villains in over a year probably wouldn’t be considered normal.
After all, NYPD wasn’t LAPD, and wouldn’t record his past achievements in detail. Dustin had made the information confidential.
Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to see details of his past achievements unless they had a high level of authorization from LAPD.
But Luke’s expression remained solemn. “I can understand how you feel, Aurora, but that doesn’t mean that I can accept being investigated at will.”
Aurora looked a little embarrassed. She had blurted out everything that she shouldn’t have.
She didn’t know why, but the longer she talked to this young man, the more she liked him, and the less guarded she was.
She raised her hand. “Okay, I promise I won’t do it again. Please forgive me for being hasty this time.”