American Detective: Starting as a Rookie Cop in an American TV Show

Chapter 1416 Safe Island Act (two chapters in one)

"So when we were following Moretti yesterday, your boss suddenly called us because of this little baby?"

When Danny, who heard the news, saw the little baby girl lying quietly in Jack's arms, he couldn't help but put his hand on his forehead and complained to Reese,

"Do you know how many people the NYPD has mobilized to find Lila? The FBI is also involved. You should have told me earlier."

"Morretti is out of prison?" Jack still remembered this name, the godfather of the "Lucchese Family", one of the five major mafia families in New York, Laija's biological father and also the enemy who killed his biological mother.

Danny nodded with a serious expression. "Yes, I have a reasonable suspicion that Lai Ya had some influence in this matter and bribed some people. He wanted to kill Moretti, but it was difficult to do so because he had been in prison."

Gangs are almost everywhere in the United States, including in prisons. Although gangs in prisons and gangs outside of prisons are generally connected, they are quite independent due to the special closed environment.

It is understandable that as a newly rising gangster, Lai Ya cannot extend his influence deep into the prison in a short time.

It would not be difficult for him to send one or two killers into the prison, but a godfather-level figure like Moretti would also be protected in prison and even receive special care from the prison authorities.

No one wants such a "big shot" to die in his own prison because that would mean endless trouble.

In addition, although Danny has confirmed that Lai Ya now has a considerable degree of cooperation with "HR", in the previous case of Assistant Prosecutor Diane Hansen, New York City and the entire New York prison system have just been cleaned up by the FBI.

Although there is no guarantee that there will be no fish that slip through the net, it is also a fact that the strength of "HR" has been greatly weakened. Not only have its tentacles reaching out to other judicial systems been cut off, but even its foundation in the NYPD is somewhat unstable. Commissioner Reagan recently replaced his head of the Internal Affairs Department.

"So the NYPD will provide extra protection for the Godfather?" Jack asked. "I don't think you will sit idly by and watch Lai Ya take down the entire Lucchese Family?"

Danny dived into the kitchen to look for food, and answered loudly, "The NYPD hopes to catch Laija and force him to confess all the HR members who have cooperated with him, so we plan to keep an eye on Moretti 24 hours a day."

"You should ask your people to keep a close eye on it. There are tea eggs in the rice cooker. I cooked a lot of them."

Jack looked at Reese and said, "You followed Moretti with Danny yesterday? Let me guess, he's not one of the 'numbers' this time, is he?"

"Almost the day after you returned to Los Angeles, the 'machine' gave out Moretti's number. Finch and I didn't want to manage this number at first, but since we owed the NYPD a lot of favors before."

Reese shrugged, "Besides, dealing with 'HR' is our common goal."

Jack looked down at the bottle in his hand and found that little Lila had finished it in a short while.

This human cub is a little different from her noisy counterparts. Not only is she very well-behaved and cute, she also loves to laugh and will giggle non-stop if she is teased a little.

Jack skillfully held little Lila's chest with one hand and gently patted her back until she burped.

The whole set of movements was as smooth as flowing water, and Finch was stunned. "I always thought you were an absolute bachelor, Jack."

"It's human instinct to care for and protect cubs. Only Nazis and sociopaths would actively harm human cubs," Jack said as a matter of course.

Reese leaned in and teased Little Lila with his fingers, the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously, "So who on earth would want to hurt our lovely Little Lila?"

"Or do you want to get rid of her? Maybe she's evidence of some shameful affair, or she's preventing someone from getting a huge inheritance."

Finch opened the laptop he carried with him and entered work mode, "I checked the financial status of the clinic last night and found that they received a large gift.

The clinic happened to receive a $50,000 donation a few days before Lila was born, and $10,000 has been flowing in every month since then.”

Jack frowned and thought, "So Lila wasn't some abandoned baby on the 'safe island', she was born there? Maybe someone in the clinic knows something, or even knows who her parents are."

Reese walked behind Finch with a gloomy face and asked, "Can you find out who the donor is?"

Finch shook his head. "The clinic's records show it's anonymous. I'll need a moment to get into their accountant's computer."

"Maybe I can help with this." Jack handed the baby in his arms to Reese. Seeing that his whole body stiffened, he couldn't help but laugh secretly, and reached out for his mobile phone.

"There should be no accountant who is not afraid of the IRS. I can ask my friend in the IRS to send a stern email to the other party, asking to see the donor's tax ID number, otherwise they will review the operation of their charitable funds."

"That sounds like it would be useful." Finch nodded and glanced at Reese. "Since Mr. Reese is busy investigating Leah and HR recently, the job of taking care of little Lila can be temporarily handed over to Jessica. She's on her way here, but in terms of safety..."

Knowing that these two guys, especially Reese, were totally unsuitable for taking care of a baby, Jack took little Lila and waved his hand in disdain, signaling them to do as they pleased.

“I never knew boiled eggs could be so delicious.”

At this time, Danny left the kitchen with his mouth full. It took him a long time to swallow the tea egg in his mouth. He volunteered, "I can pretend to be a detective from the Special Victims Unit and go to that clinic to see if I can find out anything."

The Special Victims Unit is a special task force of the NYPD, responsible for investigating criminal cases targeting vulnerable groups. Jack had watched an American TV series in his previous life called "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", which tells the story of this group.

This crime-themed drama is one of the few series that Jack was interested in but failed to follow. In addition to the fact that most of the plots were based on real cases and were too heartbreaking, the powerlessness of the law at certain levels was also vividly displayed in this drama.

"Won't this delay you and Reese from monitoring Moretti?" Jack knew that they must be operating in secret and were unlikely to mobilize too many people.

"My brother James is in charge of the daytime surveillance. When Moretti just left the prison yesterday, he was attacked by Lea's men. Now he has been hiding in an old bar in the downtown area. I think he will be more well-behaved in the short term."

Danny ate and took away half a pot of tea eggs, calling it a midnight snack while he was being watched tonight.

Jack had to pick out all the remaining eggs and pack them separately, then cook a new pot with the original marinade.

Little Lila was really well behaved. She stayed in Jack's arms the whole time, chewing on her pacifier and watching him busy with curiosity.

In the evening, when the wanted criminals team returned to the base building, they saw this scene.

Jack was sitting in a recliner on the porch in the backyard, rocking back and forth. A cute little baby in a pink baby shirt was sleeping soundly on his chest, just like a father and daughter who get along well. Jiejie and Hannah looked at each other with strange eyes, but before they could say anything, Aubrey exclaimed, "Jack, you have a daughter in Los Angeles?"

Alice glared at the guy. Except for Jack who just came back from Los Angeles, they were all busy looking for the little baby in front of them today. How could they not recognize him?

Little Lila was also full of sleep at this time. She was awakened by the noise of people entering the room, but she neither cried nor made a fuss. She propped up her little arms on Jack's chest, her big watery eyes moving around, looking curiously at the strangers in front of her.

"Oh, my God, she is 100 times cuter than in the photo. She is simply a little angel." Hannah's heart melted when she saw her. She squatted down, picked up little Lila, and kissed her chubby little face.

Little Lila giggled and reached out to grab her collar, looking like she was hungry.

Jack watched the interaction between the girls and the baby with a smile on his face for a while, then got up from the recliner to make milk powder. During the growth period, human babies basically eat when they are full and sleep when they are full, and eat when they are full, plus they have to poop and urinate.

Not long after, Jessica also arrived at the small building at the base. Although she had never given birth, as a nurse, she was more professional than Jack in taking care of babies.

"That's roughly what happened. Finch met two unidentified Eastern European men in the clinic who were suspected to be posing as caregivers and wanted to transfer little Lila to another clinic.

In order to prevent little Lila from getting hurt, Finch had to take her away first."

As Jack was speaking, his cell phone rang. It was Finch who sent the clinic's investigation results.

The IRS name was indeed very useful. The clinic accountant obediently provided the donor's tax number, which belonged to a company called "Petrossin Construction Engineering Design" and its owner was Adnan Petrossin.

Adnan and his wife Nikola are also well-known wealthy celebrities in New York. They have a son named Brandley, who is currently studying for a master's degree in finance at New York University.

The girls were busy teasing little Lila, so the men, after tasting the delicious tea eggs, sat on the sofa around Jack.

Jubal Googled the situation of the Petrosian family on his computer and couldn't help curling his lips. "So it really is a feud between wealthy families?"

"So the question now is, who is Lila's biological father, Adnan or her son Brandley?" Clay tapped the photo he had just printed with his knuckles.

"Of course it's Adnan," Aubrey said with certainty.

Clay looked at him and blinked in confusion, "Why?"

"Don't you guys read celebrity gossip?" Aubrey asked in surprise, "A paparazzi from a tabloid took a photo of Brandley Petrosian coming out a while ago.

It is said that Petrosin spent a lot of money to buy the photos from the paparazzi, which was considered to have eliminated the scandal, but the news had already spread widely in the upper circles.

Clay couldn't help but frown when he heard this, "Is coming out as gay considered a scandal these days?"

"The Petrosian family is a group of aristocrats who fled to the United States from the Tsarist era. You know that kind of people always have some strange persistence."

Aubrey explained, "The family still owns a grand estate in Bedford and lives there most of the time."

Bedford, located north of New York, is like Beverly Hills to Los Angeles. To live there, you have to be at least a billionaire.

Not long after Jack arrived in New York, he worked with Jubal to handle the kidnapping of a rich girl in Bedford. The underground shelter at that time caused great trouble for the FBI (Chapter 568).

"So if little Lila is really Adnan Petrosian's daughter, then all three members of this family are obviously suspects, because as long as DNA evidence is produced, it means that a large amount of assets will be lost."

Jubal rubbed his sore brows, "The question now is, who is little Lila's mother? Why did she abandon her daughter?"

The answer was not difficult to guess. After all, there were only a few possibilities. Jack sighed and called Danny.

He said before that he would go to the clinic that adopted little Lila to inquire about the situation. It should be about time.

"As expected, something is not right. The doctor in charge of Lila refuses to provide the police with any information that may involve her biological parents, citing the 'Safe Island Act'."

Danny said through gritted teeth, and you could tell he was very angry now.

The so-called "Safe Island Act" is also known as the "Safe Surrender of Babies Act". According to this law, parents and guardians can secretly hand over the baby within 72 hours after birth, and can "repent" within 14 days and avoid being prosecuted for abandonment.

As a Protestant country, the various states in the United States are extremely divided and extreme in many aspects, the most typical of which is the issue of abortion.

Compared with some relatively normal countries, many abandoned babies in the United States are abandoned not because of problems such as congenital diseases.

There are still many conservative states in the federal government that prohibit abortion, even if the child is conceived after the woman was sexually assaulted. Some states allow it, but the conditions are extremely harsh.

This has led to a large number of women who do not have the material conditions to raise babies having to abandon their own children. Out of some fear, these babies are often abandoned in extremely dangerous places such as garbage bins.

So the "Safe Island Act" came into being. Most hospitals, clinics and even fire stations have "safe island" functions, allowing helpless mothers to "safely" and "legally" abandon their newborn babies at designated locations.

Most of these abandoned babies are in good health and will be adopted by other families after a period of care. This can be considered a compromise solution out of helplessness.

Jack didn't know how to comment on this kind of thing. In fact, the "Safe Island Act" is a state law. The specific content of the law varies from state to state, and it has also been criticized to some extent and is considered to be an encouragement for the reckless abandonment of babies.

But from the current situation, little Lila obviously does not fall into this category, but evidence cannot be found for the time being, so the key is to find her biological mother.

"Finch said before that a kind nurse in the clinic applied for a social security number for little Lila. Maybe you could talk to her privately?" Jack suggested.

Danny sounded a little annoyed on the phone, “I talked to her, her name is Mary Albert, she’s new here, I only know that the reason Lila didn’t go through the adoption process was because she had a minor bronchial infection before, so she stayed in the clinic for treatment.

She said she had seen a silver bracelet, the only thing that little Lila had with her.

(End of this chapter)