Chapter 373
Robbery and Murder Division, Squadron One.
Luke’s office.
At nine o’clock in the morning, Luke sat at his desk and reviewed the information.
Yesterday afternoon, he finished giving a statement to Melanie Hickman and talked to other employees of the company to find out more about Yoshimi Hashimoto.
At this time, Luke was comparing the contents of several people’s statements and had a deeper understanding of Yoshimi Hashimoto.
First of all, Yoshimi Hashimoto is a very career-oriented person, a typical strong woman, and she is also rather strict with her employees, so her colleagues do not know much about her private life.
In fact, this situation is also a normal phenomenon, being a street girl is not something honorable, Hashimoto Yoshimi certainly will not let the company’s colleagues know.
If she really wanted to know, she wouldn’t be able to work in this company for long.
After comparing the contents of a few transcripts, Luke went out of the office, pushed the whiteboard to the front of the office area, and greeted, “Guys, it’s time for a meeting.”
Luke drew a tree diagram on the whiteboard, with the name of the deceased, Yoshimi Hashimoto, at the top, and four branches underneath: the crime apartment, the company, Yoshimi Hashimoto’s home, and family and friends.
Luke drew another branch under the crime apartment and asked, “How’s the surveillance investigation around the apartment going?”
Jenny said, “The neighborhood around the apartment where the victim was is a bit of a mess, there are hardly any cameras in that area, and even if there were, they’ve been smashed.
According to the statement of Kevin Rodman, a neighbor of the apartment, the deceased often solicited customers on Ronnie Street in front of the apartment.
The intersections on Ronnie Street are all monitored, and we also captured the red Ferrari driven by the deceased on surveillance Luke.
Also note the vehicles that passed before and after the murder, further screening is required.”
L.A. was a large area with a low population density, it was hard to get around without a car, and transportation was a good direction to investigate.
Luke looked to the vice squad and asked, “Any progress on your end?”
The vice squad said, “We went to Yoshimi Hashimoto’s house to investigate, the house was cleaned, with very little furniture and household items, only a few essentials.
Yoshimi Hashimoto’s house didn’t look like anything was wrong, there were no clues related to the stand-up girl, and no men’s belongings were found.
It’s very much in keeping with the style of a corporate executive’s residence.”
Black said, “I checked her cell phone communication records, and most of them are with her coworkers, and she doesn’t have much contact with her parents.
In addition, I’ve already notified her parents to come and identify the body, however, her parents are still in Tokyo, so I guess it might take a few more days.”
After listening to the reports from the crowd, Luke said, “Jackson and I went to Yoshimi Hashimoto’s company to investigate, Yoshimi Hashimoto is indeed an executive of an architectural design company, with an annual salary of about 1.4 million dollars, she is not short of money, and there is no problem with her finances.
From her coworkers, I learned that she doesn’t have a boyfriend, most of her time is spent on work, a standard strong woman.”
Jenny said, “I’ve seen a lot of stand-up girls, each with their own hardships, but it all boils down to ‘money’.
Yoshimi Hashimoto doesn’t lack money, so why would she want to be a streetwalker?”
Black stroked his chin and said thoughtfully, “In this world, money can solve a lot of problems, but it’s not everything.
There is a disease called ‘surname addiction’, if it is not fulfilled it will be painful. (anti-harmonizing)
Could Yoshimi Hashimoto be a last name addict, she doesn’t have time for a boyfriend because she’s busy at work, but she can’t control her last name desire, so she goes to work as a street girl.”
Luke thought about it, in Yoshimi Hashimoto’s case there is a certain possibility, “Marcus, go check Yoshimi Hashimoto’s medical records and see if she has any similar records of visiting the doctor.
Also, you check to see if her assistant, Melanie Hickman, has any mental problems.”
Jackson said, “Assuming, Yoshimi Hashimoto didn’t work as a streetwalker for profit reasons, why was she killed?
What was the killer’s motive?”
The lieutenant yawned and said, “Most psychopathic killers basically target women and children because these people are easy to kill.
And it’s not easy to do a grown man silently; killers are bad, but not stupid.
No matter what era or country, prostitutes are at the bottom of the social ladder, with no place to live, complicated social relationships, and living in the dark side of society, which inherently makes them easy to come into contact with some bad people.
Most prostitutes keep to themselves, so even if they are killed, no one will know.
Moreover, the complexity of the relationship between prostitutes can make detection work very difficult.
These combined factors blended together make them the best prey in the minds of psychopathic killers.”
“That is to say, what we are facing is most likely a perverted killer.” Xiao Hei seemed to remember something, “Right, the victim left a letter ‘H’ on her body, which is one of the characteristics of a serial killer, right?
What does the letter ‘H’ stand for?
Is it a person’s name? Or does it have some other significance?”
The lieutenant shrugged, “There are too few clues to be sure right now.”
“Knock knock ……”
A knock sounded at the door.
Mary of Tech pushed the door open, “You guys in a meeting?”
“That’s right, you’re just in time.” Luke waved his hand, signaling Mary to sit down, “Any new leads on your end?”
Mary said, “There are too many hairs in that house, all of them belonging to males except for Yoshimi Hashimoto’s own.
We simply don’t have enough funds to have all the hairs identified.
So, for the time being, we will only identify the genetic material found in the house.” Mary said, pulling out a file, “We found a total of 3 people’s genetic material in the house.
We compared the 3 copies of the genetic material to the DNA database and found out the identity of one of the suspects.”
Name, Ryosuke Yoshida
Race, Japanese American
Age, 25
Cell phone number, 626 876 2473
Residential address, 209 Cayette neighborhood.
Social Security number, 623-53-3872.
Prior convictions, attempted assault, patronizing a prostitute.
Luke looked at the profile, the victim, Yoshimi Hashimoto, was of Japanese descent, and he was of Japanese descent, were there any other connections between the two?
The United States is the second largest comic market in the world.
With many wonderful original comics, Marvel, DC, Smurfs, The Walking Dead, and more.
In addition to its own great comics, it has also imported many Japanese comics.
For example, Dragon Ball, King of Thieves, Naruto, Shinigami, One Punch Man, Steel Alchemist and other excellent comics.
Although the internet is now well developed and online comics have great potential, paper comics are still king.
Many manga fans still enjoy the atmosphere in a comic store, Ryosuke Yoshida is a veteran manga fan, when he was in Tokyo whenever he had time, he would soak in a comic store and pick a favorite manga, buy a cup of coffee, read the manga while drinking the coffee, and when he was hungry, he would eat a tuna sandwich or sushi, he could spend the whole day in the comic store.
Since he arrived in Los Angeles, many of his habits had changed, only his hobby of liking manga remained unchanged, in his opinion, if a person didn’t have some hobbies, it wasn’t much different from a dead person.
At this time, Yoshida Ryosuke was sitting in a remote corner of the comic store, where it was relatively quiet, with a cup of coffee on the table, and two comics, one was Detective Conan, and the other was Full Time Hunter.
These two books belonged to the two oddballs in the entire Japanese manga world.
He was still holding a manga in his hand, looking at it with great interest, and the title of the book, “Teacher is Fierce” was written on the cover.
Suddenly, a voice rang out not far away, “Yoshida-san.”
“Hey.” Yoshida Ryosuke answered instinctively, twisting his head to scan around and seeing two strange men walking towards him.
“Were you guys the ones calling me?
I don’t seem to recognize you guys.”
Luke took a look at the book he was holding and smiled, “Is this your favorite genre?”
Ryosuke Yoshida pressed the book in his hand under the other two, “Just looking around.”
Jackson flashed his badge, “I’m Detective Jackson of the Robbery and Murder Division and this is Captain Lee.
We’re investigating a criminal case and would like to get some information from you.”
“A criminal case? You guys are not mistaken, how could I be related to a criminal case.”
Jackson took out a picture of Yoshimi Hashimoto, “Do you recognize her?”
Yoshida Ryosuke hesitated slightly, “What happened to her?”
“Dead.”
Ryosuke Yoshida showed a stunned look, “Dead!
When did this happen? Are you guys kidding?”
Luke said, “We’re the ones asking you now, did you know her?
Don’t lie, only murderers lie in our opinion.”
“Yes, I did know her.”
“Knew her how?”
“A very chance encounter.
The night before last, I wasn’t in a very good mood, so I went out for a drive and saw an Asian woman standing on the side of the road stopping her car, so I stopped and went over to strike up a conversation, and found out that she was of Japanese descent.
I was very happy and chatted with her.
Then she invited me over to her house and we got to know each other a little better.
She’s a wonderful woman.
Last night, I even went to my usual place to look for her, but I didn’t see her, and I was disappointed for a moment, not realizing that she was dead.”
Jackson laughed, “A whore is a whore is a whore, why do you have to be so refreshingly honest about it.”
“No, it’s not what you think.
I admit, I thought that at first ……
But then …… she didn’t take my money.
It’s not that I didn’t give it, I offered it, but she didn’t want it.
She said she liked me a lot and had a nice conversation with me, and if she took the money, it would be tasteless.
This makes me very touched, not because of the money ……
Rather, it was that very wonderful feeling.
I even thought about pursuing her ……
Unfortunately, there’s no chance of that anymore.”
Jackson pressed, “What do you mean by courting?”
“Asking her to be my girlfriend.”
“You don’t mind her status?”
“Why should I mind, what happened before is in the past, what I care about is the future.
Besides, I don’t care about the outside world.
She’s my ideal other half, and that’s enough.” Yoshida Ryosuke sighed, sadly, “I really liked her.
When did she die? Can I go see her?”
Thinking that no one had gone to identify the body yet, Luke agreed, “You can go see her, but you have to cooperate with the police investigation before that.
That way we can catch her killer as soon as possible.”
“No problem, I’m up for it.”
“Did you guys know each other before?”
“No, we met for the first time the night before last, you could say it was love at first sight.”
“Tell us the exact time you met.”
“I think it was around twelve o’clock, I saw her on the curb, after that she took me back to my apartment and I left around one o’clock.
She was standing at the door to see me off, and it was a great feeling, like a wife seeing her husband off to work ……
I used to envision a life like that.”
Luke jotted down the time in his book, if Ryosuke Yoshida hadn’t lied, it meant that Yoshimi Hashimoto was still alive at around one in the morning, and the time of her murder could be pinpointed to somewhere between one and two in the morning.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you have a girlfriend if you long for this life?”
“I’d like to, but it’s not that easy.
I went to school in another state before and had quite a few other friends in the Japanese-American community at the time.
After college, I came to L.A. and everything was strange ……
I hit on white chicks, but they were prejudiced against Asians and I didn’t stand a chance.
Same with black chicks.”
Jackson said, “There are quite a few Asian groups in L.A., why don’t you try there.”
“You think just because you’re also Asian that you’re close?
One time I went to Koreatown to pick up a girl and was almost beaten to death by a couple of Korean sticks.” Yoshida Ryosuke revealed a helpless look, “I don’t want to find a street girl either, but I’ve been jerking off for two years now, do you understand that feeling?
If I don’t find a woman again, I’ll go crazy.”
Jackson bristled, “That goes without saying.”
“I want to say it, it’ll feel better to say it.”
Jackson “……”
Luke pulled the conversation back, “Did you see anyone suspicious around when you made contact with Yoshimi Hashimoto?”
“No.”
“You were driving there?”
“Yes.”
“Where was your car?”
“It’s in a nearby parking lot.”
“Show us.”
“OK,” Ryosuke Yoshida said as he grabbed the comic and followed the two Luke’s out of the comic store.
As the three walked to the parking lot, Ryosuke Yoshida stopped and seemed to react, “Are you going to search my car?”
Jackson said, “Not exactly a search, just seeing if I can find some clues in the car.”
“So, you guys suspect that I killed Yoshimi Hashimoto?”
Luke said, “No, we are trying to prove your innocence.”
“May I refuse your search of the car?”
“Of course, that’s your right.
However, if you didn’t do it, I think it’s best to assist the police in their investigation, there’s no need to make things too complicated.”
“And if I refuse?”
“We’ll arrest you for patronizing a prostitute and get a search warrant.”
“Maybe you’re right, there’s no need to make things too complicated, you guys search.” Ryosuke Yoshida took out his car keys and unlocked it.
Luke asked, “Do you have a weapon?”
“No.”
Luke and Jackson walked toward the car with flashing lights.
Opening the doors, Luke and Jackson split up and searched the car while Luke kept an eye out for Ryosuke Yoshida’s movements.
The car was a bit of a mess, holding a number of comic books, most of which were King’s Road comics, with a few colored ones as well.
There were no contraband items found in the car.
Jackson began to check the car recorder video, should confirm Yoshida Ryosuke’s statement, if the time and place of going and the time of leaving can be matched, it means that the other party’s statement has a certain degree of credibility.
Watching, Jackson found some new clues ……