Chapter 229
Luke took out his cell phone and clicked on a photo of a tattered cotton cloth with the same cloud pattern printed on it and the bloodstained words ‘Lowly people, should not live in this world.’
The hand towel provided by the restaurant is very similar in material and cloud pattern to the cotton cloth found in the mouth of the deceased Nancy.
Luke guessed that the murderer had also probably visited the restaurant or had some connection with it.
Luke sent the name and address of the restaurant to Blackie and wrote a message, “Be there in twenty minutes or less.”
Daisy on the side handed over the menu, “I ordered, what would you like to eat?”
Luke took the menu and scanned the waitress next to him, “Any recommendations for dishes?”
The waitress said, “I recommend the baked escargot, it was just flown in from France.”
Luke had eaten baked escargot before, but he didn’t really like it.
The waitress was very experienced, and seemed to see that Luke wasn’t very interested in this dish, and continued to recommend, “You can try the caviar, it was flown in from the Woolly Bear Country.”
I don’t know whether it was because of the hand towel or the dish she recommended was not to his liking, Luke had already lost the idea of eating.
Luke put down the menu and pointed to the hand towel on the side, “The hand towel in your restaurant is beautiful, can I buy it elsewhere?”
The waitress laughed, “No, this is specially made by our restaurant, if you like it, you can take it away and keep it as a souvenir.”
“I see, let’s order these first.”
“Yes sir.” The waitress nodded and left, clutching her menu.
Daisy could see the difference in Luke, “What’s wrong? This restaurant is not to your taste.”
“A case I’m investigating may have something to do with this restaurant.”
Daisy asked softly, “Is it a serious problem?”
“No. My guess is that the murderer may have come to this restaurant to eat and sent a message to a coworker, and I expect him to be here soon.”
Daisy took a sip of water, “Looks like the killer has good taste.”
“SORRY, I can’t eat with you this time, I’ll make it up next time.”
Daisy leaned toward the front of the table, “Is this some kind of revenge for me leaving in the middle of Vegas last time?”
Luke laughed, “You caught me out.”
“We’re even, and I don’t feel so guilty inside.”
This restaurant served food rather quickly.
It didn’t take long for the waiter to bring up the first course, pan-fried fresh scallops with foie gras.
Daisy took a bite and nodded, “It tastes pretty good, do you want to try it.”
“No,” Luke frowned slightly and was adamant.
Daisy licked her lips and seemed to think of something, “Was that murderer cruel?”
“It’s better if you don’t know too much about it.”
Daisy said, “Actually, chefs cooking animals in various ways is also cruel to animals, it’s good to think about it.”
Luke thought to himself, “That’s because you didn’t see the actual scene, people and animals are different after all.
Just after the second course was served, Blackie arrived at the restaurant with great strides.
Luke was a bit surprised, “Why are you so fast?”
“I also rejected you once, how can I let make you wait a second time.
Besides, I’ve been following this restaurant for a long time, and I’ve heard the food is great.” Blacky had an expectant look on his face, and looked at Daisy next to him.
“Wow wow, Ms. Miller is here too, I won’t disturb you guys.”
“No it won’t, have a seat.” Daisy pointed to the seat next to her.
Luke didn’t say anything and handed Black a hand towel.
“Thanks.” Blackie took it and wiped on it, feeling that there was something wrong with the atmosphere, “Is it really not bothering you guys?
Is that a blue lobster? Wow, that’s the first time I’ve seen one that big.”
Luke said, “I asked you to come, I didn’t say I was buying you dinner.”
“Then why did you ask me to come?” With a questioning look on his face, Blackie glanced at Daisy and leaned in close to Luke and whispered, asking
“You didn’t bring enough money and ask me to help pay the bill, did you, this restaurant is very expensive, I didn’t bring that much cash when I came here too.”
Luke pointed to the hand towel, “Take a closer look.”
He didn’t mean to sell out, but he felt that Blackie’s observation skills were a bit weak, and as a partner, Luke was obligated to exercise him.
Xiao Hei picked up the hand towel and looked at it for a while, “You used it?”
Luke “……”
Daisy smiled back, “You’re right, he did use it.”
Black waved his hand at Daisy, “It’s okay, we’re best buddies, we’re very close, we’re the only two best in the whole detective bureau.”
Daisy nodded, “I can see that you two do go well together.”
After all, he was his partner, and Luke didn’t want to embarrass him in front of Daisy, showing him the picture on his phone.
Blackie’s mouth opened wide, “Even buy Karma, this hand towel is the same as the one in the dead man’s mouth!”
It was Daisy’s turn to be upset, “The killer planted the hand towel in the victim’s mouth?”
“That’s right, and burned her to death, scorched to be exact.”
Daisy “……”
Luke remonstrates at Blackie, “That’s all there is to say.” Turning to Daisy again, he reassured, “Don’t take it too much to heart, there’s still a difference between humans and animals.”
Daisy pressed her forehead, “Call the waiter for me and see if the rest of the dishes can be canceled?”
Luke called the waitress over.
The waitress smiled and asked, “What do you need, sir?”
“Cancel the rest of the dishes at our table.”
“Are our dishes not to your liking?”
“Personal reasons.”
“Okay, I’ll cancel it for you.” The waitress operated on the tablet, “Is there anything else you need, sir?”
“Checkout, in addition, bring the person in charge of your restaurant here, I have some other things I want to talk to him about.”
“Is it about the food?”
“No.”
“Okay, you wait a moment.”
It didn’t take long for the waitress to come over with the bill, and Luke settled the bill and tipped the person.
Luke escorted Daisy out of the restaurant.
Blackie asked, “Did I screw up.”
“No, you saved me money.”
A man in a black suit approached, “Sir, I’m Alex Mitchell, the manager of the restaurant, and I heard from the waiter that you wanted to see me about something.”
Black flashed his badge, “I’m Detective Marcus from the Robbery-Murder Division and this is Lieutenant Luke.”
“What can I do for you two?”
Luke picked up the hand towel on the table, “Can you get these hand towels anywhere else but your restaurant?”
“No, it’s customized for our restaurant. What’s wrong with this hand towel?”
Luke showed him the photo from his phone, “Is this a hand towel from your restaurant?”
Asterix looked it over and asked, “What went wrong?”
“Isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“We’re investigating a murder case where the murderer gagged your restaurant’s hand towel in the victim’s mouth in order to prevent the victim from calling for help before killing him.”
“This is horrible!” Yaris sucked in a breath of cold air, realizing the seriousness of the problem: “Lieutenant Luke, I swear to God, this matter has nothing to do with our restaurant.”
Luke got right to the point, “We’re going to check the surveillance.”
“Do you have a search warrant?”
“We’ll get one if we need one.
However, your restaurant may have to suspend operations during the investigation.”
“No, no search warrant is needed, I’ll take you to the surveillance room.”
The so-called surveillance room was the manager’s office.
Luke and Blackie pulled up the surveillance videos from the previous days to see if any involved or suspicious people had come to the restaurant.
Twenty minutes later, Luke found a familiar figure.
Nancy.
She was wearing a blue dress, sitting in a corner of the restaurant, elegantly eating French food.
According to the previous speculation, she had been abducted by the suspect on July 7th.
But from the video, there was no hint of being coerced, it was natural and enjoyable.
It made Luke feel a bit out of place.
It was completely at odds with who she was.
A meal here was enough to pay for a small half month’s salary for her…
Luke was not discriminating, but the actual situation was there.
It was impossible for a normal person to spare a small half month’s salary for a meal, and the clothes she was wearing didn’t look cheap, and her appearance looked like she had been well groomed, completely different from the Nancy that Luke had learned about.
A double life?
Or did someone ask her out.
There’s an old Chinese saying that when a woman goes bad, she gets rich.
Did Nancy really cheat on her husband?
Luke continued to check the video, trying to find the person who had dined with Nancy.
Luke watched it several times over and over again, since the beginning there was only Nancy alone, during the meal she only communicated with the waiter, not to mention the man, even the woman did not come into contact with.
Why did she come to such an expensive place to dine alone?
And looking at her demeanor, it didn’t look like she was waiting for someone?
Luke pointed at the waiter who had contacted Nancy on the computer screen, “Manager Yaris, please bring this restaurant waiter here, I want to ask him a few questions.”
It was inevitable that the restaurant would have surveillance dead spots, and it wasn’t impossible for Nancy to contact someone else if she was intent on avoiding the surveillance.
A few minutes later, a white waiter was called in, in his mid-twenties, similar in height to Luke, with a high nose and a little bit of handsomeness.
Luke introduced himself and then asked the other man rhetorically, “What’s your name?”
“Danny Monka.”
Luke pointed to Nancy in the video, “Do you remember this guest?”
“Yes, she was an elegant, generous woman.”
“You had an exchange between you?”
“I helped her recommend two dishes and poured her wine, and she very generously tipped me a hundred dollars.”
“A hundred dollars?”
“Yes. It was the largest tip I’ve received this month, so I remember it better.”
“Did she have company?”
“No.”
“Did she have any contact with anyone else?”
“Not that I recall.”
“Was there anyone around her who was suspicious, or who was paying more attention to her?”
“Not that I can find.”
Luke thought for a moment and continued, “Did she take the hand towel from the table.”
“Yes, she asked if she could take it away and I said she could keep it as a souvenir if she liked it.”
“Is there anything else you remember about this guest that is more special?”
“No.”
Luke pulled out pictures of the people involved for the other man to identify, but neither Danny was impressed.
Luke then played back the video again and realized that Nancy had indeed made a move to put the hand towel in her backpack.
Today’s discovery was completely different from Luke’s previous guess; there was no hijacking, no coercion, and no suspicious figure had appeared since the beginning, only Nancy was alone enjoying her meal quietly.
If it were anyone else it might not be a problem.
But this kind of thing happened to Nancy is not normal, to know that she is not a person, behind her there is still a family waiting to be fed.
Her family income is not enough to support her spending here.
Perhaps the police’s investigative mindset has gone awry.
On July 7, Nancy’s house was not burglarized or robbed, and Nancy was not abducted, because she was the one who took the belongings and drove away with the car.
She may even have consciously faked the scene.
If Luke’s guess was right, Nancy would have used the money from the sale of her jewelry to pay for the expensive French meal.
In other words, it would have been her ‘last lunch’.
At this point, she already had plans to commit suicide.
There was no dogged cheating at all, nor was there a so-called robbery, but rather a self-directed suicide hoax by Nancy.
Looking at the surveillance video of Nancy’s meal again, instead of that kind of leisure and comfort, there is a sense of desolation ……