Chapter 257

Eight bottles of mineral water and three lives.

Luke had run three today at the crime scene alone.

Tom’s house was also on lockdown.

The tech team and the coroner were understaffed and late.

Luke wore gloves to examine the scene.

From the available evidence, teenage Tom was probably the poisoner, and poisoning requires the tools of the trade.

As long as we find the relevant tools and cyanide, we will be able to prove the suspicion of the other party’s poisoning.

Luke carefully observed the mineral water bottle, the mineral water bottle in the sunlight, the outside of the mineral water bottle with advertising paper, Luke vaguely found that the advertising paper seems to have a small black spot on the inside.

Luke used scissors to cut open the advertising paper, and found that the mineral water bottle has a pinhole-sized bump, the outside sealed with glue, if not carefully observed is difficult to identify.

Luke speculated that the pinhole was probably where the cyanide had been injected, which would have ensured that the cap was intact and the drinker would not have been suspicious.

It would be hard to detect.

Luke then began searching Tom’s home, primarily looking for cyanide, syringes, glue ……

However, Luke and the others rummaged through the home and still didn’t find these items.

Hidden somewhere else?

If the other party was the real poisoner, what was the purpose?

And why did he take the poison to kill himself?

Luke didn’t find a suicide note at the scene either.

There were a lot of doubts, and it was hard to explain with the physical evidence at the scene alone.

Luke will look to Tom’s mother, the other look sad, holding Tom’s photo, sitting on the ground silent tears ……

At this time, Luke did not want to disturb the other party, but the case was urgent, and no one knew whether the poisoner had placed 9 bottles of water or 12 bottles of water in the subway.

In order to avoid more victims, Luke had to find out Tom’s condition.

“Ms. Lewis, I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Tom’s mother didn’t respond, not even looking at Luke.

“I know you’re hurting right now and I can understand how you feel. Tom was young and he shouldn’t have left like this ……

We’re all very sorry.

But it happened, and all we can do is find Tom’s murderer and avenge him.

That way he can leave in peace.”

Ms. Lewis slowly raised her head, “Why did this happen? Why did Tom die? Why?”

“We’re not sure, we’re investigating.”

“Liars, you must know, why else would you be in my house?”

“As I said before, we are investigating a poisoning case, Tom is somehow related to this case, we are here to investigate him, and we didn’t expect him to die.”

“How did Tom die?”

“It hasn’t been technically analyzed yet, but I presume it was most likely cyanide poisoning, do you have any similar items in your house?”

“I have no idea what cyanide is? We haven’t stored anything poisonous in our house either, so why would my son be involved in a poisoning case? How did you guys find out about him?”

Luke wanted to get valuable clues from the other party, he had to gain the other party’s trust first and said, “This morning we received a call about a poisoning incident, according to the investigation we found out that someone put poisonous mineral water in the subway station, we rushed to the subway station to check the CCTV, and found that Tom carried a box of mineral water into the subway.

We suspect that he might be the poisoner.”

“Impossible, Tom can’t be the poisoner, although he is a bit naughty, he is essentially a good kid, and he is only twelve years old this year, he doesn’t know anything, he probably doesn’t even know what cyanide is, so how could he use that kind of stuff to poison.

Besides, if he was the poisoner, why did he die himself?”

“Exactly, that’s what I suspected.” Luke smoothly inquired, “Has Tom encountered any abnormalities lately, such as any trouble or distress?”

“No.”

“Has he ever been suicidal before?”

“No! He is a very optimistic child, our family is not very rich, but I have always taught him that one can be unsuccessful, but not unhappy.

He would never commit suicide, never.”

“Did Tom have any friends around him who were more dangerous or antisocial personalities?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Has Tom always lived with you?”

“Yes.”

“When was the last time you saw Tom?”

“This morning around eight o’clock, I went out to run some errands and stopped at the grocery store. I bought his favorite salmon, and I was going to make him salmon sushi …… even buy Karma’s ……

God, why do you have to be so cruel!”

“What was Tom doing at the time?”

“He had just gotten up and was eating breakfast.”

“Did he say where he was going? Who he was going to see?”

“I was in such a hurry this morning that I didn’t bother to ask; I was careless.”

“We found forty dollars in Tom’s pants pocket; did you give it to him?”

“No. I only give him ten or twenty dollars at a time, and he spends it all too quickly each time to have that much money.”

Tom’s mother didn’t know much from what she had just asked.

Nor did Luke detect any signs of lying on the part of the other.

However, Tom’s mother was now in great sorrow and had great mood swings, so even if she lied, it was not very easy to see.

Although he didn’t get a clear clue, from Tom’s mother’s words, Luke still distilled some valuable clues.

As the saying goes, knowing a son is like knowing his mother, since Tom has been living with his mother, she should be one of the people who know her best.

Since Tom’s mother said that he was cheerful and unlikely to be suicidal, the possibility of Tom committing suicide was much lower.

Assuming, Tom didn’t commit suicide, that proves that he didn’t know that the bottle of mineral water had poison in it.

He was probably not the real poisoner, in association with the forty dollars in his pants pocket.

Luke boldly speculated that the real poisoner, in order to avoid being photographed by the surveillance camera in the subway station, hired Tom to put the mineral water box in the subway station, and the forty dollars was the favor fee for Tom.

And Tom after putting down the mineral water box, took away a bottle of mineral water to bring back home to drink, poisoned and died.

According to Mario’s description, there were eight bottles of mineral water in the case when he went to get it, plus the one taken by Tom himself, it should be at least nine bottles of mineral water.

The police now only investigated the whereabouts of eight bottles of mineral water, Tom took away one bottle, Mario took away two bottles, the homeless man took away three bottles, there are still two bottles left in the box.

That means that at least one more bottle of the suspected poisonous mineral water was taken.

Or maybe four bottles ……

Seven o’clock in the evening.

Robbery and Murder Division conference room.

Susan called the crowd to a meeting.

Susan put a piece of information on the projector and looked grave: ”After forensic identification, all three victims died from cyanide poisoning.

Judging from the time of death, the first deceased was a homeless man in the subway station, no identification documents were found, and the real identity of the other party is unclear for the time being.

Construction worker Adams and teenager Tom’s time of death is very close to the time of death, both at about ten o’clock in the morning.

All three victims died within a very short period of time after taking cyanide, with Adams, the construction worker, falling from the roof with some abrasions and no signs of being tied up or abused.

The deceased, Adams and Tom, had no visible injuries found on their bodies and most likely voluntarily drank the mineral water containing cyanide.”

Susan replaced another piece of information and said, “The technical team surveyed the scene of the murder of the three victims and the location where the mineral water bottles were dropped off.

Only Tom’s fingerprints were found on the mineral water case, and no fingerprints of the suspected poisoner were found on the mineral water bottle.

The poisoner was cunning.”

Jackson spun his pen and asked, “Could the poisoner be the teenage Tom?”

Luke said, “I talked to Tom’s mother, and according to her, Tom was mentally normal, not suicidal, and had no reason to retaliate against society, so I’m more inclined to think that he was just hired by the real poisoner, and was used by the real poisoner.

If Tom hadn’t died, we could still look for clues to the real poisoner based on his statement, but Tom is already dead, and it’s hard to investigate this clue further.”

The vice squad said, “Since we can’t find clues to the poisoner, let’s analyze the motive.

From the available evidence, the murderer’s motives for poisoning are likely to be two, the first being to take revenge on society and randomly kill someone.

If that’s the case, the investigation will be a bit more difficult.

The second case of revenge killing.

The murderer’s real target is only one person, and the large-scale release of toxic mineral water is only to cover up the real purpose of the crime.

For example, the homeless dead in the subway station, homeless people are divided into two kinds, one is a status, can receive social welfare, in fact, live quite well.

The other kind is those without status, and it is the survival of this kind of hobo that is the most difficult.

The homeless man who was gassed to death belonged to the second type. We visited the homeless people in the vicinity, and he seldom communicated with other people, knowing only that his name was Henry, and that he did not know where he came from, nor did he know his past.

Now that he is dead, he can’t even find anyone to recognize his body.

Hypothetically, if someone wanted to kill Henry but didn’t want the police to find out, it would be a good idea to drop poisoned mineral water in places he frequented.

Henry himself drank the mineral water containing the poison, and it would be hard for anyone to associate it with a murder against him.”

“That’s a good idea to start lining up the peripheral relationships of the three victims.” Susan nodded and continued, “Also, according to Mario’s confession, at least one other bottle of suspected poisonous mineral water was taken.

Luke, you are responsible for finding out the whereabouts of this bottle of mineral water as soon as possible.”

“Okay, Captain.”

Evening.

Luke returned home, took a shower, and was refreshed in turn.

Couldn’t help but think about today’s case.

This poisoning case made Luke’s investigation a little bit laborious, and it was different from the cases he had investigated before.

The poisoning case was more like a random case, the three deceased had no direct connection, the only connection between them was the box of mineral water.

And that box of mineral water source clues and broken.

All the previous cases were traceable, with motives, investigation directions and clues.

But this case is different, the police still do not know the suspect’s motive, and can not find the connection between the three dead, and even no clear suspect.

A head of confusion.

Thinking that he still had two profiling cards, Luke subconsciously used one of the profiling cards to quickly learn the profiling skill.

By analyzing the modus operandi, scene layout, and criminal characteristics, the profiler outlines the criminal mindset of the perpetrator, thus further making predictions on his race, gender, age, occupational background, physical features, personality traits, and even his next move, narrowing down the scope of the investigation and locking in the identity of the suspect.

Luke felt that profiling skills might be helpful in the investigation of this case, although there was some suspicion of improvising, but it was better to learn than not to learn.

Just in case it’s useful.

“Ringing ……”

At eight o’clock in the morning of the following day, a cell phone ringing woke Luke up.

Luke picked up his cell phone and saw that it was Susan calling.

“Captain, what can I do for you?”

“There’s another suspected cyanide poisoning, get to the scene immediately and check it out.”

“Where?”

“Virginia Hill, south hillside.”

“I know, on my way.”

Half an hour later.

In a new Toyota Camry.

Blackie was driving while asking, “How’s it? This car of mine isn’t bad, right?”

Luke leaned back, “It’s good that you like it.”

“Luke, what day of the night do you have time for these days?”

“Why?”

“Julian wants to invite you to my house for dinner.”

“Why?”

“It’s because of you that Julian and I were able to get back together, and Julian is grateful and wants to thank you in person.”

“A family dinner?”

“Sort of.”

“Man, there’s no need to make it so formal, we’re partners, it’s all I’m supposed to do.”

“I said that, but Julian insisted on taking you to dinner.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“Of course, we’re the perfect partners, and I’d like to formally introduce you to my family.”

“Then let’s wait until we’re not busy someday.”

“Then it’s a deal.”

“Do I need to bring any gifts?”

“Sure, the more expensive the better.”

Luke “……”

The two men drove to Virginia Hill, South Slope.

The crime scene was rather isolated, so it was a good thing there were police cars around and a cordon had been put up, otherwise it would have been hard to find.

There were six patrolmen guarding the scene, and Luke flashed his badge and said to one of them, “I’m Lieutenant Luke of the Robbery-Murder Division, what’s the situation at the scene?”

“We received a call that someone was injured on the hill, so we rushed to the scene to check it out and found a deceased male and an injured female.

The female casualty has been pulled away in an ambulance, the body of the male deceased is out front, according to the doctor both are suspected to have cyanide poisoning, the man’s was more toxic and he died straight away.

The woman’s symptoms were milder, and with prompt medical attention, there is still hope.”

“Are the names of the two men known?”

“The male deceased is unknown. The woman’s name is Jennifer Kimble.”

“What about the reporting party?”

“The reporting party was gone when we arrived on the scene.”

Luke nodded and walked over to the body of the male deceased to check it out; the deceased was a white male in his mid-twenties with a sleeveless T-blood shirt on top and athletic shorts and sneakers underneath, which from the condition of the body fit the profile of cyanide poisoning.

Not far from the body of the male deceased, but also scattered a Vixen brand mineral water bottles.

Luke picked up the mineral water bottle to check, and found a suspected pinhole point, the scene of the situation can be basically concluded that this is the fourth victim of poisoning.

Luke got up and asked, “Which hospital did the injured go to?”

“It’s the closest hospital to here, Tonya Hospital.”

Since there were still survivors, the living definitely knew more than the dead, and the scene was left to the technical team and forensics.

A few minutes later, Luke and Blackie arrived at the Tonya Hospital.

The hospital was small, and after asking the front desk, Luke found the doctor responsible for saving the injured woman, Jennifer Kimble.

The doctor was a white man around forty years old with a large beard and a somewhat serious expression.

Luke asked, “Hello, I’m LAPD, are you the emergency doctor for Jennifer Kimble?”

“Yes, just call me Auston.”

“Dr. Auston, how is Jennifer doing now?”

“Out of danger, still under observation.”

“Was she poisoned by cyanide?”

“Yes, just mild symptoms.”

Luke was a bit puzzled as to why the man died on the spot and Jennifer was less severely poisoned if both of them drank the water.

Dr. Auston seemed to have read Luke’s thoughts and said, “Cyanide didn’t enter Jennifer’s body through her breath and intestines, but rather skin contact, that’s why the symptoms of poisoning are not severe.”

Skin contact? If it was hand contact, was it possible that it was poisoning? Holding this speculation, Luke pursued, “What part of Jennifer’s skin came into contact with the cyanide?”

“The private parts.”

“Private parts?”

Dr. Austen nodded, “Yes, the area you’re thinking of.”

Luke froze, “Why would that area come into contact with cyanide?”

“You’d have to ask her that.” Dr. Austen shrugged, “I’ll go check on her and let you know if I can visit.”

“Hey ……,” Black let out a bad laugh.

Luke glared at him, “We’re on a case, this is a hospital, what’s so funny?”

Xiao Hei collected his smile and said with a straight face, “I know what’s going on.” Seemingly afraid that Luke wouldn’t believe him, Xiao Hei added, “I know why they are dead and injured.”

“Tell me.”

“A pair of young men who were in love with each other met in the morning to climb a mountain together.

The morning is when hormones are at their peak, and the two climbed and walked to a remote, uninhabited place.

Very naturally, they hugged each other, kissed a little mouth and played poker.

The male was tired from exercising and definitely needed to hydrate.

The female washes her body for cleanliness.

The one who drinks water dies straight away.

The skin that washed the body absorbed some of the cyanide and was poisoned.”

Although Blackie’s words sounded implausible, they were partial to making sense.

Luke felt that this possibility was not impossible.

“How did you guess?”

“Experience.” Blackie showed a slightly lost color.

Luke “……”

Dr. Austen returned again and told the two men they could visit.

The two put on their shoe covers and entered the hospital room to see a black woman in her early twenties lying on the bed with a slightly haggard look.

“Hello Jennifer, I’m Detective Marcus from the Robbery Murder Division and this is Lieutenant Luke, we’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“How’s Ronnie doing …… Did you revive him?” Jennifer’s voice was a little weak, but it was no longer affecting normal communication.

“When you say Ronnie, is that the white man you were poisoned with?”

“Yes, how is he?”

“I’m sorry to say, he’s dead.”

“Oooh ……” the woman cried.

Black handed the other woman a couple of tissues and said with concern, “What’s your relationship with Ronnie?”

“We often ran into each other in the morning exercise, and then we became friends, he is very nice and take care of me ……”

Luke got right to the point, “How did you two get poisoned?”

“We …… Ronnie took a sip of mineral water, I washed my body with it, then it wasn’t long before he fell over, breathing hard and twitching, then I started having a hard time too.

It was the mineral water, it was the mineral water that killed Ronnie.”

Luke pressed, “What happened before you drank the mineral water?”

“I …… we clapped for love, we liked each other, we were attracted to each other …… for the first time ever, and I didn’t realize …… whoops ……”

Luke is not in a hurry, ready to wait for her to stop crying before asking, by describing the two people’s relationship is not too deep, how long can they cry.

Sure enough after a while, Jennifer crying stopped.

Luke pursued, “Where did that bottle of mineral water come from?”

“It’s ……,” Jennifer said lustfully.

Luke kept his eyes on the other man, giving Jennifer no escape, “I bought the mineral water.”

“Where did you buy it?”

“At the Mountain Source supermarket under my house.”

Luke frowned slightly, “Are you sure you bought it? And didn’t take it from somewhere else?”

“I bought it yesterday, I bought a total of two bottles of water, just to prepare for when I climb the mountain.” Jennifer’s tone emitted helplessness and sadness, “I didn’t expect the water to be poisoned either, much less poison Ronnie.

Lieutenant Luke, this is that supermarket’s problem, it has nothing to do with me.”

Luke’s face was a bit gloomy, this was different from his previous guess.

He had thought that the bottle of water containing cyanide should have come from the subway station as well.

If Jennifer hadn’t lied, then there were probably other poisoning locations besides the subway station.

If that was the case, the case was going to be more serious than expected ……