Chapter 262
Nine o’clock in the evening.
Lyme’s Talk Show Bar.
This bar was all about talk show programs.
Perhaps it was because Americans liked to flirt with themselves, talk shows were very popular in the United States, and to a certain extent, they were even able to influence the American elections.
Many Americans don’t care about politics, especially some young people don’t even understand the presidential candidates, after all, who would be interested in two bad old men for nothing.
Many young people get election information through talk shows, and they feel that talk shows are more grounded and closer to the people at the bottom, and of course, political tendencies are also affected by talk show programs.
At this time, the stage was filled with customers below the stage, drinking and listening to talk shows at the same time.
Unlike other noisy and chaotic bars, here, apart from laughter, there were only the voices of the stand-up comedians.
At this moment, a hostess in a long blue dress walked onto the stage, “Everyone, now I would like to proudly introduce a stand-up comedian that I really like, he is the stand-up comedy genius in my heart, Darci Kaufert.”
“Darci!”
Cheers and applause erupted from the stage.
“Thank you, thank you friends.” Darci, a white man, mounted the stage, microphone in hand and said, “I apologize for being late today.
This afternoon, my mom and my wife had a terrible fight.
I went to persuade them to fight.
As a result, they beat me up together.
Why?” Darci revealed an innocent expression.
“Haha ……” There was a burst of laughter from the stage.
“Seriously, it’s not easy to be a man these days, it’s genuinely hard, why do you say that? Because no one cares about men at all, hang all men.
You see a homeless man holding a stray dog.
You’re like, ‘Oh my God, what a poor dog, we need to get the puppy some food.’
‘Where’s the man?’
‘Oh, what do I care.'”
There was another round of laughter from the stage.
“Why is it so hard for men now?
Because women are hard to deal with, and the only thing my mom and my wife have in common is watching Desperate Housewives.
They watch reruns over and over and over again.
The pussies live in mansions, they don’t have jobs, they all cheat, and I think the title of the show should be changed to “Shameless Bitches”.
In every episode, they’re on a house cleaner or gardener who goes to the house to clean the pool, and each one of them does a good job.
You know why?
Because none of them have full-time jobs.
FUCK, if I had eight hours a day to sharpen my brother.
I’m pretty giving it a go too!”
“Haha ……” elicited another laugh.
“I’m a little thirsty, not from talking about stand-up comedy, but I’ve been persuading a fight before.”
“Haha ……”
Amidst the laughter, Darcey walks to the side of the stage, picks up a bottle of mineral water from a small round table, and unscrews the cap.
A man in the first row of the stage: “Hey Darci, that bottle of water is undrinkable.”
“Why? You want to drink it too? Don’t even think about it.”
The man offstage said, “Haven’t you seen the news? This brand of mineral water has been poisoned.”
A female guest said, “That’s right, Vixen brand mineral water, I saw it on the news too.”
Darci smiled, “Wow, I’m not worried instead. If the news is to be believed, what are you guys doing here?”
A black man on stage said, “It’s true, the police called a press conference too.”
“Wowowow, that’s terrible.” Darci glanced at the mineral water bottle and gave a backward look.
Just when the crowd thought he was going to put down the water bottle, Darci tilted his head back and took a big gulp, “Gulp gulp ……”
The guests on the stage all opened their eyes wide and looked stunned.
Then, the water bottle in Darci’s hand dropped, his body convulsed, and his body unexpectedly fell to the ground, spilling the water in the mineral water bottle all over the place.
“Ah ……,” came a cry of horror from the stage.
“Darcy!”
“He’s poisoned.”
“I told you, this brand of mineral water is poisonous.”
“Call an ambulance!” The staff also ran onto the stage.
Just as the crowd was preparing to administer emergency aid, Darci suddenly stood up, “Haha, you guys were fooled, I’ve studied acting.
You guys don’t think I’m so lucky that I just happened to be able to drink the poisoned water, right? haha ……”
“You asshole!”
“Darci, you scared me to death.”
“I really thought you were dead!”
“It’s almost like the real thing.”
There was a bit of an uproar both on and off the stage, but it had to be said that the stage was much better after this maneuver.
Just as the guests sat down again, ready to continue listening to the talk show, Darci’s face was twisted, his right hand was around his neck, and his body was trembling as if he was having trouble breathing.
But this time, no one believed him.
“Whoa whoa, it’s almost like the real thing.”
“Again.”
“Your acting is awesome.”
“Hey, there’s no way I can be fooled twice.”
There was a hush from the guests on stage.
“Bang!” Darci fell straight to the floor.
“Darci, that’s enough!”
“Almost enough, it’s not funny.”
“This guy can’t really be poisoned, can he?”
The crowd then began to realize that something was wrong, and several staff members ran onto the stage.
The hostess touched his nose, “Jesus Christ, he’s not breathing.”
“This isn’t a joke, he’s really poisoned!”
“He’s dead!”
An hour later, the captain of the Second Squadron of the Robbery and Murder Division, Clint Chen, led a team to the scene.
A short, skinny white detective yawned, “Captain, isn’t this case dominated by the First Squadron?
Why are we being sent out at night instead.”
“Lieutenant Luke’s phone can’t be reached; as for Lieutenant Vince, he’s a handful of years old, and if he’s asked to come to the scene to investigate the case at this point in time, it’s unlikely that there’ll be an extra corpse at the scene.” Captain Chen said with characteristic cold humor.
The white detective pursued, “What about Captain Susan? She’s the boss of the first squadron.”
“Susan might make a good captain, but that doesn’t mean she can do a good job of scene investigation.” Captain Chen put on his gloves, “Kevin, you have enough questions, now get to work.”
Kevin, the white detective, walks into the bar and sees the bustling crowd, “Evening out, we’re going to have a busy night.”
Captain Chen asked the patrolmen to help keep order, the members of the second squadron were in charge of giving statements to the customers and questioning them about the crime, while Captain Chen and Kevin went to the stage to check out the bodies.
Captain Chen looked at the body on the ground and the mineral water bottle next to it and shook his head, “Obviously it’s been on the news, why would he be poisoned in public, it’s unbelievable.”
Kevin snapped his fingers and pointed at the white man on the ground, “I know him, I saw him go to Shan Yuan Supermarket to buy mineral water in the surveillance video, I just haven’t been able to find out his identity.”
Captain Chen squatted down to examine the body, “Consistent with signs of cyanide poisoning.” After inspecting the scene, Captain Chen took off his gloves and shouted, “Where is the person in charge here?”
“Over here.” A woman in a long blue dress came over, “My name is Christine Enke, I’m one of the shareholders of this bar and a part-time host.
I was there when Darci was poisoned.”
“I’m Detective Kevin from the Robbery and Murder Division, Squadron Two, and this is Captain Chen from Squadron Two.
Ms. Enke, please describe the scene at the time of the crime.”
“Phew …… it’s too scary for me to recall.” Christine sighed lightly and pinched her forehead.
After a moment of hesitation, she narrated the case.
Kevin spread his hands, “I’m a bit confused, the audience has already told him that the water might be poisonous. Why did he even drink it?”
Kristin shook her head, “What he was thinking, I’m not sure, but, I can guess some of it.
He’s a stand-up comedian, he’s very talented, and he doesn’t miss an opportunity to perform.
That atmosphere was there, and he brought so much more out of that bottle of water by drinking it than by putting it down.
From a professional point of view, his choice was fine, he staged the fake death bridge and the whole atmosphere of the scene was driven by him.
He’s a genius.
He hadn’t read the news about the poisoning case, and even if someone had warned him, he didn’t think he was so unlucky that he would happen to drink poisoned water.
The probability is very low, but …… on the contrary, that bottle of water is poisonous.
No one expected this to happen.”
Chen Kelin summarized, “In other words, he voluntarily drank the toxic mineral water?”
“Yes, all the staff and guests at the scene saw it.” Christian spread his hands and said helplessly, “I still can’t believe this fact until now.”
“Where did the water come from?”
“He brought it himself, he only drinks this brand of mineral water, and it’s always locked in his locker.”
Chen Klin pressed, “Has he offended anyone recently?”
“I don’t know, but stand-up comedians, especially good stand-up comedians, never lose out on their mouths again; you may like him on stage, but you may not like him in reality.”
“Since he was just performing, did he record a video?”
“Yes, I’ll get it.” Soon, Kristin Enke brought a small VCR and played footage of Darcey speaking stand-up comedy.
Kevin laughed, “I love this guy, especially his review of Desperate Housewives, it’s a shame I didn’t get to know him sooner ……”
“Hey, let me through, you can’t stop me!” A white, middle-aged man yelled and barged in.
Chen Kelin asked, “Who is he?”
“Darci’s agent, Markway Sarkozy.”
Chen Kling waved his hand, signaling the patrolman to let the middle-aged man in, “You’re Darci’s agent?”
“Yes, how is Darci doing?” As Markway spoke, his eyes looked toward the stage, “Jesus Christ, is that him? He’s really been poisoned!
God damn it, why would you make a joke like that?”
“Mr. Sarkozy, did Darcey enjoy drinking Vixen brand mineral water?”
“Yes, he was very opinionated and basically wouldn’t change what he recognized.”
“Have you seen the news about the poisoning case?”
“I just saw it on the way over here, and damn, I’ve been too busy the last two days to watch the damn news.
If I had seen that poisoning news, I sure wouldn’t have let him drink that brand of water again.”
“You said you were busy as hell, where were you before?”
“Uh ……,” Markway Sarkozy wanted to say.
Chenklin turned to the hostess on the side and said, “Ms. Nke, I’d like a list of today’s staff.”
“OK, I’ll go count them.” Christine Enke turned around and left.
Chen Kling looked at Markway Sarkozy again, “Can I speak now?”
“Darci is a genius, he joined the industry late, but he has a strong talent for stand-up comedy, and his talent has yet to be fully utilized.
He has been contacted by the television side to do a talk show, which is an opportunity for us, a great opportunity.
But the TV side also has a requirement that if he agrees to become a talk show host, he has to stop some unnecessary performances for a while.” Markway Sarkozy whispered, “Like today’s.”
Chen Kling said, “Is this a big loss for the bar?”
Markway Sarkozy scanned the crowd, “At least half of the customers here are fans of Darci, he is the most popular stand-up comedian here, and believe me, the bar would never want to lose him.”
Chanclin asked rhetorically, “What would happen if the head of the bar knew about this?”
“I don’t know.” Markway Sarkozy shook his head, “But it would definitely be unpleasant, which is why we kept it a secret.”
Chenklin pressed, “Has Darci done anything unusual or offended anyone lately?”
Markway Sarkozy replied, “He has indeed encountered some trouble recently, and a few days ago he told me that someone had written him threatening letters.”
“What kind of threatening letters?”
“I don’t know, he didn’t let me see it.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“I did, but he wouldn’t let the police be called, I don’t know why?”
“Where is that threatening letter?”
“I don’t know. I can’t know everything about him even though I’m his agent.”
“Where’s his family?”
“His parents are in New York State and won’t be there until tomorrow at the earliest.”
“What about his wife?”
“I’m not sure, the two of them aren’t exactly in a good relationship, they separated a long time ago, I don’t know much about it.”
Kevin frowned, “Are you sure?”
Markway Sarkozy saw the other man’s expression and asked rhetorically, “Is he talking about his old mom and wife’s stunt again.”
Kevin sighed and showed a touch of self-deprecation, “Yes, what an actor.”
The following morning.
Detective Bureau.
Luke walked into the large conference room with a yawn.
Last night, after Orty left, Luke had some insomnia.
It had to be said that that woman was really a charming siren, and the flavor of a Latin beauty was hard to resist.
Since coming to Los Angeles, Luke has opened his eyes and his desire is getting stronger and stronger, this flowery world is a lot less bound compared to China, and it’s easy for people to get lost.
Luke is not a perfect man, his shortcomings are obvious, like food, wine, beautiful scenery and beautiful women.
To put it bluntly, he is a vulgar man with a bottom line.
The difference is that LAPD’s bottom line is obviously much lower than that of the Chinese police.
Of course, this was not a bad thing for him personally, living a more dashing life.
As Luke sat in the conference room fuming, the others arrived one by one.
Reed presided over the meeting, with the men from Squadron One and Squadron Two sitting to the left and right.
Among them, the people from the Second Squadron clearly had dark circles under their eyes, and one of them kept yawning.
Ruide said to Chen Kelin, who was on the side, “Captain Chen, tell us about the case.”
“At ten o’clock last night, we rushed to the Lime Stand-up Comedy Bar, and the deceased was a stand-up comedian ……,” Chen Klin recounted the situation at the bar in detail.
After that, the Dalsey stand-up comedy video was played again, and with the stand-up comedy video, the trouble of restoring the scene was saved.
Chen Klin continued, “We found three other bottles of Vixen brand mineral water in the locker of the deceased Dalsey, which can prove that the deceased did like this brand of mineral water.
In addition, the bottles of toxic mineral water containing cyanide and one of the bottles of mineral water in the locker have the same lot number as the mineral water found in the subway station.
That means that all the toxic mineral water came from the case of mineral water in the subway station.”
Reed said, “Now that ten bottles of that case of toxic mineral water have been recovered, leaving two bottles unaccounted for, I hope those people will watch the news more often so that the Darcy incident doesn’t happen again.”
Black shrugged, “It’s a bit inappropriate to say this, but I’d still say that this Darci is a bit of a piece of work, and he’s still doing it when it’s obvious that the fans have warned him.”
The vice squad said, “The letter of the law is clearly written, but there are still so many people who commit crimes, it’s essentially the same thing.
There are always people who like to take a chance and challenge authority.
Winning is full of rewards, and when you lose, you have to be punished.”
“Cough…… “Chen Klin coughed lightly, “According to the description of Darci’s agent, he received a threatening letter some time ago, we went to Darci’s house to search it overnight, and found the threatening letter in the trash can of his house. ”
Chen Kelin put the threatening letter on the projector and briefly introduced, “The content of the threatening letter mainly stems from his dissatisfaction with his acting style, feeling that Dalsey’s acting style is very underhanded, and he likes to use some nasty segments.
For example, flirting with women and clapping for love.
The end of the letter also threatened him with a nasty death if he didn’t change that style of acting.”
Luke took the threatening letter and studied it carefully, “Are there any fingerprints on the threatening letter?”
“No, but the threatening letter was handwritten on August 22nd.” After Chen Kelin finished speaking, he took out another piece of information and patted it down.
“These are the statements we gave to the bar patrons, and they’re basically roughly the same, they all saw Darci drink the bottle of water herself.
That’s all the leads we’ve got so far.”
Reed said, “Good work, team two go back and get some sleep.”
The people from the second team left one by one, and the first squadron continued to take over the investigation of the case.
Reed explained a few more things and the people split up to investigate.
Luke rushed to the bar with Blackie to investigate.
Blackie said, “So many people saw Darcy drink the mineral water by himself, and the mineral water was also bought by him at the supermarket, what else is there to investigate.”
“You’re right, but the scene still needs to be seen, otherwise I’m always unsure in my mind.”
“OK, you’re the boss.”
Luke drove the two of them to the Lime Talk Show Bar.
The bar was still under martial law.
The two Luke’s got out of the car and saw a woman talking to the alert patrolman.
Luke had seen a picture of the woman and it was none other than the bar’s hostess, Kristen Enke.
Luke walked over and flashed his badge, “This is Lieutenant Luke, Squadron One, Robbery and Murder Division, we need to check out the scene.”
The patrolman opened the cordon.
Kristin Enke took the initiative to strike up a conversation, “Lieutenant Luke, are you from the Robbery-Murder Division as well? Why didn’t I see you last night.”
“Ms. Enke, what can I do for you?”
“You know me.”
“Of course, I’m in charge of the investigation in this case now.”
“May I ask when our bar can resume business? You’ve already taken the body away, and the scene has been investigated, so isn’t it time to resume normal business.”
Xiao Hei asked rhetorically, “Darci just died and you guys are rushing to open, isn’t that a bit not good?”
“I don’t want it to be like this either, but if it stays closed, the shareholders will have a problem with it. It’s hard for me to do the same.”
Luke said, “Ms. Enke, if you’re not busy, why don’t you accompany me around the bar, I’ve just taken over the case and I need to check the scene on the ground.”
“Isn’t it true that after you see the scene, you can open for business.”
“I can’t give you any guarantees, however, the smoother the investigation of the case goes, the sooner your bar can open for business.”
“Okay, you come with me.” The three went into the bar together and Kristin Enke said, “Darci was a great stand-up comedian, it’s a real shame.”
Luke asked, “Do you know of a network that has asked him to do a talk show?”
“I didn’t know that, when was that?”
“Not long before his accident, and from what I understand, if they strike a deal, Darci’s show may be somewhat limited.”
Kristin Enke frowned slightly, “You mean he’s no longer going to perform at my bar.”
“That’s just my guess.” Luke responded, staring at the other man’s expression, “You weren’t aware of this before?”
“Yes.”
The other party’s expression didn’t look fake, and Luke was a little less skeptical of her.
Kristin Enke described last night in her own words, and although Luke already knew the course of the crime, he still wished to hear the person in question dictate it all over again.
Luke stood next to one of the walls of the bar and saw that there were a number of stand-up comedy stems on the wall, all of which were of the more concise, funny, and easily induced laughter variety.
Luke pointed to two lines that read, ‘Born to be useful, I just never found a use for it.’
“Who wrote that?”
“Kenneth Sandy, he’s also our stand-up comedian at the bar.”
“Was he at the bar last night?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his relationship with Darci like?”
“Uh …… How can I say this? They have different styles of acting, Darcey is very much a sarcastic and self-deprecating performer.
Kenneth feels that cold humor is the essence of stand-up comedy.
They do have different opinions on the way they perform.”
Luke felt as if the other man was hiding something, “Did the two of them ever clash?”
“Uh …… Kenneth has been the bar’s contracted stand-up comedian since the bar opened, and he has a solid performing style and has always been the finale act.
But Darci’s style of performance had a much stronger sense of conflict and sold more, and was more popular with most of the customers, so it was switched to Darci’s finale performance.
Kenneth did take some offense to that, and the two had a couple of fights, but it’s all in the past.”
“That’s not necessarily true.”
Luke, who had learned the skill of handwriting identification, compared the two lines on the wall carefully with the threatening letter and realized that it was probably the same person’s handwriting.
“What do you mean?”
“I’d like to talk to Kenneth, do you know where he is?”