Chapter 263
Gergil’s Bar.
A thin, curly-haired man with a dry build walked up to the bar, “Hey man, have a rum punch.”
A bearded white man next to him walked over and tapped the curly-haired man on the shoulder, “Hey, if it isn’t the big star Kenneth. What are you doing here if you’re not at the Lime Talk Show Bar?”
“I’m not a big star, I’m just a stand-up comedian. The Lime Stand-up Comedy Bar is having some problems right now and I can’t go there even if I wanted to.”
The bearded man asked rhetorically, “Could it be that the news is true, that Darci really died in the Lime Talk Show Bar?”
The others also gathered around when they heard the news.
Seeing that the crowd was focused on him, Kenneth sighed softly, “You’re right, Darci was poisoned last night, and the whole bar was cordoned off.”
The bearded man’s eyes widened, “Wow wow that’s terrible, I kinda liked him.”
The others chimed in, “How did Darcy die?”
“I heard he was poisoned by mineral water, wasn’t that on the news? How could he still be poisoned.”
Kenneth shook his head, “Guys, the police won’t let me talk about the details, all I can tell you is that I’m not surprised this happened.”
The bearded man revealed a curious look, “Kenneth, do you know anything on the inside?”
“I can’t say it’s insider knowledge, just out of knowledge of Darci.
Stand-up comedy is a kind of humorous language art, it requires cultural accumulation and makes people laugh through language art.
But it should be grounded, a civilized art.
And Darci is different, he likes to demean women, tell yellow jokes, and mock those poor people, although it can cause people to laugh for a short period of time.
But this form of performance is problematic and can easily invite trouble, as it is now ……”
A black man grinned, revealing large white teeth and a curious look, “You think he was gassed because he offended someone by talking about stand-up comedy?”
Kenneth said, “I just think it’s possible.”
The black man asked back, “If the bar patrons didn’t like the way he was performing, why not just not go see it, why poison him?”
Kenneth glanced at the black man and said with a serious face, “Human nature is complex, it’s hard to tell.
Besides, the TV station has already broadcasted the poisoning news, and he still has to use the means of pretending to be dead for the purpose of being funny, as I said, this is a very low form of performance, and it is problematic.”
The black man said, “Kenneth, it feels like you have deep preconceptions about Darci, even a bit of resentment.”
“No, I just don’t like the way he performs.” Kenneth turned his head and looked at the black man who spoke, “Who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
The black man flashed his badge, “I’m Detective Marcus of the Robbery-Murder Division, and I think it’s time for us to talk somewhere else.”
Detective Bureau.
Robbery-Murder Division, Interrogation Room One.
Kenneth was brought to the station for questioning by Luke and Blackie.
On the way, Luke had also been observing the other man’s demeanor, gradually relaxing from his initial nervousness.
Kenneth sat down at the interrogation table and looked at Luke, Blacky, and then at the walls around him, “I’ve seen it on TV, that glass across the room is supposed to be one-way see-through, isn’t someone watching me?”
Luke reminded, “Kenneth, instead of focusing on what’s going on in the outside world, you should care more about yourself.”
“You’re right, what do you guys want with me?”
“What’s your full name?”
“Kenneth Sandy.”
“You’re also a cast member of Lime’s Talk Show Bar?”
“Yes, you should come and listen sometime, you’d love it, I’m a great stand-up comedian.”
“I’ve heard of you, I have a friend who loves you and talks about you all the time, can I get an autograph?” Luke pulled out a poster of Lime’s Stand-Up Comedy Bar.
Kenneth picked up the pen and laughed, “What are you going to do with my autograph? In exchange for a drink?”
“That’s right, I’m ready for him to buy me a drink.”
“NoNoNo, one meal is not enough, this is my autograph, it can be exchanged for at least three drinks, haha.” Kenneth laughed and wrote his name.
Luke picked up the poster and took a closer look at the signature on it, “Thanks, my friend will love it.”
Kenneth pointed at Luke, “Your friend has good taste.”
Black smiled, “Why do you say that? Just because his friend likes your stand-up comedy routine?”
“Isn’t that enough?” Kenneth said with a serious face, “Stand-up comedy is an art, it’s not just about having a script, it’s very much a test of one’s expressiveness.
The same piece of script, performed in different ways by different people, is completely two kinds of effects.
Don’t take it lightly, and don’t take a stand-up comedian lightly, ever.”
Luke pressed, “So what do you think of Darcy?”
“I’ve already said it in the bar, as I’m sure you’ve heard. There’s not much to say, we belong to two completely different styles of acting.”
“That’s right, I did hear that, so I get the impression that you don’t like Darcey very much, even hate him a little, do you have a deep conflict?”
“What do you mean? You think I killed him?”
“Don’t you want to?”
“Hey, watch what you say, I’m a public figure, I live off my reputation, watch out I’ll sue you for slander.
I’ll only forgive you once, not because you’re a cop, but because your friend is my fan, you should be glad you have a good friend.”
Black smiled, “Luke, I like this guy, he’s funny.”
Luke nodded, “Yeah, it’s true, it’s funnier than his stand-up comedy.”
“Hey, you can insult me but you can’t look down on my profession, have you ever heard my stand-up comedy?
If you haven’t heard it, you have no right to speak.”
“It’s true that I haven’t heard it, but I have heard that you were robbed of your chance to perform your finale by Darci. That’s why you resent Darci, I guess.”
“Hey, I’m not a narrow minded person, I don’t like him, not because he stole my chance to perform in the finale, but because of the problematic way he performs.
He has no respect for women and is always telling shitty yellow jokes, and that can’t last.”
“Is that why you wanted to kill him?”
“I didn’t say I wanted to kill him, you’re being slanderous.”
“I didn’t slander, you said that.”
“I didn’t.”
Luke took hold of a clear plastic bag containing a letter, “This threatening letter we found at Darcy’s house, the sender hates the way Darcy performs, finds it disrespectful to women, has too many yellow jokes, and is nasty, which is the same as your opinion.
The end of the epistle also states that if Darcey doesn’t change this style of acting, it will be the death of him.
And as it turns out, Darcey did die.
So we have reason to believe that the sender of the letter had a motive, and that’s why we asked you to come.”
“Hey …… even if someone had written a threatening letter to Darci …… it doesn’t prove that I had anything to do with it.” Kenneth stumbled and spoke with a little less energy.
Luke put the threatening letter and the signature on the poster together, “Before we brought you to the police station, we got an expert to identify your handwriting, and your handwriting is exactly the same as the handwriting on the threatening letter, and this threatening letter was written by you.”
“FUCK!” said Kenneth, slapping his hand against his forehead.
“Kenneth, how do you explain that?”
“I want to see a lawyer.”
Luke and Blackie returned to the interrogation room to rest.
The lieutenant asked, “How did you get out so fast, how did the interrogation go?”
“That guy wanted to see a lawyer, so we had to interrupt the interrogation for a while.”
The vice squad pressed, “He admitted to writing the threatening letter?”
“No, but the guy got weak-minded and completely panicked, otherwise he wouldn’t have just called a lawyer.” Black snapped his fingers and speculated, “In my experience, this guy is probably the real poisoner.”
“In your experience?” The lieutenant bristled, “I don’t think he’s the poisoner.”
“Why?” Black asked rhetorically, “You’ve had no contact with him at all, much less know him.”
“But I know you and your experience.” The lieutenant bet his left thumb on the nail cap of his pinky.
Blackie was unconvinced, “You’re wrong, dead wrong. This guy has a motive, something is definitely wrong.”
“It’s not enough to have a motive, you have to have evidence that he did it.” The vice squad spread their hands, “That’s the most basic.”
Luke poured a glass of Longjing and took a sip, “The vice squad is right.
Guys, I need your help to check the surveillance videos from the subway station and the Shan Yuan supermarket to see if this guy has been present at the poisoning location.”
Jackson said, “I think we should search his home and see if we can find cyanide and items suspected to be the tools of the trade.”
“Good idea, but until then get a search warrant, I’ll leave that task to you.” Luke pointed to the captain’s office.
The group split up and Luke stood by, it seemed to him that what was coming next was likely to be a battle of attrition.
An hour or so later, Luke and Blackie returned to the interrogation room once again.
The lawyer did not stay to accompany Kenneth with the interrogation, and after the two met alone, the lawyer left.
This was more than a little surprising to Luke.
Luke placed the threatening letter on the table again, “Kenneth, how did it go with your lawyer?”
Kenneth nodded, “Pretty good.”
“Then explain about the threatening letter.”
Kenneth looked down at the threatening letter carefully, “Yes, I wrote it.”
“Why did you write this threatening letter?”
“Because I hate that Darcey guy, he’s tainted stand-up comedy with his underhanded performance style, once again pulling down the bottom line of stand-up comedy, and if he’s allowed to continue, stand-up comedy will become a surrogate for nastiness, and that’s unacceptable.” Kenneth gave an angry look and continued to complain that
“And then there’s that Ally Wong, that woman is a ‘dirty bitch’ and I don’t care to be around them, I think it’s a disgrace.
People like them will ruin stand-up comedy as a profession.”
Luke smoothly asked, “So, you killed Darci?”
Kenneth hesitated for several moments and said through gritted teeth, “That’s right, I killed him!”
Luke and Blackie glanced at each other, both showing a surprised look, not expecting the other party to confess so easily.
Luke struck while the iron was hot: “How did you kill him?”
“I poisoned his water.”
“How did you poison it?”
“I walked over to him when he wasn’t looking and unscrewed the lid and put some poison powder in it.”
“Where was it poisoned?”
“Right by the stage.”
“Did anyone see it at the time?”
“I don’t know, I was nervous.”
“Did you touch the water bottle directly with your hand?”
“I was so nervous I can’t remember.”
Luke stared at the other man, sensing that he was showing signs of lying.
Moreover, if he had poisoned it at the side of the stage, there were so many guests at that time, it was impossible for no one to see it.
The guests at the scene had all made statements, but none of them had mentioned this matter, so how could he look at it was a bit abnormal.
Could he be lying?
But why would he lie?
Luke suppressed the doubts in his heart and continued to ask, “What poison did you use?”
“Highly poisonous, as long as you take it, you will die soon.”
“I’m asking about the specific ingredients.”
“Ah …… the person who sold the medicine said so, but I can’t remember.”
“Where did you buy the poison from?”
“A man named Elok sold it to me.”
“What was the full name?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do you contact him?”
“That was a year ago, when I had a problem with Darcy.
I hated him so much I went to a bar to drown my sorrows.
I happened to meet Elrock, a chemistry teacher, and we were both drinking and I bought poison from him in a confused way.
I can’t remember anything else because I was drinking at the time.”
“Which bar?”
“The Malicoff Bar.”
Luke had been watching his expression, analyzing it from micro-expressions, and the bastard was full of lies.
It was bullshit all the time.
Luke patiently asked, “Where’s the rest of the poison?”
“I threw it away.”
“Threw it away where?”
“Threw it down my toilet and flushed it away.”
“Did you poison any other places besides Darcy?”
“Yes, the subway station and the Mountain Source supermarket.”
“Have you ever been to either of those places?”
“Of course.”
“Which subway station did you poison?”
“I can’t remember.”
“How much poisoned mineral water did you put in the subway station? And how much poisoned mineral water did you put in the Mountain Source supermarket?”
“I can’t remember.”
Luke’s face was a little hard to see, although Kenneth’s mouth said that he confessed, he was full of lies, describing what was on the news, with no actual confessions or clues at all.
Take the location of the poisoning and the mineral water that was poisoned, it had already been broadcast on the news, and anyone who knew the two locations could hardly be used as evidence.
What is really valuable are the details.
For example, although the poisoning locations were at the subway station and the Shan Yuan supermarket, the lot numbers of the mineral water that was really poisoned were the same.
In other words, the poisoner should have purchased a case of mineral water, nine bottles of which were placed in the subway station and the other three bottles in the Shan Yuan supermarket.
Not every one of these bottles of mineral water is poisonous. 11 bottles of mineral water with the same batch number have been found, five of which are poisonous.
But Kenneth’s statement did not contain the slightest detail of poisoning, either he was deliberately avoiding, deliberately playing dumb.
Either that, or he wasn’t the real poisoner.
But if he wasn’t the real poisoner, why did he confess? What was his purpose?
Luke interrupted the interrogation again, before figuring out Kenneth’s purpose, there was no point in continuing the interrogation, he would only be led by Kenneth.
After returning to the office, Luke and Blackie were both a bit depressed.
The vice squad looked at the two and said, “Looking at your expressions, I guess the interrogation didn’t make much progress, Kenneth refused to confess?”
Luke didn’t answer and asked instead, “Did you guys get a lead on his poisoning?”
Matthew replied, “No, we checked the surveillance of the subway station and the Mountain Source Supermarket and found no trace of him.”
“What about his home?”
“Ramon and Jenny went to search it, but didn’t find cyanide or suspected poisoning tools.” The lieutenant spread his hands, “Either this guy is in deep hiding or he’s not the actual poisoner?
Either way, we can only let him go for now.”
Xiao Hei said, “He confessed.”
“What did you say?” The lieutenant thought he’d heard wrong.
“He confessed to killing Darcy.”
The lieutenant was a little surprised, “Wow wow, good job, how did you guys interrogate him, I’m curious.”
Luke said, “He confessed voluntarily before we even started the interrogation.”
“Are you kidding?” The lieutenant was a little disbelieving.
Luke walked over to the projector and played the video from the law enforcement recorder.
The vice squad watched it and picked up their combs out of habit, “Kind of interesting.
This guy said he admitted, but didn’t give a single bit of the actual content, evidence, or the crime, I bet he’ll retract his confession once he’s in court.”
Blackie asked rhetorically, “What will be the outcome?”
“Unless we can come up with tangible evidence of his poisoning, we will be very passive, and may even let the jury find him not guilty.
If it’s the latter, we won’t be able to investigate him anymore even if he’s the actual poisoner.” The lieutenant sighed.
“I hate assholes like that, there are a lot of cops who get careless when investigating a case and get caught by the opposing lawyers and suffer big losses in that regard.”
Luke pressed, “Lieutenant, do you think he’s the real poisoner?”
“Lacking some key evidence, it’s too early to say, however, I think we should consider the worst case scenario, be cautious, and don’t prosecute him easily until we find tangible evidence.”
The lieutenant finished, “You interrogated him yourself, what do you think?”
Luke rubbed his chin, he agreed with the vice squad’s approach, but he preferred that Kenneth was not the actual poisoner.
Luke made this judgment not only because no evidence of his crime was found, but also because based on the micro-expression analysis in the interrogation room, in his experience, he was not the poisoner.
“I don’t think he’s a poisoner?”
Black asked back, “Then why would he admit to killing Darci? What good would that do him?”
Luke analyzed smoothly, “Darci was little known in the talk show world, he didn’t host a talk show, but he was on similar shows as a guest, he had some popularity.
His death has generated some publicity and the media is covering the story.
Suppose, hypothetically, that Kenneth’s poisoning was broadcast by the media, and that a stand-up comedian went and poisoned another stand-up comedian to kill him because of his obsession with the art of performing.
The story would definitely be covered by the media and Kenneth would become famous.
Once an actor becomes famous his value will immediately skyrocket, and with popularity comes everything.
The rich and famous are in danger, and that’s why he’s looking for a lawyer.
He didn’t get a lawyer to get away with poisoning, but he consulted on the risks of posing as a poisoner.
Obviously, his assessment was that it was worth the risk.
It could very well make him famous.”
Black thought for a moment, “That sounds somewhat reasonable, but I remember he despised Darci for faking his death before, so if he did that, wouldn’t it be even more underhanded and bottomless than Darci faking his death.”
The lieutenant said disdainfully, “You know what? A lot of poor people hate rich people.
But they don’t hate money, just because it doesn’t belong to them and they can’t get it themselves.
If they had the chance to become rich, they’d probably be even madder.
The same goes for Kenneth, who criticizes D’Arcy, not necessarily because he really hates the way D’Arcy performs, but perhaps just because his own way of performing is different from D’Arcy’s.
If he had the chance to replace Darci, he’d probably be even more bottomless than Darci.”
Xiao Hei revealed a disgusted expression, “In other words, this guy wants to use Darci’s death to become famous, which is like indirectly stepping on LAPD’s face to get to the top.
We must not let him succeed, this is too disgusting.”
Luke said, “You’re right.
So, we have to do some targeted measures, for example, don’t leak the news of Kenneth’s arrest, as long as the media doesn’t know about it, he won’t be able to use this opportunity to become famous.
Second point, investigate this asshole, I want to know everything about him from birth until now.”
Luke was pissed, he hated being used.
Didn’t Kenneth want to go to jail?
Then Luke would send him in on some other charge.
Let him go to jail for talking about stand-up comedy.
“Knock knock ……”
Just then, a knock sounded outside.
“Come in.”
A few moments later, David pushed his way in, “Hey guys, how’s the poisoning case going?”
“Not so well, why are you here all of a sudden?”
“I heard you were buying me a drink, so I came.”
Luke shrugged, “I didn’t say that.”
“Are you sure? Then I’m leaving.” David made a move to leave.
Luke reacted and called out to the other, “Wait, you got a lead on Loki, the Gangnam Supermarket burglar?”