Chapter 264
Twelve o’clock at night.
Maggia Street.
This was a street located in the center of the city, busy and bustling during the day with people coming and going, but cold and silent at night.
Wiggs Supermarket was located on this street.
The supermarket had closed before ten o’clock, and the roller shutter was closed outside.
A box truck drove to the back door of the supermarket, where the location is even more remote, not to mention people at night, not even a stray dog.
Two men came down from the cab of the car, stocking covers on their heads, and one of them, a tall white man, went to the back and opened the door of the van, from which two more men jumped down.
One of the men turned to the taller white man and asked, “Rocky, do you have to lock the cargo door? While I don’t have a phobia of confinement, I really don’t like it.”
“No problem, next time I’ll strap you to the roof of the car, and then you’ll be able to ride in the car while enjoying the moonlight at night.”
“Haha ……” laughed his companions around him.
Loki made a silent gesture and instructed, “Martin, the usual rules apply, you’re still in charge of looking out.
Carfitt, you pick the lock.
George, you idiot, don’t smoke in here.
Guys, get moving and let’s make this quick.”
The men split up.
Carfitt took out his tools and started to open the lock, and when he said open, it was more like prying, destroying the lock very roughly.
It felt like mediocre lock picking skills, but the results were still pretty good.
Loki snapped his fingers, “Martin, you continue to look out.
Carfitt, George, follow me in for the big purchase.”
Rocky, surrounded by his two minions, swaggered into the supermarket, turned on the lights inside the supermarket, looking at the supermarket full of commodities, Rocky revealed a bad smile, he liked this feeling, the supermarket in front of him was like a girl in her flowery season, exuding a different kind of charm, and letting him claim it.
“Guys, happy hour is here.” Loki opened his arms and smiled arrogantly.
“Haha ……”
“Baby, I’m coming.”
The two minions let out a laugh as well and pushed the shopping cart and started picking out items, cigarettes, red wine, lip balm, soap, milk powder, diapers ……
These items were not necessarily the most expensive, but they were all small and easy to get out.
The two minions recklessly carried the items in a supermarket shopping cart, seemingly treating this place as their own warehouse.
Loki, on the other hand, took a long stick and cracked several of the supermarket’s cameras.
Although they were all wearing masks, he still didn’t like the feeling of being watched.
Loki finished knocking the cameras and was also ready to carry the merchandise when a voice suddenly rang out from the entrance of the supermarket, “HEY, BOY, are you guys having a party?
I want to join in.”
This unfamiliar voice startled Loki’s trio.
Loki dropped the cigarette in his hand and turned his head to look in the direction of the voice, seeing a black-haired youth standing in front of the supermarket, he copied the baseball bat next to him and pointed it at Luke, “Where did you idiot come from, do you want to die?”
After saying that, he felt something was wrong, “Where’s Martin? What did you do to him?”
After Loki finished speaking, his entire body froze as he saw three more people walk in behind the dark-haired man, each wearing body armor, rifles in their hands, and grenades and concussion grenades on their waists.
“Even buy Karma’s ……” Although Rocky had a pistol on his waist, he didn’t dare to move, the firepower gap between the two sides was too big.
To move is to die.
He was glad that he hadn’t drawn his gun in the first place just now, otherwise, he might have also been lying on the ground now, covered in blood.
With a ‘bam’ sound, the baseball bat landed on the ground, and Loki asked, “Hey, we’re just trying to make some extra money, no offense intended.
What do you guys want?”
Luke flashed his badge, “LAPD, the three of you drop your weapons, put your hands on your heads, and kneel on the ground.”
Seeing that the other party was a police officer, Loki’s three people even dropped a trace of unrealistic fluke deep inside their hearts and honestly knelt on the ground.
The three thieves who were arrogant and incomparable just now were held down on the ground, searched, took away the weapons, handcuffed, a set of processes went down honestly.
Luke took off the white man’s stocking hood, “What’s your name?”
“Rocky.”
“Full name.”
“Rocky Jones.”
Off to the side, Blackie laughed, “Well, your real name is Loki.”
Loki glared at Black, “Yes, is there a problem?”
“No, but watch your tone, I can’t promise I won’t punch you.”
Luke pulled out a picture of the owner of the Mountain Source Supermarket, “Do you recognize him?”
Loki glanced at the picture and the corner of his mouth twitched, “No.”
Luke smiled, “My patience is limited, don’t get yourself in trouble, understand?”
Loki remained expressionless.
“Let’s do it again, one last time.” Luke pointed to the picture, “Recognize him?”
Loki glanced at Luke and was silent.
David smiled, “I like this guy, kind of funny.”
“You’re right, I like this guy too.” Luke’s face sank with a meaty grimace as he spoke easily.
“Marcus, Jackson, escort the other two guys to the car, I want to talk to Loki alone.”
Loki clearly felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere, a feeling he was familiar with.
These asshole PDs were going to be much more ruthless in their tactics when dealing with gang members like them than they were with ordinary suspects.
When the two minions were taken out of the supermarket, Rocky had no more worries, and he knew that the police had no more worries either, and no longer hesitated, “I know him, yes, I’ve seen him.”
“Good, what’s his name?”
“Osmond Simpson.”
“How do you know each other?”
“I sold him some merchandise.”
“What merchandise?”
“Just some cigarettes, booze, groceries, that sort of thing.”
Luke pulled out a list, “Look and see if it’s the items on here, note the brand.”
Loki took a closer look at the list, “Yes, those are the items.”
“Where did these items come from?”
Loki sighed, “Did he betray me?”
“Cut the crap and answer my question first.”
“Uh …… I can’t remember.”
Luke laughed, “Are you indirectly telling me that you’ve burglarized a lot of stores and want me to get to the bottom of the bad things you’ve done?”
“Uh …… I remember, it was a Korean supermarket, Gangnam Supermarket.”
“When was the theft?”
“Around twelve o’clock at night on August 3rd.”
“Was Kafira brand red wine among the goods you stole?”
“It seems so.”
“I want an exact answer.” Luke pointed to the brand of red wine on the list.
“Yes, there were two cases of this brand of red wine.”
“Why would you poison the red wine?”
“Poisoning?
No, I didn’t poison it, I just want to turn the merchandise into money, why would I poison it, it won’t do me any good.”
Luke saw that the other party didn’t look like he was lying, “When you sold the red wine to Shan Yuan Supermarket, did anyone else touch the two cases of red wine?”
“No.”
“Is it possible that your accomplice poisoned them?”
“Unlikely, it wouldn’t do them any good.” Loki seemed to sense the problem: “What exactly is the matter you guys are arresting me for?”
“Of the two cases of red wine you sold to Mountain Source Supermarket, two bottles of red wine were poisoned, we are here to investigate this matter, if you want a favorable plea deal, explain this matter clearly, understand?”
“Poisoned?” Rocky frowned in thought, “But we really didn’t poison it? Could there be something wrong with the two bottles of red wine themselves?”
David laughed, “You mean the manufacturers poisoned themselves, or the supermarkets poisoned themselves? Are they crazy?”
“NoNo, that’s not what I mean, I saw someone the other night, sneaking into the supermarket, and there’s no chance she poisoned it.”
Luke asked, “What kind of person?”
“An Asian woman, wearing a floral dress, we saw her while we were watching near the supermarket and waited for her to leave before we made our move to rob the supermarket.
Since it was a Korean owned supermarket and she could have been Korean, I didn’t pay much attention.”
Luke took out a picture of Lee Sun-mi, the owner of Gangnam Supermarket, “Is it her?”
“It kind of looks like it, but it shouldn’t be.”
Luke thought about it and took out a picture of Lee Sun Mi’s cousin Kim Soo Hye: “Is it her?”
“It seems like her.”
Luke was a little surprised, “How long has she been in there?”
“I don’t know, when we arrived, we found that the back of the supermarket was open, so we didn’t go in right away, but hid in the car and waited.
Just saw her come out with what looked like a black backpack.”
“What time was it?”
“Around eleven fifty.”
“Do you have proof of that?”
“Yes. I was feeling a little curious and took a picture of her.”
Luke took out his phone and rummaged through it, and sure enough, he found a photo of a suspected Kim Soo Hye at eleven fifty on the night of August 3rd.
In Luke’s impression, Kim Soo Hye and her cousin Lee Sun Mi were relatively close, so why would the other person sneak into her cousin’s supermarket at night?
Is she a poisoner?
Or is there another purpose?
As for why Kim Soo Hye chose August 3 to sneak into the supermarket, it is not difficult to understand.
Because there was a power outage near the supermarket on that day, the supermarket cameras were not working, and Kim Soo Hye should have known about it.
From this point of view, she was suspected of poisoning, but the motive was just unclear for the time being.
Luke retrieves his thoughts and looks at Loki, “Are you willing to come forward to identify her?”
Loki asks back, “What’s in it for me?”
“No, I’ll take that as a yes.”
Loki “……”
Rocky was then escorted out of the supermarket as well.
The four Loki’s had a gang background and were first handed over to the Anti-Triad and Narcotics Division for processing.
Luke patted David’s shoulder, “Man, it’s all yours.”
“Don’t forget about my drink.”
Luke smiled, “Call me.”
The following afternoon.
Jiangnan Supermarket.
Manager’s office.
Two women were sitting on the sofa chatting, it was the owner of Gangnam Supermarket, Lee Sunmi and Kim Soo Hye.
Kim Soo Hye took a sip from her coffee cup, “How’s the investigation into the supermarket theft case going? Did those police still come?”
“No, there’s been no news since they left last time.” Lee Sunmi sighed, “I don’t have much hope.”
“Buzz.” A cell phone rang.
Lee Sun Mi took out her cell phone from the red purse beside her and glanced at the screen, “It’s another sales advertisement, annoying as hell.”
“This belongs to the annoyance of the rich.” Kim Soo Hye laughed and pointed at the red purse next to her, “Is this new to you? How come I haven’t seen it before.”
“Yes, Jongmin gave it to me some time ago and I’m carrying it for the first time today.”
“Your birthday isn’t even here yet, why would he give you a gift.”
“Tanabata gift.”
“Even buy karma’s, it’s been so long since I’ve had one that I’ve even forgotten about it. Did you make him noodles?” Kim Soo Hye was a little envious.
“I made pancakes and he loved them.”
“I envy you for having a good husband, by the way, why haven’t I seen him come to the supermarket lately?”
“He wants to open another branch, he’s busy with site selection, research, and messy things.”
Kim Soo Hye’s eyes widened, “Wow wow, you’re opening a new supermarket?”
“Yes, he’s been wanting to expand his business, in his words we’ve already run a successful supermarket, we just need to replicate it.”
“Where are you going to open the store?”
“Probably in a white neighborhood or a Chinese neighborhood, it will be based on the surrounding community and the merchandise will make some adjustments.”
“Sounds good ……”
“Knock knock ……”
A knock on the door sounded outside, interrupting the two men’s conversation.
“Come in.”
The door opened from outside and Luke and Black walked in.
“Hey, Lieutenant Luke, why are you here all of a sudden? We were just talking about you.”
“Ms. Lee, Ms. Kim, it’s good to see you.” Luke sized up the two.
“Lieutenant Luke, please have a seat.
What is it that you wanted to see me about today? Any news on that gang of thieves?”
Luke said, “Yes, we caught the gang of suspects who came to Gangnam Supermarket to steal.”
“Really?” Now, Lee Sun-mi was a bit nonplussed, and to be honest, she had basically lost hope before.
“Yes.”
“Thank you guys so much.” Lee Sun-mi let out a long breath and covered her chest, “This matter has been weighing on my heart, and I’ve been worried that they would steal from the supermarket again.
Finally, I can sleep peacefully.
Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, we have another thing to tell you today besides this news.” Luke looked at Kim Soo Hye on the side, “Ms. Kim, can we talk alone?”
“What do I …… want to talk to me about?” Kim Soo Hye looked a little nervous.
Luke did not answer and continued to ask, “Do you want to talk here? Or somewhere else?”
“Uh ……” Kim Soo Hye pursed her lips, her eyes looked at Luke and then at her cousin.
Lee Sun-mi was also a bit puzzled, “Officer Luke, what do you guys want with my cousin?”
“Remember, the purpose of our previous visit?”
Lee Sun-mi took a deep breath and revealed a surprised look, “You guys are here to investigate the poisoning case at the Shan Yuan Supermarket. But what does this have to do with my cousin?”
Luke still didn’t answer, “Ms. Kim, why don’t you tell us yourself.”
Kim Soo Hye shook her head, “There might be some kind of misunderstanding here, you guys are mistaken, I never poisoned the Shan Yuan Supermarket.”
Luke asked back, “Then have you ever poisoned the Gangnam Supermarket?”
At once, Kim Soo Hye’s face turned pale.
Lee Sunmi was a bit confused, “What’s going on here? There was no poisoning incident at my supermarket? Lieutenant Luke, are you mistaken?”
Luke said, “That’s because after the poisoning, the merchandise was resold by the thieves to the Mountain Source Supermarket.
In a sense, you should be thankful to that group of thieves.”
Lee Sun-mi looked at Luke, then looked at her cousin, and finally looked at Luke again, “Are you saying that my cousin poisoned my supermarket?
No way.
There’s no way she would do that.
We’re very close to each other.
There’s no reason for her to do that.
I can vouch for her.”
Kim Soo Hye chimed in, “That’s right, I didn’t do it, you’re framing me.”
“You think you’re innocent?”
“Yes. There must be some misunderstanding here.” Kim Soo Hye nodded.
“Good, we are here today to resolve the misunderstanding, can I ask you a few questions?”
“No, this suspicion is a personal insult in itself, I refuse to answer any of your questions.”
“Then there’s nothing to be done.” Luke flashed an arrest warrant, “Ms. Kim, we suspect you are under arrest in connection with the poisoning case at the Shan Yuan supermarket.”
“You guys can’t do this, I didn’t do it.” Kim Soo Hye was emotional.
Lee Sunmi advised, “Cousin, calm down first, I believe you are innocent, as long as you explain yourself, you will be fine.”
“I have nothing to say, they are just framing me.”
“Kim Soo Hye, you are under arrest.” Blackie took out handcuffs and cuffed Kim Soo Hye’s hands and read the Miranda warning.
Luke and Blackie then escorted Kim Soo Hye to the police car.
Lee Sun-mi stood in front of the supermarket with a complicated look on her face, and in the end, she could only watch the police car leave.
Detective Bureau.
After returning to the police station, the custody procedures were carried out.
Luke and Blackie take a short break and start arraigning Kim Soo Hye.
Compared to before at the supermarket Kim Soo Hye was much calmer, her hands were intertwined, her head was lowered, and she couldn’t see her expression.
Luke knocked on the table, “Ms. Kim, please raise your head.”
Kim Soo Hye slowly raised her head, her eyes red, “You’ve got the wrong person, I didn’t poison the Mountain Source Supermarket at all.”
“Then did you poison the Gangnam Supermarket?”
“No, that’s my cousin’s supermarket, how could I have poisoned her supermarket.”
“Did you go to Jiangnan Supermarket on August 3rd.”
“I can’t remember.
However, I often go to her supermarket, so it’s normal even if I have been there.”
“That’s right, it’s true that it’s not a problem for you to go during the day, but you went there after eleven o’clock at night, and the supermarket was already closed at that time, so that’s a problem.”
“I haven’t been there, you’re accusing me wrongly.”
“Are you sure you didn’t go to the Gangnam Supermarket after 11:00 p.m. on August 3?”
“No.”
Luke took out a picture, “Is the person in this picture you?”
Kim Soo Hye looked at it and once again lowered her head, not answering.
“We don’t just have the photo, we also have witnesses and the other party is willing to come forward to identify you.
It’s useless if you don’t admit it.”
After a while, Kim Soo Hye slowly raised her head, “Even if I’ve been there, so what? It doesn’t mean I poisoned the supermarket either.”
“Gangnam Supermarket closes at nine in the evening, what were you doing there after eleven?”
Kim Soo Hye was silent for a moment and slowly said, “I’ve been to the supermarket during the day.
When I realized that I lost one of my earrings at night, I thought that I had dropped my earrings at the supermarket, so I went back to look for them.”
“Did you tell Lee Sunmi about this matter?”
“No.”
“Where did you get the key to the supermarket?”
“Lee Sun-mi left it with me before.”
“Lee Sun Mi is the owner of the supermarket, why didn’t you tell her when you sneaked into the supermarket at night?”
“I forgot.”
Luke laughed, “No one with a little common sense would believe that, do you think that reason would convince a jury?”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Luke changed the subject, “Do you have any Kafira brand red wine at home?”
Kim Soo Hye’s body trembled and shook her head, “No.”
“Have you ever bought this brand of red wine?”
“No.”
“You confirm?”
“Yes.”
“We contacted the manufacturer of this red wine and found out the ten supermarkets that sell this red wine closer to your home, we checked the security cameras of several supermarkets and found you in the Wiggins Supermarket, which is five kilometers away from your home.”
Luke took out his cell phone and played a video in which Kim Soo Hye carried a case of red wine and put it on the payment counter, and the brand of the red wine was none other than Kafira: “How do you explain this matter?”
“Even buy Karma’s …… oooh ……” Kim Soo Hye let out a loud cry.
After waiting for the other party to cry for a while, Luke warned with a serious face, “Ms. Kim, you’ve been lying since the beginning of the interrogation, it’s all been recorded in the law enforcement recorder, don’t say that I don’t believe you, the prosecutor, judge, and jury won’t believe you.
If you continue to lie, you will only increase your sentence.
Put your wits about you, it’s in your best interest to cooperate with the police.”
Kim Soo Hye broke down emotionally, “God, why am I so unlucky, why?”
Luke struck while the iron was hot: “You purchased kaffir lime wine from Wiggins Supermarket, then poisoned the wine and put it in Gangnam Supermarket on the night of August 3rd, am I right?”
Kim Soo Hye nodded and choked, “Yes.
But I just put ordinary laxatives, it won’t be too harmful to the body.”
Since the other party admitted it, Luke’s tone became softer, “Why did you poison the red wine?”
Kim Soo Hye shook her head, “I was bewitched, I don’t know why I did it?”
“Is there any conflict between you and Lee Sun Mi?”
“No.”
“Then do you want Gangnam Supermarket to close down?”
“Yes.”
Luke guessed, “Do you hate Lee Sun-mi?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you hate her?”
“Yes.”
“Hate her for what?”
Kim Soo Hye wiped her tears, “Twenty years ago, I came to Los Angeles by studying abroad, and I was the first in my family to settle in America.
At that time, they all envied me.
I finished my studies, found a white husband, got a green card without any problems, and everything was so perfect.
About twelve years ago, my cousin came to Los Angeles through my connections, and I did all the paperwork for her.
I helped her with all the paperwork. At first, she lived in my house, wore my old clothes, used my old bag, I helped her a lot, I introduced her to her first job and her husband.
I helped her a lot. I introduced her to her first job and her husband. I was the one who helped her all the time.
It’s because of my help that she can have everything she has now.” A complicated look appeared on Kim Soo Hye’s face with a touch of resignation and resentment, “What about me?
I helped her so much and what did I get?
I got divorced and now I can only live on a meager alimony.
I don’t even have a proper job right now, while she is the owner of a supermarket and is now preparing to open a branch.
I am now renting a house while she already has two mansions.
I need to be smart about my life now and she spends her days buying luxury items.
Whenever I see this, I feel miserable and awful.
I keep thinking that if I hadn’t brought her to the US, introduced her to a job, or introduced her to a husband.
Wouldn’t all this have happened.
And I wouldn’t be living such a miserable life.”