Chapter 371
Near noon, Luke was busy having a meal.
Meanwhile, the police collected information about the deceased through other channels.
Yoshimi Hashimoto belonged to the first generation of immigrants, her parents were in Japan and she had no immediate family in Los Angeles.
In addition, Yoshimi Hashimoto had called the police a month ago claiming that her office had been burglarized, and because there were not enough clues, the police had not been able to catch the suspect.
Luke had a lot of doubts stored in his mind about Yoshimi Hashimoto, and since her family wasn’t there, he could only find out through other channels.
In the afternoon, Luke and Jackson rushed to Armini Architects Design Company.
This company is located in a three-story office building, the architectural style is very special, the overall green color of the building, mostly glass structure, looks very novel.
Luke and Jackson arrived at the first floor lobby and explained their intentions to the receptionist.
It didn’t take long for a white woman around thirty years old to come over, wearing a black professional dress, exchanged a few brief words with the receptionist, looked at Luke and said, “Sir, are you here to see Vice President Hashimoto?”
“Yes.” Jackson took the initiative to introduce himself, “I’m Detective Jackson from the Robbery and Murder Division, and this is our Captain Lee.”
“Hello officers, I’m Melanie Hickman, President Hashimoto’s assistant, you can call me Melanie.
Is something wrong with President Hashimoto?”
Jackson asked back, “Why do you ask?”
“President Hashimoto is always on time for work, but today she didn’t show up and didn’t take a vacation. I haven’t been able to reach her on her cell phone either, which is very unusual.”
Luke said, “Yoshimi Hashimoto is dead.”
Melanie Hickman showed a surprised look, “Jesus Christ, are you guys telling the truth?”
“That’s why we’re here.”
Melanie Hickman pressed, “How did President Hashimoto die?”
Luke scanned the area as people passed by from time to time, “Who in the company knew her better?”
“I was her assistant and had more contact with her.”
“Then let’s talk somewhere quieter.”
Melanie Hickman nodded, “Okay, two officers please follow me.”
Melanie Hickman then took Luke and the two of them to the lounge, and also poured two cups of coffee for Luke and the two of them, “Captain Lee, is President Hashimoto really dead? She was fine yesterday, I really can’t believe it.”
“If you don’t believe it, you can come with us to the police station to identify the body.”
Yoshimi Hashimoto had no immediate family in Los Angeles, and Luke still wanted to find someone familiar to confirm her identity.
Melanie Hickman revealed a difficult look, “Identify the body?
Uh …… I’m afraid I can’t ……
Sorry ……”
Luke backed off, “If you’d like, we can let you look at the deceased’s body to confirm if it’s her in person?”
Melanie Hickman hesitated for a moment, intertwining her hands, still looking a little nervous.
Jackson encouraged, “Don’t be afraid, there’s nothing to worry about with us around.”
Melanie Hickman took a deep breath before saying, “OK, I can recognize it through the photo.”
Jackson took out the photo and put it in front of the other party.
Melanie Hickman reached forward and retracted, her eyes staring at the photo on the table, quickly turning her head aside, “It’s President Hashimoto.
Who killed her?”
Luke said, “That’s what we want to know.
Since you’re her assistant, you should know more about her, has she been in any trouble lately?”
“I’m not too sure about that.
Even though I’m her assistant, she rarely talks about personal matters, I’ll just help her with work matters.”
“Does she have anyone closer?”
Melanie Hickman said, “President Hashimoto was originally from the Japanese branch before she was transferred to the Los Angeles company for a position.
She doesn’t seem to have too many close friends or family on her side.”
“What kind of car does she usually drive to work?”
“Usually a red Lexus, occasionally a red Ferrari.
It’s usually put in the parking lot down there, and I got to ride in it once, and it was a beautiful Ferrari.”
“Does Yoshimi Hashimoto have any other part-time jobs besides being a vice president at this company?”
“Part-time jobs?
That’s unlikely, isn’t it.
President Hashimoto works very hard, working more than ten hours a day, sometimes even until eight or nine o’clock at night, how could she have time for other part-time jobs.”
“Does she have a boyfriend?”
“I don’t think so, at least I haven’t seen one.”
Luke made a note in his book that according to his assistant, Melanie Hickman, Yoshimi Hashimoto was supposed to be a normal company executive, so why was she working as a part-time streetwalker?
“Why doesn’t she have a boyfriend?”
“I asked that too, and she said she was too busy to have time.”
No time for a boyfriend, but time to be a streetwalker?
Is it hard to have a special fetish?
Luke pursued, “Is there anything unusual about her normally?”
Melanie Hickman thought for a moment, “No.”
Luke flipped through his notebook, “Has anything happened to her before?”
“Not that I know of.”
“According to the police system records, she filed a police report some time ago, are you aware of that?”
“Knew.
It was a theft from her office, but there wasn’t much of value in the office, so it went away.”
“Was it just her office? Or the whole company?”
“As I recall it was only her office that was stolen.”
Luke said, “That’s interesting.
The company is so big, why did the thieves single out her office for theft?”
Melanie Hickman shook her head, “I’m not sure.”
“Then what all was lost, you should know.”
“That is, some documents were lost.”
“Documents related to what?”
“There were so many documents lost, and the police came to investigate, but in the end, they didn’t find out why, and they didn’t find any suspects.”
“It looks to me like your company has installed surveillance, since the police came, didn’t they check the surveillance?”
“Checked it, but President Hashimoto’s office happens to be a dead zone for surveillance and can’t be seen.”
Luke walked to the lounge door and scanned the roof surveillance, there were four surveillance installed in the large office outside, “Where is President Hashimoto’s office?”
Melanie Hickman pointed a short distance away, “Right over there.”
Luke looked over to the office and looked at the surveillance again, “This angle should be able to capture it.”
Melanie Hickman pointed in the direction of the southeast corner, “There was only one camera in the office area before, it was because of the burglary that three more cameras were installed.”
Luke looked in the direction of the southeast corner and it did seem like he couldn’t get a shot of the vice president’s office.
Stealing only the office documents and skillfully avoiding the cameras, in Luke’s experience it should be done by someone inside the company.
“How long has Yoshimi Hashimoto been with your company?”
“Around three years.”
“Did anything happen to Yoshimi Hashimoto before or after the theft?”
“At that time, President Hashimoto had just been promoted to Vice President, and because she had just taken over the job, there were some unfamiliar areas, and she was busy until late every day.
She cherished the promotion.”
Luke looked at Melanie Hickman and felt that there was something abnormal in her expression, as if she was hiding something.
“How does Yoshimi Hashimoto usually treat you?”
“Pretty good.”
“She’s dead now, or died tragically.
Do you hope to catch her killer?”
“Of course.”
Luke intoned, “Melanie, I also hope to catch Yoshimi Hashimoto’s killer soon.
However, the clues we have now are still few, and there are a lot of suspicious points in her case.
I hope you can assist us.”
“Assist how?”
Luke went over the contents of the transcript in his head, just a month ago when she was promoted to vice president, her office was burglarized, and a month later she was murdered, were the three connected?
“Since you were her assistant, you should know more about her situation in the company, did she have any enemies in the company?”
Melanie Hickman hesitated, “Uh …… everyone is a coworker ……
Even if there’s an occasional argument, it’s still for work, so I don’t think we should talk about enemies.”
“You’re right, so does Yoshimi Hashimoto have any competitors in the company? Or people who have conflicts in terms of work?”
“Sort of.”
“What’s the name? What position?”
“Franco Hood, Director of Operations.”
“What’s the conflict between them?”
“Before, when the vice president position was vacant, there were rumors that Director Franco Hood would be promoted to vice president.
But then it was Yoshimi Hashimoto who was promoted to vice president, and the two of them often have some differences in their work.”
“What trouble did it cause Yoshimi Hashimoto during the last theft?”
“A very important planning proposal was stolen, fortunately we worked overtime to reorganize a planning proposal, otherwise we would have probably lost a large order.”
“What would have happened if we hadn’t organized a new planning proposal in time?”
“At that time, President Hashimoto had just been promoted to Acting Vice President, and that planning program was also single-handedly handled by her, so if she really messed up, she probably wouldn’t have been able to turn around in a short period of time, which would have been more troublesome.”
Luke said, “Now that Yoshimi Hashimoto is dead, who do you think will take over the position of vice president?”
Melanie Hickman’s face was a little hard to see, “It should …… probably be Director Franco Hood.”
“Is he at the company now?”
“Yes.”
Superintendent’s office.
“Knock knock ……”
A knock sounded outside, a white middle-aged man was reading the information, his head didn’t lift: “Come in.”
The assistant pushed open the door, “Superintendent, there are two officers outside looking for you.”
Franco Hood looked up, “What do the officers want with me?”
Without waiting for the assistant to answer, Luke and Jackson walked in.
Jackson introduced himself, “I’m Detective Jackson from the Robbery-Murder Division and this is our Captain Lee.
We’d like to find out something about Yoshimi Hashimoto from you.”
“Why don’t you guys go ask her yourselves?”
“She’s dead.”
Franco Hood froze and laughed, “Is this an April Fool’s joke? Not funny at all.”
Luke flashed his badge, “We don’t have time for jokes.”
Franco Hood stood up with a hint of confusion on his face, “Is Yoshimi Hashimoto really dead?”
Luke pulled out a picture of Yoshimi Hashimoto’s body, “See for yourself, is that her?”
Franco Hood took a look and stepped back in shock, “How did she die?”
“It’s still unclear, we came to the company to investigate her death.”
“This is so sudden.”
“Superintendent Hood, I heard that Yoshimi Hashimoto was on familiar terms with you before she was born, we would like to know something about her.”
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I’ve disappointed you, although we had some contact at work, familiarity really isn’t something we can talk about.”
“Since we have contact at work, we should see each other often, is there anything unusual about her lately?”
“Didn’t see it.”
“Has she had any conflicts with anyone at work?”
Franco Hood looked at Luke and laughed, “Captain Li, you don’t suspect me, do you?
Should I call my lawyer over?”
“No need, just talking. You had a conflict?”
Franco Hood sighed softly, “Wow. How should I put this?
The higher up you go, the fewer avenues for advancement there are.
She and I did have some disagreements at work, but I had no reason to kill her, nor did I have to.”
“With Yoshimi Hashimoto dead, who will your company let take over the vice president position?”
Franco Hood picked up his cell phone, “I’d better get my lawyer first.”
Luke squared his shoulders, “You can hire a lawyer, that’s your freedom.
But by doing so, you will only arouse the police’s suspicion even more.
Don’t you think you’re overreacting a bit?
If you have a clear conscience, why don’t you explain yourself?”
“I have nothing to explain because I didn’t do it at all. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Luke changed his words, “OK, then let’s talk about something else.
According to our investigation, Yoshimi Hashimoto was just promoted to vice president a month ago when her office was burglarized, do you know about this?”
Franco Hood hummed lightly, “I know too much about it, the first thing she did after her office was burglarized was to run over and question me.
I ignored her.
As a result, she called the police, and as soon as those officers entered the company, they came to question me, and the whole company knew about it, making me embarrassed.
You guys don’t think I’m a thief too, do you?
Do I look like one?”
Luke said, “Of course not, I just want to hear what you think.”
Franco Hood said, “This incident made me depressed for a long time too, and I even investigated it privately.
And really found out some clues.”
“What clues?”
“I think someone is trying to frame me.” Franco Hood grunted, “There are two possibilities for the so-called office theft.
The first possibility is that Yoshimi Hashimoto is directing herself, and that there was no such thing as a burglary, that she just didn’t get the job done herself and is trying to plant it on me.
The second possibility is that Yoshimi Hashimoto’s assistant stole it.”
Luke frowned slightly, “Melanie Hickman?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
“Why would Melanie do that?”
“That’s for you to find out, I’m not sure.”
Luke recalled his previous conversation with Melanie Hickman, and felt at that time that she was hiding something, and when pressed, she revealed Franco Hood’s conflict with the deceased.
Luke thought that she didn’t dare to offend Franco Hood, the Superintendent, and that’s why she was hiding something.
Now it seemed that she was probably using Franco Hood as a shield.