Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

"If you want a drink, go buy it yourself. Sitting there like a rock, you'll get hemorrhoids, haha."

The guy chuckled and got out of the car.

Jackson followed him into the convenience store, looking somewhat resigned.

The convenience store was brightly lit, contrasting sharply with the outside. Behind the counter to the left stood a Mexican man, giving the guy a scrutinizing look.

The guy walked to the shelf on the right, picked up a pack of beer and set it on the counter. Jackson also chose two bottled coffees.

"How much?"

The Mexican clerk glanced over, "Twenty US Dollars."

"What?" The guy thought he had heard wrong.

"Twenty US Dollars."

"Why so expensive?"

The Mexican clerk shrugged, "Because this is the only convenience store open on this street at night. Want to buy?"

The guy paused, seemingly thinking of something, "Your store is open at dawn too?"

"24 hours."

"Do you always work night shifts?"

"Yes, I have other work during the day."

"If someone came to the store a few days ago, would you remember them?"

"I'm not sure. After all, I see too many people every day to remember them all."

The guy took out a photo of Sharon Frank, "Around midnight on November 16th, did you see this girl?"

The Mexican clerk glanced at it, looking strange, "Yes, I remember her."

"Didn't you just say you weren't sure? Why do you recognize her now?"

"Because she made a strong impression on me." The Mexican clerk smiled and continued, "You're right, that girl came around midnight, and it's rare to see female customers at that time.

She wandered around the store and picked up a cucumber in the fresh produce section.

At the time, I didn't think much of it, since cucumbers were on discount then and quite affordable.

But she came to the counter and grabbed a box of condoms."

Jackson looked surprised, confirming, "A cucumber and condoms."

"That's right.

If it hadn't been my shift that day, I would have asked her, 'Hey, sweetheart, need help? I'm happy to be of service.'" The Mexican clerk raised an eyebrow, revealing a sly smile.

The guy chuckled, "OK, I think we've found our fourth suspect."

Jackson was also somewhat amused.

The Mexican clerk asked, "Gentlemen, do you still want to buy beer?"

"No need for beer, but we need more coffee. Also, give me the store's surveillance video."

The Mexican clerk took two steps back, "Why? What are you guys doing?"

The guy flashed his badge, "LAPD."

...

Parking lot near Dawson Bar.

The lighting in the parking lot was brighter than usual, with several officers walking around, causing many guests who wanted to park to turn around and leave.

A black Dodge drove into the parking lot, the guy got out from the passenger seat, and shouted, "Hey, fellas, is the investigation going smoothly?"

Port said, "No progress yet; why are you here?"

The guy took out a pack of canned coffee, "I brought coffee for everyone; take a break, have some coffee, and then you can go home and sleep."

The deputy walked through the crowd and said, "Big talk, anyone would think the chief's here.

Kid, since when do you call the shots here?"

The guy laughed, "It's just a friendly suggestion, want a cup of coffee?"

"That's better." The deputy took the coffee, opened the lid, and drank a sip.

Luke also came over, took a bottle of coffee, and asked, "Any progress in your investigation?"

The guy raised his voice, "Yes, we've caught the fourth suspect."

Luke seemed surprised, "Where?"

"In the car."

The deputy looked into the black Dodge, "You sure talk big, not a soul in there."

"Not nobody, you just didn't look carefully." The guy opened the car door and took out a cucumber.

Everyone was puzzled.

The deputy was dissatisfied, "Are you messing with us?"

The guy was confident, "No, this is the fourth suspect we're looking for."

"A cucumber, haha." The deputy snickered.

Other officers laughed along.

Jenny shook her head, "Marcus, this 'prank' isn't funny at all."

"Oh, it needs a disguise." Marcus took out a box of condoms, said, "Put this on and it's the fourth suspect."

Luke understood, "You're saying someone used this to violate the deceased."

"Exactly."

"Is that your suspicion or have you found concrete evidence?"

The guy organized his thoughts, "Tonight, Jackson and I investigated along Volta Street and found that after dark, all the shops around were closed, with no pedestrians, only a few homeless passing by.

I was thinking, if Sharon Frank really stayed on this street, what attracted her?

What did she do?"

The guy paused for a moment and continued, "With this question, we drove around the street again and found only one shop with lights on—a convenience store.

I wondered if Sharon Frank might have gone to this convenience store on the night of the incident.

Then we walked into the convenience store and asked the clerk if he'd seen Sharon Frank.

Unexpectedly, the clerk immediately recognized her and said Sharon Frank made a strong impression on him.

According to the clerk, on the night of the incident, Sharon Frank came to the convenience store alone, hurriedly buying a cucumber and condoms, which I confirmed on surveillance.

So, I speculate the so-called fourth suspect doesn't exist; it's Sharon Frank who used some perverse method to violate the deceased."

Jenny was confused, "Why would Sharon Frank do that?"

The guy said, "Regarding this, I think there are two possibilities.

The first possibility is that Sharon Frank and the deceased were plastic friends. They looked close, but Sharon Frank had long been displeased with the deceased, so even after the victim died, she used perverse methods to violate her, ruining her reputation.

The second possibility is that Sharon Frank had special feelings for the deceased, loved her, and upon learning the deceased had a boyfriend, became spiteful because of love, hence planned the victim's murder and used perverse methods to possess her."

Jenny listened, shook her head, "You sure understand a perverse mind very well."

The guy snapped his fingers, "I'll take that as a compliment."

Jackson getting out of the car was also bewildered, not expecting the guy to be so 'dramatic,' said, "According to your speculation, the victim's death is likely not an accident, but premeditated murder.

But at present, we haven't found related evidence.

Based on the three suspects' confessions, this case should be an accidental death caused by a prank."

The guy countered, "If it was just accidental death, why did Sharon Frank use such perverse means on the body?"

The deputy pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, we could consider from another angle, did Sharon Frank gain any benefit from doing this?" Before anyone could respond, the deputy continued, "I think she did; she successfully disrupted the police investigation.

Do you remember?

When we first found the body, the forensic doctor identified that the victim was violated; my first thought was the killer was probably male.

I believe most people would think similarly.

Then, our focus was also on investigating the victim's boyfriend.

Even though we've caught three suspects, we still can't close the case because we need to find the fourth suspect who violated the body.

Sharon Frank's little trick wasn't clever, but judging from the outcome, our investigation was disrupted by her.

In fact, if we hadn't discovered Lacy Wayne was involved in the case, we might have continued investigating male suspects, causing the case to remain unsolved for a long time.

This might be Sharon Frank's real purpose."