Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

December 10.

Los Angeles, West Station.

Old rookie John arrived at the police station earlier than usual.

The police captain held the morning meeting as usual, assigning today's patrol tasks.

Unlike previous patrol tasks, this time the patrol route was adjusted, and he was assigned near Carlsorp School.

When John reached the designated patrol street, yellow school buses drove by one after another, but there were more private cars dropping off kids.

After getting out of the car, John maintained order and complained to his colleague Lucy, "Why was I assigned to patrol here?"

"Maybe the captain thinks that since you have kids, you know better how to deal with children."

"Come on, my kid is already in college, but this is an elementary school.

I've long forgotten how to deal with elementary school students."

Lucy shrugged, "Telling me doesn't help, go complain to the 'big shot' coming to visit the kids at school."

John asked in return, "That gubernatorial candidate?"

"Who else could it be?"

John sighed, "I don't think he and I will have any common language."

Lucy smiled, "Cheer up, Henrik Laurie has a packed schedule today. We're the first stop, he won't stay long."

"I hope so."

At 9:20 a.m., a convoy drove towards Carlsorp School.

Henrik Laurie got out of the car, waved to the crowd around, and then, accompanied by the school leadership, entered the school.

John looked at the crowd and tilted his head, asking, "He's not even the governor yet, isn't this a bit much?"

Lucy said, "He's not only a gubernatorial candidate but also a California senator, with great influence in the state government."

John retorted, "Since when do you care about politics?"

Lucy smiled, "I don't care about politics, I just did some research on the target of our task this time."

There were school police and security inside the school; patrol officers only needed to maintain order outside.

John stood bored for more than half an hour. Around ten o'clock, Henrik Laurie came out of the school, surrounded by people, got into the car, and waved goodbye.

John watched the car drive away, "Is our task complete?"

Lucy said, "Yes, the convoy will go through Stephen Street and Salik Road to enter Porter Square, where Henrik Laurie will give a speech."

John thought for a moment, "Why go through Salik Road? I remember there's a pretty rough area in the middle."

"It's the fastest route. There should be colleagues from other departments maintaining order, so it's not our problem."

...

Salik Road.

The road surface was very smooth, with wide sidewalks on both sides, and quite a few homeless tents with garbage everywhere. There were many indiscernible liquids by the walls.

A police car was parked on each side of the road, with patrol officers inspecting outside the homeless tents.

On a small street on the north side of the road, there were quite a few black men wearing headscarves and tattoos. They gathered in groups, not looking like good people.

A black man with sagging pants, exposing half of his underwear, laughed, "Heard the future governor's convoy is passing through here; should we go out and race him?"

"Haha, great idea. If he wins, I'll vote for him."

"I'm in too."

"Count me in as well."

"Listen, if we all go, never mind racing, he'd definitely be so scared he'd turn around and head back to Sacramento to find his mom."

"Haha..."

"Vroom vroom..." Just then, a black SUV drove into the street and stopped in front of the group of black men wearing headscarves.

The blacks looked at the unfamiliar SUV and surrounded it, cursing.

The door of the black SUV opened, and a burly white bald man got out from the passenger seat, fanning the air in front of his nose with his hand, "The whole street stinks, and you bunch of bastards don't even clean up, huh?"

The black men around showed angry expressions but did not take any excessive actions because the white bald man had a badge hanging around his neck, and two detectives with rifles followed behind him.

"Yo, isn't this Deputy Captain David of the Anti-Gang and Drug Division?" A black man smoking a cigar pushed through the crowd and came out.

"Marcio, if I remember correctly, you're in charge here."

"That's right, why are you on my turf?"

"Come over, let's talk."

"Haha, making it seem like we know each other well.

OK, I'm also curious to hear what you have to say." Marcio laughed and walked a little distance away with David.

David lowered his voice and said, "My purpose here today is simple: keep your men in line and don't let them cause trouble."

Marcio shrugged, "I don't understand what you mean."

"Then let me be clear; have your people stay home today and don't go anywhere.

Consider it a favor for me."

"I do you a favor; who does me a favor?"

"If I wasn't doing you a favor, I wouldn't have called you over for a private talk."

"How should I explain to my men?"

"That's your business.

If your men cause trouble today, I promise you'll have a rough time for a while, understand?"

Marcio licked his thick lips, "A whole day is too long; three hours at most."

David extended his hand in a handshake gesture, "Deal."

...

At the same time.

Porter Square.

The square was already crowded with people, mostly citizens who came to hear Henrik Laurie's speech. Some were even holding signs supporting him.

A few police cars were parked on the east side of the square, with patrol officers maintaining order around the area.

Luke led agents from the Robbery and Murder Department into the crowd, preventing any radicals from causing harm to Henrik Laurie.

Little Black pouted discontentedly, "Isn't this security a bit over the top? It's almost like he's the president."

Luke shrugged, "Maybe there's something we don't know about."

Little Black speculated, "Could it be that Henrik Laurie suspects someone wants to assassinate him, but he still had to come to draw votes, so they made such a big show?"

Luke glanced at Little Black. Although he knew he was probably just guessing wildly, there was indeed a slight possibility.

Through the earpiece, Luke instructed the agents to be careful and cautious. If anything went wrong, they would be held responsible.

At 10:20, a convoy of vehicles entered Port Plaza.

The surrounding crowd got excited, shouting slogans in support of Henrik Laurie.

A bunch of journalists had also mingled in the crowd. Luke spotted Nami Inoue among them but didn't greet her actively.

Henrik Laurie got out of the car, waved to the surrounding crowd, and then, surrounded by bodyguards, ascended the temporarily erected stage.

With a smile, Henrik Laurie picked up the microphone beside him and addressed everyone below, "Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

It's a pleasure to see you here.

I love Los Angeles. I come here to stay a while every year; it's like my second hometown.

And I love the people living here, passionate, open-minded, and helpful…"

Instantly, a cheer erupted from the audience below.

Luke squeezed to a position closer to the front of the crowd, looking at the candidate for governor on the stage. He was thin, tall, appeared to be around forty, dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, and with meticulously groomed hair.

One had to admit, his appearance was quite appealing. Even if he weren't mixed up in politics, he could consider entering Hollywood.

Then, Luke directed his gaze toward the crowd.

Suddenly, he saw a sturdy black man pushing through the crowd, moving toward the stage, seemingly holding something in his hand.

Luke said into his earpiece, "Port, there's a black man at your three o'clock, holding an unidentified object and heading toward the stage."

"Understood," Port responded, moving towards the black man not far away, though it was difficult to reach him quickly due to the dense crowd.

At that moment, the black man stopped, raised the object in his hand, and unfurled a banner with Henrik Laurie's name on it.

A false alarm.

But Luke didn't let his guard down. Their mission wouldn't be over until the speech concluded.

A few minutes later, Raymond's voice came through Luke's earpiece, "Captain, there's a suspicious-looking guy wearing a black baseball cap at your eight o'clock."

Luke turned his head and soon spotted the man Raymond mentioned. He was constantly moving toward the stage, appearing to be holding something by his posture.

Little Black and Jackson were not far from the man in the baseball cap. Luke immediately instructed them to keep an eye on him.

The man kept pushing forward, and Luke felt that something was wrong. He already had his right hand on his gun.

Just a few meters from the stage, the man in the cap stopped. Then, waving his right hand, he threw a round object toward the stage.

Instinctively, Luke pulled out his gun, about to fire, only to realize something was amiss.

It was a red vegetable, specifically a tomato.

The tomato struck Henrik Laurie. He was stunned for a moment, and the bodyguards hurried to shield him.

"You lying fraud, get off the stage right now," the man in the cap yelled, throwing another tomato, which was blocked by the bodyguards this time.

As he attempted to throw more, Jackson and Little Black rushed over and subdued him, shouting, "LAPD, don't move!"

The crowd became somewhat restless, but the police quickly restored order.

Luke breathed a sigh of relief. It was fortunate he didn't fire earlier; otherwise, it would have been an ugly mess.

"This damned speech better end soon."

However, Henrik Laurie had no intention of ending his speech. He pushed the bodyguards aside, used his right index finger to wipe the tomato juice off his clothes, and put it in his mouth, saying, "Not bad. I like tomatoes from Los Angeles."

"Ooh ooh..." The crowd erupted in cheers again.

This brief incident hadn't cut the speech short; instead, it made the citizens even more enthusiastic.

Half an hour later.

The speech ended.

Henrik Laurie got into the car, waving goodbye to his supporters as the bodyguards surrounded him.

Little Black complained, "This damn assignment is even more nerve-wracking than an investigation."

Luke agreed, "Let's have a drink tonight to unwind."

Little Black grinned, "That's a great idea. I've found a new bar; they say the beer there is excellent..."

...

The next morning.

At the Luke family.

Luke had a late start after drinking a lot with colleagues last night.

It wasn't his first time being late, so he wasn't in a hurry and decided to have breakfast before heading to work.

"Ring ring..."

The phone on the table rang.

He picked it up and saw Nami Inoue's number displayed on the screen.

"Hello, this is Luke."

"Luke, were you at the Port Plaza speech yesterday too?"

"That's right. I wanted to say hi, but it was too crowded."

"I have some news for you," Nami Inoue sounded a bit excited.

"What news?"

"Henrik Laurie has disappeared!"