Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

January 5th in the morning.

It had just rained slightly, and the air carried the fresh scent of earth. In the distance, a faint rainbow could be seen in the sky.

Luke and David drove to a secluded street. After parking the car, they stood by it, smoking and chatting casually.

Little Black and Jackson sat in the car behind them, but neither of them got out.

Just as Luke finished his cigarette, he saw an old Buick driving around the corner.

The Buick slowed down and stopped not far from Luke and David.

Two black men got out of the car and opened the trunk, dumping two hooded and hand-tied people onto the ground.

The two black men didn't linger—they got back into the car and drove away.

Luke walked over to the hooded individuals and yanked off their hoods, revealing a black man and a black woman with an afro. Their faces were streaked with blood, and their cheeks and eyes were swollen, with many bruises on their bodies.

David held up a photo to compare their appearances and nodded, "Yes, you two bastards are the ones."

The black woman with the afro asked in a panicked tone, "Who are you guys?"

"Police."

Hearing Luke's words, the black woman seemed to sigh in relief. "Sir, we were kidnapped by a group of people. Thank you for rescuing us in time."

David laughed, "You're thanking us too early."

The black woman with the afro looked bewildered, "Sir, what do you mean?"

The black man beside her shouted, "Idiot, can't you tell? They're with them."

Luke instructed Jackson and Little Black, "Take this woman away first; we need to have a chat with this gentleman."

"Got it."

Jackson and Little Black escorted the black woman to the car behind them.

Luke took out Jones' watch and asked, "Have you seen this watch before?"

The black man shook his head, "No."

"Wrong answer.

We didn't bring you here to listen to your lies." David lifted his foot and viciously kicked him in the stomach.

"Ah!" The black man cried out in pain, curling up like a prawn.

Covered in cold sweat from the pain, the black man scooted backward, pleading, "Please, don't hit me anymore. Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you."

Luke continued to ask, "What's your name?"

"Solvey Malik."

"Have you seen this watch before?"

"Yes, I've seen it. A couple of days ago, we sold it to a pawn shop."

"Where did you get this watch from?"

Solvey Malik thought for a moment, "A friend gave it to us."

"Liar." David raised his foot and kicked Solvey Malik in the stomach again. The latter rolled on the ground in pain, howling and begging,

"Please stop, I remembered wrong, I remembered wrong."

Luke said, "Stop lying, you're not alone. Even if you don't talk, your accomplice will. Do you understand?"

"Got it, the watch was stolen, it was stolen."

"Stolen?" David frowned, "Where did you steal it from?"

"A few mornings ago, near Calve Street, a white man was jogging. We saw he was wearing a Rolex, so we took it from him."

"How many of you were there?"

"Just the two of us."

David took out Jones's photo, "Was it him?"

Solvey Malik looked at it and nodded, "Yes, it was him."

"Liar, how could you two losers possibly rob him?" David seemed to hear a joke, shaking his head, "Impossible, you must still be lying."

"I'm telling the truth.

We had guns at the time, and even though he looked tough, he was unarmed.

We didn't harm him, we just took his watch."

Luke asked, "Can you specify the exact time?"

Solvey Malik thought for a moment and replied, "It should have been the morning of December 28th, yes, it should be that day."

"After that, did you see the person in the photo again?"

"No."

"Where were you from 9 to 11 PM on January 2nd?"

Solvey Malik thought for a while, "At the Safvent Bar drinking. We were both there, and there are plenty of people who can testify for us."

Luke pulled David aside, "What do you make of this?"

David was somewhat annoyed, "It's ridiculous, Jones has been through countless situations, he wouldn't have been robbed by two nobodies."

Luke objectively analyzed, "I know Jones is formidable, but he was running at the time, without a weapon, and off guard.

Anyone in that situation facing armed robbers... handing over their belongings is the best choice."

"But why didn't he report it..." David stopped mid-sentence, even he felt embarrassed. Jones, a proud man, wouldn't want others to know he was robbed by two small-time crooks.

Luke said, "Jones likely felt ashamed as well, which is why he didn't go through the police, but instead used informants in his gang to track down the watch. Once he found the watch, he'd find the robbers.

I think he wanted to take revenge personally.

Jones just didn't expect that his 'soon-to-be son-in-law' would be the first to get the news. He already felt embarrassed and didn't want anyone to know he had been robbed.

At the same time, he was dissatisfied with this soon-to-be son-in-law, which is why he got angry and drove him out of the house."

"That's right, that fits his character even more." David nodded and without hesitation, kicked Solvey Malik again.

Luke stopped him, "There's no need for that. We'll take good care of them inside."

"You're right, I'm going to thoroughly investigate these two people and make sure they spend their lives in prison."

"Ring ring..."

At that moment, Luke's phone rang suddenly.

"Hello, this is Luke."

"Captain, we've found the primary scene of Captain Jones' murder." Raymond's voice came through the phone.

"Send me the address."

"Okay."

Luke hung up the phone and walked over to David, "Raymond found where Jones was murdered."

David froze for a moment and said, "I'll go with you."

...

Half an hour later.

Luke and the others drove to a rundown neighborhood, quite remote and far from Jones' residence.

David looked out the window, "It's so secluded here, not even stray dogs would come, what was Jones doing here in the middle of the night?"

After driving a bit further, a few police cars were parked by the roadside, and police tape was up at the entrance of an alley.

Luke got out of the police car and observed the surroundings; there was a surveillance camera at the entrance of the alley, but it had been damaged.

He turned into the alley and saw Raymond standing next to a black Cadillac.

Raymond said, "Captain, we found Captain Jones' car."

Luke asked, "Any clues found in the car?"

"Not yet."

Luke nodded and searched around the car; he didn't see any obvious bloodstains, but found bullet holes on the wall.

"Someone must have cleaned up the scene."

David asked, "Then why didn't they take Jones' car?"

Luke thought for a moment, "First, driving away Jones' car would draw too much attention.

And second, the suspect might think car thieves would take the car away, solving a big problem for him.

Too bad, the police got here before the car thieves."

The little black tapped the car body, "You're right, in a couple of days, this car would likely show up at some used car dealership."

Raymond said, "We checked all the surrounding surveillance, three vehicles appeared around the crime scene during that timeframe.

One was Captain Jones' car.

Another was a vehicle transporting a body.

The third was a black Chevrolet sedan, license plate 3ewu368.

We identified the car owner's identity."

Raymond took out a laptop and opened the car owner's profile.

Owner: Teddy Tucker

Gender: Male

Height: 179cm

Weight: 152 lbs

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: Brown

Date of birth: March 15, 1986

Criminal record: Theft, Drug Trafficking,

Address: No. 304, Mbaku Community

Luke asked, "Was the driver the car owner himself?"

Raymond shook his head, "The driver was wearing a hat, and combined with the low visibility, we can't make out any details, it's impossible to identify."

Luke slightly frowned, "Why would Jones meet with someone with a criminal record at night?"

David stared at the laptop screen, "Wait, I've seen this person before...

That's right, I remember now, he's Jones' informant."

Luke said, "That makes sense, Jones wouldn't sleep and come to such a remote place to meet his informant."

David frowned and said, "Since he came to meet an informant, why was Jones murdered?"

Luke said, "Let's split up and investigate. We'll investigate Jones' informant, Teddy Tucker.

You go and ask the local gangs if they've heard anything, who would want to kill Jones."

David said, "Exactly, Jones died here, the gang managing this area must have heard something, they're responsible too.

If they can't provide some leads, they can't blame me for being rude."

Luke said, "Don't go too far."

"I know what I'm doing." David said, then signaled to the anti-drug and anti-organized crime unit, and drove off.