Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

"You are quite persuasive, I'm convinced. Let me think it over," Paul rested his elbow on the table, fingers interlocked, the bright red of his nails standing out conspicuously,

"I remember now, there was a customer who had a dispute with Alyssa."

"When?"

"About a month ago."

"What was his name?"

"I don't know," Paul shrugged, "This is a nightclub, not a bank, I can't possibly record every customer's information."

"Describe his features."

Paul thought for a moment, "White male, about thirty years old, hair a bit curly, average height, and his accent sounded local."

Luke jotted it down in his notebook, "There are too many people with those features, can you be more specific?"

"Do you know how many patrons come through here in a day? Too many, I can't possibly remember everyone in detail. I've only seen him once and I'm not very familiar with him, that's all I remember."

"What kind of dispute did this man have with Alyssa?"

"That day, he requested a private performance in the backstage room, he was handsy during Alyssa's act, and they had a conflict. But fortunately, security intervened in time, and no major problems occurred."

"Another time, that guy was drunk and wanted to book Alyssa for a private performance again, but Alyssa rejected him, then he hurled a lot of unspeakable insults and made Alyssa cry.

If I had been there the second time, I wouldn't have let him leave so easily."

"Do you think he's the one who spread the photo?"

"I'm not certain, but as far as I remember, he's the only one who had a conflict with Alyssa."

"Do you have a photo of this guy?"

"No, I've said before we don't allow photography in here."

"There must be surveillance footage, I need to see the surveillance from the day of the incident."

"It's almost a month since the conflict occurred, I'm not sure if the surveillance can still be retrieved."

Luke said, "Let's just have a look and we'll know."

Paul stood up, "OK, come with me."

Then, Paul led them into a surveillance room of about ten square meters, filled with the smell of tobacco, beer bottles, takeaway containers.

David frowned, "This place is messier than a pigsty, get someone to clean it up."

"Yes, sir," Paul replied somewhat reluctantly and called for a cleaner from the club to tidy up.

While waiting, Luke asked, "Paul, try to recall the exact time of the conflict, and which camera could have captured the location of the incident."

Paul complained, "Hmm, you guys ask for a lot."

David glanced at him sideways, already fed up with the man's snarky attitude, "Hey, you better cooperate with us so we can be done here sooner and not delay your evening business."

"Is that a threat?"

"A friendly suggestion."

"It doesn't seem friendly to me."

David curled his lip, "If you knew me, you wouldn't think that."

Luke laughed, "Here's a hint for you, this guy is a complete jerk, just ignore him."

It's all about comparisons, Paul hadn't been too fond of Luke either, but next to David, Luke suddenly seemed much more agreeable.

Paul stood with his arms crossed for a while, deliberately turning his head away from David and said to Luke, "I gave it some thought, and the dispute between the man and Alyssa likely happened around mid-February, possibly on the 13th, or maybe the 14th or 15th, I can't remember the exact day."

"What about the time?"

"Our business hours are from 8 pm to 2 am, and Alyssa usually dances in the first half of the night, getting off work before midnight. The conflict between them must have occurred between 9 pm and 11 pm."

"Thanks, you've saved us quite a bit of time." Luke pulled up a chair, sat down, and began to check the surveillance footage from mid-February.

There was nothing unusual in the video from February 13.

In the February 14 video, at 9:13 pm, Luke saw Alyssa enter the back room, followed by a white man with curly hair. However, the man's back was to the camera, obscuring his face.

A few minutes later, Alyssa ran out of the room, her right hand covering her chest, and her left hand pointing at the room as if she was shouting loudly.

Soon after, the curly-haired man also came out, holding a beer bottle in his left hand, gesticulating with his right hand, and continuously talking at Alyssa.

Security arrived shortly afterward to separate the two.

Luke focused on the curly-haired man; from this angle, he could see the man's features.

He felt the man looked familiar. After zooming in on the video, he recognized him.

"David, guess who I've found?"

David laughed, "It couldn't be that jerk Marcus, could it? I wouldn't be surprised if he came here."

"It's Harry, the street racer you've just taken on as a temporary informant."

David leaned in for a closer look, "It really is that guy." David pointed to the video, and turned to Paul beside him, "Is he the one who had a conflict with Alyssa?"

Paul glanced sideways at David with some reluctance, then came over and looked at the man on the screen, "It's him."

David frowned, "Could it be that this guy is related to Alyssa's disappearance?"

Luke, seizing on this, analyzed, "I remember the first time we met Harry, he knew Tony.

Suppose Tony just bought a modified Taser gun, but wasn't the suspect in the Taser gun robbery.

Could it be Harry committed the robbery with that gun, or maybe it was Harry's idea for Tony to buy the gun in the first place."

David suddenly found the idea somewhat amusing. If Luke's assumption was correct, Harry might actually be the real suspect in the Taser gun robbery, and David even had him go find Tony—like he would actually find anything. Tony might have already been silenced.

Luke said, "Anyway, this guy is now involved in the case. Let's get him out and take control."

David nodded, took out his phone, and was ready to make a call.

Luke reminded him, "When you get through, have you thought about what to say? Don't let the kid get suspicious."

"Don't say anything at first, just ask to meet him directly."

Luke shook his head, "If I were him, I'd definitely run."

"So what do you suggest?"

"To get him out, we need a good reason, one that makes him think the police aren't suspecting him yet..." Luke pondered for a moment before continuing,

"Have him help us dig up some dirt on Logan Salmo. If he's not willing, offer him money."

David's expression soured, "You're the real bastard here."

Luke explained, "If Harry is involved in the Taser gun robbery, when you asked him to find Lindsay's address, he definitely would have got a read on Logan... It's a plausible reason, and he shouldn't suspect anything."

Despite his irritation, David had to admit it was a good reason that wouldn't raise Harry's suspicions.

A cop cleaning up a man who's fooling around with his wife couldn't be more normal.

"Bastard."

David muttered it again, then reluctantly dialed Harry's phone,

"Hi, this is Harry, I'm pretty busy now, leave a message if it's important..."

"That bastard's phone is off!"