Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

Little Black chuckled, "You've got some nerve, daring to bring your lover home for a date."

"We've never lived in this house, and my wife hardly ever comes here, I'm also not familiar with the neighboring residents..." Martin Cage gave an expression that said 'you know what I mean'.

Luke turned his head to look at Martin Cage's wife, "Are you sure your wife doesn't know about this?"

Martin frowned, "I'm sure, what are you suggesting?"

"What's the name of your lover, contact her."

"Her name is Polly Wilson, do I really have to contact her now?" Martin Cage looked at his wife, worried.

"Yes, right now, to confirm her safety, and to check if that key is still with her."

"You're not going to tell my wife about this, are you?"

"As long as you cooperate with the police investigation and as long as this matter doesn't affect the investigation, we will not probe further."

Martin nodded, took out his cellphone, and dialed a number.

Luke reminded him, "Put it on speaker."

Martin reluctantly replied, "My wife will find out."

Luke snatched the phone from him and held it in his own hand, if the victim really was Polly, then Martin was also a suspect.

A voice came from the phone, "Sorry, the person you have called cannot be reached right now, and a voicemail has not been set up, please try again later."

"Do you have any other way to contact her?"

"No." Martin appeared nervous, "Polly turned off her phone during the day, could something have really happened to her?"

Luke handed back the phone, "When was the last time you saw or contacted her?"

"Yesterday morning, we spoke on the phone."

"At that time, was there anything unusual about her?"

"I didn't notice anything."

"Has she encountered any difficulties recently?"

"I don't know."

"Is she married?"

"Yes."

"Does her husband know about your relationship?"

"How could he, we've been very careful."

"Do you have a picture of her?"

Martin opened an app on the phone, fiddled with it for a bit, and handed it to Luke.

Luke glanced at it, it was a Caucasian woman around forty years old, with brown hair, not very pretty, but her smiling face was very infectious.

"Where does she live?"

"203 Delmo Community."

Luke said, "Keep calling her, and if you get in touch, remember to notify us."

"I understand," Martin replied, then asked with some worry, "If... just if... it really is her, will you tell my wife?"

"What do you think?" Luke left him with that remark and then rushed to Polly's house.

Last time when capturing Dominic James, Luke had a close call, and for safety reasons, he also called Jackson along.

Luke certainly didn't want to risk his own Mercedes, in case there was a shootout, it would be heart-wrenching.

Jackson was driving the police car with Luke sitting in the passenger seat.

Little Black lay slouched in the back seat, "What do you guys think, if Polly really is the victim, who could have killed her?"

Luke yawned, "Right now, we don't even have clear information on the victim, isn't it too early to talk about this?"

Little Black stroked his chin, "Sometimes too many clues can cause confusion and even mislead the investigators, whereas the initial intuition might be more accurate."

It was the first time Jackson heard this, although it didn't seem to make much sense, it was quite impressive, "Who do you think it could be?"

Little Black said earnestly, "I think it might be Martin's wife.

Perhaps, she's known about her husband's affair for a long time, and seeing that he even dared to bring another woman home for a date, she was filled with rage, feeling deeply insulted.

Then, she killed her husband's lover outright.

She definitely had enough motive to do it."

After thinking it over, Jackson said, "I won't dispute that she had a motive to kill, but why would she do it in her own house and then burn it down, causing a loss to herself?"

Little Black shook his head, "Don't forget there's something called insurance, many rich people's homes are insured against fire, so even if the house is destroyed, it is the insurance company that compensates, she herself doesn't lose anything.

Moreover, seeing her husband dating that woman in the house, she must have felt disgusted, maybe she wanted to get rid of the house a long time ago, burning it down cleanly and getting a compensation, killing two birds with one stone."

Jackson seemed persuaded, "That makes some sense."

Little Black smiled, turned to Luke and asked, "What do you think?"

"The motive makes sense from an analytical standpoint, but it wouldn't be easy to carry out in practice.

First of all, Martin said that he didn't arrange to meet Polly at the house last night.

So why would Polly be there at the house?

Also, Martin's wife is a woman, it's not an easy thing for her to murder someone and set a fire."

Little Black countered, "What's so difficult about that, as long as she knew about her husband and Polly's affair, she just needed to find an opportunity to send Polly a message using her husband's phone to lure Polly to the house.

Or she could directly hire a hitman to kill Polly, and then destroy the evidence.

Being able to leave a house vacant without renting it out, their family must be rich, and she, as a wealthy lady, has the means to hire a hitman.

You could check her bank accounts, perhaps there are clues to the hitman."

Luke thought it over, Little Black's reasoning was theoretically sound, but he still felt it was unlikely.