Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

"I love them and don't want to lose them."

"They need my care too."

Luke shook his head, "Your reason is not sufficient. If Kunni'er had just started having problems, you should have contacted the foster center immediately. That would have been Kunni'er's problem, not yours.

The problem is that you concealed the fact that Kunni'er wasn't at home. That's your problem."

Mr. and Mrs. Yagate fell silent.

Luke said, "If you don't provide a reasonable explanation, then I'll have to assume you're hiding something, and you could be investigated as suspects.

Kunni'er is dead, and no matter how you explain it, as his guardians, you're responsible."

Maureen sighed, "The government provides a subsidy each month. I don't work and have always been at home taking care of the children. I...

We need that subsidy.

Please, don't tell the foster center.

We never expected things to turn out this way. Kunni'er was different from the other children; we really tried our best."

"No!"

Mike shook his head, revealing an angry expression, "It's your selfishness and greed that killed Kunni'er.

Kunni'er not living with his foster family is already a violation of foster care regulations, you should have reported to the foster center and child protection agency immediately.

You, driven by the desire for government subsidies, deliberately concealed this, leaving a 14-year-old child to face this complex society alone.

He's dead.

And that has a lot to do with you.

You're not fit to be guardians.

Nor do you deserve to foster those poor children.

Foster homes need love, and all you focused on was Kunni'er's subsidy. Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

Mikel, with his mouth agape, retorted indignantly, "You shouldn't talk about us like this, you don't understand us.

We've fostered many children, but none like Kunni'er.

We've tried hard to get along with him, but he never wanted to accept us.

We've done all that we could."

Luke asked, "Why didn't Kunni'er want to stay here? What was he thinking? What was he doing?"

Maureen answered, "I asked him, but he wouldn't tell.

I suspect he might have been abused in another foster home.

Although I have inadequacies... I never abused Kunni'er.

In this regard, we're already much better than most foster homes."

Although Luke had found Kunni'er's foster home, these irresponsible guardians didn't know much about Kunni'er's recent circumstances and couldn't provide any valuable clues. To find the reason behind Kunni'er's murder, Luke had to dig deeper into the boy's background.

"What about Kunni'er's biological family?"

"Kunni'er's mother is a drug addict; she abandoned him early on.

Maybe that's why Kunni'er was so reclusive. Prior to this, he had been shuffled among several foster homes."

Mike asked, "What about his father?"

"He doesn't have a father."

Mike countered, "How can someone not have a father? He's not a Komodo dragon."

"Detective, you're asking the wrong person. Kunni'er's birth father column is empty; even the foster center doesn't know. How would I know?

You should ask Kunni'er's mother."

Mike sighed, "This damn... world..."

Luke cut him off, "Where is Kunni'er's room?"

"On the second floor, I'll take you there." Mikel led Luke and Mike upstairs, to the east end of the corridor, and knocked, "Carter, I'm coming in."

"Creak..." Michael opened the door.

A Caucasian boy stood up from the bed, "Uncle Michael, what happened to Kunni'er?"

Michael hesitated, unsure how to answer, "Carter, let's talk about this another time.

The officers are here to check Kunni'er's things.

Come on, I'll take you downstairs."

Luke asked Carter, "Do you also live in this room?"

"Yes, Kunni'er and I both lived in this room."

"Good." Luke said to Mikel, "Mr. Yagate, you may leave.

Let Carter stay, he can help us identify which items belonged to Kunni'er."

"I am the guardian of both Carter and Kunni'er. I feel I should stay."

Mike glared at him, "I think I need to give the foster center a call."

"OK, I'll leave." Mikel waved his hand, glanced at Carter, and left the room.

Luke surveyed the small room. To the right of the entrance was a wardrobe.

There was a bunk bed by the window with two small desks, one at the head and one at the foot of the bed. The one at the foot of the bed was somewhat messy, cluttered with a number of books.

The desk at the head of the bed was very clean, only holding a pen holder and a desk lamp.

"Your name is Carter?"

"Yes, sir."

"Can you tell me which ones are Kunni'er's belongings?"

"Of course." Carter seemed a bit nervous, pointing to the bed, "Originally, Kunni'er slept on the bottom bunk, but then he often didn't come home, so I swapped with him, and he agreed to let me have the bottom bunk.

He slept on the top bunk.

The clean desk at the head is his, we shared the wardrobe but his clothes are not many now, just placed in the top left corner."

"Thank you."

Afterward, Luke and Mike searched Kunni'er's belongings separately, with Mike examining the wardrobe and Luke checking the desk.

Luke opened a drawer of the desk, which contained some toys, all models of the Avengers, like Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, etc., which looked like cheap versions.