Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

"I told you already, no."

Lying.

"Lift your head," Luke said sternly, "Osmon, do you not understand the severity of the situation right now? Someone has been poisoned to death.

The police will conduct extensive and multifaceted inquiries and investigations, not just questioning you alone.

There are so many people in your store, I will take their statements after I've finished yours.

Don't think that the police won't know just because you lie."

Osmon's expression turned ugly, still bowing his head in silence.

Luke scolded, "I'll say it again, lift your head."

Osmon slowly lifted his head, and Luke continued, "Osmon, I'm going to ask you again, has there been a similar poisoning incident before?"

"Uh... I don't know if it counts as a poisoning incident, but indeed, there have been customers who complained about getting a stomachache because they bought something from the store."

"Then why didn't you say that earlier? Why did you lie?"

"I didn't want trouble. Plus, I thought the two incidents might not be related. The earlier customers just had stomachaches, nothing serious, completely different from this poisoning death."

"It's not for you to decide whether they are related or not, when was the last time?"

"About half a month ago, around August 10th."

"Tell me about the last time."

"Uh... On the morning of August 11th, a Korean customer came to me, saying he bought a bottle of Caffeira wine from here the day before, and after drinking it, he started having stomach pains. He and his wife squatted all night in the toilet.

His wife was so depleted she had to go to the hospital, and he demanded an explanation from me.

After hearing this, I was somewhat in disbelief as I've been running a supermarket for many years, and it was the first time I heard someone got stomach pains from drinking wine.

At first, I even thought he was trying to swindle money.

While we were arguing about this, another customer came and claimed there was something wrong with my wine, similar to what the Korean customer experienced.

Then I started to worry."

To resolve the issue, I compensated them a good sum of money, it's as if I worked for nothing this half year.

So, I didn't really want to bring up this issue."

"What about those wines?"

Osmon sighed, "I threw them away."

"What caused the wine to make customers have diarrhea?"

"I don't know."

"Why didn't you report to the police?"

"I didn't want to blow up the issue. I run a supermarket, if people knew there was a food safety issue, no one would come in the future, so I chose to compensate privately."

"How many customers bought the problematic wine at that time?"

"Two."

"Were they all the same brand?"

"Yes, Caffeira."

"Do you know the identities of those two people?"

"I don't remember clearly, but there are records."

"Give me the details after you find them," Luke handed him a business card.

"Okay."

"In just ten days, there have been two poisoning incidents in your store? Do you think that's a coincidence?"

"I don't know, I want to figure it out more than anyone else."

"Have you offended anyone recently?"

"In our line of work, we deal with a lot of people every day, and it's inevitable to have some conflicts. About half a month ago, I fired two lazy employees, they weren't suitable for the job and couldn't meet the work demands.

I dismissed them legally and justly."

"Do you think they are retaliating against you?"

"I don't know."

"Send me their details later."

"I will."

"Besides these two employees, do you have any other suspects?"

Osmon thought carefully, "There seems to be a suspicious woman, she wandered around the supermarket, stayed for a long time, and when she left, she only bought some pickles."

"Tell me the specific time, as well as her physical features."

"It seems to be August 8th, yes, that day we had a promotion in our store, around three in the afternoon. She was an Asian woman about forty years old, wearing a white T-shirt, sneaky, lingered for at least twenty minutes to half an hour.

Afterwards, I even asked the staff, she had been to our store more than once, and each time she stayed for a long time.

Could it be that she took advantage of the staff's inattention to place poisonous mineral water on the shelf?"

Luke didn't say a word, he manipulated the computer, turning to the surveillance footage from the time Osmon described, and found the suspicious woman, "Is this her?"

Osmon leaned over to look, "Yes, the more I think about it, the more suspicious she seems."

"She only bought pickles?"

"Yes."

"Does she have a membership card?"

"I asked the cashier afterwards, no."

"Does she have a vehicle?"

"I don't know."

Luke opened the supermarket's outside surveillance, from which the outside parking lot could be seen. There were vacant spots, but the woman did not linger in the parking area, instead, she walked away in a different direction.

Luke observed the Asian woman's surveillance footage again. This woman stayed for twenty-five minutes from entering to leaving the supermarket, and her behavior didn't seem like that of a shopping customer; she mostly stayed in blind spots of the cameras.

From Luke's years of detective experience, this woman definitely was a problem.