Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

"On the evening of August 3, my store was burglarized. The doors and windows were smashed, and a gang of thieves broke in and stole items—cigarettes, alcohol, razors, lipstick, soap, baby formula, diapers...

These thieves took all the light, valuable, and easily movable items from the supermarket.

My supermarket suffered a huge loss, and the staff were also frightened, so the next morning I chose to report it to the police.

At first, I was hopeful that the police could catch the gang of thieves, but there was no news from the police, and I actively went to the police station to inquire, but they hadn't located the whereabouts of the gang.

Moreover, I heard that the solution rate for similar cases was very low.

Some friends told me not to keep any Hope anymore— the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

But I wasn't willing to give up because if it happened once, it might happen again. I didn't know when they might come to rob the supermarket again, and such events greatly impact the supermarket's business.

Running a supermarket isn't easy, and I don't want similar incidents to occur again.

So, I never gave up." As she said this, Li Shanmei sighed and looked somewhat helpless, "About a week ago, a person came to my store to apply for a job, claiming he had previously worked at Shanyuan Supermarket and had similar work experience but was maliciously fired by the boss.

After interviewing him, I felt that our supermarket job might not be suitable for him as it would limit his development, so I didn't plan to hire him.

At that time, he told me something— Shanyuan Supermarket recently received a batch of goods of unknown origin. Although he didn't know the exact source of the goods, he felt they were ill-gotten.

Moreover, he knew about the theft at my supermarket and suspected that the stolen items from my supermarket ended up at Shanyuan Supermarket.

I asked him if he had any evidence, and he said no.

I wanted to tell the police, but considering their efficiency, I feared they might not act.

So I asked my cousin to go to Shanyuan Supermarket to take pictures, hoping to obtain evidence to hand over to the police."

Luke asked, "What evidence? What did you hope to capture?"

"My supermarket has a wide range of products, more varieties than Shanyuan Supermarket, and I have signed agreements with the manufacturers— some products should not be sold in nearby supermarkets simultaneously. In other words, some products are not even supposed to be in Shanyuan Supermarket's inventory.

If Shanyuan Supermarket has those products, they would be of unknown origin and likely the stolen items from my supermarket.

I asked my cousin to take those pictures also to secure the evidence before the supermarket could be tipped off and pull the products off the shelves."

"Where is the video your cousin shot?"

Li Shanmei hesitated for a moment, then stood up and fetched a storage card from the drawer beneath her desk, "It's in here."

"Did you capture any of your supermarket's exclusive products?"

Li Shanmei shook her head, "No, not a single one. Clearly, the employee lied; the theft had nothing to do with Shanyuan Supermarket.

I was too suspicious."

Luke handed the storage card to Black to check, "So where is the employee fired from Shanyuan Supermarket now?"

"I don't know; I wouldn't hire someone like that. After I got the information from him, I gave him some money and let him leave.

Turns out, I was right. He was lying because he was fired by his boss and blamed his previous employer.

I dare not hire such an employee."

"Where is the list of stolen goods from your supermarket?"

Li Shanmei stood up, opened a drawer of her desk, and handed Luke a document, "The police have also asked for it previously; I had it printed out in advance."

Luke glanced at it and noticed a familiar product, pointing at the mark on the list, "Is Kafeila brand red wine exclusive to your shop as well?"

"Yes, I personally contacted the manufacturer, and this area here only I sell it."

"Can Shanyuan Supermarket procure it?"

"Impossible, that would mean the manufacturer breached the contract and would have to pay a substantial penalty. They wouldn't do such a foolish thing.

Luke, Officer, is there a problem with this type of wine?"

Indeed, there was a problem.

Previously, Luke had recorded a statement from Osmon, the owner of Shanyuan Supermarket, inquiring whether Shanyuan Supermarket had experienced a poisoning incident before. Initially, Osmon denied it, but Luke detected that he was lying.

Eventually, Osmon admitted that on August 10, the supermarket sold two bottles of defective red wine, and on the 11th, two customers came complaining of stomach pains after drinking the wine, which was precisely Kafeila brand.

At the time, Luke asked why he didn't admit to the first poisoning incident, and the answer was that he had paid a significant compensation, so he didn't want to bring up the incident again.

Now, it seemed that the real reason might be that those two bottles of red wine were of dubious origin, and Osmon was too embarrassed to speak out.

Considering the current situation, the employee fired from Shanyuan Supermarket hadn't lied— Shanyuan Supermarket might have accepted a batch of dubious goods, which could have been the stolen items from Jiangnan Supermarket.

As for why Jin Xiuhui's secret footage didn't reveal the stolen goods.

Luke had two theories. First, the range of products with exclusive regional sales rights wasn't broad, and during that time, they might have already been sold by Shanyuan Supermarket.

The rest of the products, even if caught on camera, couldn't be distinguished.

The second possibility was that, after the poisoning incident with Kafeila red wine, Osmon, fearing other dubious items might be problematic, had pulled them from the shelves."