Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

Looking at the calm lake surface, he felt his own emotions also gradually stabilize.

"Hey, got a bite." A man's voice came from upstream.

Vincent turned his head and saw an old Mexican man stand up, gripping the fishing rod with both hands, reeling in the line.

It looked like he had caught a fish.

The old Mexican man even glanced back at Vincent.

In Vincent's eyes, it was a blatant boast. How could he endure that?

It's just a fish, isn't it? As if nobody else could do the same.

Vincent wasn't about to show weakness, either; he started to fish more diligently.

After a while, the float suddenly sank, and Vincent pulled the rod while shouting, "Fish on!"

Vincent yanked up the rod, catching a small fish the size of a palm, which, although small, was better than nothing.

Vincent tossed the small fish into the basket, baited the hook again, and cast the line back into the river.

Vincent glanced at the old Mexican man and muttered quietly, "Even now."

Time ticked by, and Vincent caught two more fish, but they weren't big either.

The Mexican man on the other side also caught two fish, and although the two old men didn't communicate, there was an implicit sense of competition.

"Hey, baby, come to daddy."

The Mexican man stood up, gripping the fishing rod forcefully; it looked like he had another bite.

"Fuck!" Vincent grumbled, wondering why the other man always seemed to be one step ahead.

"Aargh..."

The Mexican man screamed, his hands seemingly scalded, he threw away the fishing rod and ran off towards the distance, shouting as he ran,

"God, what on earth is that!"

"The old guy sure can run fast." Vincent was puzzled about what had spooked the man so badly that he'd even discarded his fishing rod.

The old Mexican was long gone, out of sight.

Vincent was curious and strolled over, looked about the river, but didn't see anything unusual.

Then, he picked up the fishing rod from the ground and gave it a strong pull. It was heavy, as if a big fish was on the hook, but it didn't feel like a fish.

The fishing line was difficult to reel in, so he had no choice but to pull it up forcefully.

Slowly, an object surfaced, and even though Vincent was mentally braced, he was still startled.

The hook had snagged the body of a woman, naked, her skin pale like paper, and looking further up there was no head.

…

Half an hour later,

Inside a black Ford Explorer.

Luke sat in the passenger seat, never having expected that he would encounter a case on his very first day on duty.

"This old man sure knows how to make trouble."

"You think it could be the deputy chief messing with you because you got promoted too fast? Could he be the real killer?" said Jackson teasingly.

Luke laughed, "Well, if I crack the case and secure my position as captain, that would drive the old man mad."

Jackson nodded repeatedly, "Exactly, that's how it always goes in the movies.

I wanted to watch a movie with Julian tonight, looks like that's not happening."

Luke said, "You seem to be in good spirits lately."

"Of course, I'm going to be a dad. I'm working out daily, sleeping early, and waking up early. I need to be in good shape to provide for the family," Jackson replied, then seemed to remember something,

"Hey, Luke, guess what I saw this morning?"

"An alien spaceship landing in Los Angeles?"

"No, I'm being serious. I saw Jenny getting into Jackson's car for work. They must be living together.

Those two are definitely up to something, and if they're not now, they will be. It's a sure-fire office romance.

I usually don't like to pry, but you're my partner and the captain, and I think you should know."

"Oh, is that so? Too surprising," Luke said indifferently.

Little Black glanced at Luke, "You knew?"

"No," Luke replied.

"You definitely know something, you're my partner, I can tell," he insisted.

Damn it, you always get smart when it comes to stuff like this.

Little Black pressed further, "Are they really in trouble?"

"Stop gossiping, just drive," Luke said with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. Those two, too, how could they be so careless?

Soon, Luke led the team to Suter Park.

A police cordon had already been set up by the river, with quite a lot of onlookers gathered around. About a dozen patrol officers were maintaining order at the scene.

An old man with white hair stood by the river and greeted them, "Fellas, it's unfortunate we're meeting like this again.

My vacation is ruined, and you guys have to come out and bask in the sun as well."

Luke scanned the surroundings and noticed a body bag concealing a human form a short distance away, "Deputy, what's the situation on site?"

"Captain? Captain Luke," the deputy called out twice, a bit unaccustomed, muttering, "Seems I'll have to get used to this."

Luke ignored the old man's mumbling, waiting for him to continue.

After thinking for a moment, the deputy pointed not far off, "I was on leave today, planning to come to this park to fish, and I was sitting right over there.

Next to the location of the corpse, there was an old Mexican man fishing. Although we didn't talk, we formed a sort of healthy competition.

I started fishing at a little past nine in the morning, and around ten thirty, the Mexican old man suddenly yelled, seemingly frightened by something in the river, even discarding his own fishing rod.

I went over to his spot and pulled up the fishing rod, to find it had a mutilated corpse attached to it."

The deputy then gestured toward the body bag on the ground, "In order to prevent the body from being washed away by the river, I had the patrol officers lift the body onto the bank, a very strange corpse, quite disturbing to look at."

Luke looked over and saw forensic doctor Hila had already uncovered the body bag, revealing the body beneath.

It was the decapitated body of a woman, covered with numerous injuries. Her skin tone suggested she was a Caucasian female and, judging from the decomposition of the body, she hadn't been dead for very long.

This was just Luke's first impression; the actual details would have to be determined by the forensic doctor.

Having understood the general situation, Luke began assigning tasks.

Raymond and Jenny were responsible for questioning the crowd to see if there were any other witnesses.

Jackson was tasked with lifting the fingerprints of the deceased to see if the fingerprint scanner could identify her.

Little Black, along with a patrol officer, was in charge of taking a statement from the Mexican old man who had been fishing.

The technical team also dispatched police to dive into the riverbed to collect evidence.

Luke and the deputy team leader stayed by the river to continue the investigation.

Luke crouched down and examined the water flow, "Did you see any suspicious people while you were fishing?"

The deputy pondered, "There have always been people playing in the park, but I didn't notice anyone likely to have dumped the body. And judging by the level of decomposition on the body, she must have been dead for a while."

"Deputy, with your experience in handling cases, have you ever encountered decapitated victims before?"

Vincent shrugged, "Of course, but it's been so long, I don't remember clearly. I only recall it was typically gang vendettas, usually involving male victims. It's rare for females to be decapitated, a completely different modus operandi."

Luke walked along the river for a while, searching for any clues that might have been left on the riverbank, but he found nothing suspicious.

After a while, Jackson came over and reported, "Captain, we didn't get a match for the victim's fingerprints."

"Got it," Luke acknowledged. The female victim had been beheaded, and without fingerprint data, it would be difficult to identify her immediately.

Twenty minutes later, Little Black came over, "Captain, we took a statement from the Mexican old man, and his account matches up with what the deputy said. He was terrified by the sight of the decapitated female corpse and couldn't provide any valuable clues.

He was praying to God the whole time."

The deputy laughed, "That old man was scared out of his wits; he's definitely not connected to this case. Besides, I think this isn't the original dumping site."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Luke, although he was now captain and ranked higher than Vincent, still respected him, at least on the surface.

The deputy pointed to both sides of the river, "This river is a branch of the Los Angeles River, with the bottom made up of concrete channels. The terrain is relatively flat along the river, and as long as the body isn't weighed down, it could drift with the current.

The river is more than a dozen miles long, and any place upstream could be where the body was dumped."

Luke appeared thoughtful. The deputy's words reminded him that if the time of the victim's death could be determined and the river's flow rate measured, it might be possible to trace the approximate location of where the body was dumped.