Life in North America, you call this an autopsy officer?!
Chapter 36 - 29 New Clues (Seeking Follow-up Reads on Tuesday!)

Chapter 36: Chapter 29 New Clues (Seeking Follow-up Reads on Tuesday!)

The office was enveloped in smoke.

Several people sat in front of the conference table, smoking cigarettes one after another.

Even the female team leader, Susan, was no exception.

Brian, smelling the intense second-hand smoke, couldn’t help feeling a bit irritable.

He pushed open the windows of the conference room for ventilation and walked back to the whiteboard, listing all the information they had so far.

But after pondering for a long time,

there was still no so-called flash of inspiration.

In terms of solving cases,

he had heard plenty.

Practical operation, however, was a first.

Without the guidance of obsession,

his ordinary intelligence didn’t uncover much.

Suddenly,

Brian thought of something!

He walked over to Susan and snatched the slim cigarette from her mouth, "Do you remember Li Sen’s evaluation of the deceased, Kenneth?"

Susan was startled, contemplated for a moment, and uncertainly said, "He was a good guy... knew that he was stealing the learning, but didn’t expose him... right, Li Sen also said that he originally considered taking Kenneth as an apprentice, but before he could speak, they had a conflict because Kenneth stole his secret sauce..."

"There’s a problem here!"

Brian clapped his hands, attracting everyone’s attention.

He crushed the slim cigarette in his hand and wrote the recently discussed points on the whiteboard, analyzing, "Due to racial discrimination, Li Sen has a sensitive personality and always uses a bad temper to shield himself to avoid being bullied. A person like that tends to be very accurate in his assessments of others."

Ivan glanced at Brian crushing the cigarette butt with his fingers and remarked indifferently, "So?"

"Why would a guy with a nice personality, who was continuously learning new things under Li Sen’s tacit approval, suddenly decide to risk angering Li Sen by stealing his secret sauce?"

Brian drew a bold line under ’secret sauce’ and continued:

"This stuff isn’t ketchup, where a little more or less wouldn’t matter to anyone.

As a young person with his own ideas,

Kenneth must have known the consequences of being exposed.

He was still young.

Following his previous growth trajectory,

it was foreseeable that his future wouldn’t be too bleak.

Yet he still took the risk.

What was the reason that drove him to take such a risk?"

Upon hearing this,

those who had previously been directionless had their eyes light up again.

Ivan clapped his hands, "Money, he needed more money!"

Glenn affirmed:

"A woman!

Only a woman could induce a young man with his own thoughts to make an impulsive decision.

Following Brian’s train of thought,

I suspect Kenneth had the idea of starting a fast-food truck even before he stole the secret sauce.

That’s right!"

Glenn stood up abruptly, "Do you remember the box with the serial number?"

Susan, who had been a bit confused, quickly added upon hearing this, "Of course I remember. Didn’t Hardenn say it was a new method of selling Y and went to investigate it?"

"That’s right!"

"Why would a young guy with a good job and simple connections get involved with people from such an industry after opening his fast-food truck?" Glenn’s handsome face showed a light smile, "There’s only one reason, and that’s the woman he liked was a part of this industry chain. Who knows, Kenneth’s fast-food truck might even have been financed by her!"

Ivan and Susan’s faces showed realization.

Brian even thought of the deceased Kenneth’s obsession: to prevent Shaina from continuing her fall from grace and live a happy life.

It all clicked! Everything matched up!

Indeed, three heads are better than one!

A mere fleeting thought that he had suddenly become a new line of investigation perfected with everyone’s contribution!

...

From Glenn’s speculation,

Brian had another new idea!

He looked at everyone, "I strongly agree with Glenn’s guess. Has anyone noticed, how bustling Kenneth’s fast-food truck business was? Have you calculated how much money he could make in a day?"

"How much?"

Susan, coming from a well-off family, had no real concept of such matters.

Ivan and Glenn, though often mingling with the lower echelons, had never dealt with these inconspicuous street vendors.

Under the puzzled gazes of the three, Brian wrote a number on the blackboard, "Two thousand US dollars! And this is just my lowest estimate. Kenneth’s daily net profit definitely exceeds two thousand US dollars!"

"What!!!"

"FK, are you kidding me?"

Everyone except Susan gasped.

As frontline detectives in homicide investigations, they put their lives on the line, and their pre-tax annual income barely reached over seventy thousand US dollars.

And that was because detectives in Los Angeles were paid relatively well.

Now Brian was telling them that a mere fast-food cart owner was making half their monthly earnings in just one day.

Who would believe that?

Brian spread his hands:

"After graduating from high school, I did some research on this.

Normally, a small stall, if located well, can net about three to four hundred US dollars a day in pure profit.

Kenneth is advertising ’Hua Country delicacies,’ charging seven to eight US dollars for a serving of fried rice.

The actual cost wouldn’t exceed one US dollar.

Plus, he’s the star fast-food cart of that business street.

You guys can do the rest of the math.."

Why is it that in Los Angeles, at this point in time, the majority of Hua Country immigrants are middle class, with very few poor?

It’s not because they have a strong background.

But because, at this point in time in the United States,

if you’re willing to work hard, there really are a lot of ways to make money.

"FK, if I had known this, I would’ve gone selling hot dogs myself, my ex-ex-ex-girlfriend really loved my hot dogs," Glenn said, feeling a bit resentful after doing the math.

Ivan, however, wasn’t so interested in money.

He caught onto the implication in Brian’s words, "Brian, are you saying that after Kenneth realized how profitable his fast-food cart was, he started having bigger ideas?"

Brian nodded:

"That’s human nature.

Maybe before starting the fast-food cart, Kenneth just thought about saving some money and then returning to a normal life with the woman he liked.

But he didn’t expect his business to boom like this.

So Kenneth moved up the timeline.

The problem is, his fast-food cart was not only involved in selling fast food but also functioned as a conversion channel for clients.

If you were the mastermind behind this crime chain and found out that a guy bringing you clients didn’t want to work anymore and even planned to take your money printer away,

what would you do?"

Ivan rubbed his rough stubble, admiring the confident Brian, "Looks like we’ve found a new suspect!"

He quite liked Brian’s confident demeanor.

A man’s confidence is more attractive than a good-looking shell.

...

Just as they were preparing to pursue this new lead and arrange investigative tasks,

the conference room door was pushed open.

An older black man dressed in trendy clothes came in, choking on the thick secondhand smoke, "Cough cough, God, did you start a fire in here or something?"

Upon seeing it was old Hardenn, Susan quickly asked, "Did you find anything in your investigation?"

Old Hardenn rubbed his sore back and nodded, "I found an important clue that I think might be useful, but.."

"But what?"

Brian and the others couldn’t help but press.

Old Hardenn, somewhat sheepishly, pulled out a hair salon receipt with a lipstick mark that totaled four hundred US dollars, "Can I expense this?"

To guard the safety of the citizens of Los Angeles,

he could endure physical torment.

But not an assault on his wallet.

That was a principle!

Everyone looked at old Hardenn’s unchanged hairstyle, and the way he kept rubbing his back:...

Five hundred US dollars for a haircut?

Was this old rascal taking them for fools?