Luke and Black walked into the supermarket, which wasn't particularly large, covering approximately 300 square meters. The staff consisted of both Caucasians and Koreans, and the customers were about half and half.
Luke and Black circled the supermarket. The variety of food was rich, offering both Caucasian and Korean favorites like kimchi. Most importantly, they found Wisen-brand mineral water, which was the purpose of their visit.
Luke took a bottle of Wisen-brand mineral water from the cold drink case and went to the checkout to pay.
A white female cashier glanced at Luke, "Sir, are you only getting one bottle of mineral water?"
The white female cashier scanned the bottle of mineral water, "0.2 US Dollars. Additionally, our supermarket is running a promotion, 24 bottles for only 4 US Dollars."
Luke asked, "What about a case of 12 bottles?"
"There's no promotion for 12 bottles at the moment."
"Do many people buy this mineral water?"
"It's decently popular, but most people buy it by the case since it's more economical."
The white female cashier looked at Luke warily, "What do you need?"
Luke showed his badge, "LAPD, I need to see your boss, and from now on, Wisen-brand mineral water is not to be sold to the public."
"Now is not the time to explain. Just do as I say, understood?"
"One moment, I'll call the boss."
Soon, a white man approached, "I'm the owner here, which one of you is from the LAPD?"
Black showed his badge, "I'm Detective Marcus from the Robbery and Murder Department, and this is Deputy Chief Luke."
"Robbery and Murder Department? Why would my supermarket attract your department?" the white man said puzzled, waving his hand, "Come on, let's talk in my office, this is not the place."
The three of them entered the office at the back of the supermarket, which was somewhat disorganized, "Sorry, accounting took a bit long last night, I haven't had the chance to tidy up." The white man quickly cleaned up a bit, then pointed to a black two-seater sofa,
Allow me to introduce myself, I am Osmon Simpson, the owner of this supermarket."
"Do you usually manage the supermarket yourself?"
"That's right, I tried hiring a professional manager before, but it turned into a mess. A supermarket of this scale must be managed personally, otherwise it's hard to turn a profit, there are too many tricks to it," Osmon sighed, patting his chest, "In my next life, I'm never running a supermarket again, it's too exhausting.
Officers, what can I help you with?"
Luke took out a photo of a female victim, Jeniffer, "Do you recognize her?"
Osmon looked at the photo, "No, I don't recognize her, what's the issue?"
"This lady claimed she shopped at your supermarket yesterday. Do you remember her?"
"I don't, there are too many customers in the supermarket. At least a hundred people a day, I can hardly remember each one. What happened to her?"
"She bought two bottles of Wisen-brand mineral water from your store yesterday. This morning, she went running in the mountains carrying one of those bottles, and she shared the mineral water with a male friend, which resulted in one dead and one injured. We found a highly poisonous substance, cyanide, in the mineral water.
So, do not sell this brand of mineral water for the time being, and notify the customers who have already purchased this brand not to continue drinking it,
as other bottles might also contain cyanide."
"Oh my God, are you serious? That's... that's terrifying."
Black said, "We from the Robbery and Murder Department never joke. What else would you think we are here for?"
"Wait, can you confirm that the bottle was purchased from my store?"
"That's why we are here to investigate."
"How will you investigate? Do I need to do anything?"
"First, we need to check the surveillance to see if the woman in the photo really did come here to buy mineral water.
If it was bought here, we need to investigate the source of the poisoned mineral water."
"Even if that bottle was from my store, it doesn't ensure that it was poisoned at the time of purchase. Could she have poisoned it herself? It's entirely possible."
"You're right, that's why we are here to investigate, not to simply arrest you."
"I would never poison products in my own supermarket! I'm not a fool; there is no benefit for me."
"That's why our goals align. Getting to the bottom of this benefits both you and us."
Osmon sighed lightly, resignedly, "OK, we'll do as you say. The surveillance video is right here in this room."
Osmon turned on the computer screen and switched to the surveillance video.
Luke glanced at the screen, "We'll review the surveillance ourselves. Go tell the cashier not to sell any more Wisen-brand mineral water."
Osmon spread his hands, "What about other brands of mineral water?"
If you hadn't asked, Luke might not have said, but since you asked, there's no need to be polite, "No brands of mineral water can be sold. Be smart about it, every bottle of mineral water you sell doesn't earn you much, but selling one bottle of poisoned water could bankrupt you. I believe you understand this better than I do."
"OK, you're the boss," Osmon said, leaving the office with a gloomy expression.
Luke started reviewing the surveillance footage. According to Jeniffer's statement, she came to the supermarket around 2 p.m. yesterday. Luke started reviewing the surveillance video around that time, and indeed found Jeniffer in the footage.