"Xiao Hei laughed and said, 'Let me reintroduce myself, my name is Thor, nicknamed Hammer Brother.'
Luke patted his shoulder, signaling him to restrain himself a bit, 'What's Rocky's full name?'
'I don't know, I only know his nickname is Rocky.'
'How did you get in touch with them?'
'They took the initiative to find me.'
'Do you know that this batch of goods was stolen from Jiangnan Supermarket?'
'Have you cooperated with them before?'
'No, this was the first time.
I knew it wasn't right; I run a legitimate business.
I didn't want to buy at first, but they threatened me, saying that if I didn't buy, it meant I was looking down on them and they would retaliate against me and my supermarket.
I only compromised and bought their goods for the sake of safety.
'Why didn't you call the police?'
'It's no use; the police can't handle them. They only verbally threatened me at that time, and hadn't done any actual harm, so even if the police came, they could only issue a verbal warning; but once the police left, I would be done for, my supermarket would be done for—the consequences are unimaginable.'
Seemingly afraid that Luke wouldn't believe him, Osmon added,
'I'm telling the truth. Those guys, if they wanted, could just spread out and each take turns making zero-dollar purchases, and within a month my supermarket would go bankrupt.
And that's just the simplest method. If they used criminal means, it wouldn't even take a month; my supermarket could be destroyed in just one day.
I'm a businessman; I can't fight them.'
'How can we find them?'
'I don't know; they found me.'
Luke frowned slightly; he felt that Osmon was hiding some information, 'Don't play ignorant; since you made a deal, you must have had close contact with each other. Only if you provide as many clues as possible can the police find them.'
Osmon countered, 'Aren't you here to investigate the poisoning case? How is this matter related to the poisoning case?'
'Within half a month, there have been two poisoning incidents in your supermarket—do you think that's just a coincidence?
There are so many supermarkets; why was yours chosen for the poisoning?
Moreover, not just the timing, the methods and techniques of poisoning are similar. I don't believe there's no connection between these two cases.
As long as we can find the person who poisoned the wine, we might also be able to find some clues about the person who poisoned the water.' Luke's idea was to cross-reference the clues and evidence from both cases to find commonalities, which might lead them to the poisoner.
Even the second poisoning case might be an upgraded version of the first one.
So, Luke decided to investigate both cases together.
Once Osmon got the idea, he followed Luke's line of thought, 'Actually, after the wine poisoning incident, I've been speculating who did it—whether somebody was targeting me or trying to destroy my supermarket.
I've suspected employees who were dismissed, competitors' supermarkets, and even wondered if it was a scam by the customers who bought the wine.
But in this matter...I was the one at fault first. The origins of the wine were dubious; I couldn't claim against the supplier, and I dared not call the police, so I could only swallow the loss.'
Osmon's words reminded Luke, 'How much did you compensate those two customers who bought the wine?'
'One forty thousand US dollars, the other sixty thousand US dollars.'
'You're quite generous.'
'I had no choice under those circumstances; making a big deal of it would have affected my supermarket's business. I had to compromise and keep the peace. It breaks my heart every time I think about it.'
'How much did you pay for this batch of goods from Rocky?'
'You spent 20,000 US dollars on stolen goods, but ended up compensating a hundred thousand US dollars. Don't you find that ironic?'
'It's very ironic; I regret it deeply.
I'll never do such a stupid thing again, of course, that's if I even get past this situation...I don't know if I'll have the chance.'
Luke said, 'Have you ever considered the possibility that the poisoner is the gang of thieves? They had access to the wine and enough opportunity to poison it.
Selling this illicit merchandise to you was only the first step, as they knew these stolen goods wouldn't bring in much money.
Their real goal was to use the poisoning incident to extort money from you.
They knew the merchandise was from an illicit source.
They knew you would not dare to call the police.
They knew they could get more money through extortion.'
After hearing Luke's words, Osmon's face showed anger, and he clenched his fists tightly, 'You're saying that Rocky, who sold the stolen goods, and the customers who bought the wine are in cahoots, and they set a trap for me to extort money from me.'
'That's just a hypothesis; to prove whether it's true or not, we need to find Rocky first.' Luke's words clearly had a hint of stirring up trouble.
But Luke was deducing the case, speaking with integrity.
Whether one believes it or not depends largely on how deeply they are hurt.
Osmon spent only 20,000 US dollars on the stolen merchandise, but because of the two bottles of poisoned wine, he paid out a hundred thousand dollars. The recent poisoning incident might even bankrupt his supermarket; he's been harboring a ball of rage inside.
This fury made him very uncomfortable, but he didn't know who to vent it on.
Luke's words gave him a vent for his anger, true or false, at least he could let out some steam without being choked with frustration.
'I've thought about it more carefully and recalled some details about Rocky; he's a white man, very tall, almost 190cm tall, with brown hair. He was wearing a mask, so I couldn't see his face clearly.