Luke laughed out loud at the door of the restaurant.
The man was speaking in Mexican Spanish. He was probably an illegal immigrant.
Greg could only switch to another line. It was free this time.
Excited, Greg hurriedly dialed a number. “Catherine, it’s great to hear your voice. You won’t believe what happened. God knows what we’ve been through…”
A moment later, they all went back inside, feeling relieved.
Nick said with a smile, “Alright, the police and the coroner are on their way. Listen, Shelly and Slick, you need to come with us and give your statements.”
But the boss’s wife and the worker turned a deaf ear to them and kept on noisily kissing and cuddling each other.
Very soon, the officers and the coroner arrived.
After a few simple questions, the officers were about to take Shelly and Slick to the police station.
But Luke stopped them. “Wait.”
He pointed at the grill in the restaurant and said, “Officers, I think you better get the coroner to examine the grill. There’s something unnatural in there. Get it out and ask Shelly and Slick about it.”
The officers looked at him in confusion. Then, a graceful blond woman said, “Let me do it.”
Nick said, “I’ll give you a hand, Catherine.”
It wasn’t until then that Luke realized that she had the same name as Robert’s wife.
A moment later, some half-burnt human bones were found in the ash of the grill. Everybody looked at the boss’s wife.
Shelly got up in fear. “It’s none of my business. I have no idea why that’s there.”
They looked at Slick, who was right next to her.
Slick quickly shook his head. “I don’t know anything either. I’m just a worker here, alright?”
Everybody was lost for words. There’s definitely something fishy going on between the two of you!
An hour later, they were immensely relieved to be back at the forensics center.
It had only been half a day, but they had encountered the most bizarre things.
Curious, Luke went to the morgue. There was an old man with white hair and prosthetic legs inside. He was listening to country music as an espresso machine ground beans next to him.
Luke felt that this scene was familiar somehow.
Old Greyson dropped by. He nodded at Luke and went up to the old coroner. “Al, where’s the report I asked for?”
Al, the old coroner, said, “It’s over there. Do you want a cup of coffee?”
Surprisingly, Old Greyson didn’t turn him down. He enjoyed the cup of coffee that Al gave him and asked casually, “This is a great coffee machine. Where did you get it?”
Al was also savoring his coffee. “Bought it as part of the morgue’s inventory.”
Old Greyson was confused. “You managed to buy a coffee machine with public funding?”
An expensive espresso machine definitely wasn’t a necessity for a morgue that only had four coroners.
Al smiled casually and sipped the coffee again. “Nobody wants to know why a coroner buys anything.”
Old Greyson: “…”
Nick: “…”
Luke: “…”
Seeing that Old Greyson was about to leave, Luke couldn’t help but ask the old coroner, “Dr. Robbins, do you know a forensic doctor named Mars? He works in a town in Texas.”
Thinking for a moment, Al nodded a moment later. “If his name is Mars Kubrick, he should be one of my students. But I haven’t seen him after he completed his internship.”
Luke nodded with a smile. “Well, just as I expected.”
Al asked, “How do you know him?”
Luke knew that what the old coroner was really asking was why Luke knew they were connected.
Luke explained with a smile, “Because Mars has to have a cup of coffee and listen to some music before he starts work every day.”
Al chuckled. “He must’ve bought the coffee machine with his own money. Hehe…” His tone was rather complicated.
Luke stopped interrupting Al, who was clearly another great specialist since Old Greyson was much nicer to Al than he was to his boss.
So, Luke certainly had to show the old coroner respect.
After they left the morgue, Luke said goodbye to Old Greyson.
Old Greyson was too busy working on the Diorama Killer case to spend time with Luke. He could only tell Luke to meet with him one more time before Luke returned to LA.
Luke agreed and left with Selina.
In his office, Old Greyson thought for a moment before he called Nick. “Hey, it’s me. Did you pay attention to what my nephew did today? That’s fine. Write a report on what he did today and conduct a psychological analysis. What? It’s not a job; think of it as a test. Try and finish it in your spare time…”
Luke looked back at Old Greyson’s office in between the officers who were blocking the way. Shaking his head with a smile, he entered the elevator with Selina.
It was already four in the afternoon.
They left the forensics center at half past nine that morning, and the trip to and from Henry’s Hog Hideout had been around six hours all up.
Selina wasn’t in a bad mood. She had enjoyed the prank, the two bizarre cases, and the spectacle of a woman kissing a reluctant man today.
But she was really hungry. “Darling, I’m really hungry. I want to eat roast meat.”
Luke nodded with a smile. “Let’s go back to the hotel. Then we’ll have some fun in the casino.”
They took a cab and returned to Aurora Hotel.
Although Selina claimed that she wanted roast meat, she also ordered lobster, escargot, croissants, onion soup, and a fruit salad, before she finally stopped.
Luke paid the bill and dragged Selina, who was too full to walk anymore, to the casino.
Not wanting to move at all, Selina sat down in front of a slot machine.
Luke chose the slot machine not really because he was drawn to it, but because the chairs in front of the slot machines were the most comfortable.
Glancing at the slot machine, Luke pointed at the electronic screen on it with a smile. “Do you see this? There’s 973,662 dollars in the pool. We’ll be rich if you can win that.”
Selina was neither interested nor naive. “I’m not stupid. The money in the pool is from other players who wanted to win this prize themselves. Just leave me here. Go play any game you want.”