America: The Gear-Up Detective

Rod first reviewed the current progress and issues of the case.

Jackson was perhaps spurred on by Rhodes' previous promotion, and he listened very attentively this time.

Rod took out the three photos and placed them on the table one by one. Pointing to the leftmost photo, he said:

"This is the name of the registered resident of room 349 at the time: Kane Mueller. The other two were his colleagues."

After saying that, Rhodes looked at Evan, signaling him to continue.

Evan touched his graying hair with his right hand, sighed, and said in a low voice, "At that time, I visited and investigated all the neighbors around Nathan's room."

The three people in room 349 are the prime suspects.

After a pause, as if organizing his thoughts, Evan placed his hand on the table and continued:

"They claimed they were having a party in their room. The downstairs residents can testify that their loud music continued until the power went out around eight o'clock."

When I questioned them later, all three of them said they knew nothing about what happened in the next room and that they went downstairs to the bar to continue drinking after the power outage.

They didn't go upstairs to rest until around midnight, and they were extremely cooperative, even saying that they could stay in the hotel indefinitely to cooperate with our investigation.

Because of this, I became careless and stopped tracking them!

Jackson listened attentively and then shared his thoughts: "So, is it possible that the three of them were having a great time at the party when the sudden power outage forced them to end it, and then they found out that it was caused by Nathan next door, so they went to his house to demand an explanation?"

Did this lead to Nathan's death?

Rhodes expressed a different opinion:

"Although we still don't know how the killer murdered Nathan."

However, Nathan showed no signs of physical assault, and hotel guests did not hear any arguing or fighting that night.

In Rhodes's view, the case seemed more like an accident. If Nathan's death was indeed caused by a beating or a home invasion, why would the killer leave a half-lit cigarette in Nathan's hand? Wouldn't that be redundant?

Listening to the discussion, Connor gave the timely instruction:

"Jackson and Evan, you two investigate all of Kane's and his two companions' movements over the past year, making sure not a single problem is revealed."

As for Rod, you and Hank continue the investigation.

All that I've said so far is just your reasoning; the court won't accept that. You need to find concrete evidence.

Let's get started, everyone!

After the meeting, Hank and Rod walked to the underground parking lot.

The two got into the car. Hank, sitting in the driver's seat, looked at Rhodes in the passenger seat and asked, "What's the plan next?"

It seemed Hank intended to let Rhodes take full charge of the operation. Rhodes didn't stand on ceremony, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he spoke.

"We don't have any direct evidence against them, and going to their door to question them would only alert them."

Why don't we go check out their workplace first? We might find something new.

Hank had also learned about the case to some extent, and drove directly towards the harbor area.

......

Kane, Muller, and the other two were all electricians at a tugboat company in the harbor area.

Coincidentally, according to the information Jose collected, Kane and his two companions were all in the same building as Nathan's company.

This building houses most of the shipping tugboat companies, and most of them choose to stay and rest in hotels near the company building for convenient work at sea.

This place is densely populated and information flows widely. Nathan's unexpected death would definitely be a "big news" story and would spread like wildfire among the workers.

Some inside information might be hidden in these rumors.

The Elligant Hotel, where Nathan stayed, was the most popular of all the hotels and inns near their building because of its reasonable price and the fact that it had a swimming pool and bar.

Hank drove the car back to the Elligant Hotel.

The two got out of the car but did not go upstairs to check the room where the crime scene was located.

Instead, they went directly to the bar downstairs.

Pushing open the door, I found the bar filled with a noisy crowd of people drinking together.

Rod thought that there wouldn't be many people in the bar at noon.

But now it seems that quite a few people are coming to drink and relax, probably workers who are not currently working at sea and are gathering in bars to kill time.

Hank sat down at the bar with practiced ease, casually ordered a drink, and then looked at Rod, "Don't be shy. We don't drink much during work hours, how about a drink?"

Rod waved his hand, "No need, I'm not in a good mood for drinking lately."

Hank raised an eyebrow, whistled, and grinned mischievously. "What's up, are you on your period?"

Ignoring Hank's teasing, Rod ordered a lemonade and wandered around the bar with the glass in hand.

While some people were having a good time drinking, they asked them about Nathan's death.

"Have you heard? Apparently, someone died in an accident at this hotel a year ago. Do you know what happened?"

Hank, who was standing to the side, did not forget the important matter. After drinking a beer, he also looked around for information, just like Rod.

To the disappointment of the other two, most of what people knew was too bizarre, with some even believing that Nathan had committed many evil deeds and was called back to hell by Satan.

A small number of people are completely unaware of this.

After working for more than an hour, the two met up again at the bar.

Hank sat on a high stool, holding an empty glass, sipping from the rim, and looked at Rod: "Nothing to show for it. How's it going on your end?"

Rod remained silent, sitting on the stool, and changed his glass of ice water.

Watching the busy bartender, Rod persisted, "Hey, buddy, have you heard? Someone died at this hotel! Rumor has it that Satan himself was behind it!"

The bartender at the counter, a white man who looked to be under thirty, rolled his eyes discreetly upon hearing this. "Come on. These guys are drunk and still claim to be Tony Stark's son. Just take it with a grain of salt."

If you ask me, someone must have killed that guy.

I remember that night; I was smoking outside the bar when I vaguely heard a gunshot.

"Someone's definitely come looking for revenge. Such a simple case, and I heard the LAPD guys haven't closed it yet. I really don't know where all our taxes went!"

Upon hearing this, Rod's eyes lit up, and he looked at Hank, who also looked over.

Rod beckoned Hank to go outside.

The two got into the car, and Hank wanted to continue driving, but Rod absolutely refused.

Are you kidding me? You just drank alcohol and you want to drive? Maybe in your next life.

As soon as Rod sat in the driver's seat, he asked Hank, "If the bullet is small in caliber and enters the body at a tricky angle, is it possible that it won't leave any traces at the scene?"