The next morning, Odori.

Hank pulls out a whiteboard from the corner and pastes a lone photo.

He waved his pen and wrote his name:

"Dean Masters, I've worked with this guy before, when he was in his twenties, he was a proud artist."

"But his talent can't keep up with his pride."

"I don't have a job, I can't sell any works, and naturally, I get a unique product."

"One road to the dark, you should be able to guess what happened behind him, suspected of buying and selling illegal artworks, forging famous paintings for sale, etc."

"It seems that he is really a talent."

Ethan took a sip of coffee and said with a smile:

"This incident tells us that we should not underestimate any down-and-out artist."

"Especially the art students who didn't make the list."

"Art student?" Hank stopped what he was doing.

"It's fine." Ethan waved his hand.

"And how did he get into trouble with our intelligence group?" Antonio spread his hands: "Last night you said he had something to do with a theft?" ”

"A painting of Klimt was stolen."

Hank said in a hoarse voice, "We know he and someone else did it, but we haven't found any clues. ”

"The painting never appeared, and the matter was gone."

"Haha."

Rusek laughed: "Why would someone call this name, this name is really funny." ”

"You can think his name is funny."

Erin didn't understand his strange smile, looked at the sticky note in his hand and said:

"His work is not funny, this is the master of Austrian symbolism, and in '94, one of his paintings, Flower Farm, sold for £3.7 million at Christie's."

"By now, the estimate has exceeded £20 million."

"Shet."

When the number is so high that it is just a number, Russec was startled, took an awkward sip of his coffee, and stopped talking.

"Are we going after the stolen painting?" Antonio turns the ballpoint pen:

"It's been a year, and I don't think there's much hope."

"That's what I thought, too." Hank nodded:

"Maybe it will be sold to a private collector long ago."

"Still." Hank's voice changed: "Last night, what he said to the Asian woman, someone wants to clean him up, and I think I still have to follow up on this information." ”

"Maybe we'll find a clue to the stolen paintings."

As they spoke, Olinsky led the Chinese woman from the previous night up the stairs.

On top of the short skirt, there was a black leather jacket, two oversized earrings, and a bandage on the bridge of the nose, which was red and swollen in the middle.

"Irene."

Hank flipped the whiteboard: "You take care of it." ”

Since Julie's death, the female victims will be taken over by Erin, and there will be easier communication between women and women.

But Ethan stood up: "Let me come." ”

Seeing this, Erin glanced at Hank and sat back down.

"Hello."

Ethan stepped forward and stretched out his hand to the Chinese woman with a nervous expression: "I'm Detective Ethan Morgan, you can call me Ethan." ”

Everyone, including Olinsky next to him, looked at him in surprise.

Although they couldn't understand it, they knew that Ethan spoke Chinese.

Hearing the familiar words, the Chinese woman was slightly surprised, and she shook hands with Ethan: "I'm Xiaomei." ”

"Let's go, sit inside."

Ethan picked up the Tieguanyin prepared in advance from his desk and led her to the pantry.

As a result of his arrival, a kettle was also installed in the pantry.

Soon, two cups of hot tea were on the table.

Ethan blew off the tea leaves and took a sip: "How was your rest last night?" ”

"Very good."

Xiaomei took a sip of hot tea, and her body relaxed: "You speak Chinese well, and in addition, thank you for saving my life last night." ”

She is supposed to be a second-generation immigrant, and her voice is weird.

In addition, she faced Ethan, so she naturally converted into English.

"You're welcome."

Ethan laughed and said, "I just did what I was good at. ”

"Now can you tell me about the man last night? Masters, how much do you know about him? ”

Xiaomei hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly spoke: "I only met him last night. ”

Thinking of last night's picture, her expression became horrified, and tears slid down the corners of her eyes: "I am a professional beautician, and until a week ago, I was working in a beauty salon. ”

"But the salary paid there is very small, and we can barely pay the rent."

"This is my third time...

Ethan pulled out a tissue and handed it to her, telling her to wipe away her tears.

No one but the person concerned can judge the lives of others because they don't know what they are going through.

He was silent and listened quietly.

When she calmed down a little, Ethan asked:

"Last night, why did Masters keep saying that you wanted to harm him, of course, I know that you saw that he was emotionally unstable and wanted to leave quietly, which caused him to misunderstand."

"But there must be other reasons in between."

"I don't know, he's suspicious."

Xiaomei sniffed and said with a crying voice: "As soon as I got to the place, he was angry with me because I was not the girl he wanted. ”

Ethan captures the point: "It means that he has had a fixed one before... ”

"Playmates."

After hesitating for a few seconds, he picked out the right word.

"That's right."

Xiaomei thought for a moment: "That girl's name is Nadia. ”

"Thank you."

Ethan handed over the transcript: "Please write down the address of the massage parlor and the information of the owner of that place." ”

"It's important to us."

Xiaomei hesitated for a moment, but still wrote down what she knew.

Anyway, after what happened last night, she didn't plan to continue doing it.

After talking to her for a while, and making sure nothing was missing, Ethan accompanied her out of the police station and gave her his business card:

"If you think of something, you can call me directly."

Looking at Xiaomei in the distance, Ethan shook his head and was about to walk back when a patrol car drove up next to him and stopped.

Atwater and Burgess got out of the car listlessly, looking unmotivated.

"Hey, man."

Ethan greeted them: "What's the matter with you, you don't have any vitality at all. ”

"See this?"

Burgess pouted and picked up a bag containing a blackened banana peel: "We've been dealing with all sorts of chores all morning. ”

"Because of a complaint from a neighbor, I was arranged to lock up an old grandmother just now."

"Just because she didn't clean up the garbage in her home and yard in time, can you believe it?"

"Come on."

Ethan could only raise his fist and cheer them up.

The daily life of the patrol police is not just these trivial things.

"Detective, can you tell me what you're up to?" Burgess bumped him on the shoulder: "You know, give us some motivation. ”

After hitting her shoulder, she came back to her senses and hurriedly showed a smile.

(End of chapter)