For example, Luke can't do the most useful three-step process of "show police badge → lapd → watch surveillance" now.
Even though he is confident in his own abilities, this search mission really depends largely on luck.
He first found a secluded place and put on makeup to transform himself into a handsome African man with a completely new look from face to body.
Then he went to a used car market, bought a Polonaise in fairly good condition, and drove to a three-star hotel.
After checking at the hotel front desk for a while, he checked into room 1026 and paid for three days in one lump sum.
After a while, he went up to the tenth floor, took out a card and swiped it on the door. In fact, he used the fake mobile phone in his hand to open the door and walked in.
After entering, he saw two men in white shirts looking at him in surprise. Luke was shocked and asked, "Who are you?"
The two men in white shirts frowned: "How did you get in?"
Luke picked up the room card and looked at it in surprise: "This is the room I booked, how come there is someone here?"
The two men in white shirts were startled and looked suspicious: "This is room 1024, how can you come in?"
Luke was stunned: "Isn't this room 1026?"
As he said that, he turned his head to look at the room number on the open door and immediately smiled awkwardly: "Sorry, I went to the wrong room."
The man in white shirt frowned: "Then how did you get in?"
Luke looked at the room card in his hand and said, "Just swipe the card and the door will open."
Two men in white shirts stood up, and one of them came over and held out his hand: "Can I see your room card?"
Luke exclaimed and immediately handed the room card to the man in white shirt.
The man in white shirt tried the room card, and the door opened as soon as he swiped it.
He frowned, took Luke's room card and tried the door of room 1026 next door. The door also opened, but he tried room 1025 opposite and it wouldn't open.
After watching him finish the test, Luke asked, "Um, can you give me back the room card?"
The man in white shirt hesitated for a moment, but still gave the room card back to him: "Next time, please make sure you check the room number."
Luke nodded apologetically: "Okay, I'll pay attention. Sorry to bother you."
As he said that, he opened the door of room 1026 next to him and went in.
Lying on the big bed in the room, he pulled the quilt over and covered himself with it. After tossing and turning a few times, he lifted the quilt and stood up: "The bed is not bad."
As he said this, he walked to the balcony, opened the window, took out a lollipop and started eating it.
I could still vaguely hear the voice of a man in a white shirt talking to a woman in the hallway: "What's wrong with your door? How can it open just by swiping a card?"
Woman: "Sir, let me check first... I'm sorry, it's indeed the key card system that's malfunctioning. I'll call maintenance personnel to handle it immediately..."
Luke raised the corner of his mouth, observed the environment downstairs, and began to ponder in his heart.
1024 is the room occupied by Miss Beth.
Room 1025 was occupied by two of the eldest lady’s college classmates.
Miss Beth opened this kind of room perhaps because she didn't want to expose the fact that she was super rich in front of her classmates.
The two men in white shirts are not bad guys, but Beth's personal security.
They occupied the room where Beth disappeared in order to preserve the scene and make it easier for later personnel to find possible clues.
They did a good job in this regard and did not allow the last known scene to be destroyed.
Luke deliberately walked into the wrong room and chatted a lot of nonsense, just to determine the smell in 1024 from a close distance.
Among them, the male smell can be temporarily ruled out, leaving only the smells of six women.
The most obvious smell came from Miss Beth herself, indicating that she had indeed stayed in Room 1024 for some time.
Among the other five women, the scent of two of them also remained in Room 1025. These should be the eldest lady’s two college classmates.
There was a smell mixed with detergent, probably the cleaning staff cleaning the guest rooms.
There was a lingering smell in many rooms and corridors. The woman who was talking to the woman in the white shirt next door was a housekeeping staff of the hotel.
The smell of the last woman is a bit interesting.
The place where the woman's scent remained the most was actually in Luke's room 1026.
In addition, this "temporary neighbor" also went to Beth's room and the rooms of her two classmates, but he stayed in the rooms of those two classmates more often, and only went in and out of Beth's room for short periods of time.
Luke narrowed his eyes as he pondered this clue in his mind.
After eating the lollipop, he turned and went out, and hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign in the room.
After leaving the hotel, Luke looked around near the door and walked towards a homeless man not far away.
After talking for a while, he gave the homeless man a few dollars, got in his car and left.
After visiting several car rental companies mentioned by the homeless man, Luke finally found some clues in one of them.
Outside the car rental company, the young male employee handed over a stack of documents.
As Luke was looking through the information, he heard the young employee say, "They came yesterday morning, but it wasn't them who rented the car. It was the woman on the list. She rented a royal blue Mercedes convertible sports car from our company. The license plate is xxxxxx. I remember it."
Luke took the information and handed over a roll of US dollars, asking, "Can you remember anything else? For example, they revealed the destination, or the driving direction, etc. You can also make your own guesses."
The young employee frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head: "No, no... anymore?"
He paused when he saw Luke take out another roll of US dollars.
His eyes flickered for a moment, and the young employee looked around and lowered his voice: "That is a high-end Mercedes-Benz sports car. The onboard system has a positioning function, and our company can receive data from this onboard system..."
Luke laughed and threw the US dollar over.
The young employee's face was full of nervousness and surprise before he took it, only to see Luke take out another roll of US dollars: "Can I check the location of this car?"
The young employee frowned: "That requires using the special computer in the manager's office. Without the password, you can't enter that system."
Luke smiled: "Then take me to see your manager. As long as you can get him out of the way for five minutes, the money will be yours too."
The young employee gritted his teeth and waved his hand: "Let's go. I will say that you want to find a luxury car for rent, and I will ask the manager to leave halfway..."
Luke nodded in satisfaction and followed.
Less than half an hour later, Luke came out accompanied by his smiling manager.
The manager also said repeatedly: "Mr. Sam, I wish you a pleasant journey! If you have any questions, you can call me."
Luke hummed: "Let this guy accompany me to pick up the car. He has a very good attitude."
Of course the manager had no objection and he passed the buck decisively, feeling very happy.
As he walked back to the office, he muttered, "Don't these rich young men have anywhere to spend their money? They just come to play for a few days and rent such a luxurious car. Don't they have to hire a driver themselves?"