Volume 1: First Arrival Chapter 053 Motives
Paul looked back with astonishment and surprise on his face, watching the three children holding their heads high and patrolling in front of the entrance of the game hall in a proper manner. They did not look like mischievous people at all, and each of them looked like a little adult.
Retracting his gaze, Paul looked at Kirk as if he saw a monster.
As if he sensed the burning gaze, Kirk turned around without warning and rushed towards Paul with a ferocious face and bared fangs.
"ah!"
Paul was so frightened that his legs went weak and he felt a slight warmth in his crotch. He almost fainted on the spot.
However, when Paul came to his senses, he saw Kirk with a calm face, as if nothing had happened, and his face was so focused and serious that Paul couldn't help but start to suspect that he was hallucinating.
"... Detective ?" Paul called out tentatively.
"Hmm?" Kirk looked calm and focused, showing unparalleled professionalism. He turned his head and looked over, completely unaware of what Paul wanted.
Paul, “…No, it’s okay.”
However, as he continued to move forward, Paul was like dancing on the tip of a knife, trembling all the way with his calves shaking constantly.
In a blink of an eye, the cleaners' workshop was right in front of him. Paul breathed a sigh of relief, quickly opened it with the door card, and then quickly stepped back.
In front of me is a simple space that is not spacious.
On the outside are lockers, one for each person, with the employee's name on it; inside is a small rest space with a table, chairs and a small refrigerator.
Kirk quickly scanned the area and soon found Ana's cabinet.
However, there is a combination lock.
Although the Plaza Hotel has a long history of over a hundred years, due to operational difficulties, in April 2005, the hotel's latest owner decided to close the hotel for a large-scale renovation, retaining some traditions and classics while giving the hotel new vitality. It reopened on New Year's Day 2008.
The equipment in front of us is a mark of the progress of the times.
--password.
Opening a locker without destroying it is a technical job.
Of course, Kirk could wait here and let Callum apply for a search warrant, but the lobby of the Plaza Hotel might become a mess and things would be difficult to clean up.
So, Kirk wasn't going to wait, but he wasn't going to use violence either—
The world is so beautiful, but people are so irritable. This is not good.
"Paul, tell me about Ana. How old is she, how does she dress, when did she start working, is she married, does she have children? What are her obvious preferences?"
"Uh." Paul was a little stuck. "I don't know. God, how can I know the condition of a cleaning lady?"
"Any information." Kirk had never seen Ana, so even if he guessed the code, he would have no clue.
“…She was, well, in her twenties, young, pretty, vibrant, had been employed for less than a year, and I knew she had been sending her salary back to Puerto Rico.”
"Huh...she occasionally talks to guests, which is forbidden in our hotel. But she is so beautiful, and the guests take the initiative to talk to her, so we have no way to stop her."
"I don't like her, I don't hate her, but she's just dreaming of Cinderella and looking forward to being like Jennifer Lopez."
Kirk's eyebrows raised slightly, "Jennifer Lopez?"
What surprised Kirk was that Jennifer Lopez was not a woman from the slums. She was of Puerto Rican descent, but she was born in New York. If I remember correctly, she should be from an ordinary family, not so good but not so bad either. This was different from Ana's background.
When people are "daydreaming", they often choose people who are in similar situations to themselves and hope that they can replicate their success.
Paul didn't understand what Kirk meant, so he nodded in affirmation, "Yes, Jennifer Lopez, what's wrong?"
Kirk thought about it. Although he couldn't understand why Ana chose Jennifer Lopez as her dream model, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.
"0724".
It's Jennifer Lopez's birthday.
Kirk tested it, but the combination lock didn't open.
So, guess wrong?
If you think about it carefully, Ana expects to change her life and become a successful person like Jennifer Lopez. Her appearance also provides enough capital, and the conversations with hotel guests also prove this. The direction of inference is correct, but why is the password wrong?
etc--
"2002".
Snapped.
The combination lock opened with a click.
To be precise, what Ana admired was not just Jennifer Lopez, but the Jennifer Lopez in the Cinderella fairy tale "Maid in Manhattan" released in 2002.
In the movie, she plays a single mother who cleans rooms in a hotel. She comes from Puerto Rico and works hard and independently so that her family can live a happy life. Later, she meets a nobleman by chance in the hotel, and due to a series of misunderstandings, the two fall in love.
If so, then everything would make sense.
really!
Paul stared at the opened combination lock in front of him with his mouth wide open. Even though his jaw was dislocated, he completely forgot to use his hand to fix it.
Kirk didn't have time to pay attention to Paul. He opened the locker and knew that the situation was not good.
It was neither messy nor empty; the items inside were neatly arranged, not a single item was missing.
That's exactly the problem.
If Ana chose to resign, how could she not pack up her personal belongings or even change her private clothes? Would she leave in her work clothes?
Of course, Kirk could think of a possibility. Suppose Ana was being hunted by her enemies, and when she saw her enemies coming to her house, she fled in a hurry, without having time to pack her personal belongings or change her uniform. However, why did Mrs. Martinez and the others say that Ana resigned instead of missing?
So, there is indeed something fishy going on with the cleaners.
It is very, very likely that the person who died in the accident Henry saw in room 411 was Ana.
But what about motivation?
If one person did it, it might be a personal grudge; but judging from all the signs, four female cleaners were involved. Why?
He left the front half of the locker space and walked into the studio.
An ordinary rest space, neat, clean, and well-organized. There was nothing special about it, and even if a search was conducted, it would be difficult to find anywhere.
Paul looked around the room, seeing nothing.
Paul couldn't help but look at Kirk, and then he could see Kirk looking around carelessly, glancing here and there, with no pattern at all, not like a search at all, his lazy and lazy appearance was more like a primary school student wandering in the Louvre -
He pretended to read very seriously, but in fact he could not understand anything, his mind was absent-minded and his soul was wandering away.
Paul tried his best but couldn't control himself and rolled his eyes. Not complaining was his last act of stubbornness.
Right at this moment!
Paul saw Kirk standing in front of a wall, looking carefully and seriously. As he looked, his neck began to tilt to 90 degrees, and finally he bent over and continued to lean forward, almost turning his whole body upside down.
Paul was completely unaware that he was also turned upside down along with Kirk, but after staring at the wall for a long time, he still couldn't see anything.
--"there."
"What? Where?"
"That tile, upside down, is difficult for people with OCD."
Paul: ...That's it? He really wanted to kill someone.
