章 955: Chapter 652: Turbulence in the Red Sea (Part Five)_1

"In the past decade, there has never been such a horrifying case. The countries in the South American region must deeply reflect on their regional security and the safety of their citizens. Meanwhile, the chaos in shipping trade throughout the Americas, coupled with the U.S. Congress's repeated interference in the domestic affairs of other South American countries, are not unrelated..." —— Soviet News Agency.

"The devils of Hell once again descended upon the world, and drug traffickers in Mexico went berserk. The inaction of the Mexican government and the incompetence of the current president constitute the fundamental cause of this tragedy. The U.S. Congress and the public deeply regret this. The president has already urged the Pacific Fleet to expand its patrol range and increase its frequency to effectively guarantee the safety of every U.S. citizen within the territorial waters..." —— Los Angeles Times.

"Breaking news! Breaking news! Village massacre occurred in Sinaloa State, Mexico! The drug manufacturing and dealing organization Guadalajara has claimed responsibility!" Shouting in difficult Spanish vocabulary, a newspaper boy ran across the streets. Suddenly, a man stopped him and said, "Give me a copy of the newspaper."

The newspaper boy took the money from him, gave him a newspaper. After the man opened the paper, a policewoman in uniform came over, her face sorrowful, "Has the number of victims increased to 135? I guess more than one village was affected, right?"

"That's right. The latest news indicates that all the villagers of three villages were massacred. The perpetrators possessed heavy firepower, rendering the villagers defenceless... Alright, Officer Chloe, let's continue our investigation," Lucifer said.

Lucifer folded up the newspaper, put it in his pocket, turned to Chloe, and said, "A paparazzo following Delilah says her lover is an actor named Gray. Do you know anything about Gray? What roles has he played?"

Chloe shrugged and shook her head, "He doesn't seem to be a famous actor. Otherwise, the paparazzi would have definitely exposed them."

"Next, let's search for this Gray. Perhaps he knows who killed Delilah."

Chloe nodded in agreement to Lucifer's idea. Just as they were about to set off, Chloe's communicator rang. She picked up and said, "Hello? Dan? Linda is looking for me?… Oh, yes, what happened? She says she has something to tell us? Alright, we'll go over now."

Chloe hung up the phone and said to Lucifer in the backseat, "We'll be making a trip to psychologist Linda's place first. She called the station saying that she had something to tell us."

"She's not going to tell us the name of Delilah's lover now, is she? That's no use, haven't we already found out?" Lucifer expressed rather irritably.

"Don't be like that. Linda is a respected psychologist. After all, if I were a patient, I wouldn't want my psychiatrist spreading my secrets to the world," Chloe said while starting the car and heading towards Delilah's psychology clinic.

Upon their second visit to the clinic, the pair were familiar with the place. Linda, dressed in her doctor's uniform, poured a glass of water for both of them. After the trio sat around the couch, Linda hesitantly began, "Did you see the news this morning?"

"What news are you referring to?" Lucifer countered.

"Three villages in Mexico were massacred. Many people died at the hands of drug traffickers," Linda spoke intermittently, seemingly quite upset.

Chloe nodded, her face a mirror of Linda's sorrow, "That's regrettable news. Those criminals were too brutal."

"What did you want to talk to us about?" Lucifer asked impatiently. He didn't harbor much affection for this psychologist. When he'd come before to inquire, Linda adamantly refused to reveal the leads, exhausting Lucifer's patience.

Linda sat upright on the couch, her legs together, arms resting on her knees, continuously rubbing her palms. After a while, she began, "Delilah is dead, but her death might not be so simple."

"We don't need you to tell us that." Lucifer responded unhappily. Chloe nudged him and he took a deep breath, falling silent.

"I know. You suspect that her ex-husband or lover might have killed her, but I fear the reality is more complicated," Linda adjusted her glasses as she spoke.

"You have additional leads, don't you? Doctor, you must share them with us," Chloe leaned forward, looking into Linda's eyes.

Linda sighed, took a sip of her water, and said, "When Delilah came to me for consultation before, I noticed symptoms of anxiety disorder in her. While diagnosing the cause of her illness, I discovered that she was terrified."

"I provided her psychological counseling, but her condition did not significantly improve. As her therapy progressed, she was willing to reveal more emotions buried in her heart. That's when I discovered she was a drug addict, a newly formed habit."

"What's so odd about that? In the southern districts of Los Angeles, every person you meet is a drug addict. Those junkies take pride in their habit. However, they're not welcome in my bar," Lucifer commented.

"What I mean is, she didn't choose to be an addict. It might have been an accident, or someone might have forced her into it," Linda took another sip of water.

"You're saying, someone purposely got Delilah addicted. But why would they do that?"

"Possibly for drug trafficking," Linda shook her head, "Delilah didn't tell me the details. I deduced this from her mood. She wasn't resigned like other junkies. She was in great pain as a result."

"And most importantly…" Linda paused before continuing, "I discovered under hypnosis that she might have been forced to traffic drugs."

Lucifer and Chloe both furrowed their brows. In their perspective, it was one's personal freedom if they decided to indulge in drugs, but forcing others to sell drugs was a different matter.

"You're saying that someone forced Delilah into drug dealing, which led her to develop an addiction?" Chloe asked.

Linda nodded and said, "What follows is purely my assumption with no concrete evidence, so consider it as you will."

"When Delilah initially came to me, she was suffering from anxiety due to a change in her living environment and an inability to adapt to a new community. Looking at her personal circumstances, it's likely that she became particularly anxious due to the sudden burst of fame after entering the entertainment industry, facing immense pressure," she continued.

"After a while, her emotional life also started to deteriorate; her ex-husband was abusive, she had an affair, but in the end, both relationships terminated in unfavorable circumstances."

"During these times, her emotional state remained relatively stable. However, her panic began to exceed normal levels later on. From what I gathered, I think someone might have been putting her up to peddaling drugs in certain circles."

Lucifer and Chloe exchanged glances; Lucifer asked, "Certain circles? Are you suggesting songwriters and musicians? Aren't there plenty of addicts in those circles who wouldn't need Delilah to peddle them goods?"

"No." Chloe denied promptly. She added, "You haven't mixed with this crowd, so you wouldn't know. Their source of procurement varies, and so does the origin of their goods. There's competition among the different supply routes."

"So you mean the intense competition between drug dealers caused someone on a particular supply route to force Delilah to win over customers from the circle of singers and songwriters?"

While speculating, Lucifer suddenly had an epiphany. He said, "When Delilah came to see me, several times, she seemed like she wanted to ask me for something but never ended up articulating it... might she have wanted to push drugs on me?"

"That's highly likely; you run a bar, right? Bars have always been hotbeds for addicts. If you agreed to her request, their sales could have increased substantially," Chloe explained.

"I never allow such troublemakers into my bar. They lose all inhibitions after getting high and cause a lot of problems. I wouldn't agree to sell those in my bar," Lucifer said with an expression of distaste.

"That does make sense, doesn't it?" Linda chimed in. "Delilah grew famous overnight due to a single album—she had no foundation and would have to find herself a good backer to secure her place in this tight-knit community."

"Those drug dealers likely exploited her vulnerability, forcing her to use, then sell drugs for them, and to secure customers."

Chloe breathed a heavy sigh, clearly affected by Delilah's plight. Soon after, she pondered aloud, "So, could it have been these folks who murdered Delilah?"

"No, if they required Delilah's help to recruit customers, they wouldn't kill her so soon. Delilah was at the peak of her fame, and her new album was underway. If the album did well, her influence could have spread even further. Those drug dealers wouldn't be shortsighted enough to kill the goose that lays the golden egg," Lucifer theorized.

Suddenly, all three of them paused and Lucifer and Chloe simultaneously exclaimed, "The competition!"

"If a group of drug dealers was manipulating Delilah to steal customers, their rivals wouldn't just sit idly by. The easiest solution would be to kill her..."

No sooner had Chloe finished her sentence than she sprang to her feet and continued, "All this while, our attention was solely on Delilah; we didn't investigate the background of the murderer. He claimed to have been hired by someone, but the one who hired him might not be a stranger—it could very well be his boss, a different group of drug dealers... "

"I'll head back to the precinct now and ask colleagues from the anti-narcotics department to look into which drug trafficking organization the killer is a part of."

As soon as she finished, Chloe made for the exit and Lucifer trailed behind. After they reported back at the precinct, Chloe was able to access the necessary information.

Thanks to the crackdown of 1984, cities across the West Coast had great success with clamping down on narcotics. Almost all local drug trafficking organizations were documented. In the aftermath of the large-scale purge, the number of remaining drug-trafficking organizations had dwindled. The organization the drug dealer belonged to was active in northern Los Angeles.

The most likely perpetrators, however, were the city's top drug traffickers, the Black Wave. They had monopolized most of Los Angeles's drug business for years, and their reputation for resorting to violence to capture customers from other mobs made them likely candidates for committing murder to hold onto their clients.

Chloe stood in the office, pointing to the information documented in the dossier, and said, "Within US borders, except for certain areas in southern California, conditions are not conducive to drug production, hence most drugs are imported."

"Before 1985, most drugs were Colombian, transported via Mexico. At that time, the Black Wave's supply was also sourced from Colombia."

"However, the large-scale crackdown of 1984 severed most routes, causing them to collaborate with local drug manufacturing enterprises in Mexico. According to customs data, most of their supply comes from a city in southern Mexico..."

Lucifer glanced at the file and then muttered the name of the city, "Guadalajara."

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