Koyama no Kousagi

The Hand that Feeds 1-10

You and Luke have determined that the suspect is someone closely related to Vernon and has a conflict of interest with the restaurant. You suddenly think of Pedro, the man Winnie had argued with. Vernon had rejected his sales offers several times, which constituted a conflict of interest.

Luke: "Could this case... be related to another one I'm working on?"

Y/n: "Another case? I'm talking about Pedro, the sales manager for DeliCart. Winnie told me about him back at the law firm."

Luke: "..."

Y/n: "Winnie didn't tell you about him? Or is there something more to this?"

Luke: "DeliCart received investment funds from Pax Capital and is planning to go public. Did you hear about that?"

Y/n: "Yeah, I did. I also heard that many smaller financial institutions are following suit."

Luke: "Yep. One of them hired me to perform credit and background checks on DeliCart. During my investigation, I found that DeliCart not only hired a bunch of paid posters to write fake reviews but they're also suspected of making money through illegal means."

Y/n: "What!? DeliCart's just a food app. What's their goal?"

Luke: "I don't know either, but this case might've given me a lead. There's a lot of competition in the review app market. Although DeliCart can remain afloat, its revenues are nowhere high enough to go public. But if an accident occurred at one of their client's restaurants, DeliCart's premium PR services would then become useful."

Y/n: "You're saying that DeliCart intentionally sabotages its clients? Like review-bombing a restaurant to force it's owner to purchase DeliCart's premium service to save their restaurant's reputation?"

Luke: "This is just my hypothesis based on these two cases, and I don't have any hard evidence yet,"

Y/n: "I didn't think this is what private detectives do nowadays..."

Luke: "What else? You think I'd be invading some celebrity's privacy or digging into affairs? Give me a break."

Y/n winks.

Y/n: "You said it not me. I thought private detectives were all about solving cold cases. Pedro happens to be a DeliCart employee, so you might be right. Let's see if we can find some evidence here."

While searching the bookshelf, you come across a picture frame hidden amongst the recipes.

Y/n: "Is this photo... of Mr. Green's family?"

You remove the photo to see if there's a date on the back, but you find another photo wedged behind the photo frame.

Y/n: "It's... Pedro!"

Luke: "The photo's dated March 2028. It was taken two years ago."

Y/n: "Why would Pedro's photo be with Mr. Green's family photo?"

Luke: "Judging by Mr.Green's age, his son should be much older than Pedro."

Y/n: "We'll have to ask Mr. Green about it then."

Y/n: "Mr. Green was quite handsome in his prime. But now, he seems a bit haggard. I hope this blows over so he can get back on his feet This must be Mr. Green's wife, Penny. She's beautiful."

Luke: "It's gotta be her. I mean, they look extremely close with each other."

Y/n: "Her smile's so gentle. She must've been a kindhearted person. It's such a pity... Is this Mr. Green's son?"

Luke: "When Winnie hired me, she told me about Mr. Green's current situation. She didn't mention that he had a son."

Y/n: "She's only been in Stellis for a month. It's understandable that she doesn't know everything about his family. I feel like... the boy in the photo seems familiar."