"Wait, I still have questions to ask."

Pete glanced at his watch, turned to leave, "Sorry, I'm afraid today's not good, I have class in a bit."

"OK, you go to class first, I'll come find you at the dance studio later."

Pete stopped in his tracks, turned back around, "I don't want to talk about... private matters at my place of work."

Luke took a sip of his coffee, "Then let's make things clear now."

Pete said helplessly, "What else do you want to ask? Just hurry up."

"Were you Josie's boyfriend?"

"Sort of."

"What do you mean 'sort of'? Either you were, or you weren't."

"Yes, I was."

"Did you often call each other?"

"Almost never, Josie was still a student, we were very conscious of the impact, usually we just used a dance software to chat, arranging to meet at the dance studio."

Luke wrote it down in his notebook, this explained why Matthew couldn't find any communication records between them, "Why did you break up?"

"The reasons are quite complex." Pete sighed lightly, looking at Josie's memorial photo, "We were different in age, had a lot of differences in thinking, and we couldn't even go out in public without causing some minor conflicts.

She was young, and usually, it was me who would placate her.

Of course, I could accept all these things, nobody's perfect.

The direct cause of our breakup was that she was seeing another man, I caught them, they had meals together, watched movies together."

Afterwards, when I confronted her, she got angry instead, saying I shouldn't have tracked her and that I was being scary.

I was angry too, it was clearly her who was with another guy, how did it become my fault?

Was it wrong for me to see what they were doing?

If I didn't follow them, how would I know they went to the movies, or that they had meals together?

What was I supposed to do? Confront the guy and give him a beating?

Come on, I'm an adult now, so I chose to break up with her."

Luke pressed, "Who was the guy Josie was dating?"

"I don't know him, Josie initially denied it, just saying he was a regular friend.

I told her that the fact she watched movies with a regular male friend made it even more unacceptable to me.

Only then did she tell me the truth, saying this guy was a student council member, had done her a big favor, and as repayment, she agreed to date him three times, and if there were no feelings, they would not interfere with each other anymore." Pete replied with a bitter laugh,

"I was dumbfounded at the time. Am I too old, turned into a stick-in-the-mud?

Why do I find this 'agreement' absurd and laughable?

If after three dates they took a liking to each other, what would I be then?

If dating was like playing poker, then what difference would I have from an idiot?

I really can't understand Josie's actions, it strengthened my resolve to break up with her."

"You said the guy Josie dated was from the student council?"

"That's what she told me, he was probably from her school."

"What's his name?"

"I don't know, it's no longer any of my concern. She's dead, what's the point in pursuing it now."

"When did you two break up?"

Pete thought for a moment, "About three weeks ago."

"What happened with Josie and the guy she was dating?"

"We ran into each other once at the dance studio, she approached me, apologized, and said she'd made it clear to that guy, and they wouldn't be seeing each other anymore.

Although she didn't say it explicitly, I knew she wanted to get back together.

Reason told me we had no future... I didn't give her a response."

Luke took out a photo of Herman, "Do you recognize this person?"

Pete glanced at the picture, "Yeah, that's the guy, I recognize him. He had meals with Josie, went to movies with her, and even tried to wrap his arms around her waist, likes to be touchy-feely."

Luke asked, "Did you beat him up?"

Pete shrugged, "No, I've thought about it afterwards. Why didn't I beat him up? Was I scared? Too soft? Or didn't care? It seems like none of the above.

Compared to these reasons, I feel like I didn't have the right to.

That's the fundamental reason why I wanted to break up with Josie.

I felt like she didn't belong to me."

"Do you hate her?"

"No, we had a happy time together, and that's enough."

Luke presented a photo of the man who died on the rooftop of the science building from poisoned food, "Do you recognize him?"

Pete took the photo, looked it over carefully, "I don't recognize him."

"What were you doing between 3 pm and 4 pm on May 10th? Don't overthink, this is just a routine inquiry, just answer truthfully."

Pete thought for a bit, "I was at the dance studio, teaching the students how to dance, they can all vouch for me."

"What's the name of the dance studio?"

"Motoji Dance Training Center."

Luke handed him a business card, "If you remember any new clues, give me a call."

Pete took the card, "I will."

Luke showed no sign of leaving, reaching out his hand.

Only then did Pete realize, and he also handed his business card to Luke.

"Don't leave town recently, the police might want to speak to you again."

Pete nodded, took one last look at Josie's photograph, and then climbed into his BMW and drove away.

Hope came over, "Who's that guy? You seemed to have a decent chat."

"Josie's ex-boyfriend, Pete."

"Ex-boyfriend?" Hope muttered, "Could he have killed out of anger over the breakup?"

Luke nodded, "It's possible, we'll check his alibi later."

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