CLUE BOARD - DAY 3 The Last Call at Smoky Joe's

The French Connection

Original Case Here

From Nico's notes:

Found two other singers who'd crossed paths with Vincent Moreau. Neither wanted to talk at first.

Carmen Valdez, torch singer from the Blue Moon Lounge: "Vincent promised me a recording contract. Big studio, national tour, the works. All I had to do was meet him at his hotel room to 'discuss the details.'" Her voice went cold. "When I refused, he said I'd regret it. That girls who don't play along have a way of... disappearing from the circuit."

"Did he hurt you?"

"He tried. I got lucky—hotel security showed up when I screamed." Carmen stubbed out her cigarette hard. "Vincent doesn't like being told no."

Theresa O'Brien from Riverside Gardens was less lucky: "He cornered me after my set. Said if I didn't come to his hotel, he'd make sure no club in Chicago would book me." She showed me her wrist—finger-shaped bruises, three weeks old. "He's stronger than he looks."

Both women described the same cologne. The same threats. The same pattern.

But here's what bothers me: Vincent's been making these threats for months. If he killed every singer who refused him, half the jazz district would be dead.

Question for Day 3: Why was Lena different? What made Vincent escalate from threats to murder this time?

Tomorrow: The truth about those missing matches changes everything we thought we knew.