“Huh? What is this?” The young man hurried to the Bean restaurant, then, upon arrival, read a white sheet of paper posted on the shutter door: “Because our family has a happy event, our restaurant will be closed for 8 days!”
“Oops…” the young man turned around and said to Zhao Yu, then continued, “As luck would have it, their family has a happy event to attend to!”
Zhao Yu looked around. The Bean restaurant looked shabby, its walls filled with oil stains, and its doors and windows broken. Even one of the words from the signboard was missing.
“Don’t belittle this place,” said the young man, as if he sensed how Zhao Yu felt about it. “There are many people who come here to eat. The dishes are authentic, and the lamb skewer is quite fresh. Sometimes, there are customers who drink overnight. This is like a night canteen. Ha ha ha… Officer, what are you looking for in this restaurant, anyway? It seems like… Well, it is not believed, around these parts, that this family committed any wrong.”
“Ok, don’t talk so much nonsense!” Zhao Yu took out a business card, which he handed to the young man. He said, “Do pay attention to this restaurant for me. When the family comes back, remember to give me a call!”
“Sure!” the young man said, as he nodded hastily.
Zhao Yu saw that the young man was wearing rather shabby clothes, which made him assume that he must have come from a less wealthy family. Zhao Yu took out 100 dollars on the spot, handed it to the young man, and said, “Take this, and buy another cricket pot!”
“Wow!” The young man was overjoyed. He hurriedly took the money, gave a salute to Zhao Yu, and promised to complete the task.
“Remember!” Zhao Yu ordered again, “I am conducting a secret investigation, so tell no one about it! Also, pay attention to the surroundings these next few days. If you see the person in the picture, do you know what to do?”
“I Know, I know!” The young man stood at attention again, and said, “Don’t worry, I will inform you as soon as possible!”
Zhao Yu nodded, then left the Petroleum Second Franchise. He felt that the cricket guy he had met today seemed smart enough to help him with gathering some information, so he gave him a little “informant fee”.
Due to some gains from today’s fieldwork, Zhao Yu needed to revisit his thoughts, so he drove the car back to the police station. Just when he had just stopped the car, he received a WeChat message.
Zhao Yu opened the message, and saw that it was from Miao Ying, saying: “Honey, I have arrived home, and will come back in a few days. Be prepared for our new challenges!”
At the end of the text message was a smiley face.
This…
Zhao Yu slid his finger across the WeChat app, finding only this new message in it.
It cannot be true?
Zhao Yu counted with his fingers, as he thought to himself: “If Miao Ying was on the plane all this time, it had been two days and nights. So, does her family live in Buenos Aires, Argentina?”
If not, then why had she taken such a long time to fly home?
Tsk tsk…
Seeing such a message increased Zhao Yu’s curiosity about Miao Ying’s family situation. He wanted to tell Miao Ying about the case that he was handling, but decided against it, after much thought. He only asked about her well-being, and reminded her to come back and roll in bed with him.
However, after this reply was sent out, he received no response, just like his previous replies.
Gosh!
Zhao Yu began to ponder this again. Could it be… that Miao Ying’s home is so strictly guarded, that even a WiFi signal is not allowed? This is so strange!
However, Miao Ying’s text mentioning the “new challenges” had indeed made Zhao Yu very excited. He had a feeling that Miao Ying’s return home was probably for the sake of the yellow leather notebook. She must have tried persuading her mother to allow her and Zhao Yu to submit the application together, for the post as special investigators!
From the look of things, he felt that the possibility of him securing the new identity as a special investigator was very high. Putting aside Miao Ying’s family matter, Zhao Yu hurried back to the office. No matter what the future holds, there was no room for delay in this case.
Unexpectedly, after returning to the office, even before Zhao Yu had the chance to greet his colleagues on duty, Mao Wei suddenly ran towards him from the opposite group B.
“Zhao Yu, you are back! Look at this…” Mao Wei was exceptionally excited, as he ran over, handed Zhao Yu his mobile phone, and said, “When we were looking through the videos near the kidnapping scene, we found this. Quick, take a look…”
Zhao Yu took over the mobile phone, and saw a video playing on its screen. As Zhao Yu had visited the kidnapping crime scene before, he could tell that the video was captured from a camera in front of the art school!
In the video, a mother was taking pictures of her child. This mother not only took several pictures at one time, but also took pictures together with her child via a selfie stick.
“Team leader Mao, this man…” Zhao Yu did not understand why Mao Wei had to show him this video as he did not know who the women in the video was.
“No! Xiao Zhao, look carefully!” Mao Wei pointed to the woman and said, “Look at the time that the picture was taken. It’s the same time that Lan Shuping’s daughter was kidnapped!”
“Oh…” As Mao Wei spoke, Zhao Yu immediately understood his intention. Zhao Yu opened his eyes wide, stared at Mao Wei, and said, “You mean, this woman’s mobile phone is likely to have captured something that was not recorded by the surveillance cameras?”
“Yeah! Look at the angle of the selfie photos!” Mao Wei reminded, “The angle was facing right at the blind spot, where no surveillance cameras were installed! I have already sent Xiao Liu and his team to look for this woman. Even if it takes all night, we will surely find those pictures!”
“Powerful! Powerful!” Zhao Yu gave a thumbs-up to Mao Wei. It was unexpected that they could find such hidden clues.
“We really have to pay attention to every detail!” Mao Wei said with a serious tone. “Now, the news of Lan Shuping’s confession has already been broadcast on the TV! And the police have also drafted the arrest documents!”
Mao Wei continued, “Though the confession has created a buzz, there is still no news on the kidnapped child! This means that Feng Kuo would not let the child off easily! Oh, yes!” As Mao Wei continued further, he took Zhao Yu aside and whispered, “I heard the people from the Luan branch say that our branch cannot hold this case any longer. Leaders are worried that Feng Kuo’s involvement in the kidnapping can no longer be concealed. Shall there be a day when the Provincial Bureau finds out that we concealed the truth, they would surely be mad. Who can afford to shoulder such a responsibility?”
After a brief pause, he continued his thoughts, asking, “Who knows? Maybe tomorrow morning, the Provincial Bureau will know about the kidnapping. At that time, if the kidnapping news was to reach Feng Kuo’s ears, the hostage would be in a very dangerous situation!”
After hearing what Mao Wei said, Zhao Yu could not help feeling a little nervous. Indeed, as a leader, the pressure was enormous. If anything were to happen to the hostage, the consequences would be unthinkable!
Subsequently, Mao Wei explained a few more items to Zhao Yu, before returning to Team B. Due to the special circumstances this evening, many competent officers from Zhao Yu’s Team A were staying back in the office, including Zhang Jingfeng, Liang Huan and Li Beini. Zhao Yu approached them briefly, then went to the whiteboard and began to comb through his thoughts.
First of all, Zhao Yu painted Liu Jiao’s apartment, Feng Kuo’s villa, the spot where Liu Jiao filmed and the Bean restaurant, all proportionally, on the whiteboard. After he did so, a perfect equilateral triangle suddenly appeared among the painted structures. The film studio, Feng Kuo’s home, and Liu Jiao’s apartment were the three points of the equilateral triangle, while the Bean restaurant was located in the center of the film studio and Liu Jiao’s apartment.
In fact, among the four points, the distance between any two points was very short. To traverse from Feng Kuo’s home to Liu Jiao’s apartment, it only took ten minutes. And if an electric bicycle was used, it would not take more than two minutes.
What’s more, the distance from the Bean restaurant to Liu Jiao’s apartment was even shorter. It was so short, in fact, that there would be sufficient time for Lan Shuping to have made some excuse, like going to the toilet, and then run over to Liu Jiao’s apartment to murder her!
Tsk tsk…
Zhao Yu kept clicking his tongue. He did not know why the interpol, who were responsible for the investigation, had ruled out Lan Shuping as the murder suspect.
Why…
Wait…
Oh…
Suddenly, Zhao Yu thought of the reason why they could have ruled out the possibility. It was likely because, according to the testimony of the witnesses, Lan Shuping was drinking wine in the Bean restaurant all night, from 7 o’clock in the evening until 12 midnight. Also, it was the classmate, who drank with him, who drove him home that day.
This meant that, even if Lan Shuping had left the restaurant while he was drinking to murder Liu Jiao, there was no way to explain how he had framed Feng Kuo by hiding the murder weapon in his house! He simply did not have the time, or chance, to hide away the murder weapon in Feng Kuo’s bedroom!
In view of this, the suspicion of Lan Shuping became incredibly low! If Lan Shuping is no longer suspicious, and Feng Kuo was being framed, could someone else have murdered Liu Jiao?
Thinking of this, Zhao Yu picked up a red marker, then drew a big red circle around someone’s name on the whiteboard! The name in the red circle was Xiao Zhen, the half brother of Feng Kuo!
Zhao Yu felt that, if anyone else was suspicious, then he would be the one!