“I’ve thoroughly checked, analyzing from the perspective of the fine knife marks comparison, microscopic observation of the wounds, and sharp injury verification, and concluded that the likelihood it was six stabs is over 80%.”
“Thank you, Sir Xu!” Jiayi chatted with Forensic Xu for a few more words before hanging up the phone.
When she straightened up and turned back to everyone, her expression was more confident, and the listeners showed admiring expressions.
She was confident because she saw it with her own eyes!
She hadn’t mentioned it to Sir Xu before only because there was no clear logic chain at that time and she didn’t dare to speak carelessly. After organizing all the information she had observed and thought about, as well as what everyone else had gathered, the previous night, she of course felt confident to speak out now.
Liu Jiaming clasped his hands together, wanting to applaud but afraid of looking silly, he forced himself to hold back.
Sanfu stood there with his hands on his hips, swaying from side to side, took a deep breath, picked up a cup of water, and took a big gulp, put down the cup, and then fixed his gaze on Jiayi, as if urging: Officer Yi, speed up! I’ve finished digesting, and I want to hear what comes next!
Then Gary voiced what everyone was thinking:
“So, what happens next?”
“The number 6 seems to be crucial. It connects the deceased Zhao Meini with Qin Hongliang—a person obsessed with the number 6, and a murderer who stabbed the same wound 6 times.”
Jiayi pointed the red pen at Qin Hongliang’s name on the whiteboard, adding a number 【6】 beside it. After writing it down, she turned to face everyone, took a deep breath, and continued:
“Next, we have already met Qin Hongliang, and we have seen Clara.”
“Thinking back to the crime scene, the victim was an adult woman after all. To lift her, remove her clothes, and do so much cleaning, do you think Clara has that strength?”
Sanfu recalled Clara’s slender arms, worrying they might break if she tried to lift Zhao Meini.
At the time, he also had his doubts, but Clara was tall enough, and it was just feasible for her to lift Zhao Meini, though difficult. Without more evidence to support this, Sanfu was wary of making too many subjective guesses.
“But Qin Hongliang is different, her arms, shoulders, neck, and back muscles are all very notable, and so are her legs. For someone like her to kill Zhao Meini, then carry her to the bed, and tidy up the room… the physical effort spent might not even match a night of pole dancing.”
“She is fully capable.”
This is a matter of capability. If Clara lacks this ability and has not shown any other tricks, her suspicion would decrease.
Whereas Qin Hongliang very much has this capability, and already being a suspect, her level of suspicion would greatly increase.
Glancing over everyone, she then wrote a new word on the whiteboard: 【Strength】
Fang Zhenyue watched Jiayi speak more smoothly and confidently, feeling a sense of pride as if witnessing his daughter come of age.
She has grown up, ready to establish her own household, to be independent.
“With so many coincidences and clues, let’s return to the existing evidence and leads.”
“Hair in the case—the tidied room contained hair, obviously left intentionally by the murderer.”
Jiayi said, marking a cross on the word 【Hair】.
“Photos, since they were torn up, why not take them away but leave them as evidence for us? This is also fake evidence.” She marked a second cross on the word 【Photos】.
“Perfume, it was Clara who gave it to the victim Zhao Meini. The murderer specifically threw it into the bathroom trash can, as if Clara was venting her emotions. If Clara were the murderer, why leave so many clues related to herself? If she really cared about that bottle of perfume, why not take it with her?” A third cross.
“Earrings. Clara said she had lost them long ago, so how could they suddenly appear again, as if someone had purposely kicked them under the sofa?” A fourth cross.
“Clara’s lipstick mark was left on a cup on the tea table at the crime scene. Wow, I cleaned the whole house. If I were the murderer, why would I leave such a big cup there untouched? Even though there was no electricity that night, I cleaned the table, so why not the cup? No fingerprints, yet only the lipstick remains? The killer overdid it! She’s arrogant and not truly clever!” An emphatic point!
“Also, the alibi.” Jiayi tapped the tip of her pen on Qin Hongliang’s name, “She just happened to go out and stay with a man, while Clara had no one to vouch for her whereabouts. What a coincidence?”
Clenching her fist and standing in front of the whiteboard, Jiayi looked directly at each team member and said deliberately:
“Wipe Clara’s lipstick, leave a lipstick mark at the crime scene.”
“Can easily obtain Clara’s hair.”
“Recognize that the photo stuck on the mirror is a photo of the deceased and Clara together.”
“Can easily get hold of one of Clara’s earrings.”
“Knows that the perfume bottle belonged to the deceased was a gift from Clara.”
“Familiar with the deceased Zhao Meini’s home, capable of executing the deed even in darkness.”
“All these could easily be done by Qin Hongliang, who is Clara’s roommate, the deceased Zhao Meini’s colleague and friend!”
“Not to mention the other clues, coincidences, and so on.”
Jiayi furrowed her brows fiercely, ground her teeth, and said menacingly:
“When Brother Sanfu interviewed her, didn’t every bit of her information indirectly suggest that Clara was the murderer?”
As she spoke, Jiayi took out the notes Brother Sanfu made yesterday and slapped them on the whiteboard twice.
Remembering how Qin Hongliang deceived the detectives yesterday, she was still so angry!
Taking a deep breath, she turned and swiftly wrote down new points on the whiteboard:
【One, Time Witness】
Since Qin Hongliang claims to have a time witness, does that man really exist?
We need to hear his statement to know!
【Two, Motive for the Crime】
If Qin Hongliang is the murderer, then her motives need to be thoroughly investigated. We must delve deeply into interviews with her colleagues at the Daliyuan Nightclub.
【Three, Eyewitness】
Jiayi will soon go to the house of the deceased, Zhao Meini, to canvass the neighbors upstairs and downstairs to find out what the low-frequency booming sound she heard through the psychic scenes was.
Continue digging for eyewitnesses.
【Four, Other Evidence】
The apartment Qin Hongliang shares with Clara, and Qin Hongliang’s own bedroom, we must find a way to obtain a search warrant to investigate.
If no evidence left by the murderer is found at the crime scene, what about the murderer’s home?
Could there be items like trophies or rubber gloves?
【Five, Clara and the Victim’s Sister, Zhao Meizhi】
Perhaps by catching the real culprit Qin Hongliang, we can clear the suspicions of others.
Or find other clues to exonerate others.
“If Qin Hongliang is the murderer, then what we need to do next, is this.” After writing down these five points, Jiayi turned around.
When she faced everyone again, she relaxed.
At last, she had managed to convey all the content she thought of last night completely and clearly.
This morning on the way to work, she was still pondering these points, worried she wouldn’t be able to explain them clearly.
But seeing everyone’s expressions, Jiayi knew she had at least not failed.
Sanfu furrowed his brows, staring at everything Jiayi had marked in red on the whiteboard, which complemented Fang Zhenyue’s notes in black, gradually forming a complete and cyclical chain of murder.
He blinked and nodded to Jiayi when he turned to look at her.
Uncle Jiu sat with his arms crossed, thinking about going to pay respects to Guan Gong again, barely holding back.
Liu Jiaming’s mouth hung open, still staring at the whiteboard, sorting out the logic and thinking about what to do next.
Gary clicked his tongue, marveling at how quickly Jiayi had grown up. How has she become like this in the blink of an eye? Her progress is so fast!
He simply couldn’t keep up with her.
The words she used, her clear logic, and that relentless, whole-hearted spirit in her questioning—nothing failed to move him.
And for some reason, his knees felt weak.
Sanfu was the first to break the silence. Although he agreed, he couldn’t help but say, “We don’t have irrefutable evidence.”
“Yes, Brother Sanfu.” Jiayi nodded vigorously, then earnestly sought everyone’s help:
“Since we don’t have it, that’s why we need to speak up and ask everyone to focus on these points when collecting evidence and making inquiries.”
Sanfu turned his head to look at Fang Zhenyue.
Fang Zhenyue returned the glance with a gentle smile.
After standing up, he stretched languidly, then fixed his gaze on Jiayi with undisguised admiration:
“Splendid!”
This was the most meticulously detailed case analysis he had heard in a long time.
Listening to it felt exhilarating, like freely expressing oneself or belting out songs at KTV.
From head to toe, he felt completely refreshed, like having a thorough hot bath, enjoying a hearty meal… such was the satisfaction.
Utterly invigorating!
If it were Sanfu standing by the whiteboard, he would have walked over and patted the person’s back forcefully and embraced them to show encouragement.
Watching Jiayi, he had to suppress these rough impulses of emotional expression.
“Today’s tasks remain the same. Gary will visit Clara, Zhao Meini, and Qin Hongliang’s mutual friend alone, and Jiaming will go to the supposed boyfriend’s house of Qin Hongliang. Everyone, remember to focus more on…” Fang Zhenyue glanced at the five main points Jiayi had written on the whiteboard, and continued with a smile:
“Focus on these five key points, okay?”
“Yes, sir!” everyone chorused in unison.
Jiayi joined in, and then quietly asked, “Brother Yue, may I go alone to the crime scene again? I want to revisit the neighbors.”
“That’s fine. So, Uncle Jiu will go to Zhao Meini’s sister, Zhao Meizhi’s place, okay?” Fang Zhenyue asked.
“No problem.” Uncle Jiu nodded, walked over to Jiayi, and silently patted her shoulder.
As everyone was walking out, they suddenly noticed that Qiu Sushan was standing at the door.
They were so focused on Yi Jiayi that they didn’t even notice when madam arrived.
“Madam!” Everyone greeted Qiu Sushan one by one before heading outside the police station.
Watching the backs of the five detectives, Qiu Sushan blinked and her gaze finally rested on Yi Jiayi’s not very tall but now unmistakable straight back. She softly asked Fang Zhenyue:
“Yi Jiayi’s team spirit is getting stronger, and she’s gradually developing the ability to manage the team and plan the pace of solving cases. Is this what you expected?”
Fang Zhenyue stared at the back of Yi Jiayi’s head, lost in thought.
Was this expected?
“No, it’s a pleasant surprise.”
…
…
Sanfu called both Clara’s home and the Daliyuan Nightclub. Clara wasn’t there.
Just as he suspected that this woman might have run away and was about to leave with everyone else to go directly to Clara’s home, he discovered that not only had she not fled, but she had also shown up at the police station, her eyes swollen like peaches, in person looking for the Major Crimes Team B team detectives.
Standing at the door, stopped by the receptionist, Sanfu looked at the woman standing at the receptionist’s desk, tall but no longer looking down her nose at people, and was puzzled.
Even if the truth was as Jiayi said, and Clara was not the real murderer, would a prostitute suspected of murder really want to come to a police station?
When Clara saw Sanfu, she approached him as if seeing a family member, took two steps towards him, her thoughts a whirl, hesitating about how to express her feelings.
Fortunately, Sanfu spoke first:
“Let’s go, I was just looking for you.”
Then, the two walked one after another towards the interrogation room.
You Zhaohua had just brushed past Sanfu in the corridor and saw him turn back, curious:
“Weren’t you going to find the suspect?”
Glancing at the woman following Sanfu, You Zhaohua turned his eyes and realized, this must be the female suspect, and then he asked further:
“Did you find her so quickly?”
“It was she who came to us,” Sanfu looked back at Clara.
Clara, annoyed by You Zhaohua’s words, immediately retorted sharply:
“I came here voluntarily. You don’t have to find me; I needed to find you to cooperate with the police investigation. If the case isn’t solved, I won’t leave. I’ll stay at the police station and watch you work, sir!”
What suspect, not suspect, she didn’t kill anyone!
You Zhaohua raised his eyebrows, staring blankly as Sanfu led Clara towards the interrogation room, his facial features gradually distorting:
What’s going on?
The murderer cooperating with the detective on the case? And keeping an eye on how the detective works?
What’s the point?
Is it to watch the detectives struggle with the case firsthand and derive pleasure from it?
Or is it the thrill of the detectives gradually getting closer to the truth and catching her?
No way… The murderers that Team B encounters aren’t this twisted, are they?