In the somber atmosphere of the interrogation room, Jiayi placed the evidence basket on her left side, sitting side by side with Sanfu, back against the camera mounted by the door.
Fang Zhenyue stood by the door as usual, leaning against the wall, relaxed in posture but with a cold gaze fixed on Qin Hongliang.
Liu Jiaming and Uncle Jiu stood outside the interrogation room, peering intently through the window.
The pressure in the interrogation room was heavier today, and everyone was more solemn, as if they were all dressed for a funeral.
Qin Hongliang sensed this atmosphere and was uncertain why it was so. She could only sit back in her chair, still displaying an innocent expression, constantly observing the three detectives across from her.
This tense silence lasted for several minutes. Qin Hongliang began to feel her buttocks and back numbing from sitting too long, and she shifted slightly, her heartbeat inexplicably erratic.
Last night, Jiayi had read some books on psychology, and she discussed interrogation techniques with Brother Yue this morning.
Brother Yue hadn’t offered any advice on her interrogation from yesterday, seemingly to avoid making her doubt herself, so he affirmed her approach from the previous day. However, for today’s interrogation, he suggested some techniques.
The first was to control the atmosphere and pace of the interrogation. Sometimes, not speaking was more terrifying than speaking, especially when paired with unsettling changes and a special ambiance, which had a better effect.
Following this, Qin Hongliang’s gaze began to drift, and her posture grew increasingly unstable.
Then, Jiayi took a deep breath and quietly began:
“Qin Hongliang, I saw this morning’s newspaper. Was that a gift you sent me?”
“Madam, I’m just telling the truth. You wouldn’t retaliate against me for that, would you?” Qin Hongliang raised her eyebrows, still maintaining an innocent and pitiful look.
Jiayi smiled and did not appear angry. “The police have all the evidence, and the court will sentence you for your crimes. How could that be considered retaliation? It’s a matter of justice.”
“Evidence?” Qin Hongliang tugged at her lips. “I don’t understand. I’m innocent. How could there be evidence pointing to me?”
“Qin Hongliang, the newspaper says the police have a lot of evidence pointing to the perpetrator, yet they still wrongly accuse you. But how do you know the police have lots of evidence pointing to the perpetrator? Is it because you deliberately left that evidence for the police? Because you are the murderer, so you know. Because you know, you are overly confident, aren’t you?” Jiayi pressed her aggressively.
“I’m guessing.” Qin Hongliang said, turning her head away, clearly refusing to talk.
Jiayi smiled and no longer continued to entangle with Qin Hongliang.
Sitting next to Jiayi, Sanfu leaned forward, pressing his arms on the table, imposingly pressuring Qin Hongliang.
Jiayi continued to talk to Qin Hongliang calmly, her expression and tone as if she truly had all the evidence, which made Qin Hongliang particularly mindful.
Like a cat playfully toying with a mouse in its grasp, Jiayi even slightly curled her lips, revealing a hint of a smile.
She patted the evidence basket on her left, filled with documents and some transparent sealed evidence bags.
With Jiayi’s movements, Qin Hongliang turned her gaze to the evidence bag and saw a stack of documents and an item… When she focused on the bag placed on top, her pupils suddenly constricted, and her mouth opened involuntarily.
Inside the transparent evidence bag, there were a pair of rubber gloves stained with dirty rainwater. They were her usual brand and indeed the pair she had worn on the night of the crime.
How could this be?
How could this be possible?
She clearly had walked a long distance before discarding the rubber gloves, and it was raining at that time. After so many days, how could they have been found?
Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated, fear rushed to her brain, and a buzzing sound in her ears made her nearly unable to sit steadily on the chair.
There seemed to be a few spots of blood that hadn’t been completely washed off on the back of the gloves. She suddenly remembered that after the murder in the dark, before cleaning the crime scene, she had specifically washed the gloves. Afterward, each time she wiped down the gloves during cleaning, she continually washed them, but… she seemed indeed to have not diligently cleaned the part near the cuff on the back of the glove.
Moreover, after returning home from the murder, she indeed noticed a stain near the cuff of the rubber gloves.
She had immediately cut off that stained piece and burned it.
She also ran back to the place where she discarded the rubber gloves to check, but the gloves had already been taken away by the garbage collectors.
Such a pair of unremarkable, ordinary gloves, especially in heavy rain, even if there were any traces left, surely they would have been washed away by the rain.
They would be mixed in with all the trash and processed… It had been several days since the murder; how could they possibly still be found?
Qin Hongliang struggled to control her emotions, still trying to appear calm, but her uncontrollable rapid breathing exposed her panic.
Jiayi saw her demeanor and knew their strategy had worked.
Her hand still pressed on the evidence basket, the rubber gloves inside.
Although the basket had many compartments, and the camera behind should have been able to capture the documents, Jiayi cleverly used her own arm and palm to block the rear view, and the camera just happened to not capture the rubber gloves as evidence.
Sitting across from her, Qin Hongliang had an unobstructed view and could see the angle and details they had meticulously prepared for her to see.
Jiayi took a deep breath, resisting the urge to turn around and seek approval from Sergeant Fang and exchange glances with her teammates. To avoid giving any unnecessary information to Qin Hongliang, she followed the actions and rhythm they had planned in advance, and timed her second move.
Standing up, she slightly turned her body to still block between the camera and the evidence basket, then turned her head to look down at Qin Hongliang, lowering her voice to make her next words sound more oppressive and composed:
“Our forensic department really found a lot of details from this piece of evidence.”
While saying this, she pointed at the evidence basket.
In Qin Hongliang’s view, Jiayi was pointing exactly at the rubber gloves on top.
Jiayi and Qin Hongliang locked eyes for a few seconds before she continued:
“Last time I questioned you, I could only list for you the sequence of your actions after entering the crime scene. This time, based on the forensic science team’s analysis of this evidence, we have identified all the detailed actions you took at the crime scene.”
“Qin Hongliang, tell me, isn’t science amazing?”
She deliberately pronounced Qin Hongliang’s name slowly and clearly, adding a level of intimidation.
Qin Hongliang’s lips twitched slightly, and then she scoffed coldly: “Madam, are you trying to scare me?”
Jiayi turned her head arrogantly and looked away from Qin, showing only her profile. She stood tall, hands behind her back, resembling the most imposing and inscrutable strategist on television, as she began to elaborate:
“When the victim Zhao Meini turned around, you grabbed something from the small rack nearby and smashed it hard on the back of Zhao Meini’s head.”
“Being a pole dancer, you have exceptional arm strength; just that one blow, and Zhao Meini fell to the ground, motionless. Blood gushed from the back of her head, and that’s when you took out the rubber gloves you had prepared in advance from your bag.”
“You watched Zhao Meini as you put on the gloves, then wiped the fingerprints off the murder weapon. During this process, the rubber gloves picked up dust from the blunt object.”
“Then you placed the blunt object back in its original place, and your palm also picked up dust from the small rack.”
These details were clues that could be discovered even without the psychic vision, by carefully examining the dust traces at the scene.
Jiayi, relying on the psychic vision, had revisited all the places and details seen in the psychic images and had paid attention to these areas.
Thus, detectives with strong reasoning skills would think that Jiayi reached these conclusions through her observations.
But to Qin Hongliang, it seemed as if Jiayi had witnessed it herself.
Catching Qin Hongliang tensing her shoulders nervously out of the corner of her eye, Jiayi smirked slightly and continued:
“Then you turned back to the bedroom, first tidying up the victim Zhao Meini’s bed. During this process, the damp rubber gloves picked up cotton fluff, fleece, thread ends, and the victim’s hair. Those of us who have used these gloves know how difficult it is to wash off hair and fleece once they stick to the rubber.”
“After arranging the bedroom, you went back and lifted the victim Zhao Meini in a fireman’s carry, the gloves picking up fibers from the victim’s clothing.”
“Next, you removed the victim’s clothes one by one, and so the gloves collected more skin flakes, fabric fibers, and other materials, while some of the substances previously on the gloves also transferred onto the clothes.”
“This included the bloodstains on your gloves, as well as the blood and dust on the tips of your broken hair.”
“All these substances continually contaminated each other, and the forensic department conducted extensive tests based on these, exposing all your actions.”
“You went into the kitchen, took a knife, and the gloves picked up grease.”
“Then, returning to the bedroom, you straddled the victim, gestured with your left hand between the victim’s breasts, and picked up some sweat hairs and skin flakes, and then…”
Jiayi mimicked Qin Hongliang’s actions, stabbing forcefully once, twice… until the fifth time, when she suddenly stopped.
Qin Hongliang counted along to the fifth stab, and when Jiayi didn’t proceed to the sixth, she instantly realized that the other was mocking her deliberately. She flared up, glaring fiercely at Jiayi.
Seeing her anger, Jiayi appeared even more delighted. She then gestured towards the side as if throwing the murder weapon into a trash bin, and continued:
“Then you sat on the bed, folding clothes one by one. After finishing, you left the bedroom and started cleaning the floor and the coffee table with the cloth you had prepared, wiping off your fingerprints from the cups… Thus, the rubber gloves got stained with the dirt from the cloth and the dust on the table…”
“Even though you meticulously cleaned with gloves on, and washed the cloth several times while wearing them, that night you were not completely calm. You needed to rush back to Tu Guisheng’s house before dawn, to avoid being seen by others, you had to leave quickly.”
“So, really, many clues were left on the gloves.”
Qin Hongliang’s breathing became more and more rapid, with each sentence Jiayi uttered adding to her fear.
She kept recalling the events of that night, which were exactly as Jiayi described. Following Jiayi’s narrative, she could almost see in the dark how more and more things got stuck to the gloves, which she failed to completely clean.
The dust from Zhao Meini’s house and various traces, and the blood spots on the back of the gloves that were not washed off… If the gloves were turned inside out, her fingerprints would definitely be found.
The hand hidden under the table unconsciously began to tremble slightly.
“Look at all these lab reports, all these pieces of evidence,” Jiayi snickered. “Once this hits the papers tomorrow, everyone will say that Qin Hongliang is a fool who thought she was smart, and I, Yi Jiayi, am a brilliant female detective who thoroughly trampled the foolish Qin Hongliang.”
“No, it wasn’t me who killed her, it was Clara! With so much evidence pointing towards Clara, why are you still focusing on me?” Qin Hongliang suddenly raised her head, her eyes red and glaring bitterly at Jiayi.
“The latest evidence already shows that the murderer is you, you helped Clara clear her name,” Jiayi turned to face Qin Hongliang, her hands resting on the evidence basket, smiling as if thanking Qin Hongliang.
This dismissive attitude compounded Qin Hongliang’s fear, pressing her nerves closer to a breaking point.
“Those hairs—” Qin Hongliang wanted to argue that the hair, earrings, lipstick marks, and other evidence clearly pointed to Clara, how could they not be considered evidence? How could Clara possibly be absolved? Are the detectives fools?
But just as she was about to speak, she suddenly remembered that the police had not publicly disclosed the evidence they found. If she wasn’t the murderer, she couldn’t possibly know about these items, and she abruptly stopped herself.
However, the near miss of saying something wrong also transformed into a new shock, causing her hands to tremble even more violently.
Just a little bit, she was almost ruined…
This thought kept surfacing in her mind, making her increasingly nervous and scared, and her heartbeat grew even more intense.
She swallowed hard, raising her head to meet Yi Jiayi’s palpably intense gaze, almost trembling as she responded: “That… that was Tu Guisheng. How will the police explain the sleeping pills in my system? It was Tu Guisheng! He drugged me, then while I was unconscious, he went and killed Zhao Meini.”
“!” Suddenly, all the detectives stiffened.
Qin Hongliang’s previously impenetrable defense had finally cracked!
Jiayi’s cheeks flushed with excitement, her eyes shining frighteningly bright. She chuckled, then proclaimed loudly:
“Qin Hongliang!”
“As far as I know, after the incident, you did not go to the hospital for a check-up, and even if you had a medical exam at the hospital, it would take a long time for the results to come back. It definitely couldn’t be faster than the specialized expedited tests done by the police forensics team.”
“The police only received the medical examination results for you and Tu Guisheng today, and until now, neither you nor Tu Guisheng have been informed of what the results are. Tu Guisheng still does not know if he has been drugged, nor what kind of drug it was.”
“Why do you know? And why so specifically mention sleeping pills? You should know, there are many drugs that can cause unconsciousness, not just this one.”
Jiayi suddenly burst into laughter. She pointed at the camera behind her and said proudly:
“Everything has come to light, Qin Hongliang, what excuses do you have left?”
Qin Hongliang’s face turned pale, then turned green.
Her lips trembling, she suddenly covered her face and began to sob loudly.
Qin Hongliang shook all over, weeping bitterly, no longer the arrogance and pride she had before. The murderous aura from when she killed had dissipated, and she curled up, looking so diminished as if her very presence had suddenly vanished, making her appear so small.
Jiayi breathed a sigh of relief and finally turned to look at Fang Zhenyue.
The man nodded at her, and the hand hanging by his side quietly gave a thumbs up.
Jiayi’s eyes and brows relaxed, a sense of accomplishment washing away the fatigue and frustration of the past few days, rejuvenating her, making her shine brilliantly as if she were glowing.
Turning back, she patted Sanfu on the shoulder, and Sanfu also looked up at her, nodding vigorously with undisguised admiration in his eyes.
Jiayi felt a warm surge in her chest, in the brief moments, her emotions peaked. Even in the police station, where the air conditioning was at full blast, she actually broke out in a sweat on her forehead.
At last, she understood why these men were always complaining about the heat.
It wasn’t the body that was hot; it was the job that made one’s blood boil.
Jiayi wiped the sweat from her forehead, picked up the important prop, the evidence basket, and turned to leave the interrogation room.
Gary took her place, sitting across from Qin Hongliang, waiting for her to finish crying.
As soon as she stepped out, Liu Jiaming handed her a bottle of mineral water, which Jiayi unscrewed and chugged half of.
Taking out the gloves from the top of the evidence basket, she handed the evidence to Liu Jiaming to keep safely.
Leaning against the window outside the interrogation room, Jiayi relaxed and continued to drink water. She then noticed that outside the small window of the interrogation room, which was not very big, there were actually three heads squeezed together.
One was Uncle Jiu, one was Sergeant You from Team A, and another was John from Team C.
“So many people say your interrogation process is especially exciting, seeing is believing!” You Zhaohua couldn’t help but shake his head in admiration, looking at Jiayi with appreciation.
He felt the chill on his back just watching that part of the interrogation.
“Jiayi is amazing! The profile was really captivating!” C Team’s Sergeant John also genuinely praised.
“It’s all thanks to our Sergeant Fang’s training,” Jiayi modestly replied with a smile.
Just as Fang Zhenyue walked out of the interrogation room, he heard this comment and his eyebrows slightly raised by 1mm.
After drinking some water and catching her breath, Jiayi walked back into the interrogation room.
Then, it was Fang Zhenyue’s turn to stand outside the interrogation room and chat with You Zhaohua and John.
You Zhaohua didn’t hold back, directly asking, “When you get promoted, can you transfer Yi Jiayi to our group?”
John hadn’t expected such words to be said so easily and slapped his thigh, regretting not having said it first.
Fang Zhenyue glanced at You Zhaohua and John and chuckled lightly.
“Transfer her for what? To do your work?” Fang Zhenyue scoffed, thinking to himself: Don’t even dream about it.
By that time, what happens with Jiayi won’t be for these two to decide.