While Yi Jiayi and Xu Shaowei were visiting the villa at No. 5 Shixun Road, Fang Zhenyue followed them inside and borrowed the homeowner’s phone to call the Central District police station to inquire about new progress and clues from a recent inspection. He also tried calling the office of the West Kowloon Major Crime Squad B, but no one answered; it seemed Sanfu and Gary were still searching for the store that sold the particular suit.
After using the phone, he stood with his arms crossed beside the sofa, watching Jiayi and Shaowei conduct their inquiries for a while before he stepped back, leaving the villa to survey the terrain of the Shixun villa community.
About 20 minutes later, Jiayi led Shaowei into the villa at No. 6 Shixun Road.
Only the lady of the house and two maids were home. Mrs. Zhao was painting flowers in the yard when the maids opened the door. Seeing the detectives enter, she stood up, set down her oil paintbrush, and wiped her hands with a wet towel passed to her by a maid as she walked over to greet the two detectives.
Mrs. Zhao wore a beige-pink half-sleeve cheongsam, draped with a dark red scarf, her long hair flowing elegantly—an image of mature beauty.
Jiayi and Shaowei were invited into the living room, which, though not opulently decorated in beige and white, carried an air of refined elegance and wealth.
Jiayi took only a brief glance at the accessories and decor to ascertain that Mrs. Zhao was a woman of taste. Remarkably, the Zhao family served not the typical British tea but floral tea from the mainland. Despite already having drunk plenty of tea, Jiayi couldn’t resist taking a few more sips.
The scent of jasmine was striking, the initial taste refreshingly sweet before the bitterness of the tea hit, followed by a pleasantly lingering aftertaste—a truly fine tea.
Before Jiayi could even take out the photographs, Mrs. Zhao already furrowed her brows and preemptively asked:
“Has my husband gotten himself into some kind of trouble?”
Hearing this, Jiayi sensed there was an issue, exchanged a glance with Shaowei, who then took out a photograph to show Mrs. Zhao, imitating Jiayi’s earlier manner of inquiry:
“Is this suit Mr. Zhao’s?”
Mrs. Zhao first observed Shaowei’s expression, then took the photograph and scrutinized it. After a careful look, she glanced up at Jiayi with a now serious and even somber expression.
A suit jacket with bloodstains and a cut spoke volumes without words.
“Wait a moment,” Mrs. Zhao said as she set down the photo, rose, and walked upstairs. About 5 minutes later, she returned with an even graver look.
She sat back down at the table, picked up the photo to verify again, and then said:
“My husband indeed owns a suit like this. I just checked his wardrobe, and it’s not there—it’s very likely that he took it. What happened? Was this suit found on my husband, or was it taken by someone else, or…”
She paused, realizing that she was comforting herself. A suit is not likely to be borrowed or stolen, and if it had holes from blood, there was probably only one explanation.
“Where was Mr. Zhao after 5 PM yesterday?” Yi Jiayi sat up straight, immediately signaling Xu Shaowei to take notes.
“Two days ago, I went to Stanley to sketch and stayed at a hotel there, only calling home every morning. I returned home just an hour ago. My husband was not at home,” Mrs. Zhao said as she waved to a Filipino maid, asking her to come over and cooperate with the inquiry.
Next, Yi Jiayi and Xu Shaowei took notes from the two female maids at the Zhao’s household, learning that Mr. Zhao had almost not returned home every night in recent days.
Last night Mr. Zhao did come home, but at that time one maid went out to buy groceries in preparation for welcoming the mistress home the next day. The other maid, finding no one at home, took the opportunity to go down the hill to buy some items and mail them back to her family.
When they each returned home, they noticed signs that the master of the house had been there, but they didn’t actually see him.
The signs that Mr. Zhao had returned included moved chairs and tables, his water glass brought into the living room with water still in it, his slippers showing signs of wear, and many muddy footprints at the door, among others.
However, all these traces had been thoroughly cleaned up by the maids, and no more evidence could be collected.
Mr. Zhao might be the victim, there could have been footprints of an assailant in the house, but they might have all disappeared by now.
“Have you been in contact with Mr. Zhao since last night?” Yi Jiayi continued to ask.
Mrs. Zhao shook her head, her mood starting to become anxious, “My husband often stays out due to work commitments; not coming home is common. Initially, I used to ask, but… now I respect his freedom more, so I haven’t contacted him since I got back this morning. Madam, I’ll call him right now.”
Yi Jiayi nodded, and Mrs. Zhao stood up to make the call.
During this time, Yi Jiayi stood up, looking around, and asked the Hong Kong maid about the ‘traces of the master’s return’ she mentioned, specifically where they appeared.
A few minutes later, Mrs. Zhao returned from making the call, her expression particularly grave:
“No one answered my husband’s mobile phone. I called his office, and the secretary said he hasn’t come in today. Officer Yi, what should we do? Could something have happened to him? Are there any leads to find him?”
Mrs. Zhao stood by the sofa, increasingly panicked, unconsciously gripping the back of the sofa, pausing for a few breaths before speaking anxiously:
“Could it be a kidnapping? Or… should you investigate all his social circles? I can provide all I know to the police right now.”
Yi Jiayi took a deep breath, gestured with her hand for Mrs. Zhao to calm down, then turned to Xu Shaowei and instructed:
“Go to the entrance and look for Sergeant Fang, tell him we may have found the victim.”
After Xu Shaowei left, Yi Jiayi turned back to Mrs. Zhao, “If it really is a special situation involving Mr. Zhao, this place could very well be the first crime scene. Mrs. Zhao, may the police come to conduct a scene investigation?”
“Of course, the police can do whatever they need, and I will cooperate fully. Please find him as soon as possible,” Mrs. Zhao said, clenching her fist.
When the mention of finding Mr. Zhao came up, her eyes darkened involuntarily and she glanced towards the suit photo that Yi Jiayi had placed on the table.
The bullet hole was right in the chest, and she feared…
At this thought, her fingers trembled uncontrollably and she lost her composure, pacing back and forth behind the sofa without realizing it, occasionally looking up at Officer Yi.
Yi Jiayi came over, gently took Mrs. Zhao’s hand, and guided her to sit on the sofa.
Then Xu Shaowei, accompanied by Fang Zhenyue, returned. Fang Zhenyue nodded to Yi Jiayi and then used the phone to call the Forensic Department at the Central Police Station. He then asked the two maids to sit on the living room sofa and remain there until the forensic examination was concluded so they wouldn’t disturb the scene.
Next, under Fang Zhenyue’s direction, Yi Jiayi and Xu Shaowei conducted a second round of questioning with Mrs. Zhao and the two maids separately.
This round of questions was more probing, assuming the interviewees were suspects—asking about their whereabouts at the time of the incident, whether they had alibis; the nature of their relationship with Mr. Zhao and any possible disputes; the state of the marital relationship between Mrs. Zhao and Mr. Zhao, and other such matters.
When colleagues from the Forensic Department arrived, they had already completed individual interrogations in the ground floor study.
Yi Jiayi met with the Forensic Department colleagues and began a focused investigation and evidence collection based on the maids’ accounts of ‘traces of the master of the house having returned.’
Half an hour later, Senior Chemist Teresa found a hidden blood splatter in the corner of the shoe cabinet at the entrance and collected another unnoticed blood splatter from a black umbrella hanging by the door, overlooked by the perpetrator.
Up to this point, although all evidence still needed to be taken back to the station for thorough testing to reach definitive conclusions, it was essentially confirmed that the blood-stained suit belonged to Mr. Zhao, the master of the villa at No. 6 Shixun Road.
And this villa was likely the scene of the first murder.
Although there was no body, and Yi Jiayi could not see the flowing imagery to learn what the victim had encountered or which specific areas of the house he had been in, or what disputes he had had with the perpetrator, she still stood in the entrance hall, trying to piece together the situation at the time.
Combining the clues provided by the maids, she mentally rehearsed what the master of the house might have done after discovering someone at the door, or if the two individuals had arrived at the villa together, under what circumstances and locations a dispute might occur, and what actions might have followed, leaving traces for the maids to discover…
A few minutes later, Yi Jiayi followed her own conjectures to the entrance, crouched down, and pointed at a pair of slippers the maid had mentioned, saying to Senior Chemist Teresa:
“Sister Teresa, could you also collect something from under these slippers?”
Teresa approached, picked up the slippers, and indeed saw some materials under them. “These are shards from a glass, seems like bloodstains, and some orange-colored long hairs… Let’s take these slippers directly back to the station.”
Teresa simply placed the slippers into an evidence bag, sealed it, and handed it to Ah Wei.
“Glass shards…” Suddenly, Jiayi briskly walked towards the living room, peered into the trash can, and shook it; there were no glass shards inside.
She then pulled open the cabinet door under the sink. The trash bin inside immediately emitted a clattering sound of glass colliding.
“Sister Teresa, the glass shards that were under those slippers are probably all in here.”
Teresa immediately came over with Ah Wei to collect the glass shards, while Jiayi returned to the living room sofa to ask the two maids and Mrs. Zhao whether the glass shards had been swept into the kitchen trash can after being broken.
All three shook their heads, indicating that they had not broken any glass nor had they seen any broken glass, and they had not cleaned up any glass shards.
Thus, it was likely that the glass had been broken by Mr. Zhao or the perpetrator last night.
“Use the tweezers.” Teresa stretched out her hand, and Ah Wei ran to get the tweezers.
Next, the two of them focused on kneeling in the kitchen, picking out pieces of glass from the trash bin.
Soon, Teresa quietly said to Jiayi, “We’ve found fingerprints. Once we return to the police station, we’ll immediately compare them with Mr. Zhao, Mrs. Zhao, and the two maids. If they don’t match, we will check against the fingerprint database.”
“Thank you, Sister Teresa,” Jiayi politely said.
“Of course, Officer Yi,” Teresa nodded in response, then bent down to her work again.
After about fifteen minutes, Teresa and Ah Wei finally collected all the glass shards. By this time, Jiayi was already looking at her notebook while walking into the living room, looking around as if searching for other clues.
Teresa stood up, turned to Ah Wei, and said:
“This Officer Yi is indeed very sharp, her imagination… or rather, her deductive ability is strong.”
No wonder Ah Wei had been praising Officer Yi since last night; it wasn’t just because she was good-looking.
“Of course, I told you so yesterday,” Ah Wei nodded earnestly. He had been running around like a little brother following Officer Yi last night, not just because he liked being someone’s errand boy.
It was because she was impressive.
…
After Jiayi and her colleagues from the Central District Police Station’s forensic science team completed the first round of inspection and waited for the second round of review, Jiayi headed outside the house. Meanwhile, Liu Jiaming walked up to Jiayi, stole a glance at Mrs. Zhao sitting on the sofa, and quietly asked Jiayi:
“Is it possible that Mrs. Zhao killed her husband because she suspected he was having an affair?”
“From Mrs. Zhao’s statement, she has an alibi. Let’s wait until we’ve interrogated her alibi witnesses back at the station before speculating further,” Yi Jiayi stated with meticulous precision.
Liu Jiaming nodded, observing Yi Jiayi and noticed that even when whispering to him, her gaze was still fixed on Teresa the lab technician’s hands.
Yi Jiayi at work seemed to transform in demeanor.
Much more serious.
“Coordinate with Sister Teresa on the secondary survey, and keep an eye on Mrs. Zhao and the two maids. With only Xu Shaowei watching, I’m worried we might miss something,” Yi Jiayi said as she changed shoes and left, reminding Liu Jiaming.
“Yes, madam,” Jiaming quickly responded.
Yi Jiayi turned back, flashed him a radiant smile, and then exited.
Fang Zhenyue was in the yard searching for clues when he saw Yi Jiayi emerge and said, “I’ve found some footprints here.”
Yi Jiayi immediately turned and called out to Ah Wei inside, assisting Teresa, “Ah Wei, can you bring the camera and the evidence bag here? Sir Fang has found some clues.”
Ah Wei responded promptly, greeted Teresa, and rushed out to take photos.
“This doesn’t seem to be grass,” Fang Zhenyue squatted beside a shoe print, pointing to a red fiber.
“Not grass!” Ah Wei quickly hung the camera around his neck, picked up the red fiber with tweezers and an evidence bag, “Sir Fang, your eyes are sharp!”
“Could it possibly be fibers from a doormat used for wiping feet at the entrance?” Fang Zhenyue stood up, pondering.
“Mr. Zhao’s doormat at the entrance isn’t this color, nor is it made of this material,” Yi Jiayi immediately replied.
“We’ll go back and conduct a thorough analysis,” Ah Wei turned and sighed again, “Officer Yi has a strong memory.”
He hadn’t remembered what the doormat of the villa looked like or its color.
As Fang Zhenyue and Yi Jiayi walked outside, observing the surroundings, Ah Wei followed behind collecting evidence and taking photos.
When they reached the villa’s entrance, Fang Zhenyue looked back up.
Ah Wei followed his gaze, not understanding what Sir Fang was looking at.
Yi Jiayi then spoke, “This location is quite secluded, it seems unlikely that anyone could have incidentally seen the guests or events inside the villa.”
“Did you ask if Mrs. Zhao’s house had any CCTV installed?”
“We did. The security on the hilltop is very good. They had installed cameras before, but they tend to malfunction easily, short-circuiting after several rainfalls, and they never fixed them, leaving them just for show,” Yi Jiayi reliably answered.
Fang Zhenyue nodded and continued walking outside.
The two circled around the villa a few times, found some more clues for Ah Wei to collect, but based on the terrain survey, the likelihood of finding other eyewitnesses seemed very low.
By the time they returned inside the villa, Ah Wei, having been their constant companion on the journey and effectively acting as their personal cheerleader, was completely in awe of the detective duo.
He really wants to apply to the police department to become an exchange student in the Forensic Science Division of the West Kowloon Serious Crime Unit, so he could join Inspector Fang and Sister Eleven in conducting investigations.
Forensic investigation is meticulous about what and where to inspect. When encountering truly experienced and formidable detectives, the Forensic Science Division truly feels empowered.
Science is a tool, but in the end, it is people who wield it.
When he conducts investigations with Inspector Fang and Yi Jiayi, he really feels like he’s just a tool person who doesn’t need a brain, only skills.
That’s why he really wants to learn investigative logic from these brilliant detectives, so that in the future, conducting investigations would be like having an extra pair of eyes and a brain, wouldn’t that be impressive!
The three returned to the villa, and Teresa had also completed the re-examination. Uncle Jiu and Liu Jiaming conducted further questioning about the newly discovered clues regarding the three women in the villa, and after completing all the paperwork, asked the three to sign off, and finally, they could call it a day.
Yi Jiayi promised the police would quickly locate Mr. Zhao and asked Mrs. Zhao to wait patiently, and then she too left with everyone else.
Colleagues from the Forensic Science Division headed directly back to the Central Police Station to begin subsequent lab work and other tasks.
The CID detectives grabbed some food at Brother Yue’s house and then continued their investigations. This time, they were inquiring with the residents on the mountain and at the base if they had seen any suspicious individuals or witnessed a car suddenly stopping sharply at the sharp bend on Shixun Road.
Hoping to find eyewitnesses who could provide details about the suspect’s car or distinctive features.
But after an afternoon of running around, wearing out their shoe soles, they hadn’t gathered much useful information. The mountain top had too few residents, unlike Sham Shui Po where you could squeeze ten people into a square meter; on the main road, it would be easy to find a bunch of eyewitnesses if something happened.
In the evening, everyone at Brother Yue’s house organized the clues they had gathered. When it was time to finish up, Uncle Jiu counted heads.
Yi Jiayi, Jiaming, and the military police Xu Shaowei could all fit in his car, so he asked Fang Zhenyue who was about to leave with them to stay behind:
“I’ll take them down the mountain and drop them off at home. Inspector Fang, don’t bother yourself, and don’t go back to the station to work overtime. Just rest at home.”
However, Fang Zhenyue still put on his coat and left with everyone else. Meeting Uncle Jiu’s puzzled look, he smiled and said:
“Uncle Jiu can take the others. I’ll take care of Eleven. Tonight, I definitely have to go for the ‘Yi Ji’ dinner; I promised Jiaru and Jiajun to eat the snacks they brought back from the school gate.”
Supposedly, they are very delicious, and he absolutely hasn’t tried them before.
Uncle Jiu raised an eyebrow, then smiled and nodded. After saying goodbye to Inspector Fang and Yi Jiayi, Uncle Jiu, holding Jiaming with his left hand and Shaowei with his right, didn’t look back as he strode towards the parking area on Shixun Road.
Yi Jiayi climbed the small ladder and settled into the passenger seat of Brother Yue’s large Jeep, fastening her seatbelt and snugly leaning into the oversized, super comfortable seat.
After starting the Jeep, she turned to Fang Zhenyue and asked, “When did Brother Yue promise them?”
It turns out her younger siblings even have secrets with her boss—those two little ones are really good at socializing.
“On the way to drop them off at school this morning, they teased me for not having tried anything and said they wanted to treat this poor guy to some delicacies I’ve never experienced,” Fang Zhenyue replied earnestly.
“Hahaha.” Yi Jiayi laughed heartily, those two little ones are really too… bold to say that.
The clear night sky was densely studded with stars, spreading across the canopy like the most magnificent robe, embroidered with beautiful dreams, twinkling brilliantly.
Clad under such a starry mantle, the large Jeep galloped toward Sham Shui Po, heading to a delightful little meet-up arranged by the two kids.