“Why do you also need to go back?” Fang Zhenyue raised an eyebrow.
“Also?” Jiayi mimicked his action and raised her eyebrow.
“I found a reddish-brown hair at Clara’s house, complete with the follicle, which can be sent for DNA testing by the forensic department. I need to go back to the station, package it in an evidence bag, and send it to the lab for preservation,” Fang Zhenyue explained, then after a moment added, “Of course, this evidence collection is absolutely legal. I found it in the trash can, not by stealing.”
“Ah…” After hearing this, Jiayi turned her head to exchange a glance with a bewildered Liu Jiaming, then smiled somewhat triumphantly, “What a coincidence, I also got something that Clara didn’t want, which was also legally obtained.”
Fang Zhenyue, sitting in the driver’s seat, and Fu Qi, in the passenger seat, turned their heads back; Gary and Liu Jiaming also raised their eyebrows and looked over.
“What is it?”
“A tissue stained with Clara’s lipstick. I’m not sure if saliva can be detected, but at least it can be compared chemically with the lipstick marks found on the guests’ cups at the crime scene,” Jiayi wanted to know if her deduction was correct.
Whether the lipstick marks from Clara and those found on the cups at the crime scene were from the same tube of lipstick.
If the answer is ‘yes’, it could essentially verify her bold theory about Qin Hongliang, which was most likely correct.
“Hahaha, not bad, everyone has come back fully loaded,” Fang Zhenyue laughed heartily, his mood lifted.
“!” Fu.
“!” Gary.
“!” Liu Jiaming.
The people were so moved they almost wished they could turn back immediately and steal something from Clara’s house.
As a result, not only did Fang Zhenyue and Jiayi return to the police station, but Fu, Gary, and Liu Jiaming all came back with them.
You Zhaohua, who was also working overtime, saw the five people and couldn’t help but remark, “Destined to be bachelors,” before leaving wearily.
“…” The five people.
On the way to the forensic department to store the evidence, everyone casually talked about the case.
“It looks like Clara won’t be able to escape, she’s left behind a ton of evidence, no matter how she tries to disguise it, she can’t escape the law,” Liu Jiaming said.
“Do you think Clara is the murderer?” Fu turned and asked.
“What’s there to think or not think about? It’s obvious,” Liu Jiaming confidently stated.
“…” Fu seemed hesitant.
All the evidence clearly pointed to Clara as the murderer, but his own judgment was somewhat contradictory. He pondered for a moment before sighing:
“Indeed, the most successful hunters often appear as prey. This Clara seems ordinary, but looks can be deceiving; she’s indeed a hidden hunter.”
“People are very good at lying. Clara, in front of her guests, no matter how much she dislikes them, has to perform love and admiration, no matter how much she detests those men, she has to feign climax and happiness. In such an environment for a few years, even the most wooden person learns to act,” Gary also shared his opinion.
“Yes, investigating a case depends on evidence, and everything points to Clara. Even if it seems impossible, that’s the only answer,” Liu Jiaming nodded vigorously:
“We always say one piece of environmental evidence is worth ten witnesses, and that’s exactly why.”
“Evidence does not lie, but people do,” said Jiayi to herself as she listened, silently agreeing: Yes, people can lie. If evidence is deliberately left by someone, then it is essentially lying on behalf of a person.
“Yes,” Fu nodded, finally breaking free from his hesitation, and smiled in agreement, “In front of physical evidence, all truths will surface.”
“However, relying on this evidence to bring the case to the prosecutor’s office still poses some challenges,” Liu Jiaming whispered, looking towards Fang Zhenyue, who was organizing the evidence bags. “With Brother Yue’s style, he will definitely get Clara’s statement to make the case flawless and beyond rejection before filing it.”
“Yes, otherwise, based on the legal spirit that benefits of doubt go to the defendant, the trial outcome is indeed very risky,” Fu nodded in agreement.
Liu Jiaming patted Brother Fu’s shoulder in acknowledgment.
At the evidence bag retrieval area, Fang Zhenyue carefully placed a strand of hair clipped from a newspaper into an evidence bag as if it were fragile, while Jiayi took out a facial tissue, folded it meticulously, and then together, they placed it in the constant temperature cabinet in the lab.
They would just need to call the forensics department tomorrow morning, inform them which cabinet and case the evidence belonged to, and ask them to expedite the lab test.
Once everything was settled, Fang Zhenyue strode towards the main entrance of the police station. Fu, puzzled, asked, “Brother Yue, not working overtime?”
“I’ve already said no overtime; it’s just a trip to deliver evidence. Why must you three follow? It’s as if Jiayi and I would discuss the case behind your backs. It’s late, I’m exhausted, time to go home!”
“…” Relieved for not having ‘stolen’ any evidence, one of them breathed a sigh of relief.
It was embarrassing enough to come back empty-handed; if the boss and Little Eleven worked overtime while they ran home to sleep, it would seem utterly unambitious.
Fortunately, Brother Yue and Jiayi were not that work-obsessed, so everyone could comfortably go home to sleep.
…
However, in reality, while Fu and the others were asleep, Fang Zhenyue was in his living room, using a larger whiteboard to record the information collected at Clara’s house today, repeatedly analyzing the suspect Clara’s expressions and reactions.
Why was she angry? Why did she cry?
What was the deeper logic behind each of her actions?
Why did this person seem so impeccable? She did not appear to be someone who acts with careful planning and quick wits.
After completing the character analysis diagram, he returned to the initial evidence that led to Clara being a suspect, starting to question these clues: hair, photographs, perfume, lipstick marks, and earrings.
…
Several kilometers away, Jiayi was also not asleep.
To avoid disturbing her sister and family while they slept, she detoured to the living room and set up paper and pen on the dining table, beginning the reorganization of all the information and logic.
She spread out the papers and laid out all the phrases she had collected on them. Then, she started to connect and analyze them, trying to link the deceased to Qin Hongliang.
It was difficult; this woman had left no trace, and to this day, no motive for the crime had been found.
Today, Brother Fu and his team went to visit Daliyuan Court and the neighbors of the deceased and Qin Hongliang. Since everyone was unaware that Qin Hongliang was the murderer, they likely missed capturing information about her and certainly didn’t inquire actively.
It seems that she will have to personally visit these places tomorrow, to re-interview and dig deeper into Qin Hongliang’s criminal motives.
She put a question mark on this point as one of her next objectives. Jiayi returned to the starting point of the case, pondering if there was a way to eliminate Clara’s suspicion. Only if Clara is cleared will Brother Yue and his team focus more on finding new clues and suspects.
Many hands make light work; searching together is certainly easier than doing it alone.
But Qin Hongliang was calculative, while Clara was oblivious, completely unexpected.
Clara, this naïve woman who only knew how to bluff, had no idea how thoroughly she was being manipulated.
There was no time witness either, and the logic proving she couldn’t have killed the victim Zhao Meini didn’t hold. Today, while listening to her statement, Jiayi felt waves of despair for her.
If she hadn’t seen in her empathetic intuition that Clara was indeed not the murderer, it would be really hard not to be led by the nose by Qin Hongliang.
Is it possible that in the end, the detectives might not find any other evidence, yet have too many “conclusive proofs” pointing to Clara, and just like that, they might frame her as the murderer and hand the case over to the prosecutor?
Jiayi couldn’t know for sure, but she knew that as long as she was there, she wouldn’t let that happen.
With a silent resolution, she focused even more on recalling everything from her empathetic intuition, continually recording suspicious information on blank papers, thinking it over, and then crossing some out and circling others.
After a round of thinking, she quietly slipped back into the bedroom to fetch books that could aid her work, saw Little Jiaru sound asleep, and couldn’t help but smile.
In the midst of busy work, seeing the peaceful sleeping faces of her family was also a kind of healing.
She quietly exited the room, sat back at the dining table, spread out her books, and began her research.
Jiayi summarized the content she needed:
- Witnesses;
- Motive for the crime;
- Evidence;
- Recreating the crime scene through reasoning and other methods;
- The murderer’s confession.
Burying her head in her work, Jiayi wrote down five objectives on paper, and continuously filled these goals with information she had previously gathered.
She also accessed her memory, striving to extract new information.
Soon, she captured a new area in her memory that could be explored.
That was when the murderer, Qin Hongliang, was preparing to leave, Jiayi faintly heard a low rumbling sound in the stream of consciousness imagery.
Puzzled beyond measure, she forcefully wrote this point down on paper, deciding to clarify this issue when she visited the crime scene and interviewed the neighbors the next day.
After busying herself for an unknown length of time, feeling too weary to think efficiently, she finally organized her notes and mind map, and dragged her exhausted body to bed.
But as soon as her head touched the pillow, the alarm went off.
She sat up abruptly, realized it was already light outside, and sighed as she struggled out of bed.
After eating a warm and delicious breakfast, Jiayi took her notes and mind map, and rode her bicycle against the wind.
The wind blew from the sea, carrying a hint of saltiness, and was particularly invigorating.
By the time Jiayi arrived at the police station, she was fully energized.
In the morning, as soon as everyone arrived, they shared information and checked for any omissions.
After all the detectives of Team B had spoken, the forensic department’s new round of lab results came out:
- Urgent tests on the lipstick marks found on a cup at the crime scene and on tissue paper with Clara’s lipstick confirmed the chemical substances were exactly the same.
- The auburn long hairs picked up from Clara’s trash can at home were exactly the same in length and color as those found at the scene; however, DNA testing requires time and needs to be sent to a specialized department.
- The dishwashing liquid used to wipe the floor at the crime scene was from the victim Zhao Meini’s home, suggesting the murderer used materials at hand.
- All the collected evidence was re-sampled multiple times, and no fingerprints other than those of the victim Zhao Meini were found…
Thus, the detectives of Team B began discussing the case based on the available clues and evidence.
Apart from Fang Zhenyue, who remained neutral, and the silent Jiayi, everyone pointed the finger at Clara.
“That morning, Uncle Jiu and Jiayi visited the sister of the deceased, Zhao Meizi, to see if they could rule out her suspicion.”
“Fu called Clara to ask her to come to the station to make another statement.”
“Jiaming and Gary, armed with an address given by Sister Yun yesterday, visited the mutual friends of the deceased Zhao Meini and Calra, to dig deeper into the motives for murder and search for new clues.”
Fang Zhenyue began issuing orders in turn.
Usually, at such times, Jiayi was the most obedient and the first to respond, but today she was completely different.
Not only did she not respond, but she also stood up straight and solemnly said to Fang Zhenyue:
“Sir Fang, I have a new idea I’d like to report. Could everyone please listen to what I have to say before we set out?”