You see, after the murderer killed Zhao Meini, they even cleaned up the whole house, which would have taken nearly an hour. Qin Hongliang had no time to do that.
Liu Jiaming repeatedly confirmed the timeline with Tu Guisheng, who, after some thought, insisted on his version and remembered it clearly.
Especially after their intimate moment, Qin Hongliang even asked Tu Guisheng the time, making it impossible for him not to pay attention.
It was as if Qin Hongliang deliberately made Tu Guisheng remember…
Liu Jiaming furrowed his brow, unable to help but speculate, did Qin Hongliang know that Zhao Meini would die at that time, so she specifically asked Tu Guisheng the time to make him a very strong alibi for her?
But how could this be?
Was it a case of hiring a hitman?
After getting Tu Guisheng to sign his statement, Liu Jiaming, feeling frustrated and confused, hastily left for the police station.
…
…
In the police station, Fu sat across from Clara in the interrogation room, pondering the words of Jiayi and momentarily unsure of how to proceed.
In his heart, Clara was no longer a suspect, so was there any need to continue treating her as one during the interrogation?
But Clara had not yet been cleared of the charges, and the evidence pointing towards her was real and tangible, so the interrogation had to continue.
Fu was still hesitating about how to approach the interrogation when Clara, an impatient and hot-tempered woman, couldn’t hold back any longer and started speaking:
“Sir, I went through the possible suspects who could have killed Meini yesterday, and I’ve made a list for you.”
Speaking, she took a piece of paper out of her pocket, handed it to Fu, and then pointed to the names on the paper, introducing them one by one:
“Her sister refuses to acknowledge her, afraid she might affect her own marriage and bring disgrace upon her in-laws. Could it be possible that her sister is the murderer?”
“Also, there’s the thug from the nightclub, Ah Fu, who constantly harasses Meini. Could it be a case of unrequited love leading to murder?”
“And then, there’s the old man living below her apartment. He’s very nitpicky and always complains about Meini coming home late, making too much noise and disturbing his sleep. He has even called the police and frequently harassed Meini at her home. He has threatened to have Meini’s landlord evict her. Could the old man possibly be the murderer? Oh, and speaking of which, Meini’s landlord could be a suspect too, tired of renting to Meini, unable to evict her, and thus resorting to murder.”
“Look, there’s also Qin Hongliang, we entered Daliyuan Institute together, she’s a sister to me, my roommate, you know. Sister Yun was originally going to open a store with Ah Hong. Ah Hong even bought lots of flowers to practice flower arranging and bought many books for that. But then Sister Yun decided to switch to partnering with Meini to open a fish ball and fish cake shop, leaving Ah Hong behind. Maybe Ah Hong harbored resentment and committed murder—”
Suddenly, Fu looked up and stared at Clara, asking, “What did you say?”
Clara paused, then complained, “Sir, why are you so fierce? I came here to provide clues voluntarily, can’t you be nicer to a good citizen?”
“Was Sister Yun originally planning to start a business with Qin Hongliang and recently decided to invest with Zhao Meini instead?” Fu pursued the topic, ignoring her complaints.
“Yes, just these past two weeks. You don’t know how angry Ah Hong was, much fiercer than when I argued with Meini in the early morning of the 27th. When she heard that Sister Yun was going to invest with Meini instead of her, she took all the flowers out of her bedroom and threw them on the living room floor in a fit of rage, leaving petals and water everywhere. She even cut up all her flower arranging books! You know I have a temper, but seeing the usually quiet Ah Hong explode scared me, sir,” Clara exaggerated a frightened expression, rubbed her swollen eyes, and continued:
“Could it be Ah Hong?”
“You specifically asked me this, so you suspect it too, right?”
“Damn!”
Suddenly, Clara slapped the table and stood up, ready to walk out: “Damn it!”
Fu quickly pulled her back, “Sit down, are there any other clues? Say more.”
“What other clues could there be? If it’s Qin Hongliang, I’d go avenge Meini right now!” Clara attempted to stand up again.
Fu quickly asked, “Can you tell me in detail about all of Qin Hongliang’s actions, movements, and emotions this past week?”
Clara pursed her lips, calmed her emotions, and then said, “Does the police have no evidence?”
Fu frowned and glared at her.
“Got it, sir, I’ll just say it.” Clara tilted her head, thought for a moment, and then continued:
“After Ah Hong lost her temper, she quietly cleaned up the room. I really admire her for this; she works both quickly and thoroughly, otherwise I wouldn’t share an apartment with such a gloomy person.”
“It seems like after that outburst, she didn’t seem any different. She rarely speaks anyway, and we all got used to ignoring her, not bothering to check what she’s doing.”
“However… on the night Meini died, she was in the living room watching TV all evening. Normally, she hardly ever sat in the living room, always locking herself in her bedroom. But that night, it was as if she was waiting for you guys.”
“…She didn’t really have any feelings for Tu Guisheng. Before, Tu Guisheng gave her lots of tips, but she was always indifferent. However, that early morning she was really strange, proactively clinging to him wanting to go home with Tu Guisheng. But… does that mean she didn’t have time to kill Mandy?”
The two of them then chatted about many more details, and finally Clara returned to the topic of the deceased, Zhao Meini, and couldn’t help but start crying again.
“…Meini really wanted to go home. She said her dad looked down on her for this job, she understood it, and was even saving money to start a small business, but she never got the chance to go back home.”
Clara, holding the tissue Sanfu gave her, still habitually wiped her eyes with her sleeve while crying and said:
“This line of work is just like that, when we go out to work, we dare not say what we do. Every year when we go home, all decked out, we say we’re clerks, secretaries; we’re really good at making up stories. Otherwise, if our parents knew, it would be awful.”
“Meini’s family was very poor, and she was beautiful, so how could she bear to stay at home and suffer? She wasn’t good at studying, and wasn’t very bright, so was she really supposed to follow her dad fishing in the future? Getting sunburnt, her skin dark and cracked, it was too hard and bitter. She just wanted a better life, liked the glitz of Mong Kok, being pretty and glamorous.”
“But once you’re in this line, there’s no turning back, officer. You’re used to easy money yourself, how could you bear hardship? It’s only human nature. But Meini was really willing to endure hardship; she’s grown up now, become sensible, and wanted to learn something. She even enrolled in night school to study microcomputers.”
“But her family didn’t want to mend their relationship with her; every time they threw her stuff out, cursing her terribly. It was really sad, every time she came back she cried like anything, I couldn’t even comfort her, only scold her, and she thought I was too harsh…”
At this point, Clara suddenly couldn’t continue, covered her face, and just sobbed, “If I had known, I would have been nicer to her, why was I always so harsh on her…”
…
After visiting many people above and below, in front of and behind the deceased Zhao Meini’s house, Jiayi finally experienced firsthand the frustrations of being a detective.
The neighbors were mostly unwilling to cooperate with the police investigation. Living peacefully and then suddenly having someone die nearby was considered bad luck, and the constant disturbances definitely did not improve their mood.
Jiayi had no choice but to patiently and politely ask questions, managing to extract only a piece or two of information, but often it was useless.
Rumors that Zhao Meini was actually a prostitute, or complaints about the expensive and mixed-rent housing in this area—these gossips and complaints were more common than useful information.
Regarding the ongoing loud booming noises, everyone was clueless. Some wondered if it was someone’s washing machine, others asked if it could be tinnitus, while some thought it might be cars outside, as it was noisy near the road.
It turned out that using an exhaustive method not only required time-consuming and laborious questioning and searching but also involved filtering through these tedious and boring pieces of information.
When Jiayi returned to the police station, after several searches, she still felt all the information was useless.
Slumping back into her chair, Uncle Jiu jokingly asked, “How is it, brave warrior, being a detective? This is the life you’ll have from now on—endless investigating, questioning, thinking, meeting, and arresting. But these aren’t even the most annoying parts. If you can just retire safely without missing any limbs, consider yourself lucky.”
Jiayi forced a smile.
Gradually, everyone returned to the police station, each bringing back a lot of useful information, which not only enriched the profiles of all involved in the case but also connected many timelines.
Fang Zhenyue led a meeting with an information overload.
Jiayi felt embarrassed for not bringing back any useful information, while admiring everyone else’s remarkable skills.
However, during the information-sharing session, Liu Jiaming, usually active and eager to speak, was unusually silent.
When it was his turn to submit and share the statement of his meeting with Tu Guisheng, Fang Zhenyue couldn’t help but tease, “Why so silent today? With you like this, we dare not even look at this statement.”
Liu Jiaming glanced at Yi Jiayi, struggling to speak.
Each clue everyone else had gathered supported the team’s theories, except his was a missing link.
Though it was a crucial statement, he felt somewhat guilty.
He was about to contradict everything everyone had said before.
“When Zhao Meini died, Qin Hongliang was with Tu Guisheng. Tu Guisheng is very certain about this; I’ve confirmed it many times and always received the same answer,” Liu Jiaming looked at Jiayi, then turned to Fang Zhenyue:
“Qin Hongliang has a very solid alibi.”