The next morning, Jiayi hurried to Madam’s office to press for progress.
Qiu Shushan had just finished a phone call with the mainland, fetched a faxed document, shook it out on her desk for a look, and then handed it over to a young policewoman to take to Team B’s office.
All the detectives immediately gathered around as Fang Zhenyue looked over the document.
Qiu Shushan followed and was the first to speak:
“The mainland police worked overnight to help gather clues. Zhou Jianguo’s wife realized on the 8th of last month that he might not return to the mainland.”
“However, she claimed that when Zhou Jianguo left Shenzhen, they had a big argument, and he mentioned settling in Hong Kong, leaving her for someone else, and never returning.”
“Their marriage was already strained. She always suspected that Zhou Jianguo had another family in Hong Kong. Seeing that Zhou Jianguo did not return to Shenzhen on time, she thought he had stayed in Hong Kong.”
“The Shenzhen company tried to contact him, but the business manager at Hengxiang said the contract had been signed, Zhou Jianguo had bought a ticket back to Shenzhen, and they knew nothing else.”
“The company contacted Mrs. Zhou about reporting to the police, but she hung up each time they called.”
“With no complainant, both the company and his wife felt it was not their responsibility to report him missing. So it was assumed that Zhou Jianguo ran off with his mistress.”
“Last month, Hengxiang in Hong Kong shipped as scheduled, and the Shenzhen company appointed someone else to handle the goods. Work progressed smoothly. Zhou Jianguo didn’t collect his salary last month, so the company profited from a month of his labor and didn’t bother about his whereabouts.”
“Mrs. Zhou transferred all the money from Zhou Jianguo’s bank book into her own account. They don’t have children, and both their names are on the house deed. She continues to live there since Zhou Jianguo hasn’t come looking.”
“The mainland police told me that Mrs. Zhou has even started considering matchmaking and beginning anew.”
“Do they even understand? Even if Zhou Jianguo wanted to start a new life in Hong Kong, it’s not as simple as just saying so,” Liu Jiaming said helplessly.
“If you no longer have feelings for him and just want his money, not his presence, and you hold all the assets like the bank book and the house in Shenzhen, would you bother figuring out where Zhou Jianguo went?” Qiu Shushan asked Liu Jiaming, raising an eyebrow.
“…” Heartless.
“As long as Zhou Jianguo doesn’t show up, his company can keep withholding that month’s salary. It’s probably not too hard to find someone to replace him. The company doesn’t care, and his family isn’t looking for him, so why should I be anxious?” Qiu Shushan shrugged.
“What about his parents?”
“I heard they live in a distant countryside, with many children and delayed information, so distant waters won’t quench immediate thirst,” Qiu Shushan sighed, a lot of factors involved make it hard to pinpoint where the issue lies, leading to such a helpless and frustrating outcome.
“Every year, the number of missing persons recorded worldwide is countless, and that’s not even including those not reported… Police resources are limited; urgent cases come in, and missing person cases get pushed back. Who knows whether they are really missing or just ran off on their own, only to reappear later? Even among those reported, most are never found, and many people don’t bother reporting. Many people go out to work and are gone for years; nobody can say for sure whether they’ve made it big or have already died. Not to mention, there are indeed those who, as Zhou Jianguo’s wife thought, abandon their families and start anew elsewhere, changing their identities to restart their lives.”
Fang Zhenyue patted Liu Jiaming on the shoulder and walked over to the whiteboard:
“Stop lamenting; let’s get back to our case.”
“Brother Yue, this photo of Zhou Jianguo faxed from the mainland police shows him wearing a watch and a ring that are the same as the ones we found in the nylon bag.” Jiayi flipped through the files and compared them with photos taken by the forensic science department:
“This full-body photo of Zhou Jianguo includes leather shoes that are also the same as the deceased’s.”
“Yes, the information about his height and shoe size matches the data from the forensic and forensic science department reports; we can now be almost 100% sure that the victim in the skeleton case is Zhou Jianguo.” Qiu Sushan nodded in agreement with Jiayi’s statement.
“Madam, please take a seat.” Fang ZhenBrother Yuestured with his chin for Qiu Sushan to sit in front of the whiteboard.
“It’s okay; I’ll stand.”
“Yesterday, from another salesperson at Hengxiang Wangye, Ding Wanzhi, we got some clues. Zhou Jianguo might indeed have a lover in Hong Kong, and we now suspect she is another salesperson from Hengxiang Wangye, She Jingjing.” After saying this, Fang Zhenyue nodded at Jiayi, “Jiayi, call Hengxiang Wangye now and summon She Jingjing to the police station for a statement.”
“Yes, sir.” Jiayi immediately went to her desk to make the call.
“Brother Yue, I’ll take Jiaming and Gary and head out now.” Uncle Ji had already learned from Gary that last night, after eating at Yi Ji, Fang Zhenyue had ordered the three of them to continue investigating and gathering evidence at Hengxiang Wangye.
It seems they have to repeatedly question everyone at Hengxiang Wangye who had contact with Zhou Jianguo or heard of him, a massive task indeed, but hopefully not a futile one and some truly useful clues would come out of it.
“Okay.” Fang Zhenyue nodded, and Uncle Ji left the police station with the two.
…
“Brother Yue, She Jingjing didn’t come to work today.” Jiayi covered the topic and looked up to report.
“Get her home address.” Fang Zhenyue immediately issued a new order.
A few minutes later, Jiayi got an address and the phone number of She Jingjing’s home.
“No one answered She Jingjing’s home phone.” Jiayi handed the piece of paper with the address to Fang Zhenyue.
“Sanfu, you and Jiayi come with me.” Fang Zhenyue immediately made his selection.
“Be extra careful.” Qiu Sushan nodded at Fang Zhenyue.
The three got ready and headed straight to She Jingjing’s home, which was located south of Mong Kok Road, just two streets away in a neighborhood.
……
……
When Sanfu was downstairs at She Jingjing’s apartment building, he asked the doorman about She Jingjing’s whereabouts. The doorman couldn’t remember clearly but mentioned that she seemed to have returned yesterday afternoon with a man.
He hadn’t seen them leave afterward, but he wasn’t sure whether She Jingjing had stayed in or had left without him noticing.
“What’s the motive? Even if She Jingjing is indeed Zhou Jianguo’s lover, they live apart and hardly see each other more than a few times a year—there can’t be any deep feelings. Moreover, She Jingjing is probably just trying to steal Zhou Jianguo as a client from the salesman Wang Yongtao. If anyone were to be murdered, wouldn’t it be Wang Yongtao?” Sanfu pondered in the elevator, unable to figure it out:
“She Jingjing has no motive for murder.”
The elevator dinged upon arrival, and as Fang Zhenyue stepped out, he left a thought behind:
“Follow the clues we have, and take time to think over the confusing parts.”
She Jingjing lives on the 16th floor, in a building with one elevator serving four units; she resides in unit D.
As she stepped out of the elevator, Jiayi’s heart raced.
She had sensed from the start that She Jingjing might be the female murderer she saw in her mind’s visions.
The location here is on the south side of Mong Kok Road, and although it’s not in the Fu’an and Guangrong communities she had previously speculated, this high-rise overlooks the first two communities and has a view of the Fule Building.
The height of the 16th floor matches the conditions; the window she saw in her mind’s visions could overlap with this one.
As Jiayi knocked on She Jingjing’s door, her suspicion was confirmed again—the orientation of this apartment definitely had a view of the Fule Building!
She knocked on the door while anxiously staring at the doorknob.
After waiting a few minutes with no response, the three detectives exchanged glances and decided to knock on a neighbor’s door.
“That single woman in unit D? Haven’t seen her around these last two days.”
“Miss She? I think I saw her leave for work yesterday morning by herself. After that, I didn’t see her again. I also didn’t hear any noise from next door, everything seemed normal. What’s the matter, officer?”
No one was home in unit A, and the elderly man in unit B and the housewife in unit C had little recollection of She Jingjing’s movements over the past few days.
The housewife in unit C, however, gossiped a bit more, mentioning that She Jingjing often brought men home.
Most of the time, it was a man dressed in a suit and tie, presumably her lover, but occasionally there were strangers.
It was the housewife who noticed while she was out shopping or peered through the peephole upon hearing noises.
After thanking the neighbors for the clues, Fang Zhenyue returned to unit D’s door and knocked forcefully twice more, listening intently but hearing no sound inside.
Several people remained motionless, and Fang Zhenyue leaned against the door, listening intently for a while, but inside it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
“Let’s go, there’s no one here,” Fang Zhenyue shook his head.
“Maybe She Jingjing is completely unrelated to this case, just having personal conduct issues. She might not be home because after having an affair with a man yesterday, she went out for a dinner date and stayed over at the man’s place,” Sanfu speculated.
“Let’s first head to Hengxiang Wangye and inquire about She Jingjing’s work situation yesterday,” Fang Zhenyue decided not to jump to conclusions.
Sanfu continued reasoning:
“If she is involved in Zhou Jianguo’s death, maybe she fled because she was scared after knowing we went to Hengxiang Wangye yesterday.”
“Let’s go back and check the status of She Jingjing’s relatives and track her bank card. If She Jingjing still doesn’t show up by tonight, we’ll apply for a search warrant,” Fang Zhenyue furrowed his brow, knowing if she was indeed related to the case and had hidden herself, things would become complicated.
“Okay, Brother Yue,” Sanfu nodded.
The two walked towards the elevator entrance and suddenly realized that Little Eleven had not followed.
Qi turned around and saw the young female officer standing in front of Unit D, scrutinizing every detail from top to bottom, even squatting down to carefully examine the door frame.
“What did you find?” Fang Zhenyue asked with a frown.
Yi Jiayi looked up at Fang Zhenyue, her delicate willow brows furrowed, her face showing a pensive, absent-minded expression.
Yesterday, when she arrived at Hengxiang, she had carefully observed everyone in the sales area but did not see the murderer’s face.
If She Jingjing was the murderer, then she definitely wasn’t at the Hengxiang Wangye office yesterday and might have been out meeting clients. Unless She Jingjing had an accomplice who tipped her off, she wouldn’t have suddenly fled in fear of the crime.
However, from what Jiayi saw in the mental imagery of the murder scene, it didn’t seem like the murderer had an accomplice.
The old man downstairs said he saw She Jingjing return with a man yesterday noon, and Jiayi feared that this man might become the next victim.
If it’s as the old man said, and they haven’t left since then, She Jingjing’s house might very well be a crime scene that hasn’t been cleaned up yet.
Maybe She Jingjing is inside, just too scared to open the door when she hears knocking, pretending no one is home.
If Sir Fang breaks in, they might catch her red-handed and solve the case right there.
But, if they wait to obtain a search warrant, who knows how much time it will take and what might change!
Perhaps the man is still alive, but if they leave, wouldn’t he be doomed?
If She Jingjing fears she won’t have enough time to clean up the crime scene, she might just set the place on fire. A ruthless fire could endanger the entire neighborhood and lead to a tragedy.
Or perhaps She Jingjing took the opportunity to carry the body away and throw it into the sea, and this murder involved poisoning, leaving no blood traces to be found at home. The previous blood traces couldn’t be extracted due to the passage of nearly two months, thus she would have successfully destroyed all evidence of the body…
Suddenly, another thought flashed through Jiayi’s mind: Could it be possible that she was mistaken? Could it actually be that the She Jingjing living in this room was innocent?
No, it’s not possible! Jiayi, don’t shy away from confronting the truth just because it’s difficult.
How could there be so many coincidences in the world? She was almost one hundred percent certain that the real murderer of Zhou Jianguo was living in this room, which was the scene of the crime.
Moreover, at this moment, there might be a victim in the room, and no one knows if he’s dead or alive.
And even if they break down the door and find that all clues pointing here are just coincidences, and there’s nothing in the room, it would still be better than being reported and disciplined. After all, she’s already here with a chance to save someone and catch the criminal on the spot, wouldn’t it be a regret to miss this opportunity?
But how can she make the unknowing Officer Fang believe her?
How can she get Officer Fang to break down the door and catch the criminal immediately, instead of going back to the police station to apply for a search warrant first?
Her mind is in chaos, about to explode.
The elevator that Sanfu had just pressed buzzed loudly, getting closer and closer to this floor.
If she can’t think of a solution soon, she might be forced to leave with Officer Fang and the others.
Time is pressing, and in Jiayi’s heart, there seems to be a countdown clock ticking away, urging her life forward—
Jiayi’s eyebrows furrowed deeply, and just when she felt it was impossible to find a solution, her nostrils twitched slightly, suddenly smelling something.
Smash the door!