Lin Qiupu was excited and said, “I'll be right back!”

He rushed back to the bureau. The task force had found several surveillance videos from the traffic management office which clearly captured a Rolls-Royce Phantom leaving an intersection close to the community.

The person shown in one of the photos was very close to the person described by Gan Ping. They believed this to be the mysterious visitor who appeared at the crime scene.

When Lin Qiupu saw the driver's face, he was surprised and remarked, “Where have I seen this person before? Ah! His name is Jia Xingyun!”

He glanced at his watch. “It's four o'clock. We should get there in time. Let's go and meet him!”

A group of people rushed to Jia Xingyun's company and presented their credentials at the front desk. The front desk called and asked for instructions as Jia Xingyun said over the phone, “Let them come up!”

Lin Qiupu went into the office alone. Jia Xingyun's office looked very simple at the first glance, but Lin Qiupu knew that just the price of the large writing desk carved from an entire African tree would have cost him up to six figures. That wasn’t including the ink paintings and the original copies of historical books on the shelves.

“...Let's meet to discuss further details...”

Jia Xingyun was talking on the phone and nodded towards Lin Qiupu as a signal for him to sit.

Lin Qiupu ignored it. Only standing can give the other party psychological pressure. He kept waiting for Jia Xingyun to hang up the phone, then said, “I didn’t think we’d meet again.”

“I thought it would be Mr. Chen who’d come.”

“What does this mean? You knew that a police officer would come to find you?”

Jia Xingyun smiled. “But Captain Lin came to visit in person. What an honor... Do you smoke?”

Lin Qiupu made a gesture of refusal and pressed, “I know you have a lot to do, so let's open the door and see the mountain[1]. I am investigating a murder case. Please tell me your whereabouts on the evening of February 24th.”

Jia Xingyun grinned. “I went to the house of a gentleman named Zhou, which is what you would call a crime scene.”

His candid attitude surprised Lin Qiupu. He thought that the boy was really prepared.

Lin Qiupu continued, “Then, you should know what I want to ask!”

“I do. You want to ask me what I went there to do, right?”

“What did you do there?”

“It’s confidential!” Jia Xingyun let out a smile.

“Would you like me to remind you that soon after you left, Zhou was found dead at home. It is reasonable to say that you’re a prime suspect. What did you do and say there? I want you to tell me everything!”

“Died at home?!” Jia Xingyun's original calm face suddenly panicked. “The body was at home?”

Lin Qiupu secretly wondered what that reaction was all about. Didn't he just call it a “crime scene” clearly? What is he playing at?

Lin Qiupu leaned on the edge of the table with both hands and continued to stare at Jia Xingyun's eyes, putting pressure on him.

Jia Xingyun calmed down and stated, “My lawyer is on his way.”

“When did you call him?”

“Just now when you came in... So, no matter what you ask me now, I won't answer! Do you want to smoke?”

Lin Qiupu stared at him. This boy definitely had something up his sleeves.

Of course it was within his rights to hire a lawyer. However, once the lawyer intervened, it would be very hard to get anything out of him. Lin Qiupu thought about how to pry open his mouth before the lawyer arrived. What would Song Lang do if he were here?

Lin Qiupu slammed the table. “Is Zhou Taiyang's death related to you?”

“Captain Lin, this is not your office. I’ve already said that I won’t say anything until my lawyer arrives.”

“Okay! Okay! Then I'll wait for your lawyer to come over.” Lin Qiupu was speechless to the point of anger.

He went outside and took a deep breath. He recalled what Song Lang had told him in the past. Song Lang once said, “A case is not checked through the mouth. To protect themselves, even children will lie. The information captured besides words is often more important.”

Just now Jia Xingyun's response was very strange. Why? He couldn't figure it out.

Song Lang had also said, “No matter how much the police are in the right, they are still intruders in other people's lives. They don’t have to follow the regulations word for word as long as they don’t cross the bottom line.”

Later, the lawyer came. Jia Xingyun said with a polite smile, “Captain Lin, let me communicate with my lawyer first. If you could please give us a moment.”

“Yes, but I have a requirement. Both you and your lawyer can’t receive or make any calls during your communication session so that you can’t instruct anyone to destroy unfavorable evidence.”

Jia Xingyun shrugged and unplugged the phone cord on the table. Then, he turned off his phone.

Lin Qiupu stood outside. The insulation and sound-proof effect that the door provided was very good. He couldn't hear what was being said inside. He instructed his subordinates to go around the company to investigate Jia Xingyun's car as well. They weren’t allowed to let go of even the smallest of details.

“But we don’t have a search warrant,” a subordinate said.

“There’s no need for a search warrant. He is the prime suspect of committing the crime and that’s enough. If there’s a problem, I’ll take all the responsibility for it.”

Everyone left to investigate. Lin Qiupu stood there like a Door God[2]. Surely enough, when Jia Xingyun's staff saw the police suddenly investigating everything and couldn't get through to Jia Xingyun's phone, they ran up to inform him.

Lin Qiupu sternly said to the employees, “Jia is currently talking to a lawyer. If you would like, you can tell me what you’d like to say. However, I want to remind you that the police are currently investigating a murder case and we have evidence to prove that President Jia has a lot to do with the case.”

Upon hearing this, the employees stopped insisting and left the police’s investigation alone.

The door opened and Jia Xingyun came out with his lawyer. Jia Xingyun looked calm as he said, “You can ask questions now.”

“Let’s change the location!”

“Sure!”

Lin Qiupu drove the two back to the bureau. The police officers found many things. Jia Xingyun's car was indeed the Rolls-Royce phantom that appeared on the surveillance footage.

The same cigarette butt found in the garbage dumped by his company’s cleaners was the same brand as the one found at the crime scene. This kind of cigarette was very expensive. Only Jia Xingyun from the company could afford to smoke it. The cigarette butts were also brought back as evidence.

A secretary had said that on February 22nd, Jia Xingyun asked her to sell several of Jia Xingyun’s stocks and withdraw five million yuan in cash before depositing it into an account. The identity card information was also used by the secretary called Wang Shengli.

In the dressing room, Jia Xingyun's outfit was found, which was exactly the same as the one that he was videoed wearing in the surveillance footage.

Another employee had said that on the morning of February 25th, Jia Xingyun asked him to wash his car for him.

The technicians who went to the crime scene also returned. After a second detailed investigation, they found three sets of shoe prints, one of which was the victims and one which seemed to be left by Jia Xingyun. The last set was relatively small, which they assumed was left by a woman.

On the printed floor plan of the house, they marked the specific locations where each group of shoe prints appeared. Lin Qiupu noticed that the last two sets of shoe prints had appeared in the living room.

Lin Qiupu was very satisfied and said, “See? You can still find more things after careful investigation. How can you investigate a case if you are afraid of getting dirty and tired?”

The technicians smiled bitterly and asked, “Captain Lin, can we get off work now?”

“Go and see if Captain Peng needs any help. If he says no, then you can get off work!”

Everyone cheered. They all knew that Captain Peng was very nice and rarely asked them to work overtime. However, as soon as they left, Lin Qiupu picked up the phone and called Peng Sijue. “Old Peng, a detailed identification of the fingerprints and shoe prints needs to be done and reported to me by 10:00 tonight.”

The police officers in the task force secretly laughed and mourned for the unfortunate technicians. However, in the next second, the objects of their mourning turned into themselves.

Lin Qiupu turned his attention to them. “Go and eat first. You all need to return to work after dinner and you aren’t allowed to leave work until 10:00 tonight.”

1. Get straight to the point.

2. “Menshen” (Door Gods) or threshold guardians are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones.