Yu Hanjiang was still uncertain about the credibility of Qi Ming’s words. He said that he smoked in the villa area for an hour in the middle of the night. This was completely unreasonable.
Yu Hanjiang raised his eyebrow slightly. “You mean, from three to four in the morning, during a winter night, you smoked downstairs in the villa area for an hour? After smoking a whole pack of cigarettes, did you calm down and leave?”
Qi Ming also seemed to think that his story wasn’t credible and his expression was slightly embarrassed.
Yu Hanjiang raised his head and stared sharply at the other person. “Mr Qi, I have every reason to suspect that you are related to the murder of Miss Lin Yiyan. I can apply for your criminal detention right now. If you keep lying, your testimony will be judged as an untrustworthy testimony which won’t do you any good in the court in the future. If you want to clear your suspicion, you had better tell the truth.”
Yu Hanjiang directly opened an inspection record from his computer and transferred it to the screen, letting Qi Ming see the data on it.
Qi Ming stared at the comparative data and Xiao Lou explained it. “Mr Qi might not understand. This is our assessment of the remaining skin and hair under Miss Lin’s nails. The identification results prove that the DNA is consistent with you. In addition, there were several wine bottles in the trash can of Miss Lin’s kitchen. Mr Qi’s fingerprints were found on them.”
Qi Ming, “……”
His face was pale and his lips trembled slightly.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou tacitly cooperated to play the roles of good cop and bad cop. Qi Ming’s psychological defense was clearly on the verge of collapse. Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou with admiration and continued to stare sternly at Qi Ming. “Mr Qi, we have enough evidence to arrest you.”
Qi Ming was so frightened that he immediately argued, “I didn’t kill her! I really didn’t!”
Yu Hanjiang folded his arms and leaned back in the chair. He watched the other person and demanded in a deep voice, “After three in the morning, you clearly entered the villa. Be honest about what happened after that!”
Qi Ming clenched his fists and sweat dripped down his forehead. He shivered and answered. “After Cheng Yu left, I did enter the villa. At the time, I was very angry. I helped Lin Yiyan from when she was an unknown student to her current popularity. I gave all my best resources to her to make her popular yet she actually betrayed me!”
Yu Hanjiang interjected lightly. “So you hit her?”
Qi Ming reached out, grabbed his hair and buried his face in her hands. He said in a hoarse voice, “I didn’t hit her but we tore at each other during the argument. She scratched my arm. She said that the reason why she was with Cheng Yu was because I had been reluctant to give her a promise. I was too cowardly. If I had proposed to her any time in the past 10 years, she would have agreed…”
“Listening to her say this, I really didn’t feel good. I didn’t take responsibility as a man. I never mentioned marriage in my 10 years with her. Once I finally mentioned it, she was no longer in love with me. So I couldn’t blame her completely.”
Yu Hanjiang calmly looked at the shaking man in front of him. “And then?”
He opened the app on his phone and went to the record from last Tuesday, showing it to Yu Hanjiang. “I have a record here. You can check it.”
Yu Hanjiang took the phone and looked at it. In the early hours of last Tuesday, Qi Ming used the mobile app to call two taxis. The first one departed from Dongfu Jiayuan at 11:50 p.m. and arrived at Yuehu Villa at 12:30. As he said, he departed from Yuehu Villa at 3:40 a.m. and arrived at his residence in Dongfu Jiayuan at 4:20 a.m.
The app showed the complete itinerary. It seemed that Qi Ming wasn’t lying about the ride.
Xiao Lou asked, “Mr Qi, since you and Miss Lin decided to break up, didn’t you notice that something was wrong when she sent you the WeChat message saying she was going to take a break?”
Lin Yiyan was dead at the time and it was the murderer who used her mobile phone to send messages to the agent. Perhaps the murderer didn’t know about Qi Ming and Lin Yiyan’s breakup. When they sent the WeChat message, they said that she was too tired recently and needed a break. This didn’t fit the relationship of the two people at the time.
Qi Ming was surprised and explained, “My economic contract with Yiyan expires at the end of the year. We discussed it and decided to terminate the contract peacefully before it expires. This way, we can disperse and minimize the impact on each other’s reputation. She still called me Brother Ming so I didn’t think much when she sent me a WeChat asking for leave. I thought she was just tired and wanted to rest.”
Yu Hanjiang quickly wrote down the answer and looked up. “Think about what happened again last Tuesday. Are there any omissions?”
Qi Ming shook his head. “No.”
“You left Lin Yiyan’s house at 3:30. Did you meet anyone on the road?”
Qi Ming firmly replied, “It was late at night and the entire villa area was quiet. There wasn’t a single figure on the road.”
Yu Hanjiang nodded and had Qi Ming stay in the police station for 24 hours. As an important suspect, he couldn’t leave for the time being. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou went to check his words.
In the car, Xiao Lou asked, “Group Leader Yu, you didn’t think that Qi Ming was the murderer from the beginning?”
Yuehu said, “He has a motive for committing the crime and he appeared at the crime scene. If he is the murderer then the logic chain we reasoned out is very complete. However, there are two keys missing.”
Xiao Lou guessed it. “The ice and when he left?”
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and nodded appreciatively. “Yes, he didn’t carry a large amount of ice cubes when he appeared at the gate of the villa. This is difficult to explain. In addition, Lin Yiyan’s car left the community at 4 in the morning. Qi Ming said he took a taxi and left at 3:40. We did see a taxi at the entrance of the community at 3:40 on the surveillance video. This proves that Lin Yiyan’s car wasn’t driven by Qi Ming.”
Xiao Lou thoughtfully touched his chin. “Combining all the evidence so far, it could be accurately locked down. Lin Yiyan was killed between 3:40 and 4:00 in the morning. It was within these 20 minutes?”
Yu Hanjiang nodded. “This is more proof that the murderer didn’t kill impulsively. It was premeditated and carefully planned. This is why the timing was fast, ruthless and accurate. The scene of the crime was also cleaned up quite well.”
The murderer should’ve been waiting a long time ago and only entered the villa after Cheng Yu and Qi Ming left.
That night, Lin Yiyan’s villa was lively with constant visitors.
However, Cheng Yu didn’t enter the villa. He drove away after doing it with Lin Yiyan in the car. The two people obviously weren’t seriously about dating. They just wanted to seek excitement in the middle of the night. Qi Ming entered the villa and had a dispute with Lin Yiyan. He left fingerprints on the wine bottle and skin fragments under Lin Yiyan’s fingernails. Then he took a taxi and left at 3:40.
After Qi Ming, the third person to enter the villa was the real killer. This person completed the operation of killing Lin Yiyan, froze the body and disappeared from the scene in the 20 minute gap between 3:40 and 4:00. They drove out of the villa disguised as Lin Yiyan. The plan was neat and thorough.
Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou. “The key now is that the cause of death for their dog in Qi Ming’s testimony needs to be verified. We also need to visit the taxi driver who drove him. The next person is Cheng Yu. He isn’t very suspicious but we need to find out about what he discussed with Lin Yiyan that night and what he did.”
Xiao Lou suggested, “After checking Qi Ming’s side, shall we go to the crew to find Cheng Yu?”
Yu Hanjiang hummed in assent and started the car. He went with Xiao Lou to the pet hospital opposite Dongfu Jiayuan.
The two veterinary doctors at the pet hospital were quite young. Yu Hanjiang showed his police officer’s card and the two of them immediately cooperated to check the pet cases in recent months. Yu Hanjiang asked them to check the medical records of a dog called Doudou whose owner was Qi Ming.
The female doctor quickly found the information. “I have a deep impression of Doudou. He was white all over and looked very cute. It is just that he was 12 years old this year, very old for a dog. He often fell ill and has been to this hospital several times.”
Xiao Lou asked, “When was the last time the patient came?”
The female doctor replied, “On November 11th, there was a severe infection that caused heart failure. We had no choice but to persuade the owner to give up treatment. At that time, Doudou was dying and Mr Qi walked away holding it, looking very sad.”
The veterinary nurse next to her added, “We haven’t seen Doudou since.”
Yu Hanjiang asked, “Every time Doudou comes to see the doctor, it was always Mr Qi bringing him along?”
The female doctor said, “Yes, he loved the dog very much.”
Judging from the investigation results of the pet hospital and the opinions of the neighbours in the community, Qi Ming clearly loved Lin Yiyan and also cherished the pet the two of them bought together. He usually took Doudou for walks in the community. On November 11th two weeks ago, Doudou became seriously ill. He came to the hospital but the doctor said there was nothing that could be done. Doudou was ill and probably passed away on that day.
Qi Ming buried him and Doudou’s death stimulated Qi Ming. He was afraid that their relationship was coming to an end so he prepared to have a talk with Lin Yiyan to restore their relationship. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.
He didn’t have the courage to get married when Lin Yiyan liked him and when he wanted to get married, Lin Yiyan no longer loved him.
Love lasted for many years and went through long-distance running, but in the end it fell apart. There were countless examples of this in reality. Judging from Qi Ming’s performance and testimony, it was unlikely that he had impulsively killed Lin Yiyan out of anger. In addition, his suspicion was lowered since he left before 4 o’clock. Of course, he couldn’t be completely ruled out.
On the way back, Xiao Lou sighed softly. “I always think that Lin Yiyan is very complicated. She is completely different every time in front of her fans, her parents, Qi Ming and Cheng Yu.”
Yu Hanjiang spoke casually. “Don’t forget there is her idol Xie Yuan. In front of her idol, Lin Yiyan is still a little fan.”
Xiao Lou smiled bitterly. “Isn’t she tired of acting in front of different people every day?”
Yu Hanjiang asked Xiao Lou, “Have you ever heard of ‘Histrionic Personality Disorder?’”
Xiao Lou was surprised before suddenly realizing. “Histrionic Personality Disorder is a type of mental illness. This type of person craves attention and approval so they set up a ‘setting’ for themselves and switch freely between different people. Unlike schizophrenia or Dissociative Identity Disorder, people with Histrionic Personality Disorder know what they are doing but they are good at disguising it. Their actions and expressions are designed and they will satisfy their psychological sense of accomplishment by bewildering other people.”
Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Lin Yiyan seems to have a bit of the Histrionic Personality Disorder. She pretends to be a good girl in front of her parents, a goddess in front of her fans, a little girl in front of her idol and an infatuated girl in front of her agent. She probably pretends to be a confidant sister when she is with Cheng Yu.”
Xiao Lou helplessly rubbed his temples. “She acted too much and is used to acting in her life?”
“Thus, on the surface, she hasn’t seemed to offend anyone. However, perhaps someone has seen through her disguise a long time ago and watched her perform indifferently. The scope of our investigation is currently too limited. I think we should start from when she was in school and review the process of her debut from beginning to end.”
