After Zhang Jingfeng left the office, Zeng Ke exhaled heavily and said to Zhao Yu, “Team leader, I now understand why you think Han Kuan’s case is more difficult than the serial killer case!”
“It’s so hard to find other possibilities in such this crime scene!” Zeng Ke frowned. “If it’s a locked room murder, theoretically, there are only two possible murderers, one being Zhang Jingru, and the other being Han Kuan! However, neither of them seem reasonable! Han Kuan had no reason to kill his wife, and Zhang Jingru had no reason to commit suicide! Isn’t this a dead end?”
Zhao Yu thought for a moment, then replied, “I hope not. But… The condition of this locked door is very important, so let’s go to the crime scene tomorrow morning and check it out!”
Zeng Ke had assembled the equipment by now, and as he perused a document on the computer screen, he said, “Okay. Also, I just checked Han Kuan’s medical records. It turns out that he did go to to the doctor several times regarding his infertility. I’ll send someone there later to investigate this in further detail!”
“Great… And while you are at it, take a look at Zhang Jingru’s medical records as well!” Zhao Yu said. He then thought of something and asked Zeng Ke, “Hey… Do you know if Zhang Jingru had any mental problems?”
“I’ll check, but I don’t believe that she did,” Zeng Ke said. “After all, Zhang Jingru was a credit officer at a bank, and most people with that job normally don’t have problems with their mental health. Besides, her brother was right… If she wanted to commit suicide, why would she go to the trouble of framing her husband?”
At this time, Zhao Yu started to breathe heavily. Earlier, he had asked Zhang Jingfeng whether Zhang Jingru and Han Kuan had affairs or any close friends of the opposite sex.
Zhang Jingfeng had denied the existence of either circumstance quite confidently, saying that Han Kuan and his wife had been married for 10 years, and there was never any gossip related to things of that sort. In Zhang Jingfeng’s words, Han Kuan was a typical boring guy, who did not smoke, drink, play cards, etc.
In fact, he said that he normally just stayed at home in his room, writing. So, such a person having an illicit affair seemed highly unlikely.
Moreover, although Zhang Jingru had more social interactions with people, she behaved herself impeccably and was above reproach. Therefore, there were no rumors or doubts about her either.
As he looked at the information on the white boards, Zhao Yu felt that this case was very strange. He was curious to uncover the whole truth.
Later, when they met the criminal policemen who were at the death scene, Zhao Yu and Zeng Ke asked them about the details that the found upon first arriving there. The policemen’s stories corroborated exactly what Zhang Jingfeng had said.
Now that Zhao Yu had a clear idea of the original crime scene, he had requested all kinds of evidence, including the detailed autopsy report and the mobile phones that belonged to Zhang Jingfeng, Zhang Jingru, and Han Kuan sent to them. Only then did Zhao Yu finally get to see the photo of the slit wrist.
The Forensics Department had already confirmed it to be Zhang Jingru’s arm, and it was also confirmed that the photo had indeed been taken and sent from Zhang Jingru’s mobile phone. They also saw that there were several unanswered calls on both Han Kuan’s and his wife’s mobile phones, confirming that Zhang Jingfeng did call them after he saw the photo.
As Zhao Yu handed all three mobile phones to Zeng Ke, he ordered him, “Go check their mobile phones carefully once again!” Look into their contacts and recent Wechat interactions to see if there are any other people that we should check out.”
Just as Zeng Ke was taking the mobile phones, the office door was pushed open and Cui Lizhu came. She looked quite unhappy.
She started to complain to Zhao Yu as soon as she entered the door, “Team leader, your girlfriend is impossible! She is being so hard on me, asking me do so many things!”
She then sat down on a stool in front of the white boards and said, “I can’t stand her yelling at me anymore! You must let me come back and work with you!”
Zhao Yu always naturally sided with Miao Ying, so immediately frowned and started to scold her, “What nonsense! Lizhu, you are the newest team member, so you especially have to obey orders! Now, get back to work. Otherwise…”
“Otherwise… You’ll tell her about how you took off my clothes in Jinping?” Cui Lizhu interrupted him and spoke in a defiant, somewhat threatening tone.
She then added, “You’ve see my body clearly. Do not think I have forgotten!”
Hearing this, Zeng Ke almost fell off of his chair onto the ground.
“You…” Zhao Yu scolded her angrily, “You dare to threaten your superior! What’s wrong with you? Did you learn that rascal trick from me? How many times have I told you that I’ve changed my ways now? We must both be honest people from now on. Don’t you understand?”
Cui Lizhu lightly pointed to her lip with her finger as she recalled, “I remember… We slept in a room that only had one bed, and we took a bath together in the hotel. You seemed to have touched me here more than once…”
Seeing that Cui Lizhu pointing to her chest now, Zeng Ke was shocked yet again.
Zhao Yu got even angrier as he shouted at Cui Lizhu, “That’s enough! Fine… You win! You can stay and work with me for the time being. I have to teach you how to do your work correctly anyway.”
Cui Lizhu smiled an exultant smile. She then turned to the white boards and pointed to a specific piece of information and asked, “Team Leader, what does this mean? A locked room?”
As Zhao Yu was still angry with her, he was reluctant to answer. So, Zang Ke explained instead, “Oh… That means that we figured out that the front door could only be locked from the inside. Hence, we described Han Kuan’s case as being a murder in a locked room!”
“Oh… So, you have no doubt that Han Kuan is indeed the murderer? Then, why does he still insist that he is innocent?” Cui Lizhu asked, while she looked at the white boards carefully.
She then asked, “Also… On this front door… Was there a mirror?”
“Why do you ask such a strange thing?” Zhao Yu was puzzled by her seemingly random question.
“Yes, there was!” Zeng Ke rushed to hand a document to Cui Lizhu, which happened to have a photo of the door, which had been taken by the police on their first day at the crime scene.
Cui Lizhu looked at it carefully and said, “Well, I know a way to unlock a door through the mirror! So, the killer could have possibly also locked the door inside through the mirror as well. After he did that, he would just need to place the mirror back in its original position, allowing him to leave no trace of his entry or exit!”
Zhao Yu was surprised by this pieces of news, and he asked, “So, you are saying that the the locked room scenario could be a manipulated crime scene?”
“Yes! It’s as simple as that!” Cui Lizhu laughed. “Take me to the crime scene. If someone tampered with the mirror, I will know it at a glance! Moreover, skylights, pipes, and even windows can be tampered with in a similar fashion, so all of these details must be investigated as well!”
“Great!” Zeng Ke wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, then looked at Zhao Yu, seeing that Zhao Yu was also wiping the sweat off of his forehead.
“As I said, it’s better for me to be in your group, Team Leader!” Cui Lizhu smiled with relief. “Besides, Miao Ying is fierce, and she might hurt me!”
