“Come this way… A little more! Why are you being so shy?” Zhao Yu asked, while he pulled Cui Lizhu towards him on the bed.
He then urged her, “I know… I’ll pretend to be dead… No, even better… I’ll pretend to be unconscious under the effects of sleeping pills! Then, you put the handle of a knife in my right hand, and…”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Cui Lizhu stuck out her tongue at him and said, “Boss, don’t scare me with such nonsense! I thought you wanted me to undress for you again, like last time!”
Zeng Ke felt super awkward upon overhearing their banter, and he didn’t know what to say.
“Don’t joke around! This is a serious case investigation!” Zhao Yu emphasized in a serious tone, “We’re working here! And… Hey! Wait a minute… When Did I ever make you undress? That is nonsense!”
It turned out that all Zhao Yu wanted Cui Lizhu to do was to play the role of the victim, Zhang Jingru, while he played the role of Han Kuan! He hoped that, by recreating the death scene, the group might get some inspiration.
Once everyone understood his intentions, they got on board with Zhao Yu’s plan at once. Since they didn’t have a fruit knife available, they used a comb instead.
Of course, Zeng Ke took on the role of director, and as he threw the comb on the bed, he commanded, “Team Leader, you have just taken the sleeping pills. Now, lay down and act like you have just lost consciousness!”
Hearing this, Zhao Yu closed his eyes and lay down in the exact same position in which Han Kuan had been found.
“Now, Cui, you quietly pick up the knife!” Zeng Ke continued to instruct them, “Okay… Now wipe the pillow lace on the knife handle, paying close attention to not leave your fingerprints! Then, put the knife handle into Zhao Yu’s right hand!”
Cui Lizhu obediently placed the comb in Zhao Yu’s right hand according to what Zeng Ke had just said.
Zeng Ke then continued, “Next, hold his right hand tightly with your left hand! Then, try to reach up and lightly slit your right wrist! See if it’s possible…”
“Okay!” Cui Lizhu did as he said.
She then exclaimed, “As long as my left hand uses enough strength, it’s possible!”
Cui Lizhu held Zhao Yu’s right hand tightly and made a motion of slitting her wrist. A clear mark appeared on her wrist, although she had only broken the skin lightly for realism’s sake.
“Then… It’s feasible?” Zeng Ke thought about it for a while, then said, “So, it really is possible that it was a suicide?”
Zhao Yu sat up and said, “The evidence report revealed that the fruit knife was very sharp. If Zhang Jingru used enough strength, she could indeed kill herself with the knife that was found in Han Kuan’s hand! Then, she could have easily made it look like Han Kuan was the killer!”
Zeng Ke nodded and said, “Yes! Zhang Jingru could have taken the sleeping pills in advance, then committed suicide before the pills took effect! After she slit her own wrist, she would have then had enough time to take a few pictures with her left hand, send them to her brother, Zhang Jingfeng, then call him…”
“Huh…” As Zhao Yu stroked the comb in his hand, he suddenly recalled something and exclaimed, “The witness detected a high concentration of sleeping pill residue in the drinking cup on the bedside table! That cup was Zhang Jingru’s, so the police suspected that Zhang Jingru fell into a coma after Han Kuan gave her sleeping pills.”
He shook his head, while his eyes grew wide. “But, what if the truth is the exact opposite of that hypothesis? According to Han Kuan’s confession, he had planned on writing until the wee hours of the morning. But, before it was even 11:30, he started to feel dizzy. Then, he went to relieve himself in the yard, went back to the bedroom, locked the door, and went to bed!”
Zhao Yu paused to take a breath, then said, “He also vaguely remembered that when he went to bed, Zhang Jingru had already fallen asleep. But, what if Zhang Jingru didn’t fall asleep at all? Han Kuan also said that he had the habit of drinking tea while he was writing novels. He had tea that evening, but did not finish it, and after the police arrived, they only found the empty cup!”
At this point, Zhao Yu took a deep breath, then said meaningfully, “If all of this was really Zhang Jingru’s plan all along, the scene that day might have been as follows: Zhang Jingru put sleeping pills in Han Kuan’s tea, and after Han Kuan fell into a coma, she orchestrated her own suicide plan!”
His voice raised an octave as he was getting so excited. “First, she poured out Han Kuan’s tea, washed the cup clean, and destroyed the evidence! Then she examined the door carefully, making sure it was locked. In this way, she was able to create the illusion of a locked room murder!”
Zhao Yu then said, “Second, she removed a hook from the curtain so that people outside could see the bed in the bedroom through the gap above the curtain. Later, she added the sleeping pills to her cup, stirred them in, and drank the laced concoction! She deliberately left half of the cup’s liquid, which created the illusion that Han Kuan had done this to her in order to make her lose consciousness!”
Zhao Yu shook his head, then added, “Then, using the method that we just practiced, she carried out her devious plan to commit the perfect suicide. In this way, Han Kuan’s fingerprints were left on the weapon, which made us think that Han Kuan had killed her! After slitting her wrist, she took her mobile phone in her left hand and sent her brother a picture of her slit wrist. She was afraid that Zhang Jingfeng could not see it, so she called him. But, after the call went through, she did not speak!”
Zhao Yu was getting more and more excited. “Zhang Jingru must have known that Zhang Jingfeng would be playing cards not too far away. Therefore, she knew that Zhang Jingfeng could bring the police to her home to catch Han Kuan!”
Zhao Yu was lost in his own thoughts as he continued, not even noticing the others’ reactions, “Han Kuan fell asleep just before midnight, but Zhang Jingfeng didn’t received the photo until about one o’clock the next morning! So, there was just enough time for Zhang Jingru to carry out her plan!”
After Zhao Yu finished explaining his hypothetical scenario, the other two fell were absolute silent. You could say that they had been shocked speechless! Zeng Ke and Cui Lizhu stared at each other and didn’t speak for a long time.
Then, Cui Lizhu asked, “Boss, that still doesn’t explain one of the most important questions… Why would Zhang Jingru kill herself and frame her husband? What was her motive?”
Zhao Yu nodded, as she did have a good point. So, he said, “Well… I asked Director Ba to look into all of the details, and if he finds that there is no possibility of a third party involved, then there must have been some major problems between the couple that we don’t know about!”
Cui Lizhu shook her head, then said, “No! I don’t think that’s possible! You know… When I was lying in bed just now, imagining that I was Zhang Jingru, I got a strange feeling! Um… Anyway… I think that, no matter what secrets she and Han Kuan may have had, she still wouldn’t have committed suicide! In my opinion, the murderer is either someone else or Han Kuan!”
Zeng Ke shook his head, then said, “Cui, you can’t handle cases by using your intuition alone! We have to trust in the cold, hard facts and clear evidence!”
Hearing this, Zhao Yu agreed with Zeng Ke, so he quickly said in frustration, “Yes, Zeng Ke is right! Even if our hypotheses are correct, we still cannot prove that Han Kuan is innocent without having evidence to back it up! So, no matter who the murderer is, we all have to agree that we have met a very smart opponent in this case!”
