“How can that be? Mr. Lan?” Xiao Bai scratched his head and said, “He looks like a gentleman. How can he be the murderer?”
“We cannot be sure. You can’t judge a person by his looks!” Liang Huan said. “Don’t forget what his profession is. An actor. Mr. Lan is so good at acting. Was he acting, when he came to turn himself in? If so, we would have been fooled!”
“But… If it was him, how do you explain his alibi? Da Fei shook his head. “And… Why did he kill Liu Jiao? And how could he enter the bedroom of Feng Kuo so easily? It does not make sense!”
“He was jealous of Feng Kuo, so he killed Liu Jiao, Feng Kuo’s most precious!” Someone guessed, “They had a close relationship before. Hence, it would not be difficult at all for Lan Shuping to secretly make a duplicate of the key.”
“Hey, I said, are we straying from the problem?” Xiao Li said. “We are investigating the kidnapping case now! After all, it is more important to save the hostage! I feel that the most important thing to do now, is to find out where Feng Kuo has hidden the child. Why do we keep harping on the 10 year old murder case?”
“Why does it not matter?” Liang Huan retorted. “If we can find out the truth of what happened 10 years ago, it will certainly help in the kidnapping case! If Lan Shuping really did commit the murder, the kidnapping case would be readily solved!”
“But…”
“Hey? What is this?” Suddenly, when everyone was discussing intensely, Zhao Yu noticed something from a picture on the whiteboard, and asked, “Here… What is being drawn here?”
Liang Huan stretched his neck and looked over. He realized that Zhao Yu was referring to a photograph taken from the crime scene back then. He quickly looked down at the file, then told Zhao Yu, “Leader, that’s another clue that was left on the crime scene! According to the report, after the deceased was stabbed, she did not die immediately. Before dying, she wrote a ‘冫’ pattern with her blood-stained fingers! However, only those two strokes were written. Since it was the last thing that the deceased had written, it would naturally be referring to the real murderer!”
“Two strokes?” Xiao Bai used his hand to virtually draw two strokes in the air, then suddenly said with great frustration, “Oh no, oh no! Feng Kuo’s surname is Feng, containing two strokes. Does that mean he is the murderer? It was no wonder the police were so sure that Feng Kuo was the murderer. After much investigation, it seems that we have wasted our efforts and time, only to find out that he is truly the murderer, after all.”
“No, it might not be true…” Zhao Yu also stretched out his hand to virtually draw two strokes, as he said, “Two strokes does not necessarily have to refer to Feng Kuo!”
After Zhao Yu’s reminder, everyone stretched out their hands to join in the virtual drawing of two strokes.
The fastest to respond was none other than Liang Huan, who suddenly straightened up, surprised, and said, “Oh my God, if we were to write the two strokes vertically, isn’t that part of the Chinese character ‘Lan’?”
“Gosh!” Everyone gasped, amazed. “Don’t tell me that… Lan Shuping is really the murderer of the case?”
“I am beginning to understand…” Zhao Yu said, still pondering, “the reason why Feng Kuo is so sure that Lan Shuping is the murderer! That’s right!”
Zhao Yu asked Da Fei again, “Do you have any more detailed information? For example… What position was the deceased in, when she wrote these two strokes? If we could find out the position of her arm, we might be able to understand whether these two strokes refer to the Chinese character ‘Feng’ or ‘Lan'”.
“I… We will look up the information again!” Da Fei quickly patted Xiao Li, and the two of them immediately left for further investigation.
This is… Interesting!
Zhao Yu’s eyes were fixed on the two strokes on the photo. He had a feeling that these two strokes, written in blood and left behind by Liu Jiao, would likely become the key to solve the case!
So… Is the murderer’s surname Feng, or Lan?
The investigation task, this time, was very special. In order not to attract the attention of Feng Kuo, the police chose to investigate secretly, rather than conducting a high-profile investigation.
Group A’s main task was to collect data. However, the group could only work within its own office. Also, all the information they obtained could only be accessed and investigated through a surveying of the existing data, not through the questioning of the public.
Of course, Mao Wei’s side was no better. In order to get the videos from the cameras near the scene of the kidnapping, they did everything they could.
Then, although they managed to retrieve the videos, after an initial investigation, nothing suspicious was found to have happened during the period that the hostage was kidnapped. Therefore, they expanded the time range, and started to search for other videos. Due to the heavy workload, no concrete results had been found yet.
In addition, Mao Wei and others also questioned the students from the art school, along with the help of the school teachers. However, no one noticed anything out of the ordinary with the daughter of Lan Shuping that day.
Just as Zhao Yu said, it was difficult to find clues at the scene of the kidnapping. Feng Kuo and his accomplices had been well-prepared ahead of time, and were unlikely to have left behind any obvious clues.
On the other hand, the detective in charge of interrogation had finished questioning Lan Shuping, who had said that he had to record a show that morning of the kidnapping, and so went to the TV station at 5 a.m., with his phone turned off. According to him, he did not know that Feng Kuo had escaped from the prison, nor did he know that his daughter was in danger.
The school teacher did not see his daughter coming to school. This alarmed her, so then called him, but the phone could not get through, so the teacher left a message on his WeChat.
After he finished recording the first part of the show, he turned on his mobile phone and received a short message. The message read:
“If you want your daughter to live, you need to do two things. First, do not let the police know about the kidnapping. Second, turn yourself in to the police, and reveal to the public the crimes that you committed 10 years ago! As long as you do the above two things, I will release your daughter. Make a choice, and exchange your salvation for your daughter’s life! Or, continue to bury your sins, and let your daughter atone for those sins! You know who I am!”
At first, Lan Shuping thought that someone was playing a prank on him, or figured that it was a scam, and so, did not take it seriously. However, when he opened his WeChat again, and saw the teacher’s message, he realized that the situation was indeed serious.
He hurried to call his wife and school to verify the information. He learned that, not only had his daughter been kidnapped, but that Feng Kuo had also escaped from the prison. All of the sudden, Lan Shuping felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his mind went blank.
Subsequently, Lan Shuping and his wife went to the vicinity around the art school in order to search for themselves. They also consulted their relatives for advice. Finally, Lan Shuping had no choice but to come to the Rongyang branch office in order to turn himself in and plead guilty.
Needless to say, the only incident that had to do with him 10 years ago was the one and only current “big” case. Since Feng Kuo had escaped from the prison, he must be the one who kidnapped his daughter. All Feng Kuo asked for, was for him to admit that he had murdered Liu Jiao.
During interrogation, Lan Shuping emphasized again and again that he did not murder Liu Jiao! Years ago, he was secretly admiring Liu Jiao. Had he really murdered someone out of jealousy, it would have been Feng Kuo that he murdered, not Liu Jiao!
However, Lan Shuping also said to save his daughter, and that he would take the rap for Feng Kuo’s murder charge. For the sake of his daughter, even if Feng Kuo had wanted his life, he would have readily agreed!
Although the detectives knew that Lan Shuping was good at acting, everything he said was very touching and sincere, which impressed them. It is precisely because of this, after Mao Wei’s application, which ordered the rescue of the hostage earlier, the police decided to act upon their original plan, ahead of schedule.
The higher-ups requested that Lan Shuping plead guilty that very night, and to admit that he is the murderer who killed Liu Jiao. This news would then be broadcast to the public, in order to attract the attention of Feng Kuo, so that he would then let his guard down.
In order to make it looked real, the key case investigation unit had to combine the case details from 10 years ago to create a fake confession report, which Lan Shuping had to memorize. All of this was so that the public did not see through the plan…