Retrogade Mission

Chapter Nine: Transcript

Zuo Luo glanced at the stairs but didn't go up. Instead, he went to the second group and saw a female deputy group leader. "Xiao Lin," he said, "I need to take a statement here later. Could you send a female officer?" Although there was no explicit rule, it was best to have a female officer accompany officers when needing to interact with women. This was one of the reasons why the first, second, and third groups all had female deputy group leaders.

Xiao Lin raised his hand and asked, "Okay, what time?"

"Around nine o'clock."

"Okay, got it." After saying that, Xiaolin nodded to Zuo Luo and went back to her work. Although Group Two was much smaller, less staffed, and less equipped than Group One, it was still a very important department, and their work was very busy.

Zuo Luo nodded, returned to his office, dusted off the whiteboard, and then pasted the photos he had developed on his phone, along with case photos provided by the criminal police, onto the whiteboard. This was a very traditional investigative method, a tradition that Team Seven had always maintained. In Liu Mo's words, it was more intuitive and provided more inspiration.

Zuo Luo sat at his desk, looking at a dozen or so photos, holding the case file and the results of his investigation. He felt something was off. It was indeed strange. Liu Mo had told Zuo Luo that when something felt odd, it meant something was illogical, and what he needed to do was find those illogical points and examine them closely.

Su Cheng arrived at the office around nine o'clock, grabbed two paper cups, walked over to Zuo Luo, and handed him one. Zuo Luo took it and smelled it: "Coffee?"

"kindness."

"Where did this come from?" There are no coffee shops within a five-kilometer radius.

"I'm just going to mooch some coffee from a competitor of Zuo Luo." Su Cheng didn't seem to care that he was going to Zuo Luo's competitor's place for coffee. He asked, "Did you see something amazing?"

Zuo Luo got off the table, walked to the whiteboard, and pointed, saying, "Judging from the modus operandi, the burglary suspects use surveillance. First, they choose a neighborhood with no surveillance cameras and almost no external security. Second, they choose a target, and their favorite target is an elderly woman taking her grandchildren to school. Why? Generally, parents are busy with work, so they let the elderly woman take their grandchildren. Secondly, the elderly woman needs money for cooking, and the parents will provide enough—one thousand, two thousand, or even more than four thousand for daily expenses. Another advantage is that elderly women generally love gold jewelry; they may not wear it, but they always have some. The biggest advantage is time. By following them for one or two days, they can determine how much time the suspect has to commit the crime. Many elderly women take their grandchildren to school, then go grocery shopping and chat with people. They leave before eight o'clock and may not return until after ten, providing the criminals with ample time to commit the crime."

Su Cheng nodded: "I see. That means that murder cases do not fit the target of thieves."

“Yes,” Zuo Luo said. “The wife is indeed rarely at home. She works for the high-speed train and is only home two days a week. But the husband is different. He is a network engineer. I have inquired with his company. He has a very flexible job. He can come to work or not. The only requirement is to complete the assigned tasks within the specified time. He is a middle-aged man, and his time at home is irregular, which makes him a poor target for burglars.”

Zuo Luo added, "Furthermore, I just spoke with my wife's boss on the phone. He told me that my wife has a bad temper and has offended quite a few people. But it shouldn't be to the point of killing her."

Su Cheng nodded while sipping his coffee: "Impressive, Department Z truly lives up to its reputation. So, is there any conclusion?"

"There's no conclusion yet. We're going to my wife's workplace today to find out more," Zuo Luo said. "Based on the analysis of the scene, I'm fairly certain it was someone we know who committed the crime."

"Hello." The young woman, who was a neighbor of the murder victim, appeared in a white jumpsuit and greeted the two.

"Hello, thank you for cooperating with the police." Zuo Luo walked over and shook hands with the young woman, then gestured for her to follow him into the interrogation room next door. Since Xiao Lin was busy, he would do it himself. The interrogation room was simple, with a table, chairs, and a water dispenser. However, it was covered in dust, which made Zuo Luo a little embarrassed. He took a cloth from the side and wiped the chairs and a table clean before inviting the young woman to sit down.

The young woman looked around for a moment: "Isn't Department Z being a little too frugal?"

Zuo Luo didn't answer. He casually patted the chair, sat down, opened his notebook, pressed the remote control, and the surveillance started recording automatically. Zuo Luo said to the camera, "On [Date], Zuo Luo questioned XX regarding the [Case Name]."

The young woman looked at the camera; it seemed to still be working.

Zuo Luo didn't mind and asked, "Excuse me, are you familiar with your neighbor?"

The young woman thought for a moment and shook her head: "Not really familiar with each other."

"Is their relationship good?"

"It's not good. His wife is very fierce. Although the man's income is not bad, it doesn't meet the standard for buying a house. The house belongs to his wife. Because she is sick and has no children, she is insecure and often makes trouble."

Zuo Luo said "Oh," and asked, "You two aren't close, how do you know his wife is sick?"

"I offended her because of this. Although we're neighbors and not close, we see each other all the time. Sometimes we'd chat for a bit, and I'd casually ask about his family. The man sighed and told me a few things. The next morning, his wife knocked on my door and told me to mind my own business."

So that's how it is. Zuo Luo began asking about the events of the day of the incident, and her answers were almost identical to the police report. Zuo Luo closed her notebook, preparing to see her guest out. At that moment, Su Cheng entered, knocked on the door, and said, "The criminal investigation team has found an eyewitness who confirmed that my husband was at the market at 9:10 a.m. on the day of the incident."

"Then there's no problem," Zuo Luo stood up. The young woman looked at Su Cheng. Behind Su Cheng was a girl of about twenty years old, very shy, with her head down, her left hand gently rubbing her slightly bulging belly.

The young woman looked at the girl with a strange expression and asked, "Who are you?"

The girl looked up at the young woman and replied softly, "My name is Qianqian."

Su Cheng said, "She was from out of town and had just started working at her uncle's convenience store at the entrance of the vegetable market a few months ago. She was very familiar with the deceased's husband, Hua Ming, and Hua Ming had even helped her assemble a computer."

The young woman took a few steps closer to the girl, looked at her expressionlessly, and asked, "Did you see Huaming at 9:10 that day?"

The girl nodded, then looked down at her stomach, a hint of happiness in her eyes: "Well, I also chatted with Brother Huaming for a bit."

"Little ****!" The young woman suddenly sprang to her feet, reaching out with both hands to grab the girl's face.

Su Cheng was prepared and tried to stop her, saying, "Calm down..." but was knocked to the ground by the angry young woman. She really was a bodybuilder; she was incredibly strong.

The attacked girl looked panicked, covering her abdomen with her hands and asking in terror, "What are you doing? Help!"

The young woman didn't answer. She rushed over fiercely, pinned the girl against the wall, and with a ferocious expression, grabbed the girl's neck with one hand and punched her stomach hard with the other.