Jian Jing walked into the small office, which had become a temporary interrogation room.
She was very polite to Quan Lei: "I'd like to ask you a few questions, I hope you can answer them truthfully."
Assistant looked uneasy, and awkwardly said, "Okay, what do you want to ask?"
"Hou Rui died for no apparent reason. I want to know who might have killed him." Jian Jing said slowly, "I heard he had a messy personal life. Can you tell me about it?"
Quan Lei hesitated, hemmed and hawed: "He just liked to play around, going to bars to pick up girls, and occasionally sleeping with fans... His last girlfriend, they had a big fight over the breakup."
"So who was Hou Rui with now?"
Quan Lei scratched his head awkwardly. But Jian Jing was unrelenting in her gaze.
"Alright." He wasn't the stubborn type, and quickly gave up resisting, "Hou Rui was with Chen Zong now."
Jian Jing asked: "Aside from those fleeting affairs, among the people around him, Chen Zong was the only one he had something going on with?"
This time Quan Lei answered definitively: "Yes."
"What about you and the manager Yao Fei?"
Quan Lei waved his hands: "No no, neither of us are that kind of person. I have a girlfriend, and..." After some struggle, he chose to be frank, "Chen Zong sent me to take care of Hou Rui, how could I be involved with him?"
Jian Jing raised her brows: "Is that so? But I heard Chen Zong is 'open-minded'."
"Uh... Chen Zong's other 'friends' are also artists, they have nothing to do with me." Quan Lei was extremely embarrassed.
Jian Jing sized him up for a while. Considering his good looks, she tentatively believed him for now: "Were you on good terms with Hou Rui?"
"Of course not." Quan Lei complained bitterly, "Hou Rui was hard to serve in the first place. I was also the boss' spy, keeping an eye on him all the time so he wouldn't cause trouble. He hated me for it, lost his temper at every turn, and even tattled on me to the boss. What could I do?"
Having said this, he seemed to realize it was inappropriate, and added: "But I would never kill anyone because of this. Chen Zong pays me well. If I got sick of Hou Rui's temper one day, I'd just quit."
Jian Jing nodded. If there were no emotional disputes, Hou Rui's death brought Quan Lei no benefits.
"What was the relationship between the manager and Hou Rui?"
Quan Lei sighed, "Not great recently. Hou Rui felt he had made it big, looked down on Yao Fei for not being capable enough, and didn't have resources on hand. He wanted to change managers. Yao Fei worked hard to bring an artist to fame, of course she didn't want to let go. But he's now the top earner of the company. The higher-ups all pamper him, so he'd probably get his way."
"What about Yuan Reporter? I heard he had a conflict with Hou Rui."
"That did happen. He took some photos, Yao Fei said they could buy them back with some money, but Hou Rui disagreed. He said Yuan Reporter had been following and annoying him all the time. " Quan Lei frowned worriedly, "Then he got Chen Zong to intervene and teach Yuan Reporter a lesson."
"How did Yuan Reporter react?"
"He said he would kill Hou Rui one day and told him to wait for it." Quan Lei spread his hands. "Just venting his anger."
Jian Jing nodded, pondering. It seemed that Jiang BaiYan's information was quite accurate. Both Yuan Reporter and Yao Fei had strong motives to kill, and were also capable of committing the murder.
And in terms of timing, Yuan Reporter had a slight advantage.
"When you went to call Hou Rui at 9 o'clock, was the door locked?" She asked in detail, looking serious. "This is very important. Think carefully."
Quan Lei tried to recall: "At 9 o'clock then. He had a schedule tomorrow so I wanted Hou Rui to go back and rest early. I went to the bathroom to call him. The door was closed. I knocked first, no movement inside. Hou Rui had been drinking a lot earlier so I was worried he had passed out inside. So... yes, I tried the door but it was locked. I had no choice but to call out a few times. Still no response. I guessed he was annoyed with me and deliberately ignored me, so I left first."
Jian Jing asked: "Any sounds of vomiting or anything else?"
Quan Lei shook his head: "Couldn't hear clearly. The toilet music was still playing."
"I see, thank you." She instructed him, "Don't reveal our conversation for now."
Quan Lei agreed.
Jian Jing dragged the mouse and replayed Yuan Reporter's actions.
According to his account, he first tried to eavesdrop, then went to the balcony to smoke when it didn't work.
Smoking... She propped her head and thought for a moment, then suddenly got up and headed straight for the balcony.
The balcony of the restaurant was not big, about ten square meters, just a veranda with a few potted plants and two chairs. There was an ashtray on the table with some residual ash and a cigarette butt.
She used tweezers to pick up the remaining cigarette butt and identified the brand on it.
Sure enough, it matched the cigarette brand she had glimpsed in Yuan Reporter's box earlier. It should have been left by him.
She gently sniffed the smell on the cigarette butt and discerned a hint of orange aroma.
Just now when watching the surveillance footage, she had checked the serving times of Yuan Reporter's table.
He came latest, and was a last minute addition, so service was slower. He arrived at 6:50, food was served at 7:30, and the last dish came at 8:10. The complimentary fruit plate was served at 8:15.
And on his table, the fruit plate showed signs of being touched - the orange and cantaloupe had been eaten.
This cigarette butt smelled of orange - the xylitol on the table was mint flavored - so it could basically prove the cigarette was smoked after 8:15.
His second activity period was 8:42 to 8:48, just five minutes. Was that enough to kill someone and come back for a smoke?
Death by suffocation takes a long time.
Jian Jing fell into a blind spot of knowledge and had to seek the help of a smoker.
"Hey, got a question for you." She made a call.
The patient lazily asked: "What is it?"
"How long does it take to smoke a cigarette?"
Jiqiu: "Around 3-5 minutes under normal circumstances."
"If left to burn naturally?"
"About 8-10 minutes, depending on brand." He was enthusiastic. "Run into some case? Tell me about it..."
"Thanks." Jian Jing cruelly hung up.
This cigarette had burned out completely. Even if he lit it before committing murder, it would be very difficult to accomplish within the time.
Yuan Reporter's suspicion suddenly decreased.
Now, the biggest suspect had become the manager Yao Fei.
She seemed to have an alibi, but not really. The female server didn't see her in person, she only heard a voice through the door.
Both the locked door and the voice could be faked.
The voice was simple, a Bluetooth speaker could solve it. But how was the door locked?
Jian Jing paced around the tiny bathroom.
The layout of the toilet was like this:
Men's toilet
Wash basin
Squat toilet
Urinals
Door
The outer door could not be locked, it could only be closed normally. In addition to the spherical door lock, the stalls inside the men's and women's toilets had an extra door bolt on the back.
The spherical door lock had a feature that allowed locking the door from outside - just press down the protrusion in the center of the inner handle when closing the door. It was also very easy to open using just a thin card, offering no security at all.
Jian Jing asked the female server who had delivered items earlier: "Was the door locked when you opened it?"
The female server grasped the handle, recalling the feeling: "No, the handle could turn. The guest must have inserted the door bolt from inside."
She was very certain: "That's right. The guest said 'come in, the door's not locked', but she had forgotten to insert the bolt herself. So she had to let me pass the things through the door gap."
Jian Jing raised her eyebrows.
This was getting interesting.
The door bolt had become key to the alibi.
Jian Jing scrutinized the bolt very carefully using a magnifying glass. The metal bolt had some slight wear, the marks were faint and all horizontal, probably normal traces left by repeated use.
In addition, there were no sticky residues of tape on the bolt.
Jian Jing knew a few techniques to create a locked room using the bolt, doable with some practice using fishing line or tape. But such methods had a problem - there was no way to undo it from outside.
With the door locked from inside and no one inside, wouldn't it give the game away?
The murderer had utilized the locked room in reverse, creating the illusion someone was inside, so must be able to reopen the door afterwards.
This was not difficult to execute - gently shifting the rod inside the hole without pressing down the hook would also open the door.
But there were no marks on the bolt.
How was it done?
Jian Jing put herself in the murderer's shoes and felt that the method should not be too complicated. The bathroom door could not be locked, guests might come in at any time, and if mechanisms were used, it would be easy to expose, so concealment, efficiency and simplicity were what she pursued.
Just like the weapon she chose.
The weapon...?
Could it be?
Ah.
For the first time, Jian Jing experienced the feeling of a flash of lightning through her mind.
In a flash of inspiration, she suddenly understood.
After a long and difficult journey, the destination is in sight.
She took out a cotton swab from the makeup box, tied double-sided tape to the cotton head, and poked it into the socket. When she took it out, some fine white granules were stuck to the surface of the tape.
She put it in an evidence bag and slowly rubbed it open.
Sure enough.
Paper fragments.
Some tricks, when explained plainly, could hardly be called tricks at all, just mental blind spots.
The substitute for the latch need not be the latch itself, it could also be a substitute.
Just like blackmail, tissue paper could be improvised into a latched-shaped object. Using a rigid card or blade, insert it into the door gap to hold the texture of the tissue paper in place, which could then be pushed into the latch hole from outside to serve as a one-time door bolt.
How many people would push hard when a female attendant delivers something? They would certainly just push slightly, find it locked, and stop.
After she completed the alibi, the prop would lose its value. One slash to get rid of it, the closed room could be instantly cancelled. Then flush the tissue down the toilet, leaving no trace behind.
Now what was lacking was evidence.
But that wouldn't be difficult either.
Jian Jing sighed lightly and walked into Booth No. 1. She said to the assistant, "I'd like to talk to Ms. Yao alone."
The assistant raised no doubts and immediately cleared the space.
The female agent was unaware of anything wrong, instead asking with concern, "Any progress? I just saw Ye Qi in the next booth over, she and Hou Rui were having a terrible fight, could it be...?"
"Ms. Yao, I already know who the murderer is," said Jian Jing.
The female agent was taken aback, then reluctantly said, "Really? Ms. Jian, you're a writer, you can actually solve cases!"
Jian Jing said, "Yes, I've cracked a few cases by chance, and at the end of each one, I try to persuade the culprit to turn themselves in. After all, people make mistakes, but it's better if they can realize it and make amends."
The female agent said, "I don't understand what you mean."
"Before he died, Hou Rui left clues about the murderer's identity," said Jian Jing, showing her the pattern captured in the photo, "He has hinted at who did it."
The female agent glanced at the photo and said, "How is this a hint?"
Jian Jing didn't press her. She went on, "Today, coincidentally, every suspect relates in some way to this death message. But on closer thought, it's not really plausible."
She held up a finger, "For assistant Quan Lei, 'Quan' sounds the same as 'circle', but to be honest, if Hou Rui wanted to leave a death message, he'd have to cut his hand and write in blood, very time consuming and troublesome. For Quan, a fist would be more fitting."
She curled her fingers into a fist, "If I wanted to indicate Quan Lei, I'd use this gesture, simple and easy."
The female agent made no comment.
"As for journalist Yuan, 'Yuan' sounds the same as 'circle', but I highly doubt that someone like Hou Rui would know Reporter Yuan's full name," reasoned Jian Jing, "He'd probably just yell something like 'damn paparazzi', right?"
The female agent said, "How would I know that?"
Jian Jing didn't push her and went on, "It also fits for Jiang Ou. Assuming Hou Rui knew Jiang Ou's identity, there are simpler ways to express her name."
She dipped her finger in water and drew three lines, or three dots, on the table.
"Drawing three dots with water is much easier than a circle, and three is her birth order. As for the last name Jiang, that's her stage name. Would he have called her by her stage name in private? Her real name is Zhu You, so using a U would be more appropriate."
The female agent retorted, "What does this have to do with me? My name has nothing to do with O."
"It's your earring," said Jian Jing directly. "The G-shaped earring, the last stroke is crooked, making it look like an unfinished O. It could be interpreted as a G too."
She analyzed, "When Hou Rui died, he was half-kneeling on the ground. From his perspective, he could just see your earring reflected on the metal decorative strip on the wall."
The female agent reflexively touched her earlobe, then laughed coldly, "So Teacher Jian's so-called solving cases is making up stories?"
"Just now yes, but not anymore," Jian Jing shrugged, admitting the death message speculation was mostly conjecture, "I've already figured out your method."
The agent crossed her arms. "Let's hear the details."
