Do you know? Who is it? How come I don't know?
Dai An had three questions in his mind. If given a comic filter, three question marks would definitely be floating above his head.
The others had similar expressions.
Mrs. Che hesitated and faltered, "You know who the murderer is? Who?"
"Before announcing the answer, please allow me to explain one thing. This conclusion is purely based on reasoning without any substantive evidence," said Jian Jing. "After all, tens of thousands of meters in the air, there are no autopsy reports or ways to check luggage. I hope everyone understands."
Mrs. Che nodded slightly, "We know that."
"Then I'm relieved," Jian Jing thought for a moment and said slowly, "The breakthrough in the whole incident lies in that cup of poisoned milk. From the moment I saw it, I determined it was not the real cause of death."
Dai An asked everyone's doubt, "Why?"
"There is security check when boarding the plane. Being able to successfully carry drugs on the plane proves that the murderer must have made adequate preparations. In other words, he came fully prepared.
"But poisoning the milk was an extremely casual move. The victim may not have wanted a drink, or someone may have taken it away after he drank it, or he may have picked up the cup, smelled something wrong with it, but did not drink it.
"Adequate preparation and casual poisoning are two completely conflicting patterns of behavior. Of course, a person's personality has both rational and emotional sides, so it's hard to rule out such an operation at first. But when I asked each of you carefully, I found that no one had such a personality that was both cautious and crazy."
Face-to-face questioning, in addition to taking testimony and obtaining necessary information, is also a good opportunity for detectives to analyze personality.
Mrs. Che was elegant and well-mannered. No matter what happened, she had to maintain a proper appearance on the surface. She had good self-control and was a very rational woman. If she poisoned someone, she would definitely choose an insidious, long-term, chronic toxin that corroded the victim little by little while keeping up appearances on the surface.
Mrs. Bao was casual and romantic, keen on flirting and enjoying the admiration and infatuation of the opposite sex. If she poisoned someone, it would mostly be on a whim, taking and giving randomly. If some time had passed, she probably would have forgotten about it long ago.
The female model was vain and superficial, obviously greedy for money and lacking a motive to kill. Even if there was a dispute over money, she wouldn't really do it. Because she didn't love the deceased at all. If her sugar daddy died, she would curse his bad luck and find another one.
Jian Jing first ruled out these three women.
President Meng, President Bao and the secretary were actually all her suspects.
There was no need to elaborate on the grievances and entanglements between the deceased and the first two. Contradictions between employees and bosses were also a possibility that could not be ignored for a motive for the secretary to kill.
But then we have to talk about the next point.
"I encountered two completely opposite patterns. Which one is more objective and credible? Of course it's the poison itself. In other words, the murderer must have carefully planned the whole process. So his behavior of poisoning the milk has another explanation," said Jian Jing.
She announced the answer, "It was to confuse the time. But this answer puzzled me very much. Does the time of death have any special meaning? Our flight today was delayed by nearly an hour. If not for this accident, the time of death should be set earlier, 6 pm-6:50 pm before dinner time."
"What's the significance of that? To have the flight attendant discover the death as soon as possible? No," she raised the question and denied it herself. "The scope should be greater. In other words, the murderer wanted people to believe that the poisoning took place on the plane."
President Meng said, "But he was fine when he got on the plane."
"XXXX has different incubation periods under different conditions, as fast as two to three minutes, but if it is food like cassava or bitter almond, it can be as long as 4-7 hours," said Jian Jing.
The secretary couldn't help but ask, "Does that mean everything he ate at the company and in the lounge..."
"Yes, so we need to eliminate some interference again," Jian Jing said to her. "Was the lunch a company-wide order? Did the deceased make any special requests?"
The secretary quickly shook her head, "No, the lunch boxes were all the same. Am I right, President Bao?"
President Bao nodded, "Different positions have different standards for ordering meals, but during meetings, everyone eats meals ordered from the same restaurant, with at most two to three different set meals."
The secretary said, "That's right. No one knew which lunch box Mr. Che would get."
"Alright. Next is the noodles," Jian Jing said. "I also ate something in the boarding lounge. They brought it directly to me, so unless someone left it halfway through eating, there was no chance to poison it. But I don't think he would eat again when he came back from the bathroom given the state of his stomach, right Mrs. Che?"
Mrs. Che nodded, "After he went to the bathroom, I had it taken away."
"This is a testimony that is easy to verify. I don't think you have any reason to lie," said Jian Jing, looking at everyone. "Does everyone feel like there wasn't much chance to make a move?"
Dai An nodded very cooperatively.
But Jian Jing said, "Mr. Bao, you said that every time the deceased quarreled with Mr. Meng, you mediated between them. At noon today, did you chat privately with him about this matter?"
President Bao hesitated for a moment and nodded, "I persuaded him for a bit, but since I was in a hurry to go home and thought there would be plenty of opportunities to talk on vacation anyway, it wasn't long."
"Did he eat anything at that time?" Jian Jing stared into his eyes.
President Bao's eyes widened, "What do you mean?"
"Just checking for any loopholes," Jian Jing said. "From the timeline, it is very likely that this happened. He ate very little at lunch. Maybe after his cold got better, he might have wanted to eat something."
President Bao licked his lips and answered, "I'm not sure. After the meeting, I went around my department and when I got back to my office, he was already there. I have food in my office. Whether he ate anything or not, I don't know."
Jian Jing smiled, "I think he definitely ate something, something that you gave him. I can't confirm exactly what it was. Maybe tapioca snacks or almond cookies. Of course now if I search your office, I probably won't find anything. You disposed of it when you went home, right?"
"Do you have any proof?" President Bao pursed his thin lips, his emaciated face looking terrifyingly serious. "You can't make groundless accusations."
Jian Jing said, "Pay attention to everyone's testimony. When she (pointing to the model) woke up in the morning, she said the deceased only had some symptoms of a cold and fever. The secretary also said that after taking cold medicine at noon, his symptoms had greatly reduced. But when he was in the boarding lounge, his symptoms suddenly worsened again and he had gastrointestinal discomfort, which made Mrs. Che think it was a side effect of drinking too much."
Every time she mentioned a key point, she would look to the witnesses for confirmation, and they would involuntarily nod.
"So it's not difficult for us to conclude that the time he was poisoned was between lunch and arriving at the airport," said Jian Jing. "President Meng left after the meeting. Among those present, the only ones who could have poisoned him were you and the secretary."
The secretary panicked, "It wasn't me!"
"Yes, I didn't find a motive for you to kill," Jian Jing waved her hand and looked at President Bao. "But you, you had already told me your motive."
The muscles in President Bao's cheeks twitched as he refuted, "What reason would I have to kill him? I wasn't the one arguing with him."
Jian Jing smiled.
"You said the deceased was stubborn and uncompromising. Even for a betraying employee, he would make trouble for him until he couldn't stay in the company anymore. What if the betrayer was his good friend?" She spoke slowly, "You know very well that you do have a big handle."
President Bao's face changed drastically as he immediately looked to Mrs. Bao. Mrs. Che's lips quivered as she maintained her calm appearance through extraordinary willpower.
Mrs. Bao had a lazy expression without any surprise.
"You have a motive to kill, you have the time to commit the crime, and most importantly, you specifically pointed out to me the time you left your seat, confirming it was after 8 pm."
Jian Jing sighed while sitting on the armrest, "Why did the murderer poison again? Of course it was to give himself an alibi, confirming that he kept a close eye on the deceased. Only after confirming his death did he poison again to mislead. And after dinner, with almost everyone sleeping in the cabin, it was most suitable to make a move."
"You said I poisoned him, but where is the poison?" President Bao questioned.
"Most likely the bathroom," said Jian Jing.
"Can you prove it was me who threw it away?"
"Finding evidence is the police's job," Jian Jing said. "The company's surveillance cameras will capture you taking away the food. Checking your account can reveal where you purchased it from. The autopsy report will tell us exactly what the victim died from eating."
She looked up and said, "A friendly reminder - if the victim ingested poison in a dilute solution, the gastric mucosa will show hyperemia and diffuse swelling. But if they swallowed the poison as a solid or concentrated solution, there will be large areas of corrosion on the bottom of the stomach, with significant hyperemia, edema, and hemorrhage."
"The autopsy report will spell it out clearly for you. Don't harbor any false hopes," Jian Jing glanced at her watch. "We're almost to New York. Your time is running out. I advise you to turn yourself in, repent thoroughly, and receive a lighter punishment. After all, your daughter is so young."
At the mention of his child, President Bao finally lost control and collapsed into his seat in despair.
Ding dong - the PA sounded and the flight attendants brought two children back to their seats to prepare for landing.
"Daddy!" President Bao's daughter, as delicate and lovely as finely carved jade, showed no awareness of what had happened. She ran over happily and hugged her father's leg. "Daddy, hold me!"
President Bao picked up his daughter. He looked up at Mrs. Bao.
She didn't say anything, just took the child from him contrary to her usual self and had her sit next to her.
The impatient child squirmed around, her puffed cheeks looking like a little squirrel's.
Che's Baby asked, "Mommy, why isn't Daddy paying attention to me?"
Mrs. Che hugged her son without answering.
"Your daddy is sick," Mrs. Bao said. "Be good and don't make things difficult for your mommy, okay?"
Her charm worked on both young and old alike. Che's Baby obediently murmured his assent and nestled against his mother's shoulder.
Mrs. Che came to her senses and handed President Bao's daughter a toy. Distracted, the child immediately stopped trying to undo her seatbelt.
The two women exchanged a glance, then deliberately looked away from each other.
On the other side, President Bao clutched his hair with head buried between his knees, not lifting it for a long time.
Dai An sighed repeatedly with sorrow, quietly returning to her seat.
The others gradually dispersed to their places.
The flight attendant reminded everyone to fasten their seatbelts and put up their window shades.
"Oh my," Jian Jing grumbled as she reclined her seat again. "I thought this would be one of the longest flights ever. I could've gotten an extra hour or two of sleep!"
As he closed his laptop, Kong Mucheng said, "You can sleep at the hotel."
The Little Princess yawned deeply. "I wonder if the hotel beds will be comfortable. The last place we stayed, the mattress was so soft it made my back ache for half a day afterwards."
"Why didn't you tell me?" her boss immediately frowned.
Little Princess: "It was just one night. Let it go."
"We won't stay at that one next time."
As always, Dai An listened silently to their conversation.
In the past when she overheard such exchanges, she would definitely think to herself - the Little Princess is worthy of her title. Just look at how she's treated! Tsk tsk.
But today...she felt a little different somehow, although Dai An couldn't put her finger on what exactly had changed.
"Dai An," the Little Princess called her with a radiant smile. "How do you feel after today? Were you scared?"
Dai An thought about it and answered honestly, "I was a little frightened in the beginning, but then I forgot about it." She was even feeling a tiny bit thrilled now.
The Little Princess asked, "Do you want to be my assistant again next time?"
Next time? Dai An decisively shook her head. "An unforgettable flight like this is enough for my whole lifetime."
Jian Jing laughed heartily.
