So they had ruled out the man being sent by an online loan company.
Yet this did not rule out debt collectors from private loan companies.
That kind of lending business was illegal, so they certainly wouldn’t come up to the police and confess they had sent someone there.
The case had eventually come to the point that it was already considered by most to be a “cold case,” by then. It would likely have lost any chance of a follow up within a few years.
However the appearance of Hong Kangquan had served as a clue, and the case had resurfaced along with a fresh possibility of solving it.
Huo Shaoheng looked at Hong Kangquan with a smile. He appeared highly confident as he asked evenly, “Height? Body? Hong Kangquan, you disappoint me. Are such indications able to determine someone’s identity?”
Hong Kangquan appeared perplexed. “You only have to look at the height and body of this person to know it wasn’t me. I’m not gay either, so I’ve never been to this gay bar as you are claiming. With so many discrepancies, how can you go on insisting that it’s me? Huo Shaoheng, I know that I’ve never treated you poorly, so why do you persist in targeting me? Do you even know what you’re doing? You really think that you can rest easy in a high position just by dragging me down?”
He pointed to Huo Shaoheng’s seat and appeared increasingly agitated like he had come across a lost sheep and was earnestly seeking to correct it from its wayward path.
Huo Shaoheng lifted his hand in a nonchalant gesture, “Hong Kangquan, there is no need for you to change the topic. We are discussing whether it is possible to prove whether or not the man in the surveillance footage is you. We are not discussing our personal relationship.”
“It was never me, to begin with! I have never even been to this place before!” Hong Kangquan protested, continuing to swear that he had never been there.
Huo Shaoheng took back the report detailing Hong Kangquan’s complete whereabouts that day and responded, as calmly as before, “The surveillance footage indicates that you did, in fact, visit those places. It doesn’t matter if you deny it, the court will only look at the evidence. All murderers may claim that they are innocent, and if their one-sided testimonies can earn the court’s credulity, why would there be a need for the law?”
“Even if you have this evidence, it’s nothing but circumstantial evidence!” Hong Kangquan glared viciously and spitefully at Huo Shaoheng, “So what if I went to those places? The man who appeared at the apartment wasn’t me!”
“I’ve already told you we’re going to need to prove whether or not that person was you.” Huo Shaoheng waved his hand behind him, “Come in.”
A technician in a white lab coat and surgical face mask walked into the interrogation room, carrying a medical kit.
Huo Shaoheng tilted his chin in Hong Kangquan’s direction. “This is him. Take his blood sample for a DNA test.”
“What are you trying to do?!” Hong Kangquan was so frightened that he stood up and raised his arms to prevent the technician from coming any closer. “Why are you testing my DNA?!”
“I’m verifying your identity.” Huo Shaoheng looked up at Hong Kangquan with amusement in his eyes. “You can’t think that we will merely use our eyes to assess the video surveillance in order to determine whether that person was you or not?”
“In modern society, ‘seeing is believing’ has already become passé.” Huo Shaoheng also stood up. “The eyes can lie, the ears can lie, and even the consciousness can lie. Your DNA is the only thing that will never lie.”
“You actually have that person’s DNA?” Hong Kangquan looked at Huo Shaoheng in surprise. “You can’t use tricks like this to misdirect and shift the blame.’”
Huo Shaoheng folded his hands behind his back, his figure ramrod straight as he replied easily, “Of course. The police have all the records.”
“Impossible!” Hong Kangquan shot back, “That person’s apartment was burnt to the ground on the same day, so where would all the clues have been found? Even if there was DNA, it would have been burned away a long time ago.”
Huo Shaoheng nodded, “Another clue. Thank you for providing it to us. It seems like you are very familiar with the crime scene.”
Hong Kangquan’s face flushed red. “I watched it on the news. The case was also on Weibo…”
“Oh? You were following this case so intently? And you carefully read all the facts of the case that the police announced?” Huo Shaoheng calmly continued, laying a trap for Hong Kangquan.
Hong Kangquan had no choice but to continue with this line of questioning, and he spat out an admission, “Of course, the case was very sensational…”
“Really? But just earlier you completely denied knowing anything about this case and also said that you didn’t know who Lu Dayong was at all.” Huo Shaoheng curled his lips “Actually if you had mentioned that you knew who this person from the very beginning and that you had learned of the case from the internet, everything would have made sense. It’s a shame, such a shame…”
Huo Shaoheng shook his head with a pitying expression as if they weren’t discussing a murder case but instead, in the middle of competing in a television game show where Hong Kangquan had just lost the top prize because of a slip of the tongue.
Hong Kangquan’s face drained of all color before flushing again, the corners of lips twitched and he was unable to utter a single word in response.
Huo Shaoheng waved at the technician. “Take his blood.”
The person in the white lab coat walked over holding a large needle.
Two other Special Operations Forces personnel came in and secured Hong Kangquan to the chair, and then rolled up his shirt sleeve, allowing the doctor to take one full vial of blood.
Hong Kangquan screamed at the top of his lungs, “Huo Shaoheng! You framed me! All this evidence doesn’t prove anything!”
“This is material evidence.” Huo Shaoheng looked at the needle in the doctor’s hand. “I must go interrogate the witness now.”
“Witness? Who?” Hong Kangquan froze. He thought frantically about the impossibility, how there could be a witness – for wasn’t Lu Dayong already dead?
“Cai Songyin.” Huo Shaoheng turned around as the corners of his lips curled up, out of Hong Kangquan’s sight.
Hong Kangquan’s vision turned to static, as he finally realized the entirety of Huo Shaoheng’s abilities.
Like an expert animal trainer, the coiled rope he held dangling in the air as he lured the captured animals into jumping through it, one by one.
…
After Huo Shaoheng left Hong Kangquan’s interrogation room, he sat down in another interrogation room that was right next door. He ordered, “Bring Cai Songyin in.”
Lu Dayong, the dead Weibo blogger who had written ‘Churchill’s Garden’ was the link connecting Cai Songyin to Hong Kangquan.
Cai Songyin walked inside with pursed lips, and a face bare of makeup. She looked much older than she did when wearing cosmetics.
Huo Shaoheng coldly stared at her for a while. Then pointing to the seat across from him, he said, “Mrs. Tan, please have a seat.”
“I do not claim that name. Please call me Cai Songyin instead.” Cai Songyin tilted her head as she sat across from Huo Shaoheng. “I have already decided to divorce Tan Dongbang. I will no longer be Mrs. Tan.”
Huo Shaoheng had no interest in Cai Songyin or Tan Dongbang’s marriage. He looked down at the report on Cai Songyin’s interrogation that day. Then he replied, “Cai Songyin, the issues with your company’s books are not within our jurisdiction. We are only intending to investigate your collusion with the Japanese your betrayal of the nation.”
The previously calm Cai Songyin instantly exploded. She pushed her hands against the table and her entire body leaped up like a spring. “What?! Get your facts straight! When have I ever colluded with the Japanese?!”
There was some truth to her colluding with the Americans.
The Japanese on the other hand?
As if they were worthy of her collusion!
The ancestors of the Cai family had fought many battles with the Japanese in the war, and many of the members of the family had died. It was no exaggeration to say that her family felt a nationalistic enmity towards the Japanese.
That Huo Shaoheng was accusing her of having colluded with the Japanese?
He might as well have stabbed her with a knife and killed her.
“You didn’t collude with them? Your partner, Hong Kangquan was cooperating happily with the Japanese…” Huo Shaoheng put his elbows on the table, folded his hands together, and then rested his chin on them. He gave Cai Songyin a suggestive look as he goaded, “From the last election to this current election, you have worked very well with him.”
Cai Songyin’s face was flushed red and she replied angrily, “How is it any of my business if Hong Kangquan colluded with the Japanese? I have nothing to do with him.”
“You don’t have anything to do with him?” Huo Shaoheng once more brought out the photo of Lu Dayong’s corpse, the once unfortunate Weibo blogger who had written ‘Churchill’s Garden.’ He narrowed his eyes and suddenly accused her in a harsh tone, “Then why did he kill for you and murder this Weibo blogger?”
Cai Songyin’s heart dropped as she quickly cleared herself from suspicion, “I didn’t ask him to kill this person! I never did any such thing!” As soon as she said this, she realized she had slipped up and quickly tried to cover it. “I don’t know this person at all. How should I know why Hong Kangquan wanted to kill him?”
“I just finished interrogating Hong Kangquan, and he says you ordered him to kill this man, but you won’t admit to it.” Huo Shaoheng said, lying with a straight face to Cai Songyin. “The police have uncovered a record of financial transactions between your personal assistant and this Weibo blogger, and yet you’re telling me you don’t know who he is?”
Cai Songyin pursed her lips as she realized her chances of hiding her connections to the case were gone.
From the time she had learned that Lu Dayong was dead, she had been anxious each and every following day.
She felt truly aggrieved from the start. She had never wanted to take this blogger’s life, nor had she imagined Hong Kangquan would be ruthless enough to just murder him. It was causing her no end of trouble now!
Cai Songyin’s face was stony as she spoke.
“I did not ask him to kill this person. The entire affair was all Hong Kangquan’s idea, and I had nothing to do with it.”