16:22
Interrogation room.
Zhou Ning and the others stood in the adjacent observation room. The conditions here were poor; the observation room was very small, and the audio-visual equipnt was barely functional. However, Mr. Qu had temporarily set up two computers, allowing them to hear the interrogation next door.
Liu Kai was sitting across from Liu Yufei and Fang Mu, and the record keeper was still Mr. Shan.
Inside this interrogation room, there were no iron chairs, just a wooden one, and the conditions could be described as quite basic.
Liu Yufei stared at Liu Kai and silently placed her phone on the desk before she slowly began:
"Let’s start with an introduction. You know why I asked you to co here."
Liu Kai, looking to be in his forties with a robust physique, had so white hair at his temples. He was dressed in sports attire with a whistle around his neck, clearly having co directly from the school without changing.
"My na is Liu Kai, forty-four years old, residing at No.16 Wanghuai Street in Xinghua City. After leaving the military in 2000, I was assigned to the Fifth Middle School as a PE teacher. As I’ve always been involved in major competitions, I mainly train student-athletes, after all, our school has the most student-athletes in Xinghua City.
You’re looking for because of He Jiahong’s death, aren’t you? Her family’s financial situation wasn’t good. The track and field team had a collective requirent to purchase specialized track shoes to improve performance, and she hadn’t paid the money by the deadline -- 189 yuan, which I ended up paying for her.
As for her academics, although she wasn’t a student-athlete, she still had a lot of options for college entrance exams. I thought her grades were particularly good, and choosing her would reflect well on . I selected her when I was making my picks.
This child was always worry-free. I don’t know why she would choose to commit suicide. Although I’m her coach, I don’t know much about her private life, and I’m even less aware if she had an early romantic relationship. I never noticed any problems with her before this happened."
Zhou Ning felt like applauding after hearing this. Liu Kai painted a very convincing picture of a coach wholeheartedly looking after his students.
He dragned the already excellent He Jiahong into the track and field team to beco a student-athlete, certainly offering her better options. All of this was because she ca from an impoverished family and he even advanced money for her shoes. Due to the large number of team mbers, he couldn’t look after everyone personally and thus failed to detect the reason for her suicide.
The direct implication was that He Jiahong’s death had been determined. Zhou Ning frowned slightly, while Liu Yufei laughed.
"It seems Coach Liu is very kind to the students. Let’s change the topic. We’ve checked the call logs. On the night of March 28, among He Jiahong’s last several calls, she contacted both you and Tang Jianghai. Of course, Tang Jianghai also called you afterward. I want to know what you talked about."
After pondering for a mont, Liu Kai sighed, not concealing the regretful expression on his face.
"To be honest, ever since the incident with He Jiahong a month ago, I’ve been having trouble sleeping at night. I keep recalling the details of that phone call, trying to analyze whether there were any clues I missed, but I didn’t find anything.
On March 28, He Jiahong made two calls to . The first was around 17:10 when she asked about the location of the dinner. When I had notified them earlier, she was in class and hadn’t heard the details, only that there was a set ti.
The second call she made to was around 20:30, just to tell they wanted to play a bit longer before going ho. I instructed them to go ho as soon as possible and to call once they arrived.
As for Tang Jianghai, we also had two calls. The first was at 20:15, because there was a celebration dinner that evening and I could only stay for less than an hour since my wife wasn’t feeling well, so I left early. Tang Jianghai asked if it was okay not to return to the dormitory that evening. I told him he had to go back, no excuses allowed.
The second call was before 22:30, I can’t rember the exact minute. It was straightforward; he told he had taken He Jiahong ho. He said he was going to drop his motorbike off at the bike shed and then head back to the dormitory. I was relieved, thinking they were all very disciplined, but who would have thought that as soon as I got up in the morning, I received a call from He Hongjian, saying sothing had happened to He Jiahong."
Liu Yufei stood up, walked in front of Liu Kai, and made a round around his chair. Suddenly, she leaned close to Liu Kai and asked:
"Isn’t the school’s dormitory inside the Fifth Middle School’s campus?"
Liu Kai was startled and nodded subconsciously.
"Yes!"
"Can both day students and boarders co and go freely?"
Liu Kai paused and then hung his head before finally saying:
"Day students usually have to sign in, and they have a badge that allows them to leave campus. As for the boarders, they don’t have this badge, but student-athletes are usually given a blind eye by the security guards. However, if they leave the campus and try to co back, they are not allowed in again, so they climb over the fence."
Liu Yufei waved her hand, and Fang Mu, clearly understanding Liu Yufei’s intention, found a map that showed the entire layout of the Fifth Middle School and placed it in front of Liu Kai.
"Point it out, the fence you ntioned. Is it just in one spot, or could it be anywhere?"
Fang Mu’s height, as he stood up, was quite imposing, and Liu Kai glanced at him before quickly pointing to a corner on the east side of the school’s main entrance:
"Here, when the school was building the sports field, they dumped all the excavated soil in this corner, so the terrain is quite elevated. The lower half of the wall is buried here, only leaving the fence exposed. Our on-duty teachers usually catch students trying to sneak out by guarding this spot."
"Has it always been there, or did it start at a certain ti?"
"The school finished repairing the sports field at the end of last November, and ran out of money, After all, the soil that was dug up couldn’t just be discarded anywhere, so it hasn’t been dealt with. You can investigate that, but don’t say I told you."
Liu Yufei glanced at Fang Mu, and seeing him nod, she continued to ask.
"Aren’t there any surveillance caras pointing in that direction?"
"There might be, but I’m just a coach, I never paid attention to it. I also don’t participate in the school’s regular etings."
Liu Yufei fell silent for a mont, realizing Liu Kai was tight-lipped. He surely knew sothing, but it was difficult to find a breakthrough.
"So you’re saying, it’s possible that He Jiahong was involved in a premature relationship, but you don’t know about it? What about Tang Jianghai then? He seems quite close to He Jiahong, do you know anything about their relationship?"
"They’re from the sa village. He Jiahong got into the school based on her exam scores, while Tang Jianghai only got in by paying a sponsorship fee. Their circumstances are different, but it seems their parents know each other and look after one another. They also often go out together."
Fang Mu moved closer and asked a question.
"As far as I know, in the school, high school seniors, regardless of whether they are sports students or not, aren’t allowed to have cell phones in the boarding school, right? They went to the dinner, but Tang Jianghai having a cell phone, what’s that all about?"
Liu Kai’s eyes widened, and after struggling to contain his temper, he managed to keep it down.
"Comrade police officer, I’m just a track and field coach. You can guess how hard it is to manage these student-athletes. Indeed, Tang Jianghai’s family has looked for and even brought gifts, asking to look after him as much as possible, but that’s only in terms of helping him achieve good results in training. I can’t control anything else.
After their dinner party ended, I was just worried about the kids’ safety, so I asked a few tis. Is that now a problem? Yet, you turn the tables and ask about their permission to carry phones? Not just him, but every single one on the track team has a phone. Go check it out. Even the teachers can’t control them, let alone ."
Fang Mu paused, Liu Yufei pressed her palm downward to calm him, and continued to ask a few more questions. Zhou Ning’s brows were tightly knit; this person had a bad temper but seed not to hide what he was thinking. She turned her head towards Mr. Qu.
"What have you found out about that black car?"
Mr. Qu shook his head.
"I’ve accessed several traffic surveillance caras and checked the footage they sent over. I did find that black car, but the surveillance images are too blurry to see the people inside clearly.
It’s only on the Jin Si Gourt Night Snack Shop’s cara where you can see the black sedan without plates. Soone at the driver’s seat opened the door and waved at He Jiahong, and she got into the car, clearly recognizing the person inside.
As soon as the car drove east, Tang Jianghai followed on his motorcycle. This was at 22:26. Following this chase on the caras, I checked and found that three kiloters away from the school, at 22:53, He Jiahong got onto Tang Jianghai’s motorcycle and they returned to the front of the school.
It was on the western side of the road near Jinping Avenue Auto City, in a blind spot two minutes away, where He Jiahong got off the black sedan and onto the motorcycle."
Zhou Ning stared at the map, looking at the positions of various places. The blind spot was an exact turn on Jinping Avenue leading to the auto city, followed by Jiulaofeng Park to the west, then Yunaming Car Store, and one kiloter further west lay the school and the Salt Company Community.
Just like Mr. Qu said, starting off safety from the car was important because Tang Jianghai was pursuing from behind, and the person in the car, both Tang Jianghai and He Jiahong knew and were very familiar with, seemingly soone they wouldn’t dare to provoke.
Zhou Ning looked towards Mr. Zhao, gesturing to him.
"Check what brand and model this car is."
Mr. Zhao appeared disheartened, spreading his hands.
"I checked the surveillance imdiately, and to be honest, I couldn’t make out the shape of this car; the front and back didn’t match up."
"Speak plainly, what does ’didn’t match up’ an?"
Mr. Zhao sighed, took out his phone, and found two images to show Zhou Ning.
"You see, the front of this vehicle looks like a 2009 Hyundai Elantra, but the rear looks like a Kia Forte. The footage is too blurry, and I’m not certain, but take a look at this screenshot, there are a few small issues I’m not quite sure about."
Following the direction of Mr. Zhao’s finger, Zhou Ning looked and saw that on the pitch-dark image, a long strip seed brighter and its edges irregular, almost resembling the shape of the Yellow River.
"What is this?"
"The fender above the rear wheel on the driver’s side, as well as the front and rear doors, have undergone sheet tal repair and repainting. Look at these areas; the shapes are very strange, as if they’d been well done with sheet tal. If we were going to repair a car, we’d just replace the parts; there’s no need for repairs for safety, just for maintenance. This doesn’t make sense. The wheel lacks a hubcap, and the sizes of the front and back don’t match. Plus, the front end and rear end don’t match the brand..."
Zhou Ning narrowed her eyes and glanced at the interrogation room. Liu Kai had already been taken out, indicating Liu Yufei hadn’t made any progress. She interrupted Mr. Zhao’s explanation.
"In plain language, what’s your judgnt?"
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