Zhou Ning didn’t speak and hastened out.
Just as he reached the half-flight of stairs to make a turn, the youngster opened the door, ran out in his slippers, and caught up to Zhou Ning to say urgently,
"I just rembered sothing else. When the senior girl was being controlled, it seed like she tore at the man’s ear, and he cursed, ’Damn, my ear’s falling off!’ After that he swore at the senior girl a few tis and dragged her upstairs by her hair."
Zhou Ning nodded and patted the youngster on the shoulder.
"I’ve got it, thank you!"
They descended the stairs and walked towards the police car. Mr. Zhao looked back at the building and sighed softly.
"It’s a sha no one was living on the fourth floor at the ti. If soone had been there, perhaps they would have heard sothing."
Fang Mu shook his head.
"This is what the tenants themselves said after we contacted them. Whether soone was there that night is known only to them. I’ll have soone review the surveillance footage later. This kid has given an idea. If we find footage of soone ho on the fourth floor, we can have a good talk with them. They were probably intimidated too, otherwise, why would they have moved out so quickly."
Zhou Ning nodded and got into the car without a word. Mr. Zhao tossed the sampling case to a junior officer, who then sped away in the car. Mr. Wang also started the car, driving towards Jiulaofeng Park.
The distance wasn’t far, just a few minutes by car, but it took quite so ti to find parking. After getting out of the car, Zhou Ning noticed many unlicensed cars parked in front of the park, all of them brand new. He glanced in the direction of Yunaming Car Store and indeed saw security guards continuously watching this way.
Unfortunately, these new cars naturally wouldn’t have dash cams. They got out of the car and walked into the park with their cases. Mr. Zhao had found the previous surveillance snapshots: He Jiahong had run panic-stricken into Jiulaofeng Park and had turned towards the southwest corner.
They followed in the sa direction and soon saw a pond in front of them shaped like a lotus leaf, about the size of two soccer fields. It was clearly stagnant water, but next to the rockery were people fishing with professional gear.
Mr. Zhao kept his hands behind his back, tossing the case aside, and strolled over, crossed his arms, and squatted next to the fisherman, nodding towards the water.
"Master, your gear looks very professional. That set must’ve cost a pretty penny, huh?"
The man glanced at Mr. Zhao, and with a smile, seed quite comfortable seeing that Mr. Zhao was knowledgeable. Having soone to talk to about the subject, he quickly turned off the radio.
"Young man, you really know your stuff. Indeed, it wasn’t cheap. These fishing rods together cost over four thousand."
Mr. Zhao feigned surprise, leaning in with interest but certainly without reaching out his hands.
"Truly professional. But are there any fish in this pond?"
The fisherman nodded.
"There are fish, all silver carps. I’m just here for fun, coming every day, rain or shine. Sotis at night too, since the carps bite more then. You can just fish halfway in the water, and there’s no need for worms; my secret recipe is the best."
Saying this, the fisherman took out a small box with a piece of pink dough the size of an apricot, and sure enough, it slled faintly of shrimp:
"Impressive, you’re not just a master, you’re ’Uncle Pro’. Recently, have you co here every night to fish? What ti do you usually leave?"
The fisherman was unguarded.
"Mid-last month, my grandson ca over, and I found it too noisy, so I co out every afternoon. I go back for dinner, then continue until about midnight. When I get ho, I’m so tired I fall right to sleep. This has been going on for over forty days. My wife actually enjoys the peace when I’m not at ho, and she doesn’t nag."
Mr. Zhao had an epiphany and surveyed the terrain. The fisherman’s spot was right at the edge of the pond near the rocks and a few big trees. If the lighting wasn’t very bright at night, it would indeed not be easy to notice soone there.
"On the evening of March 28, were you here?"
The fisherman waved his hand.
"Like I said, I co every day."
By then Fang Mu and the others had approached, with Fang Mu also donning a police uniform. Seemingly hearing footsteps, the fisherman looked back and saw the officers, suddenly startled, nearly dropping his fishing rod.
Mr. Zhao quickly helped pick it up and placed it on the Y-shaped branch to the side, then smiled at the fisherman.
"Uncle, no need to rush. We’re from a special case team from Qindao City, not local cops. We just want to learn about what happened. Since you said you were fishing here on the evening of March 28, did you see anyone chasing a girl in their car into the park?
Don’t worry about any repercussions. We just want to understand the situation. After all, we’ve already seen you in the surveillance footage. You left earlier than usual that night and seed rather flustered."
In fact, Mr. Zhao was making it up as he went along, riding on the fisherman’s narrative, since it was not hard to guess.
The fisherman looked at them for a mont before finally nodding and sighing,
"Yes, I was fishing right here at the ti, and I hadn’t changed spots. But I didn’t pay attention to why those people were chasing that girl. I just heard a splash as soone dove in. I quickly stood up and saw a car with its headlights on, parked at the north edge of the pond.
I hid behind a tree and saw the girl struggling to stay afloat. It seed like she was about to give in. However, the people from the car were laughing. A tall one was whistling, while two shorter ones were shouting vile things I can’t bring myself to say."
Mr. Zhao tilted his head.
"Uncle, we are the police. We need to know the truth. Didn’t you record anything at the ti?"
The fisherman hesitated and subconsciously touched his trouser pocket. This movent made Mr. Zhao’s face light up with joy, as he obviously guessed correctly.
"Can we take a look at it?"
The fisherman wavered for a long ti before finally taking out a cellphone from his pocket—a very trendy smartphone. It seed this fisherman was a retired official who didn’t worry about food and clothing and lived a decent life; otherwise, he definitely wouldn’t have spent so much on an expensive iPhone 6.
In the photo album, the second video was a very dark screen. Clearly, this was it. Mr. Zhao turned the volu to the max and pressed play.
The cara was shaky, indicating the fisherman was very nervous, even panicked. He must have been afraid of being silenced then.
The headlights were bright, illuminating the girl in the pond, but the several n who got out of the car stood in the shadows, making it hard to see their faces. However, all three were laughing wildly.
"You want to drown, right? Then drown. The water here is only two ters deep, all muck. But drowning here isn’t too bad. Once you drown, we’ll fish you out, then get it on right on the shore. We can sell the video straight away. We’ll probably earn quite a bit, considering we didn’t earn too little before."
He Jiahong was floating and sinking in the water, refusing to co up, her movents as if she could drown at any mont. She scread:
"Shut up, all of you shut up! If I’d known you were such people, I would’ve chopped off that thing of yours with one slash. Get lost! If I die, I’ll beco a vengeful ghost and tornt you every night. You’ll never sleep or eat well, I curse you to beg for food, your parents to have accidents, and you’ll never be able to get it up for the rest of your lives."
Such words enraged the n, and the two who were standing back watching the fun also crowded around.
"He Jiahong, watch your mouth. Don’t yap like a mad dog. If you want to live, get up here and stop your blabbering!"
"I won’t!"
The tall man in front looked around. The old man with the cellphone quickly tilted it downwards, avoiding the man’s gaze. When the cara returned to the pond, three people were already hitting towards He Jiahong’s direction with sticks and stones.
Gradually, the girl beca motionless, and not a single bubble surfaced in the water. after a while, soone spoke.
"Could she be dead? That can’t be, right?"
All three gathered at the edge of the pond, looking into the water. The cara also turned towards the water, but nothing was visible. After about half a minute, one of them gestured with his hand.
"Let’s go."
Just as they stepped back and before getting into the car, one man whispered:
"She grew up in Shuaijia Village, right by the Tuojiang River. She’s always been in the water, that girl’s a great swimr. I think waiting here is not the answer. We might as well leave. In the middle of the night, she has to go ho eventually. Don’t you have the keys to her apartnt? We..."
The following words, even with the volu turned up, were inaudible. Zhou Ning stopped Mr. Zhao’s action with a slight shake of his head.
"No need to adjust the volu. The man isn’t speaking quietly. He simply didn’t go on. The tacit understanding among the three n ans they understand each other very well."
Mr. Zhao nodded and hurriedly clicked to continue playing. All three car doors closed, and with a furious engine roar, the car swiftly reversed and left the park with the lights flashing.
The fisherman seed still worried, not daring to get up, but turned the phone’s cara towards the pond. After an unknown amount of ti, soone climbed up from the other side of the pond.
Because it was too dark, it was impossible to see if it was the girl, but the person flitted ghostlike and went straight for the wall on the east side. At this point, the fisherman aid the cara down and called out softly to the person a couple of tis.
"Hey, miss! Hey, don’t go ho, you..."
The video ended there; Fang Mu looked at the fisherman.
"That’s it? What happened next?"
The fisherman shook his head and sighed.
"I know what you’re looking for. Later, I heard it was the girl who jumped off the building in the Salt Company Community. The police announced it was suicide; what can I say? Would it make sense for to take this video to the police myself? That’s just asking for trouble."
Mr. Zhao held the cellphone, watching the video of the car leaving for about a minute, back and forth, countless tis. After so thought, he pulled out a data cable, connected the phone to the laptop, and transferred the video to the computer, playing it again enlarged.
Fang Mu was puzzled, but Zhou Ning raised his hand, stopping Fang Mu’s question.
"Don’t disturb Mr. Zhao. When it cos to vehicles, there’s no one in Qindao City’s forensic and trace departnts better than him. Maybe he can figure sothing out."
While they were talking, Mr. Zhao lifted his eyes, puzzled.
"The surveillance footage Mr. Qu gave us earlier showed nothing clear but this one at least shows so contours and details. The front of the car looks indeed like an Elantra, but I can’t find any trace of the Elantra’s tail. I thought the tail was pieced together, but it seems that’s not the case now; they must have customized the trunk lid, changing the car’s tail shape.
"They probably chose a similar sized car model for splicing, and did a very professional job. But the thing is, why use an Elantra shell for a key modification? I used to think the four wheels were different sizes, but now it seems they’re not different in size but different in width, sa diater."
Sun Gaotie looked on, utterly confused, and leaned closer, asking with a puzzled expression:
"What do you an? I don’t understand."
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