At 11:00 AM, the team t up by their cars, to discuss their latest findings.
"We are not on the clock but we are on the clock." Chief Abby said.
"Which is it?" Xuanji sniggered.
The chief flashed him a look that warned him to be sensible. Xuanji folded his lips and nodded. "Got it, we are on the clock. We need to solve the case by tonight."
Linlin and Su Jin turned to Liwu.
But, Liwu shook her head. "I am not getting stung when we have a perfectly good suspect. Let Reaper see if his scent can be matched to those found in the office. Besides. He Xiao Yi’s system has picked him out of all the other suspects. Let;s bring the kid in, confront him and see what pops. He is a teenager, not a seasoned criminal. I can get him to confess."
"He has an alibi." Weijun reminded them.
"Then we make it go away." Liwu snapped.
Weijun gasped. He looked around in fear before grabbing her shoulders and whispering, "Like erase evidence and pin the case on him! That is..."
She flicked his forehead. "What are you thinking? I ant we find out how he faked it. He was in the academy hospital, but it wasn’t as if anyone was watching him. There were no caras in his room. All we have is a sign in sheet and footage of him going inside a ward to sleep. He could have sneaked out of a window for all we know."
"I will go and feel out any system activity in and around his room." Linlin said.
"I will go with you." The chief said.
Xuanji whistled at Reaper. "Let’s go big jaws, you have a suspect to sniff and bring in. And I know you hate sniffing their feet but you must do it. If the kid didn’t want to leave footprints, he might have walked in barefoot or in socks."
Liwu turned, her boot snapped and she stumbled, catching herself on Weijun’s arm. "Another broken heel. Dammit!"
[ 55 POINTS: Tripping and broken heel.]
Weijun smiled faintly. "Maybe you should buy those special shoes we saw in the mall. If they can make an ordinary person as fast as a bronze Olympic runner, surely, they can hold you down."
"Or she can just walk barefoot." Majesty purred. "We cats do it all the ti and we never trip. Then again, with her bad luck, she will still trip anyways."
Liwu shot him a look. "Not helping."
"Well, at least you trip once or twice a day now and it doesn’t end in wounds or bleeding." Majesty reminded her. "Your bad luck has turned around."
As if the universe wanted to prove it, Chen Wei walked by, passing in front of them on his way to the library. Liwu wondered if this was the universe’s way of saying: here, we are compensating you for tripping you.
A second later, Reaper’s bark ca close and he followed the path the boy had taken. The dog had its’ nose almost pinned to the ground, sniffing everything Chen Wei had stepped on or touched.
Xuanji ran over and said frantically, "We have a forty percent match to a scent that was on the desk."
"That is not enough." Su Jin said, disappointed. To convict on evidence based off a scent, they needed a 100% match.
Liwu was not discouraged. "It will have to do. At least, it is a starting point."
They walked to the library, pivoting to a corner where Chen Wei was sitting by himself. He had three books spread out in front of him and two laptops. An audio recording of Professor Ce’s lecture was playing and he was scribbling notes into a notebook furiously.
Liwu could see that boy was nervous, pale and trembling. She pulled the book he was writing in and observed the notes. The pen had been pressed down so hard that parts of the paper were torn.
In the margin, frantic scribbles: I can’t fail, I can’t disappoint.
She placed the notebook on the table while Su Jin activated the cara.
He Xiao Yi sat down beside Liwu while Weijun leaned against the wall, with his arms crossed on his chest. Xuanji ca in with a middle aged woman in a frumpy pant suit that had not been with the team before.
She sat down next to Chen Wei and smiled reassuringly. "I am Lingyu, from the SOB juvenile defenders office. I have already received permission from your parents to sit in as your guardian." she said.
Chen Wei did not respond to that and he said nothing as his rights were read to him.
"I got a scholarship to go here when I was eleven." He Xiao Yi started. He was calm, and unusually nice to soone that was considered a suspect. "I was once part of the Ce twenty. But I am sure you have never heard of my na because Professor Ce only rembered the successful ones. I am He Xiao Yi. Have you ever heard of my na?"
Chen Wei shook his head.
"I figured. He was the old boot that refused to be polished." Xiao Yi tilted his head, smiling like it was a funny inside joke.
Indeed Chen Wei laughed. "He never admitted when he was wrong."
He Xiao Yi nodded. "I know that better than anyone because I was not just kicked out of the twenty. I was kicked out of the school."
Chen Wei gasped. An expulsion from Qinghe academy was only done for the worst cris which shad the school. "What did you do?"
He Xiao Yi pushed a pen around and sat upright. "You know all those posters in the town with the little girl nad Lala and the words never forget?"
Chen Wei nodded. The posters were on many walls, and in many establishnts. There was a Lala daycare in the town, opened by the family of a little girl that was murdered many years ago. But the townspeople did not talk about it. And at the sa ti, it was like they refused to move on from it! Qinghe was a depressing town in a way.
"I was accused of killing her." He Xiao Yi told him.
Chen Wei’s eyes widened. "For real?"
He Xiao Yi nodded. "But of course, I didn’t do it. And I beca a police man to prove it. Then I beca a profiler and built a solid case, proving my innocence and pointing at a possible killer. I sent the file to Chief Jing but I never got a response.
Nobody here believed in , including the professor. He dropped from his twenty. A week after that, I was expelled.
The professor recomnded that I be expelled. But, to avoid backlash and a law suit, in case my innocence was proven, he advised the principal to fra it as a suspension. An indefinite one!"
Chen Wei sneered. "Yeah, he knew all the corners to cut to keep things from biting him in the ass when everything went to shit."
"Just like he did when you tried to kill yourself because of the pressure he was putting you under." He Xiao Yi said slowly. "Right?"
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