Escape From the Library

【Death of a Lawyer-04】

Qingtang District, inside the criminal police office.

Captain Lin Wei zoomed in on the copied surveillance on the computer screen and checked it carefully. The surveillance around 12:[-] in the morning did not find anyone entering or exiting the building, so he moved the time forward and started watching from the off-duty time.

Xinghe Building is a comprehensive office building with a height of 40 floors, and many companies and studios have settled in it.

Usually, most units will leave work on time at 06:30 in the afternoon, but some Internet companies have a 996 working system, and it is common to work overtime until 9:10.Usually, the Xinghe Building will lock the door on time at 10 o'clock in the evening. If a company works overtime beyond [-] o'clock, you need to inform the security room in advance.

Yesterday was Wednesday, and no unit worked overtime more than 10 o'clock.

Lin Wei poured a cup of coffee to refresh himself, and watched while drinking. He started watching at 6:[-] when he got off work, and soon found Yue Xingwen, Lan Yarong, and Lin Manluo walking out of the gate side by side. The deceased Zhou Ziyang also Take the same elevator down with them.

Lin Wei pressed the pause button and asked, "Xiao Jiang, what do you think?"

Jiang Pingce said: "The Yue Xingwen who reported the case was an intern at Minghui Law Firm. He said that when he got off work yesterday, he overheard the deceased calling someone in the stairwell, saying that 'you can appeal if you are not satisfied'. At that time, Yue Xingwen should wait for the elevator at the elevator entrance next to the stairwell, and the deceased will take the same elevator downstairs with him after making the phone call, which makes sense in terms of time."

Lin Wei looked at the surveillance camera thoughtfully: "Do you think Yue Xingwen is not suspected?"

Jiang Pingce said decisively: "Of course not. If he was the murderer, he would not be able to report the case immediately. Besides, he is an intern who just came to the law firm for an internship today, so he has no motive to kill Lawyer Zhou at all."

Lin Wei nodded and continued to look back at the monitor.

6:7 to 8:[-] is the off-duty peak period of the Galaxy Building. There are people coming and going in the surveillance, and there are many takeaway boys coming in and out. No special people were found.Until about [-] o'clock, most units got off work, and the hall gradually became empty.

Lin Wei looked at the empty hall on the screen, yawned, and fast-forwarded at four times the speed.

Jiang Pingce also sat next to him and stared at the screen.

Empty lobby, with the occasional security guard walking back and forth, and the lights in the entire building turned off.

Until 9:50 in the evening, a figure suddenly appeared in the surveillance. He was wearing a black sportswear, sneakers, and a peaked cap. He was dragging a black suitcase in his hand, walking quickly. into the elevator.

Since the security guard was not at the door at the time, he was not found.

Lin Wei immediately pressed the pause button to enlarge the screen, and Jiang Pingce also sat up straight: "Is it Zhou Ziyang?"

Team Lin called up the elevator monitor, and sure enough, Zhou Ziyang walked into the elevator and pressed the 40th floor.

Jiang Pingce frowned and said, "It turned out that he sneaked in before the door was locked at 10 o'clock. The security guard didn't notice him coming in and locked the door on time. He stayed in the Xinghe Building and climbed the stairs to the roof at 12 o'clock. Said Maybe, the murderer never left the building, stayed in the Xinghe Building that night, and pushed Zhou Ziyang down after Zhou Ziyang appeared?"

Since no one has entered the building since it was locked, there are only two explanations——

The first is that the murderer climbed up from the side of the building along the air-conditioning ducts. This building is 40 stories high, and it was too difficult to climb all the way to the roof.

The second is that the murderer never left the Xinghe Building at all.Then, no matter whether the door of the building is locked or not, he can climb up to the roof in the dead of night and push Zhou Ziyang down.

Team Lin agreed: "Go back and check the entry and exit records of the Xinghe Building to see who hasn't left yesterday."

Jiang Pingce followed Team Lin to watch the surveillance until it was three o'clock in the morning. He found nothing else, so he slept on the sofa in the duty room with his clothes on.

The next day, when Yue Xingwen asked Lin Manluo and Lan Yarong to go back to work in the law firm, the police had already arrived. The police arrived earlier than them and rushed into the office of the deceased Zhou Ziyang.

The colleagues in the law firm all looked puzzled.

A heavy rain last night washed away the blood at the scene, so people who came to work this morning were completely unaware that a murder had occurred in this building.It wasn't until the police started asking them questions about Zhou Ziyang in turn that everyone realized that something might have happened to Lawyer Zhou.

A female lawyer who has the best relationship with Zhou Ziyang said: "Lawyer Zhou is at the same level as me. He was admitted to Beijiang University of Political Science and Law with the highest score. Lan loves to get married, and after graduation, he signed to Minghui Law Firm, and his performance is also very impressive, winning 80% of the lawsuits he handles."

Team Lin asked, "Has he ever had any feud with anyone in private?"

The female lawyer shook her head and said, "He has a friendly attitude towards people, and he is also very popular in the law firm. I can't think of who he will end up with."

The police also interviewed other colleagues in the law firm. Most of them said that Zhou Ziyang had a good personality and was popular with others. He often invited everyone to drink milk tea, and his colleagues got along well.

Only one female lawyer quietly told Team Lin: "In March last year, I saw Lawyer Zhou and Lawyer Qi quarreling. It seemed that Lawyer Zhou robbed Lawyer Qi of a major client. People are so hypocritical and contrived, it's disgusting."

Lawyer Qi?Jiang Pingce wrote down this key in his notebook.

Team Lin quickly found him. The lawyer named Qi Zhao had a cropped cut and silver-rimmed glasses. He looked smart and capable, but his temper was a bit grumpy.After hearing Team Lin's question, he said with a sullen face, "I have been serving as the legal advisor of the Jinxing Group. Last year, the Jinxing Group suddenly replaced Zhou Ziyang as an advisor. I was kept in the dark, and I only found out about it at the end."

Jinxing Group, the largest Internet company in this city, has an annual profit of more than one billion yuan. Lawyer Qi inevitably feels resentment for being robbed of such an important client.

Jiang Pingce asked, "At midnight last night, where were you?"

Lawyer Qi: "Sleep at home."

Jiang Pingce: "Is there anyone who can prove it?"

Lawyer Qi scratched his hair irritably: "I'm single, how can I prove it by sleeping at home alone?!"

Team Lin smiled, and asked bluntly, "Zhou Ziyang stole your client, have you always held a grudge?"

Lawyer Qi frowned: "It's true that I really hate him! But I'm a lawyer and I came from a legal background. No matter how much I hate a person, I can't kill him! It's not worth putting my future on for such a person."

Team Lin's eyes were sharp: "I didn't ask you if you killed him, how do you know...he's dead?"

Lawyer Qi was stunned for a moment, a flash of panic flashed in his eyes, but he quickly calmed down and said, "I came to his office early in the morning and asked everyone about Zhou Ziyang's news. Are you a criminal police officer? Since the criminal police were alarmed, Someone must be dead. If it’s just a simple disappearance case, it won’t be filed within 24 hours.”

He was right.Zhou Ziyang was still in the office yesterday afternoon, and everyone saw it. The criminal police came to the door this morning. Naturally, he could not be missing. The biggest possibility is that he died, or he was involved in a murder case.

Immediately afterwards, another trainee lawyer broke the news: "A few days ago after work, I left something behind and came back to pick it up. I accidentally saw Lawyer Zhou entering his office with a woman in his arms. The woman seemed to be from the Moonlight Design Studio downstairs. Chen Yueqin, a young designer from China, I only saw the two of them entering the office together, I don’t know anything else!"

Team Lin asked: "Chen Yueqin? Does she often come to your law firm?"

The trainee lawyer said: "I haven't been here before. When I saw her, I was surprised. I thought she had some legal problems to consult with Attorney Zhou, but... Attorney Zhou put his arm around her shoulders, and the two looked very close."

In other words, Zhou Ziyang is likely to have an extramarital affair.

Team Lin sent someone to the Moonlight Design Studio downstairs to inquire about Chen Yueqin, but the other party insisted that he was not familiar with Lawyer Zhou, so he came to him once just to consult on legal issues, because her sister wanted to divorce her brother-in-law and was going to file a lawsuit.

The investigation into the law firm lasted more than two hours.

Team Lin asked very detailed questions, while Jiang Pingce listened and noted down two key suspects: Qi Zhao and Chen Yueqin.The former has a business conflict with Zhou Ziyang, while the latter has an affair with Zhou Ziyang, and both have motives for committing crimes.Moreover, neither of these two men had an alibi last night.

However, Jiang Pingce felt that the case was not that simple.

At present, the whereabouts of Zhou Ziyang's mobile phone is unknown, and the ownership of the necklace on the top floor has not been concluded. Moreover, in the surveillance seen last night, the suitcase was not found either.Zhou Ziyang brought a suitcase into Xinghe Building, that suitcase must be very important.

When several policemen returned to the office, Ke Shaobin was also at the scene, collecting information from the deceased's computer.

Team Lin asked, "Has the combination lock on the drawer been deciphered?"

Ke Shaobin said: "The six-digit password will take some time."

Team Lin said: "As soon as possible."

Ke Shaobin deciphered the code there, and Jiang Pingce searched the office together with others. The office was nearly 100 square meters in size and luxuriously decorated. There was a wall of bookcases behind the desk. Scanning the bookshelf carefully, suddenly, his gaze was fixed on an empty grid in the middle of the bookshelf.

There is a bit of dust around the grid, but the middle is very clean. It seems that something was originally placed here and was taken away?It is elongated in shape.Jiang Pingce is very sensitive to graphics, he imagined it in his mind...

What would leave long streaks on the bookshelf?photo frame?

Because the things were taken away, this grid was empty, and Jiang Pingce couldn't be sure.

At this moment, Ke Shaobin's voice came from beside him: "Captain Lin, the password has been unlocked."

Jiang Pingce walked over immediately, only to see Ke Shaobin open the locked drawer——

The drawer was full of cash.

Stacks of banknotes should add up to hundreds of thousands.

Jiang Pingce asked suspiciously, "Is it illegal income if you don't deposit so much money in the bank and lock it secretly in a drawer?"

Immediately afterwards, a colleague's voice came from behind: "Team Lin, the box has been found!"

There was a secret door in the cloakroom in the corner of the office. After opening it was a storage room. There was a black box in the storage room, exactly the same as the box photographed in the surveillance.

Team Lin raised his eyebrows: "Open it and have a look."

There was no code on the box, so Jiang Pingce leaned over to open the lock——

There was also neat cash in the box, and two large checks with a total amount of more than 500 million.

Team Lin stroked his chin thoughtfully: "Why did he bring so much cash to the office?"