Silent Witness - Chapter 14

A torrential downpour at dawn briefly relieved the summer’s sweltering heat. Awakened by her alarm, Li Hewei rolled out of bed, slipped into her linen slippers, and shuffled to the window. She reached out and pulled open the blackout curtains. Morning light streamed through the glass, instantly illuminating the dim bedroom. Squinting to adjust for a few seconds, she turned to wash up.

About ten minutes later, Li Hewei pushed open her bedroom door and walked to the water dispenser to fill half a cup. She tilted her head back and took small sips, the warm water settling in her stomach, fully waking her up. Her gaze drifted involuntarily toward Tao Ling’s room, but she didn’t see the familiar figure. Instead, she heard sounds coming from the kitchen.

Li Hewei hurried over to find Tao Ling at the counter, an apron tied around her waist. With practiced ease, Tao Ling flipped the pancake in the skillet with her left hand. “Can’t you even relax on your first day?” Li Hewei asked, her tone exasperated.

A smile tugged at the corner of Tao Ling’s lips as her hands continued to move. “Sister Wei, didn’t you say last night I could use anything in the kitchen?”

“That doesn’t mean you have to wake up early every day to cook!”

Tao Ling paused, then replied, “I’m used to it. I used to wake up at 6 AM, so today’s 40-minute delay is already a luxury.” She hadn’t slept so deeply in ages; when she finally stirred from her slumber, the sky was already tinged with the pale dawn.

“What time did you go to bed?”

“Around 10 PM when I don’t have work.”

An old person’s schedule, Li Hewei muttered inwardly, hovering behind Tao Ling, ready to assist.

“I saw milk, eggs, and flour in the fridge, so I made some pancakes,” Tao Ling said, carefully transferring the perfectly golden pancakes to a nearby plate. “Five in total. Yingqiu just went to wash up; we’ll eat together soon.”

“Are they ready?”

“Mm-hmm, all done.”

Li Hewei snatched the porcelain plate first. “I’ll take it.”

Tao Ling washed three pairs of chopsticks and three small plates, then rinsed the Sunshine Grapes Cheng Yingqiu had bought from across the street the previous night and carried them to the outdoor dining table.

“Wow, this is so cozy!” Cheng Yingqiu exclaimed, popping a grape into her mouth, her face lighting up. “Tao Ling, we never used to cook. On weekdays, my sister ate at the cafeteria, and I’d grab a couple of buns or fried dough sticks with soy milk for breakfast, then eat at the cafeteria for lunch and dinner. We’d only have proper meals on weekends when we went home.”

“Of course, there’s always takeout.”

“As long as you like it.”

Li Hewei chewed on the delicious pancake, responding calmly, “Even if we love it, you can’t make it for us every day. You need to sleep in sometimes.”

Cheng Yingqiu chimed in, “Oh, I’d be perfectly content if you made it every few days!”

“Alright,” Tao Ling replied, understanding Li Hewei’s unspoken concern. Her expression softened further.

After breakfast, Cheng Yingqiu washed the dishes while the others changed. The three of them then headed out together.

At the office, the morning meeting had ended, and everyone was busy at their desks. Li Hewei was organizing documents when Qiu Wan knocked and entered, placing her phone on the desk. “Team Leader Li, screenshots from the surveillance video. Take a look.”

“Send them to me on WeChat.”

Li Hewei opened WeChat and received the images. Her brow furrowed deeper with each one. “Have these been processed? Is this the best we can get?” The three screenshots were nearly pixelated, showing only vague outlines of the suspect. How could they possibly identify her face?

“Xiao Zhou is still working on the video. These are the clearest frames we have so far.” Qiu Wan pointed to one of the images. “This is a screenshot from the tire repair shop’s surveillance. The suspect’s vehicle was moving too fast, so we only captured five frames.”

“No, send me the video too,” Li Hewei said. Her mind’s eye remained blank, and she needed more material.

“Just a moment,” Qiu Wan replied, turning to call a colleague at the Major Crimes Unit and instructing them to send the video directly to Li Hewei.

After Qiu Wan finished her call, Li Hewei asked, “How’s the investigation into Yang Guang’s social connections going?”

“That guy? He’s a true master of time management,” Qiu Wan said, her voice dripping with disdain. “From a 48-year-old wealthy widow to a naive 23-year-old heiress, all five women claim to be his girlfriend.”

“I took a video statement from Yang Guang’s heiress girlfriend last night. She’s 158 cm tall and has been vacationing in Guizhou for the past ten days. Zhou Lin is 168 cm tall but weighs less than 60 kg and had no opportunity to commit the crime.”

“As for the other three, they’re scheduled to come to the police station today.”

“Looks like we’ll be tied up for another two days. Is Director Liu pressuring you?” Li Hewei knew Qiu Wan was under immense pressure. She opened her desk drawer, pulled out a White Rabbit milk candy, and handed it to her. She had bought these at the convenience store near her apartment that morning and had already shared most of them with Tao Ling.

“Pressuring me? He cornered me before I clocked in this morning and lectured me for five minutes straight.”

“Sigh, let’s just keep trying.”

Li Hewei received a video from a colleague in the Major Crimes Unit and pressed play.

Qiu Wan reminded her, “Skip ahead to around 12 minutes and 7 seconds.”

Li Hewei scrolled through the video, her eyes glued to the screen. Before she could pause, a blue Audi sped past in the frame.

Qiu Wan tore open a candy wrapper. “I told you, you can’t see anything.”

Li Hewei scrubbed back and forth through the video, even slowing the playback speed to 0.5x, but all she could make out was a blurry shadow.

“I’ll call Xiao Zhou over. Watch closely while he processes the video.”

Qiu Wan dialed Xiao Zhou’s number at the Major Crimes Unit.

“Hello, Boss,” came the voice on the other end.

“Where are you? Come to the Technical Unit office.”

“I’m heading to Yuanhong Travel Agency. You assigned me there this morning, remember?”

“Forgot.” Qiu Wan had been sleep-deprived lately, making her forgetful.

“Team Leader Qiu, I can try,” Tao Ling said, stepping up behind them. She had been listening to their analysis of the case details from her workstation and had a general understanding of the situation.

Li Hewei looked surprised. “You know computers?”

Tao Ling nodded. “Yes, I know a bit.”

“Come, sit down.”

Qiu Wan and Li Hewei made room for Tao Ling.

Tao Ling sat at Li Hewei’s workstation and immediately adjusted the video, increasing its resolution and bit rate.

“Why are you increasing the frame rate too?” Li Hewei, who had some computer knowledge, knew that frame rate primarily affected video smoothness and wouldn’t significantly improve clarity.

Tao Ling demonstrated, “Try setting it to 60fps. Does it look clearer?”

Li Hewei compared the two versions carefully and agreed, “It does.”

Tao Ling continued optimizing the video’s color and brightness. The incident had occurred during peak sunlight hours, causing the surveillance footage to be overexposed. She adjusted the brightness and contrast to improve the lighting, then removed noise and applied moderate sharpening.

Qiu Wan praised her generously, “Xiao Tao, your technical skills are impressive—on par with Xiao Zhou, and even reminiscent of Sister Wang’s expertise. You were being too modest earlier.” Sister Wang, whom she mentioned, was a colleague from the Major Crimes Unit currently on maternity leave.

Tao Ling demurred, “Sister Wang is the Major Crimes Unit’s computer whiz. I still have much to learn from her.” She downloaded video processing software, slowed the video to its slowest speed, and played it frame by frame. “Sister Wei, Team Leader Qiu, I used the rapid automatic screenshot mode. What do you think of these two frames?”

“Better, but still not clear enough,” Li Hewei said, unconsciously resting her right hand on Tao Ling’s left shoulder and gently massaging it. “It’s already excellent. I’ll combine this with the convenience store clerk’s description and think it over.”

Unbeknownst to her, Tao Ling’s heart had inexplicably fluttered at her sudden touch. Before she could dwell on it, Qiu Wan’s phone rang.

The call connected, and a colleague from the Major Crimes Unit spoke urgently, “Boss, the wealthy woman is here.”

Qiu Wan instructed two other colleagues to take Ms. Sun’s statement while she and Li Hewei observed the interview through surveillance.

“Looks like there’s nothing suspicious,” Li Hewei remarked, scrutinizing the woman’s microexpressions but finding no telltale signs.

“Mm, Sun Luying transferred a total of 2.89 million yuan to Yang Guang between July 16th of last year and the 23rd of last month. They genuinely didn’t have any relationship disputes. After he went missing, she even contacted the vice president of Yuanhong Travel Agency to inquire about his whereabouts.”

Li Hewei frowned. “Why didn’t she report him missing to the police?”

Qiu Wan pulled up Sun Luying and Yang Guang’s chat logs. “Look, they were in daily contact until the police discovered the body. Last night, when Sun Luying couldn’t reach him by phone, she contacted the travel agency, who broke the news of his death to her first.”

“The killer is not only meticulous but also remarkably bold. I bet she was trying to buy time, just didn’t expect the body to be recovered so quickly.”

Li Hewei asked, “What about Yang Guang’s other two girlfriends?”

“They’re practically ruled out as suspects. One was out of town for training from the 20th to the 30th, and the other was hospitalized with pneumonia. Both have alibis.” Qiu Wan had received their verified alibis just ten minutes earlier.

“So, out of his five girlfriends, four have alibis?”

“Yes, Zhou Lin accompanied Yang Guang’s mother back to her hometown. Relatives and friends can vouch for them,” Qiu Wan said, rubbing her temples with her thumb. “Yang Guang’s last contact was likely the killer, but the phone number is unregistered.”

Li Hewei reviewed all the leads. “What about the swimming pools?”

“There are 44 public pools. I’ve already sent teams to collect water samples. For the villa pools, we need the owners’ consent.”

“Let Sister He and I take a team to the villa area,” Li Hewei suggested. “With surveillance cameras everywhere, it’s unlikely the killer would act in a public pool.”

Qiu Wan nodded. “Let’s start with Sun Luying’s villa. She has a private pool.” At this point, all leads had dried up, leaving them to rely on the water samples. Could they get lucky?

“Agreed.” Li Hewei bypassed the Major Crimes Unit’s interrogation room, took the elevator to the third floor, and strode back to her office. She knocked on the door. “Sister He, Xiao Meng, Xiao Wu, let’s head to the Southern Suburbs’ Huicui Villas to collect pool water samples.”

He Ying closed her file folder. “I’ll pack up.”

“Where’s Tao Ling?” Li Hewei wanted Tao Ling to join them in the villa area so they could split up and save time.

He Ying replied, “She’s in the lab, still working on a problem she can’t solve.”

“Alright, I’ll go find her,” Li Hewei said, turning to leave. After a few steps, she pushed open the door and approached the lab bench. She leaned in and quietly asked Tao Ling, who was examining a slide under the microscope, “What are you working on?”

Tao Ling tilted her head. “Sister Wei, I found plant-like material in the deceased’s nasopharynx.” She looked up, adjusted the microscope’s magnification, and frowned slightly. “It’s probably a petal, but after being submerged in water for so long, I can’t identify the flower.”

“Let me take a look.”

Tao Ling stood up and stepped back. Li Hewei put on gloves and a mask, then sat down, gripping the microscope’s arm with her right hand as she leaned closer.

“No luck.”

“I’ve already sent the sample to a botany expert. We’ll wait for her response.”

“Alright, let’s leave it for now.” Li Hewei removed her gloves and mask, tossed them in the trash, and turned back to Tao Ling. “Do you have any other work right now?”

Tao Ling blinked and shook her head. “No.”

“Come on, change your clothes. We’re going to the Southern Suburbs,” Li Hewei said as she walked toward the door. “As a forensic pathologist, you need more than just autopsy skills. You should also visit crime scenes more often and learn to observe the details around you. It might help you solve problems.”

“Okay,” Tao Ling said, hurrying to catch up.