Zhou Zhihao had three older sisters. The one Li Weiyi saw was his younger sister, named Zhou Zhihong. Li Weiyi remembered that Zhou Zhihong and her husband ran a restaurant, but she had never been there before—so it was here.
Zhang Jingchan frowned: “This morning your sister said on the phone that Zhou Zhihao pestered her for several days, but as soon as something happened to your family, he suddenly stopped coming?”
A chill poured into Li Weiyi’s chest: “You mean…”
His back was against the chair, one hand lightly tapping on her chair back a few times: “Perhaps it’s not a coincidence.”
Li Weiyi looked back at that restaurant with barely any customers, remembering that in 2022, her sister had also mentioned that Zhou Zhihao suddenly disappeared around this time and never appeared again. At the time she had just assumed it was because the Zhou family had fallen on hard times, and that Zhang Jingchan and Zhong Yi, both scheming types, had secretly obstructed him one after the other.
“Should we go in and investigate?” Li Weiyi could hardly sit still.
Zhang Jingchan raised his hand and pressed on her shoulder, saying: “If it really is him, he’s conscienceless and insane. We shouldn’t act rashly. First call your sister and have her probe him, ask Zhou Zhihao to come help search for someone, and see how he reacts.”
Zhang Jingchan called Li Xiaoyi and gave her instructions. Li Xiaoyi quickly called back, saying she had made two calls that were both hung up on, and on the third call, Zhou Zhihao had turned off his phone.
Zhang Jingchan: “How many rings for each of the two calls?”
Li Xiaoyi: “The first call rang about ten times; the second call rang once before being hung up.”
Li Weiyi: “Something’s wrong with him!”
Zhang Jingchan nodded: “Notify Ding Chenmo.”
Ding Chenmo had already been nearby. Within a few minutes, he arrived at the wonton stand with two young detectives. They too had been busy all day with Li Zhongheng’s case and hadn’t eaten. Seeing this, Zhang Jingchan hinted for Li Weiyi to stay calm for now and ordered six large bowls of wontons for them. Each person finished off two bowls, and Ding Chenmo also ate two fried breadsticks and a sesame ball to top it off.
After hearing what Zhang Jingchan and Li Weiyi had to say, Ding Chenmo also fell into thought. He stood up, walked to the street corner, finished smoking a cigarette and returned, giving an order: “Xiao Wang, immediately contact the provincial lottery center to verify whether anyone from this city went to Xiangcheng in the past few days to claim the Double Color Ball grand prize.” He scratched his greasy, coarse, short hair and continued: “But even if it’s confirmed that Zhou Zhihao claimed the prize money, it’s still difficult. Look at this road—there’s no surveillance and we haven’t found any witnesses. How do we prove that Zhou Zhihao robbed your dad’s lottery ticket? That lottery station doesn’t have surveillance either. What if Zhou Zhihao says he bought it himself? Or simply says he picked it up on the road?”
Neither Zhang Jingchan nor Li Weiyi understood criminal investigation. Upon hearing this, Zhang Jingchan began to ponder. Li Weiyi said: “His family has storefronts and houses, plus this restaurant. Can’t you go in and search first, look for any fingerprints, traces, bloodstains and such?”
Ding Chenmo shook his head at her: “Young man, you’re thinking too simply. These past few years we emphasize civilized law enforcement. Whether it’s the lottery ticket or Zhou Zhihao, it’s all just speculation from you two. Without any evidence, the police can’t just search homes at will! Let me think some more about what methods we could use…”
Zhang Jingchan looked up at this moment and said: “What about a vice raid?”
Ding Chenmo: “What?”
Zhang Jingchan and Li Weiyi exchanged a glance, and he said: “I heard that Zhou Zhihao was investigated during this period for prostitution-related activities and even went to the police station. It should have been handled by a different department of yours.”
Ding Chenmo: “Really? How would you know?”
Li Weiyi suppressed her excitement, coughed lightly, and said: “I told him. My dad is Zhang Moyun—I’ve always been well-informed.”
Ding Chenmo was stunned for a moment, looked at her, and nodded: “That actually is a method. Let me make a few phone calls.”
Ding Chenmo worked very efficiently. Before long, he finished making calls and walked back, saying: “The bureau has already agreed. Two teams are now simultaneously searching the Zhou home and their storefronts under the pretext of a ‘vice raid.’ I’m leading the team to search this restaurant. You two go back first and wait for news.”
Li Weiyi was in no way willing to leave with peace of mind, but Ding Chenmo wouldn’t allow them to follow along. Before long, another police car arrived. Two people got out—a total of five police officers knocked on the door and entered the restaurant.
“If you’re not at ease, we’ll wait here,” Zhang Jingchan said.
“Good!”
This restaurant was converted from a residential building. The courtyard was seventy or eighty square meters, winding and twisting, connected front to back. Both buildings were two stories, with over twenty private rooms, plus several storage rooms on the side. But there were no people—neither customers nor waiters. Paper reading “Storefront for Lease” was posted at the entrance.
Zhou Zhihong was startled when she saw the police enter: “Who are you people?”
Ding Chenmo showed his credentials: “Vice raid. Where’s your younger brother Zhou Zhihao?”
“I don’t know. This is my husband’s restaurant. What are you doing here?”
Ding Chenmo sneered: “Don’t hide it for him! He’s involved in a major prostitution case! Search!”
“Hey, hey…”
Zhou Zhihong couldn’t stop them. Anxious and angry, she went to the side to make a phone call. As a result, Xiao Wang from Ding Chenmo’s team smiled and snatched away her phone, then spoke nicely asking her to cooperate with the investigation, saying it had nothing to do with her. Zhou Zhihong was at a complete loss and didn’t do anything else.
Ding Chenmo was extremely experienced. He had a premonition that if Zhou Zhihao really was the perpetrator, there would definitely be clues soon. Although they didn’t find anything after searching both buildings, they quickly discovered some suspicious footprints in the back courtyard.
Ding Chenmo squatted on the ground to examine them: the messy footprints in the muddy ground belonged to two men, and there were also drag marks. He silently calculated height and weight in his mind, then saw that the soil in the courtyard showed signs of fresh disturbance. His heart grew heavier and heavier.
Ding Chenmo stood up and told his subordinates to immediately call forensics and the medical examiner.
They searched every nook and cranny again. Finally, on a pile of firewood in a storage room, they discovered some unidentified bloodstains. Ding Chenmo’s heart jumped, because this storage room was a good forty or fifty meters from where the courtyard soil had been disturbed, yet there were no bloodstains along the way.
He stood in the storage room, slowly surveying the area once around, his expression grave as iron. Finally, his gaze fell on the storage room’s window, from which one could see an old, yellowed low wall. The wall was full of decayed and broken gaps everywhere.
Ding Chenmo: “Bring Zhou Zhihong over here.”
Zhou Zhihong came over completely bewildered.
Ding Chenmo asked: “Who lives across the way?”
“No… no one lives there… An old man used to live there, but he died the year before last. His son is abroad and never came back. The house has long been abandoned.”
Ding Chenmo and his subordinates exchanged glances. He strode out of the storage room. The courtyard had a back door that could be opened from inside. As soon as several people went out, they saw the small courtyard next door. The courtyard wall was low enough that they could climb over it.
Ding Chenmo first went around to the front door and found he couldn’t push it open—it was locked from the inside. At this moment, Zhang Jingchan and Li Weiyi from the wonton stand also noticed and ran over. Ding Chenmo signaled them to be silent, gave Xiao Wang a look. Xiao Wang stepped back a few paces, took a running start, and flipped over the courtyard wall. Before long, he opened the door.