Zhang Yi’ang originally thought that as long as they found the delivery person and asked her, the suspicion concerning him would naturally be cleared up. Who knew that before long, Wang Ruijun came running over again to tell him jaw-dropping news: “Director Zhang, the woman who delivered takeout to you last night has disappeared.”
This couldn’t be!
To frame him for killing Ye Jian, they had even calculated the takeout delivery person into their scheme?
What kind of place was this San Jiang Kou? Who had such heaven-reaching abilities to pull this off?
Zhang Yi’ang’s tongue went stiff. Fortunately, Li Qian was still fairly clear-headed and quickly asked, “When did this happen? How could she disappear?”
Wang Ruijun explained, “We called the delivery person using the order dispatch information from the takeout app on the Director’s phone. When she heard we were police and wanted her to come to the Public Security Bureau to understand some circumstances, she said okay, okay, and then hung up hurriedly. When we called again a few minutes later to confirm the time, saying the matter was urgent and we’d immediately send a car to pick her up, she hung up halfway through our words. When we called again, the phone was already turned off.”
Li Qian said dismissively, “Then she definitely thought it was a scam call. There are too many scam calls impersonating police nowadays.”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. We thought at the time that her phone had died, or she was delivering food, so we had to contact the takeout platform company. They provided us with the delivery person’s identity information. When we checked her ID card, she turned out to be a missing person from Jiangsu Province from three years ago. We also found she has a husband, and the husband also went missing at the same time three years ago.”
Li Qian didn’t understand, “What does this prove?”
Wang Ruijun said, “Most likely this couple owes a lot of debt and fled from Jiangsu to our Zhejiang under assumed names. I had people from the police station go look for them based on the address she registered on the takeout platform. We’re still waiting for news.”
Zhang Yi’ang gritted his teeth and sighed at his bad luck. Finally there was a witness who could prove he was at home last night, but who knew she was a debt fugitive who hung up as soon as she heard it was the police calling.
A few minutes later, Wang Ruijun received a call back from the police station personnel. The result shocked them greatly again. When police station officers came to their residence and knocked on the door, no one answered after knocking for a long time. A neighbor next door said that just moments ago, the couple had left hurriedly dragging two suitcases and carrying a child, saying they were returning to their hometown.
Wang Ruijun muttered, “I guess the couple owes quite a bit of debt.”
Zhang Yi’ang took a deep breath and immediately became extremely agitated, “Even if this delivery person flees to the ends of the earth, we have to catch her and bring her back!”
He immediately called on Wang Ruijun, Song Xing, Li Qian, and several key police officers to personally lead the team. Three police cars with a lineup suitable for apprehending an A-level wanted criminal collectively rushed to the delivery person’s address.
It was a small food and grocery store in the old city district. At this moment, the rolling shutter door was tightly locked.
Police called over neighbors from adjacent storefronts. The neighbors introduced the shop owners as a married couple, both in their mid-thirties, with a child under two years old. They had come over half a year ago and rented this storefront, usually selling food, beverages, and some vegetables. They were very polite and didn’t seem like people who had committed crimes. The grocery store was partitioned into two rooms inside, and the family usually ate and lived in the shop.
This afternoon around four o’clock, the couple left with their child and two suitcases, locking the rolling shutter door. When the neighbor saw this and inquired, they said a relative back home was critically ill and they were rushing back to see them one last time. The neighbor provided the male shop owner’s phone number, but when they called, it was also turned off.
After learning this information, Zhang Yi’ang pondered for a moment and immediately ordered, “Pry open the door. See if there’s any other way to contact these two people.”
“Pry open the door? This… this doesn’t comply with procedures. At most they’re running away from debt—they haven’t committed any crime. We don’t have any documentation.” Wang Ruijun expressed his difficulty, then tried to persuade him, “Director, you know that nowadays inspections are so strict, and common people complain at the drop of a hat. The owners aren’t home and we’re prying open their door in public—afterward online they’ll definitely say we’re abusing public authority.”
Other police officers looked around. Quite a few people were already pulling out their phones to record video. After all, a bunch of police were gathered at the small shop entrance. Some individuals recognized the rank insignia and discovered that several in the middle were leaders from the local Public Security Bureau, which made them even more curious.
In today’s self-media era, news spread quickly. If these police pried open the shop door in public and it turned out to be a misunderstanding, the impact would undoubtedly be extremely bad. A county-level Public Security Bureau deputy director could pry open residents’ doors in broad daylight without going through any procedures—what else couldn’t they do? What sense of security would common people have?
Other criminal police also urged Director Zhang to calm down. This matter still needed to be taken slowly. If they couldn’t find the delivery person witness, they could think of other methods. Right now, the Ministry of Public Security had repeatedly emphasized police enforcement conduct. If the shop owners really had coincidentally returned home because a relative was critically ill, any misunderstanding would be impossible to resolve.
These criminal police had only known him for a week—there was no real relationship. Now asking them to publicly do something against regulations—no one would do it. Others also said that even if Director Qi approved this, it wouldn’t work—they had to follow procedures.
Zhang Yi’ang saw that this group had already made their positions clear. If he continued to forcefully demand they proceed, he feared even Wang Ruijun and Song Xing would stand on the opposing side. But if this delivery person couldn’t be found, what would he do? Everyone in the unit knew that Ye Jian had written his name before dying. How could he establish his footing? Before long, without having done anything, he’d be transferred back to the province. That would simply be a permanent joke in his police career.
For a moment, he had no solution. He could only walk up to the rolling shutter door, squat down, and bend his waist to look inside with difficulty through the three-finger-wide gap at the bottom. His line of sight could only see a small area at the bottom, and he discovered no clues. In his desperation, Zhang Yi’ang used his left hand, which was facing away from the crowd, to pull out two one-hundred-yuan bills from his pocket. Taking advantage of when people weren’t paying attention, he placed them in his palm and crumpled them into two small balls, then used his fingers to flick the money through the gap into the inside.
He stood up with a puzzled look on his face and said to the other police officers, “They didn’t even pick up two hundred yuan lying on the ground—they left way too hurriedly, didn’t they?”
The other police officers also bent down to look. Hey! Sure enough, there was two hundred yuan lying on the ground. One police officer scratched his head and said, “Strange—how did I not notice that just now?”
Zhang Yi’ang beckoned all the police present to gather around, revealed a vigilant look, and prompted them, “Think carefully—this couple isn’t just fleeing from debt, is it?”
After several seconds, Song Xing had a sudden realization, “That’s right. We’ve seen plenty of deadbeats running away, but who’s ever seen one this alert? The police just called and the whole family moved away—they don’t even want the shop anymore, don’t have time to pick up the money. How could these be deadbeats? These must be fugitives with criminal records!”
Zhang Yi’ang said lightly, “If it were a small case, it wouldn’t be like this, would it?”
With this reminder, everyone collectively came to their senses.
“Right, not a small case—definitely a major case!” “And there’s a child—they’re probably human traffickers!”
In emergency situations when apprehending criminals, public security could process documentation afterward. All criminal police had stubborn enthusiasm for arresting major criminals.
With this said, the subordinates immediately found tools and directly pried open the rolling shutter door. As soon as the door opened, everyone was stunned. Inside the shop was a complete mess—even drawers had been pulled out onto the counter, and everything had been rummaged through haphazardly.
Zhang Yi’ang had originally just wanted to first make up a reason to make his subordinates believe that this couple inside were fugitives, pry open the door, and look for other ways to contact them. Seeing this appearance proved the two had left extremely hurriedly, and even he himself deeply believed they were fugitives. The common people watching the excitement outside discovered the situation in the shop and also knew something had happened here.
For a moment, the looks the subordinates cast toward Director Zhang all changed. A leader is a leader—professional sensitivity is professional sensitivity!
Zhang Yi’ang led people inside, passed through the shop, and went straight to the partitioned room in the back.
The partitioned room was less than ten square meters. One end had a bed, the other end had a simple toilet, and a table for cooking was placed in the middle. Under the bed had originally been some boxes, but now the boxes had all been dragged outside—some placed on the bed, some on the floor—all opened, with various items scattered around.
Zhang Yi’ang told his subordinates to go ask the neighbors next door exactly how long ago the couple had left. Soon subordinates came back to tell him they’d left about an hour and a half ago. When they left, they’d hailed a taxi, and their expressions were very hurried.
He thought briefly, looked at the time—now it was six o’clock in the evening and the sky was already dark—and immediately made a decisive order: “Immediately notify all groups of personnel, including police forces from surrounding township jurisdiction police stations, to guard the bus station, train station, and all major entry and exit points throughout the city. Also contact the taxi company to retrieve taxi driving data and surveillance along the roads. Immediately launch a citywide manhunt. Tonight we must intercept them in San Jiang Kou!”
“Mobilizing the entire city’s police force to catch one couple—isn’t the commotion too big? We still don’t know how serious their crime is.” Song Xing shook his head disdainfully.
Zhang Yi’ang didn’t care about any of that. If this delivery person escaped San Jiang Kou today, then what would he do coming to work at the unit tomorrow? Everyone else would investigate Ye Jian’s case while he, as the only suspect, stayed in the office playing on the computer?
He waved his hand grandly and said, “Do as I say. I’ll take responsibility for all problems!”
Since the leader had said this, subordinates couldn’t say much more. They immediately called the bureau to arrange police mobilization, calling back even those who were off duty today.
The arrangements were set. Zhang Yi’ang and the police continued searching through items left in the house. Although this couple had left in a hurry, amazingly they hadn’t left behind any items containing personal information. The entire house had not a single photograph, nor could they find anything carrying identity information. Only a pile of clothes for the two people and children’s clothing and supplies remained, which made the couple’s identity even more suspicious.
Zhang Yi’ang stood up, surveyed this partitioned room of less than ten square meters, and analyzed, “The clothes and shoes are all very clean. You can tell that normally things were placed very neatly. This family doesn’t seem like ordinary working people.” His gaze swept over the women’s clothes, shoes, and the few skincare products in the bathroom one by one. Finally, he walked up to a pair of women’s athletic shoes, squatted down, narrowed his eyes slightly, and made a judgment: “The woman’s height is between one hundred sixty and one hundred sixty-three centimeters. She has a well-proportioned figure and won’t weigh more than one hundred five pounds. Her skin is slightly dark. Normally she dresses cleanly and neatly. She’s a capable person who walks with very fast steps. Her speaking voice should be somewhat hoarse and low.”
Li Qian nodded secretly, couldn’t help admiring the leader’s professional skills. Just by looking at the scene, he could create a profile of the suspect—this wasn’t something achieved overnight.
A police officer on the side carefully recorded the characteristics and asked, “What about the man?”
“I don’t know about the man.”
Everyone asked curiously, “Then how do you know about the woman?”
“I saw her last night.”
So that’s how it was. Everyone stopped dwelling on this topic. After searching for a while longer and making no further discoveries, they had to temporarily return to wait for results.
They returned to the unit and ate something simple. Only a little over an hour had passed when Zhang Yi’ang received news from subordinates at the train station. This couple along with their child had been stopped in the waiting hall. They were very strange—they refused to say anything at all. They could only first bring them back to the bureau.
Before long, subordinate police officers brought this couple before Zhang Yi’ang. The husband had a round face and the appearance of an honest person. From entering the door until now, he hadn’t opened his mouth once, but his expression was very calm. The wife held the child in her arms. Between her brows was full of unease and anxiety. Even the hands holding the child were trembling slightly.
Zhang Yi’ang stared at the woman and first asked the question he cared about most: “Yesterday evening around nine-forty, you delivered a takeout order to me. You remember, right?”
He was waiting for the woman to say the words “I remember” to thoroughly clear the suspicion between him and Ye Jian’s murder case. Who knew the woman would actually say timidly, “I… I don’t remember.”
Zhang Yi’ang took a big step up to her and stared at her, “Look at me carefully. Think it through!”
“I… I don’t know. I didn’t deliver takeout last night. I’ve never seen you before.” The woman kept her head lowered, not even daring to raise her eyes.
Everyone cast doubtful looks at Zhang Yi’ang. Clearly he said it was this woman who delivered takeout last night, but this woman said she had never seen him. A takeout delivery person had no prior connection with him and was in the police station—she surely had no reason to frame him, right?
Even Li Qian’s expression became strange, and she couldn’t help wondering whether perhaps the leader really was related to Ye Jian’s murder.
Zhang Yi’ang immediately flew into a rage, clenched his fist, and waved it while shouting, “Yesterday it was you who delivered takeout to me! Why won’t you admit it!”
As soon as the words fell, the woman suddenly burst into loud sobs, crying out, “I didn’t deliver it! I didn’t deliver it! Stop asking me!” She collapsed to the floor while holding the child.
Seeing this turn of events, everyone froze in place. Looking at this scene—could the woman be lying? But why would she frame Director Zhang?
At this moment, the husband slowly squatted down and gently patted his wife’s shoulder. After a long while, he took a deep breath, stood up again, and looked directly into Zhang Yi’ang’s eyes: “Come at me with whatever you have. This has nothing to do with my wife. I killed all of them—fifteen lives in total. It has nothing to do with her whatsoever. This lifetime she followed the wrong person. I’ve wronged her. Please let her go.”
In an instant, everyone’s eyes nearly popped out. They forcefully calmed themselves down and recalled carefully to confirm—what did the man’s mouth just say? Right, he said he was responsible for fifteen lives!
Fifteen lives—what kind of concept was that!
The man sighed and said through gritted teeth, “I’ve been hiding in San Jiang Kou for over half a year. I thought everything was fine, but I didn’t expect you’d already targeted me. You could even specifically assign delivery orders to my wife through the takeout platform—impressive. Forget it. Debts owed must eventually be repaid. I fucking accept my fate!”
Although the suspicion on him still hadn’t been cleared, Zhang Yi’ang had fortuitously caught an A-level wanted criminal. This would make people look at him with new eyes.