Escape the Library

【Death of a Lawyer-04】

Qingtang District, inside the Criminal Police Office.

Captain Lin Wei zoomed in on the computer screen and checked it carefully. The surveillance at around 12:00 in the morning did not find anyone entering or leaving the building, so he moved the time forward and started watching from get off work hours.

Galaxy Building is a comprehensive office building with a height of 40 floors. Many companies and studios have settled in it.

Usually, most units will leave work on time at 6:30 in the afternoon, but some Internet companies have a 996 working system, and it is common to work overtime until 9:00. Usually, the Galaxy Building will lock the door on time at 10 o'clock in the evening. If there is a company working overtime over 10 o'clock, you need to say hello to the security room in advance.

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

Lin Wei poured a cup of coffee to refresh himself, drinking and watching. He started watching from 6:30 after get off work, and soon found Yue Xingwen, Lan Yarong, and Lin Manluo walking out of the door side by side on the surveillance camera, as did the deceased Zhou Ziyang. Take the same elevator as them downstairs.

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 of Minghui Law Firm. He said that he accidentally heard the deceased call someone in the stairwell when he got off work yesterday, and mentioned that 'if he is not satisfied, he can appeal'. At that time, Yue Xingwen should wait for the elevator at the elevator next to the stairwell. After the deceased made the call, he took the same elevator downstairs with him, and the time made sense."

Lin Wei looked at the monitor thoughtfully: "Do you think Yue Xingwen is not suspicious?"

Jiang Pingce said decisively: "Of course not. If he was the murderer, he would not have reported the crime immediately. Besides, he is an intern who has just entered the law firm today, and has no motive to kill Lawyer Zhou at all."

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

From 6:00 to 7:00 is the rush hour of the Galaxy Building. During the monitoring, there are people coming and going, and there are a lot of takeaway guys coming and going, but no special people are found. Until about 8 o'clock, most of the units got off work, and the hall gradually became empty.

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

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

The hall was deserted, with the occasional security guard walking back and forth, and the lights were turned off throughout the building.

Until 9:50 p.m., a figure suddenly appeared in the surveillance, and I saw him wearing a black sports suit, sneakers, a peaked cap, dragging a black suitcase in his hand, and walking quickly. Get in the elevator.

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

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

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

Jiang Pingce frowned and said: "It turns out that he sneaked in before locking the door at 10 o'clock. The security did not notice him coming in and locked the door on time. He stayed in the Xinghe Building and climbed the stairs to the rooftop at 12 o'clock." Maybe, the murderer never left the building at all, he stayed in the Xinghe Building that night, and when Zhou Ziyang appeared, pushed him down?"

No one has come in after the building is locked, so there are only two explanations——

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

Second, the murderer never left the Galaxy Building at all. Then, whether the building is locked or not, he can climb up to the rooftop in the dead of night and push Zhou Ziyang down.

Team Lin agreed: "Look back and check the entry and exit records of the Galaxy Building to see who didn't leave yesterday."

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

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

Colleagues in the law firm were puzzled.

A torrential rain last night washed away blood on the scene, so people who came to work this morning were completely unaware that a murder had occurred in the building. It wasn't until the police began to ask them questions about Zhou Ziyang in turn that everyone reacted-lawyer Zhou probably had an accident.

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 that year, and his grades were always the first in his grade. Lan fell in love and got married. After graduation, he signed at Minghui Law Firm, and his performance is also very bright. 80% of the lawsuits he handles can be won."

Team Lin asked, "Has he ever had a grudge against anyone in private?"

The female lawyer shook her head and said, "He has a friendly attitude towards people, and he is very popular in the law firm. I can't imagine who he would have a grudge against."

The police also visited other colleagues in the law firm, and most of them said that Zhou Ziyang had a good personality and popularity. He often invited everyone to drink milk tea, and his colleagues got along well.

Only one female lawyer whispered to Team Lin: "In March last year, I saw Lawyer Zhou quarreling with Lawyer Qi. It seemed that Lawyer Zhou robbed a major client of Lawyer Qi. Lawyer Qi also posted on Moments that day, saying that some People are really hypocritical and disgusting."

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

Team Lin quickly found him. The lawyer named Qi Zhao had a short head and silver-rimmed glasses. He looked shrewd and capable, but he had a temper. After hearing Team Lin's questioning, he said with a sullen face, "I have been serving as the legal counsel of the Jinxing Group. Last year, the Jinxing Group suddenly changed Zhou Ziyang as its counselor. I was kept in the dark and I finally found out."

Jinxing Group, the city's largest Internet company, has an annual profit of more than one billion yuan. Lawyer Qi will inevitably feel resentment when such an important client is taken away.

Jiang Pingce asked, "Where were you at 0:00 in the morning last night?"

Lawyer Qi: "Sleep at home."

Jiang Pingce: "Can anyone prove it?"

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

Team Lin smiled and asked bluntly, "Zhou Ziyang robbed your client, do you always hold a grudge?"

Lawyer Qi frowned: "I do hate him, yes! But I'm a lawyer, studied law, and if I hate another person, I can't kill him! It's not worth it to build my own future for this kind of person."

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

Lawyer Qi was stunned for a moment, and a trace 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 to ask Zhou Ziyang's news. Are you the criminal police? Since the criminal police were alerted, Someone must have died. If it's just a simple disappearance case, it won't be filed in less than 24 hours."

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

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

Team Lin asked, "Chen Yueqin? Does she usually come to your law firm?"

The trainee lawyer said, "I haven't been here before. I was surprised when I saw her at the time. I thought she had any legal problem to consult with Lawyer Zhou, but... Lawyer Zhou put her arm around her shoulder, and the two seemed 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 killed him because he was not familiar with Lawyer Zhou. He went to him once, just to consult 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 carefully, and Jiang Pingce listened by the side, and wrote down two key suspects: Qi Zhao and Chen Yueqin. The former has a business conflict with Zhou Ziyang, and the latter has an ambiguous relationship with Zhou Ziyang, and both have motives for committing the crime. Also, neither of the two 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 there is no conclusion about the ownership of the necklace on the top floor. Moreover, in the surveillance that I saw last night, the suitcase was not found. Zhou Ziyang brought a suitcase into the Galaxy Building, the suitcase must be very important.

When several police officers returned to the office, Ke Shaobin was at the scene, collecting data from the deceased's computer.

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

Ke Shaobin said, "The six-digit password will take a while."

Team Lin said: "As soon as possible."

Ke Shaobin was there to decipher the code, while Jiang Pingce and others searched the office. The office is nearly 100 square meters and is very luxuriously decorated. There is a bookcase on the back of the desk. The bookshelves are almost full of books related to law. Sweeping the bookshelf carefully, suddenly, his eyes were fixed on a vacant grid in the middle of the bookshelf.

There is a little 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...

On the shelf, what will leave a long strip of marks? 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 the side: "Team Lin, the password is unlocked."

Jiang Pingce walked over immediately and saw Ke Shaobin opened the locked drawer——

The drawer was full of cash.

Stacks of banknotes should add up to hundreds of thousands.

Jiang Pingce wondered: "Isn't it illegal income if you don't deposit so much money in the bank and keep it secretly in a drawer?"

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

There is actually a secret door in the cloakroom in the corner of the office. After pushing it open, there is a storage room. There is a black box in the storage room, which is exactly the same as the box photographed in the surveillance.

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

There was no password on the box, Jiang Pingce leaned over and opened the lock——

The box was also neatly packed with cash, as well as two large cheques, totaling more than 5 million.

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