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After that, An Jinzhong no longer paid any attention to Jiang He. Jiang He was actually not a bad person; he had indeed seen his wife yesterday, or rather, his ex-wife, and the outcome was not good. At this moment, he did not ask Jiang He how he figured it out, but simply walked out of the police station, gazing silently at the countless stars in the sky.
Once An Jinzhong left, Jiang He was left alone in the room.
In fact, Jiang He had easily noticed that detail. The time was just past four in the morning. An Jinzhong was not supposed to be working, yet he was wearing a suit and had a watch on his wrist. More importantly, his shirt was impeccably clean, without a single wrinkle.
Jiang He could easily guess that An Jinzhong had just woken up but had heard about a case and hastily put on clothes from the bedside.
If it weren't for meeting someone important, An Jinzhong wouldn't have bothered to shave. Jiang He speculated that An Jinzhong had gone to see his ex-wife, but it was easy to predict that this meeting would not end well. This was because Jiang He noticed that the front of An Jinzhong's leather shoes showed signs of unusual wear. For a new pair of shoes, this was quite abnormal; Jiang He suspected that An Jinzhong had kicked something.
However, what puzzled Jiang He was not this matter but rather An Jinzhong's words. Jiang He did not understand what he had done wrong. The reason Jiang He was so sensitive to those words was that throughout his thirty years of life, it had been one of the most common phrases directed at him by others.
Jiang He had always wanted to understand but never received an answer. He looked out the window, gazing at the stars outside.
Around five o'clock, Wang Chao arrived at the police station with two detectives.
"Old An?" Wang Chao saw An Jinzhong standing outside the police station with a worried expression. "What's wrong? You look troubled."
An Jinzhong saw Wang Chao and replied, "It's nothing much, just some family issues. Jiang He's in the interrogation room; take him away."
Wang Chao handed a cigarette to An Jinzhong. "Who exactly is Jiang He? Isn't he from your police station?"
"No," An Jinzhong took the cigarette. "I only met him three days ago when he was fighting with a pig."
Wang Chao paused for a moment. "This Jiang He... After the case is over, we need to ask him who he really is."
Jiang He and Luo Jinbao were taken to the Substation together.
Jiang He got straight to the point: "Li Weiyi is definitely not the murderer. I waited at Li Weiyi's house for three days, and finally, I met this person. I don't know if you noticed a detail, but there are some inconspicuous graffiti on the wall at the entrance of Li Weiyi's home. After my observation and comparison, I discovered the meaning behind these graffiti."
Wang Chao shook his head as he listened to Jiang He speak confidently. "I really didn't notice that."
Jiang He recounted his recent experiences: "I saw these symbols at other people's doorways when I went upstairs, so I believe they are not meaningless. Therefore, I asked the security captain for a list of the houses that had been robbed, and sure enough, I found the same symbols on the walls of those houses."
With that, Jiang He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, which had several symbols on it. He explained each one: "Based on the comparison of these symbols, it's easy to see that every house that was robbed has a specific symbol on its wall. I'm ninety-nine percent sure that this is a mark left after a theft. A circle indicates that this house is vulnerable to being robbed, while a horizontal line represents one person inside; and so on. A circle with a line inside means it's difficult to break in, while a vertical line means absolutely do not attempt to rob."
When Jiang He threw this notebook in front of Luo Jinbao, Luo Jinbao confessed without hesitation.
Luo Jinbao said, "I never expected that even the police would become someone's lover..."
When a person becomes pregnant, they feel like they see pregnant women everywhere on the street. This is because humans are social animals who easily find their own circles; stealing works similarly—one thief can easily find another. When these thieves gather together, a set of industry rules emerges.
These symbols serve as a way for thieves to communicate with each other, indicating how many people are in a household and whether it is safe to strike.
Luo Jinbao had been wandering around this area for quite some time. Every night he pretended to be cooling off outside while actually observing. When night fell, he would watch the windows of other people's homes. Some windows remained dark for a long time, while others lit up immediately when it got dark. Some households kept their lights on late into the night, while others turned them off right after midnight.
Luo Jinbao used the brightness of the lights to judge a household's routine and determine whether it was feasible to rob them. He particularly liked targeting single women's homes. He would watch women wearing high heels and carrying handbags; once these women returned home and their lights turned on, Luo Jinbao could confirm they were likely single.
After successfully robbing several houses, Luo Jinbao shifted his focus to Li Weiyi's home.
One afternoon three days ago, Luo Jinbao arrived at Li Weiyi's doorstep. He drew a circle on the wall to indicate that someone had already set their sights on this house and was preparing to act—others should not get any ideas. Just as he was about to leave and choose a day to steal from there, he noticed that Li Weiyi's door was slightly ajar.
A crack appeared in front of Luo Jinbao, and he peered through it, finding no one inside.
Luo Jinbao had been keeping an eye on this family for quite some time. He glanced at the clock; at this hour, only the mistress of the house should be home. Although it was midday, this was a rare opportunity. If he got caught, he could always claim to have taken a wrong turn—after all, a single woman wouldn’t be able to do much against him.
With that thought, Luo Jinbao stepped inside. The house was empty. The sun blazed high in the sky, and he didn’t dare rummage through drawers to steal anything, but it was fine to take a look around. He noticed He Hui Juan lying on the bed, with an Apple Phone sitting on the desk, easily within reach.
Luo Jinbao glanced at He Hui Juan and decided to take the plunge; he reached out and grabbed the phone.
“Where is that Apple Phone now?” Wang Chao asked.
Luo Jinbao sighed and pulled a shiny black iPhone 7 from his pocket, which looked almost new.
“Why isn’t it powered on?” Wang Chao asked as he examined the phone.
Luo Jinbao replied, “I’m not stupid. We’re planning to steal again. If I turn it on, they can track me through the account. I need to find a buyer first before I can unlock it.”
“Hand it over to the Forensic Science Division,” Wang Chao said as he took the phone. “Let’s see if it belongs to He Hui Juan.”
A detective nodded in agreement.
“What time did you take the phone?” Jiang He asked Luo Jinbao.
Luo Jinbao hesitated for a moment before answering, “Around eleven-thirty. I was worried that the mother would come back, so I didn’t stay too long.”
Upon hearing this sensitive time, Wang Chao and Jiang He spoke in unison, “When exactly?”
"About eleven thirty in the morning," Luo Jinbao said, looking at the two officers. "Come on, you two police officers, it’s just a stolen Apple Phone. You catch me for a couple of hours and then let me go; this is just an identity check. I’ve been here before, I know my way around."
Xu Yiman's Autopsy Report indicated that He Hui Juan died at a quarter past eleven. Since He Hui Juan's time of death was relatively recent, the Autopsy Results could be pinpointed almost to the minute. Therefore, unless there was an issue with Xu Yiman's Autopsy Report, what Luo Jinbao saw must have been a corpse.
Jiang He was ninety-eight percent sure that Xu Yiman's Autopsy Report was accurate.
"Did you see the mistress, He Hui Juan?" Jiang He asked slowly, enunciating each word.
Luo Jinbao glanced at Jiang He and replied, "I did see her. What’s the matter? When I went in, He Hui Juan was still asleep."
"You’re sure about that," Wang Chao interjected, having caught onto something amiss.
Luo Jinbao frowned, showing signs of impatience but still spoke up. "Yes, I saw her lying in bed asleep when I entered. Sleeping, you know what that means? It means she was under the covers with her eyes closed. You’re not suspecting me of doing anything else, are you? She may be pretty and have fair skin, but I'm not that kind of person..."
"She was under the covers?" Jiang He asked.
"Yes," Luo Jinbao confirmed.
"Up to what part?" Jiang He continued to press.
"To her neck," Luo Jinbao answered.
This raised significant concerns; Luo Jinbao's response completely eliminated both of their suspicions. First was Li Weiyi—though his details were accurate because he had seen two corpses and could clearly identify the locations of their wounds, he had clearly lied. The Apple Phone wasn’t taken by him, indicating that Li Weiyi was not the murderer. Likewise, Wu Guifeng could not be the murderer either; otherwise, Li Weiyi would have seen Wu Guifeng when he entered.
Is the murderer the person in front of me, Luo Jinbao?
According to the data compiled by Jiang He, the probability of a murderer returning to the scene after committing a crime is one percent, and the likelihood of returning to steal something afterward is currently zero. Most people, after committing murder, naturally try to get as far away as possible and never come back.
Wang Chao and Jiang He exchanged glances.
Wang Chao spoke up, "Did you not see the blood?"
"Blood?" Luo Jinbao asked, confused.
Wang Chao cleared his throat and said, "Alright, we suspect you are involved in a murder case. Get ready."
"Me?" Luo Jinbao pointed at himself. "I killed someone?"
Then Luo Jinbao received a chilling piece of news: the person he had seen, He Hui Juan, was already dead.
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