Case Files 013

Liu Yinyan turned around to give us a signal, telling us that we could start our investigation. Before we even reached the door, we were hit by a heavy scent of perfume. It came from the woman who had been photographing at the door. When she saw us, she put the camera down. Liu Yinyan said, "These are the officers sent by the local station to investigate my daughter's disappearance."

From her appearance, the woman didn't look Chinese, she was probably of mixed heritage too. She was about 1.75 metres tall, about as tall as I was. Hoping for a harmonious working relationship, I began the self-introduction. But the woman didn't appear to be in the mood to give face. "The name's Vivian. I have to warn you people first, please do not interfere with our business. It's best if you just stand to the side and watch because now that we're here, Miss Fei'er will be safe." Vivian's voice notified the others inside the room. Soon 2 persons walked out, 1 male and 1 female. They looked Chinese. The man was a snappy dresser, he even had a deerstalker, he probably saw himself as Sherlock Holmes.

After giving us a once-over, he said, "Hmm, you must be the people from the city. Based on your thin frame and lack of callus on your hand, you must be the strategist. The muscleman has to be the fighter, right? And this beautiful, cute princess has to be the coroner. Then that box must contain investigative tools, yes? But this gentleman, I can't really tell why you're here? Are you here because they needed someone to fill up the number?" He smiled as he gripped his deerstalker. He very gentlemanly bowed to us and then handed me a name card, "I run a small detective agency in Japan, you can call me Jessie. These two ladies are my assistants, Vivian and Mariko, a Chinese-Russian beauty and a Chinese-Japanese beauty."

I had no idea where this Jessie picked up this mannerism, it made me quite awkward because I was not used to handling people like this. I had no idea whether I should kiss him or bow back in response. "Nice to meet you." Mariko bowed at us too. Jessie continued, "We've already inspected the room. Don't worry, we've replaced everything. We did think about you, it'll be embarrassing if you get led the wrong way, won't it? Vivian, Mariko, let's go." Then Jessie put the deerstalker back on and walked ahead. When he passed Guan Zhenglin, he stopped, "My dear beautiful and captivating princess, would you be gracious enough to have dinner with me tonight?"

And now that was my bottomline. He already had 2 beautiful assistants and he still wanted to come onto the only female in our group? I coughed, "I'm sorry but she has to join us for dinner tonight. You better take care of your two assistants. If there's nothing else, please don't block the way anymore." Jessie replied with a charming smile with the standard 8 teeth. Vivian and Mariko left after him. When she passed us, Vivian scoffed, "I don't get why you're still wasting your time."

Perhaps this girl ate gunpowder for breakfast because everything she said so far was incendiary. I was about to counter when Guan Zhenglin said, "I have no idea where you get that confidence. If you wish to scare us, at least be more professional. Perfume will contaminate the crime scene and you put on such a heavy haze. Is it to cover up your body odour?" Then Guan Zhenglin strode into the room, leaving behind the startled Vivian. Then I realized from the moment I saw Guan Zhenglin, I never saw her with any make-up or perfume, I originally thought that was simply because she didn't like to use them, I had no idea it was because of this. Looks like Captain Zhao selected her for a reason too. This professionalism was the most important.

Stealing a glance at the stammering Vivian, the few of us giggled and hurried into the room.

Liu Fei'er's room was huge, it was larger than most people's house. A round bed which was large enough to fit 7 to 8 people sat beside the wall. The bed was crowded with several large plushie toys, despite their numbers, they were all orderly placed. They had the original logo and was worth several thousands RMB each. Next to the bed was a large row of closet, it filled up the entire wall. I opened the closet door, and a whole wall of clothes greeted me. They were all branded and some brands I only saw for the first time. Every single space was used and the rows of branded bags were lined neatly. Taking in the bags and clothes, Guan Zhenglin commented, "The things inside the closet alone are worth several hundred thousand RMB."

I shook my head and continued to look around. On the other side of the bed was a large vanity table. The table was arranged with many different kinds of cosmetics, I didn't recognize most of them. A single lipstick was lying flat on the table. I picked it up and weighed it in my hands. I opened the cap and realized it was still quite new.

One side of the room was connected to a balcony. The glass door was left open. To the right of the balcony door was a computer table. The monitor was huge, the kind where you wouldn't be able to see clearly if you sat too close. The CPU itself was hidden behind the monitor. I moved the mouse and the screen lit up. Looks like the computer was just sleeping. The desktop looked clean, there were only a few important folders. I clicked on a folder named games. It contained all sorts of games, some were online, others were offline. They were all the most recent and popular games, they operated on different platforms, they were probably all originals too.

Then I opened the folder named school. It contained files like theses and assignments. Compared to the games, there were so few documents related to school and studying. The girl was definitely a gamer. From that, I deduced that this computer had the highest spec.

Next to the room door was a large study table and bookshelf. The bookshelf showcased an eclectic collection of books, there were Chinese and English classics, published webnovels and even university textbooks. All the books were arranged in color and size. I noted from the textbooks that the girl majored in economics, looks like Liu Yinyan had the intention of having his daughter inherit his business empire.

Guan Zhenglin had already taken out her tools to check the rooms for traces that wouldn't be visible to naked eye like blood traces, fingerprints and so on. It was now 3 pm and Liu Fei'er disappeared around 1 pm. The whole Liu mansion was teeming with people, it would be impossible to infiltrate from the front door, so the possible point of entry must have been the balcony. With that in mind, I walked to the rails of the balcony and looked out. It was about a 7 metres drop to the ground, it was a climbable height. However, if Liu Fei'er was playing on her computer, she would be facing the balcony, how could she not see her kidnapper?

The computer was only sleeping but when I awakened it, it opened up the desktop. This reminded me of a meme. Whenever the father walked into the son's room, the son would be looking at the empty desktop, seemingly doing nothing. Clearly, the son had Alt+F4 the moment he heard the door open.

So what was Fei'er doing before this? Did she leave the computer sitting on the desktop or someone had closed the program she was using?

Guan Zhenglin told us with a frown. "I only found 1 set of fingerprints, they probably belong to Liu Fei'er."

"Check the balcony and see if you can find anything." I told Guan Zhenglin. "If there was really a kidnapper, they wouldn't have come from the front door, this balcony would be the easiest pathway to gain entry." Guan Zhenglin moved to oblige and I stood beside her to wait. I opened my phone to look at the time. I noticed that the patrolling guards would do their rounds every 5 minutes. This meant that the kidnappers only had 5 minutes to get in, detain Liu Fei'er without her making any noise and then leave. The time frame was very short and extremely risky.

Guan Zhenglin said, "No, there's nothing on the balcony either."

Gu Chen commented, "This bungalow has 24-hour surveillance and the guards outside are quite hard working on their patrols. I still don't think this is a kidnapping. Perhaps Liu Fei'er had snuck out on her own?"

I shook my head. "All the gates to this compound have cameras, I believe Liu Yinyan must have looked at them before he called the police. Liu Fei'er clearly didn't walk out on her own and there was no suspicious character who appeared on the camera, it was why he called the police. When Liu Yinyan called the police, he said his daughter had been missing for an hour already?"

Xiao Liu answered, "Yes, that's what he said."

I nodded. "Then Liu Fei'er was probably kidnapped. The kidnappers made their move after Liu Fei'er returned from lunch to her room. Perhaps the butler or maid came and found her missing and then notified Liu Yinyan."

"But how did they manage to escape with a person in under an hour?" Xiao Liu asked. "We're up against a professional team this time. Then what shall we do next?"

I pointed at the lipstick laying flat on the vanity table. "Liu Fei'er has OCD. Look at the plushie toys on her bed, the clothes in her closet and the books on her bookshelf, even the folders on her computer. Everything's well-arranged. Only a person with OCD will go to such an extent to arrange them considering how much material she has to work with. Just the closet alone will take days to arrange. Therefore, the single lipstick shouldn't sit out like that, someone has touched it and it was not Liu Fei'er. Furthermore, I believe Liu Fei'er was playing a game on the computer when she was kidnapped, or else her OCD would have compelled her to close the game and then shut down the computer, and not leave it idling on the desktop. All these clues suggest that Liu Fei'er was not brought away from her room willingly."