Case Files 013

"Take this lipstick for examination, I believe we'll be able to find something on it." I told Guan Zhenglin. Guan Zhenglin nodded and bagged the lipstick as evidence. "If that's the case, I'll be sure to take a good look back at the lab."

Xiao Liu looked around and said, "By the way, that Jessie guy doesn't have the same professional equipment as we do, what do you think he'd do next? Do you think he saw the problem with the lipstick too?" I looked at the name card Jessie gave me, Jessie's PI Agency, located at Nara. I shrugged. "He wouldn't have missed it but he didn't take the lipstick with him, perhaps the PI way is different than ours, but I'm sure we'll run into them again. Don't worry, I see more encounters with them in the future." I walked out the room and said, "We should go look outside the bungalow. The most important thing now is to figure out how the kidnappers manage to abscond with the girl. This group is too professional, other than Liu Fei'er, they didn't make off with anything else. Any of the bags inside the closet can sell for several ten thousands RMB, but they haven't been touched at all." But that one lipstick had been moved, was that on purpose or unintentional?

Gu Chen added in explanation, "That's so that they eliminate the risk of leaving behind additional traces. For the bigger benefit, they ignored the small immediate profit before them. Those who can suppress their urges are meant for great things. This does not bode well for us."

To our surprise, Liu Yinyan was still standing at the top of the stairs. When he saw us come out, he asked nervously, "So did you find anything?" I was silent. As we accompanied Liu Yinyan down the stairs, I asked, "My guess is Liu Fei'er returned to her room after lunch and then 1 hour later, someone went to knock on her door but no one answered. They opened the door into the room and that was when they found out that she had disappeared?"

Liu Yinyan nodded. "I haven't briefed you on that, so how did you know that?"

I answered, "It was a guess. If that's the case, then I have to be honest, the team that kidnapped your daughter is extremely professional. They are quick and departed without leaving behind any trace. Other than a lipstick which had been touched, nothing was out of place. There are quite a lot of valuable stuff inside your daughter's room but they didn't take a single one of them." Liu Yinyan's expression froze from hearing that. "Yes, after seeing the room, that was my first impression too. You know about my background, many people want to share my piece of the pie. I'm not afraid of those people, I can give them as much money as they want but I'm afraid of people whose thought I cannot read."

I sighed. "I'm afraid your suspicion is not wrong this time. Your daughter has been missing for 2 hours already but there is not even a peep from the kidnappers. If I'm not wrong, they won't be calling any time today, but don't worry too much, I doubt anything will happen to your daughter until they reveal their true intention."

A long sigh later, Liu Yinyan said, "I guess there's nothing else we can do now."

I helped him into the living room sofa and said, "But there's something that I need to discuss with you, sir. We might need to impose on your hospitality further. It's easier for us to work if we can set up an operation base at your home. I hope you won't mind."

"Of course not, there are plenty of rooms upstairs." Liu Yinyan waved his hands.

"Right!" I added, "If the kidnapper does call, please try to keep them on the phone. You must know that your phone and landline are currently monitored. If the other party stays on the phone for more than 3 minutes, we'll be able to triangulate their location. Do not jump to agree to anything, because once the kidnappers achieve their goal, the easiest way for them to clean up is to eliminate the witness. I hope you can understand that." Liu Yinyan looked at me silently. He slumped into the sofa, he didn't look as spirited as the pictures I had seen of him. It was clear that his daughter's disappearance had taken a huge toll on him. Normally, at this hour, he would be working at the company, not fretting about at home. He might be a genius venture capitalist but first and foremost, he was a father.

"I'll go look into the lipstick." Guan Zhenglin told us. "I'll come back to join you when I get any results. If you find anything new, call me or send someone to bring them to the lab."

Guan Zhenglin went back to the lab while the rest of us stayed to look around the compound. Standing under the balcony of Liu Fei'er's room, I asked Gu Chen, "5 minutes, is there a way to get up there?" Gu Chen studied the wall and told me, "This wall is clean, and white, that means people wash it regularly. There is no footprint on the wall, so our culprit had to be wearing some kind of shoe cover. Now look at the ground beneath us." Xiao Liu and I did. We saw dirt. Gu Chen explained, "If the culprit already wore the shoe cover before the ascend, the cover would still track dirt and leave a trail on the wall, so the only explanation has to be that the shoe cover was put on in mid-air. A human cannot fly so they must have some kind of tool that suspends them in the air long enough for them to put on the shoe cover. Perhaps something like a hook? They can hook at the balcony rails, and then use a rope to climb up."

"But won't that alert Liu Fei'er?" I asked with a frown. Xiao Liu suggested, "If she was gaming with the headsets on, she might not have heard anything. Anyway, since we're already here, why not set up a crime scene simulation? See how long it'll take for Gu Chen to get up there with a rope." Something still didn't sit right with me. Even if Liu Fei'er couldn't hear the intruder, she would have seen a living person climb onto her balcony, after all, she would have sat facing it. Crime scene simulation was the most direct way to get an answer. With just a request, Liu Yinyan got us all the tools immediately. Gu Chen threw the hook and pulled on the rope. When he was sure his weight could be supported, he started to climb. Using arm strength to pull up the weight of a whole person with just a rope was not easy. Even though he had tried his best, Gu Chen used far longer than 5 minutes to ascend. The wall was set at 90 degrees and a special material that made it slippery meant that it was hard to find a purchase on the wall. In contrast, Gu Chen used less than a minute to slip down.

With the experiment, we knew that climbing up in 5 minutes was nearly impossible, even Gu Chen, the Superman, was unable to do that, so there wouldn't be that many people in this world who could do it. Then could they have used a different tool? Perhaps a foldable ladder? That didn't feel likely either. If they walked away with something like that, it definitely would have grabbed attention. I stood under the balcony and pulled my hair. If I was the kidnapper, what would I do?

…

First, I belong to a very professional team, a team that doesn't allow any mistake. Because the moment one of the members fails, the whole team will be exposed. We have to stay away from things which are too risky. The team has been scoping out the place for a very long time. The best time to strike is at night but Liu Fei'er doesn't necessarily spend all her nights at home. The only constant in her schedule is that she will always return home for lunch. Sometimes, the most dangerous place is the safest place. Liu Yinyan hired a lot of bodyguards for Liu Fei'er and they follow her everywhere except for one place, and that is Liu Fei'er's room.

People often put their guard down when they believe they are in absolute safety.

Actually, I have already ascended the balcony at night and snuck into Liu Fei'er's room. I spent a whole night hiding under Liu Fei'er's bed. When I got bored, I picked up a random lipstick and inspected it.

After lunch, Liu Fei'er appeared like clockwork and settled down to play a game. I came up from behind and knocked her out with a sedative. I carried her on my back. Using the rope, I slid easily to the ground. With a yank, I retracted the rope. I only need to move a few paces to meet up with my accomplice.

…

Then a thought entered my mind. For a team as professional as this, they would have lowered the risk of being exposed to as minimum as possible. There was a simple way to do that and that was to bribe the guard. If they could get the payload from the man who was worth several billions RMB, paying off a guard wouldn't be that much of a problem. The security guards were assigned by the human resource company, they won't necessarily be loyal to Liu Yinyan, so this was something we could look into.

But first, we needed to check if someone had truly hidden under Liu Fei'er's bed or not, so we hustled back to her room. Pulling back the bedsheet that draped to the ground and looking under the bed, we saw a space that was large enough to fit a man as big as Gu Chen. Perhaps this was specifically designed for ease of cleaning. Switching on the police flashlight, we looked inside. We saw that the ground on the left and middle of the floor was cleaner than the rest. It suggested that someone had indeed crawled in and out from under the left side of the bed recently. The clothes had inadvertently wiped away the dust. In other words, my speculation was right. They still opted for the safer solution. If that was the case, the chance of them bribing the guard became much higher. However, this guard was also an outsider, they weren't a part of the team, thus a risk.

"Xiao Liu!" I told Xiao Liu, "Summon all the guards working here, I have something to ask them."

"Okay."

I was about to turn my attention back to Liu Fei'er's computer when a call came from Guan Zhenglin, "Wu Meng, I just found a substance on the lipstick, you'll never guess what is it."

"Other than chemicals, what can there be? Liu Fei'er's epithelial cells?" I asked rhetorically.

Guan Zhenglin replied, "Actually you're right. Hers and someone else."

My eyes shone as the image formed in my mind. Perhaps out of boredom, hiding under the bed, the kidnapper took Liu Fei'er's lipstick, brushed it against their lips or skin. This seemingly casual action might be our biggest breakthrough.

"I'm not done yet." Guan Zhenglin reeled me back to reality. "I also found some canine blood on it."

"What?" I asked.

Guan Zhenglin repeated, "Canine blood, the blood of a pet dog perhaps."