You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 51: The Suspect Emerges!
"A suspicious person?"

"Yes."

Yang Jinwen nodded and reminded him, "Have any customers who have eaten at your restaurant these past few days seemed suspicious, such as asking you if business is good or if you're making money?"

Sun Lu reached up and touched the back of his head, trying hard to remember.

"I'm usually busy in the kitchen, while Xiaoying greets the guests in the front, and I..."

Yang Jinwen reiterated, "Think carefully about the people who have come to your noodle shop multiple times, or those who have loitered outside your shop. Also, who is Zhang Xiaoying closest to? Who does she usually chat with?"

When asked about this, Sun Lu's previously hesitant gaze suddenly sharpened.

"There are a few people like that."

Zheng Kang quickly asked, "Who are they?"

Sun Lu replied, "They're all acquaintances."

Yang Jinwen gripped his pen: "Tell me their names, their addresses, and where they work."

After mentioning the names of several regular customers, Sun Lu continued, "Officer Yang, speaking of which, I remembered something. A few days ago, I was rolling out noodles in the kitchen when I heard Xiao Ying talking to someone outside."

Zheng Kang leaned forward and asked, "What did you say?"

Sun Kang turned and pointed to the kitchen doorway. A curtain hung above the door, obscuring the upper part of the door. If a person stood inside, only their waist and below could be seen.

"It was a woman, but I didn't see her. She stayed for about ten minutes and then left. I only heard some fragmented conversations."

"What words?"

"The woman said that she, her husband, and her brother had all been laid off and they couldn't make ends meet... Oh, and she also asked Xiaoying if our shop was hiring dishwashers, and if so, she could come and help."

Yang Jinwen asked, "Can you tell how old this woman is?"

"I guess... I'm not sure, but I'm probably not young anymore."

"What day did she come to the store?"

"I can't remember."

"Zhang Xiaoying was murdered on June 14th. Was it sometime in the days prior?"

Sun Lu nodded quickly: "Yes, just for those two or three days."

Is it daytime or nighttime?

"Around three or four in the afternoon."

"you sure?"

"I am sure."

"If you heard that voice again, would you recognize it?"

“I recognize him.”

"Okay." Yang Jinwen nodded, looked at Zheng Kang, and indicated that he had no further questions.

Just as Zheng Kang was about to speak, he heard the sound of a door being pushed open behind him.

Then came He Jinbo's carefree voice: "Old Zheng, Little Yang."

Yang Jinwen stood up and greeted them: "Team Leader He, Uncle Jiang, Uncle Xu."

Besides these three people, there was also a cat with dark circles under its eyes.

Zheng Kang nodded to Sun Lu and said, "Wait outside for a while, we have something to talk about. I'll keep an eye on Fanfan, I'll call you when he wakes up."

Sun Lu stood up: "Uncle Zheng, I'll get you a few bottles of soda."

He walked to the freezer against the wall, took out six cans of Jianlibao (a popular Chinese herbal tea brand), handed them to Maozi and the others, and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

He Jinbo took out his wallet and realized that he had given all his money to Wen Ling so she could go to the provincial department for DNA testing. He looked at Zheng Kang, who said, "Don't look at me and Jinwen, we're also broke."

He Jinbo looked at Xu Guoliang, whose eyes were darting around, and asked, "I remember you left twenty yuan, didn't you?"

Xu Guoliang looked annoyed: "Old He, I need to keep this twenty yuan. I promised my daughter we'd go to the amusement park this weekend, and I can't go without any money on me, can I?"

"You're so stingy, I'll lend it to you."

Sun Lu quickly waved his hand: "No need to pay me, it's my treat."

He Jinbo snatched Xu Guoliang's wallet, pulled out a ten-yuan note and handed it to Sun Lu: "We are disciplined and will not take a single needle or thread from the people."

He forced the money on the other person, and Sun Lu had no choice but to accept it: "I'll give you change, you don't need this much."

He Jinbo tossed his wallet to Xu Guoliang: "I haven't spent all of your money yet. We can't spoil our daughter. It's not easy to earn money these days."

After Sun Lu left, the six people sat around the table.

Jiang Jianbing asked first, "Xiao Yang, we just heard from Captain He that you found a clue?"

"The situation is like this..."

Yang Jinwen recounted in detail the flat crowbar the murderer used to pry open the door, the figure-eight knot used to bind Zhang Xiaoying's wrists, and the statement Sun Lu had just made.

When Yang Jinwen looked up from his notebook, the five people in front of him all had cigarettes between their fingers.

Apart from Zheng Kang, the other four people's gazes were all frozen as they looked at Yang Jinwen, with only the cigarette smoke wafting out between their fingers.

Jiang Jianbing was the first to react: "Wow, Yang, your analytical skills are amazing! Even the technical experts at the Municipal Bureau aren't as good as you!"

Xu Guoliang nodded hurriedly, pointed at Zheng Kang with the hand holding the cigarette, and cursed, "You old bastard, you've really struck gold!"

"Go to hell," Zheng Kang retorted.

He Jinbo was more rational; he threw the burnt-out cigarette butt on the ground and took Yang Jinwen's notebook.

Several people quickly gathered around and compared the photo with Yang Jinwen's copy of the portrait.

After reading it, He Jinbo confirmed that Yang Jinwen's investigation and analysis were indeed without any problems, and that the image of the murderer had already been formed in his mind.

Zheng Kang said, "In other words, on the evening of June 14th, there was a woman, whose age we don't know, who ate at this noodle shop and chatted with Zhang Xiaoying for more than ten minutes."

From this woman, we learned that she, her husband, and her brother had all been laid off.

This aligns with what Wen Ling said, that Zhang Xiaoying was assaulted by two men.

The other two most important clues are the flat crowbar used to pry open the door and the figure-eight knot used to bind Zhang Xiaoying's wrists. This rope has been confirmed to be either from Zhang Xiaoying's house or carried by the murderer!

After listening, everyone looked serious. He Jinbo lit another cigarette and asked, "Old Zheng, are you planning to start the investigation from this angle? To investigate laid-off workers?"

Yang Jinwen interrupted, "No, there are too many laid-off workers, and too many who meet the criteria. We don't have that many people."

I figured these murderers must know a lot about Zhang Xiaoying's family situation.

Every night, Zhang Xiaoying would take the child home first, leaving Sun Lu to mind the shop alone. The murderer must have known this.

They must have scouted the area multiple times. My idea is to conduct a thorough search of the surrounding area, or to interview people along the route Zhang Xiaoying took home.

He Jinbo pursed his lips: "We don't have enough manpower right now, so we're all staking out near the banks. Director Lu is even posing as a depositor in the bank lobby."

You don't know, the Chengnan and Jiaxing branches of the Public Security Bureau have turned their joint defense teams into plainclothes officers, just so they can catch people before us.

If they actually succeed, our Director Lu will be in big trouble. That bastard Zhang Bin will definitely sabotage things behind the scenes!

Yang Jinwen squinted and asked, "Captain He, are you so sure the murderer would go to the bank to withdraw money?"

“Uh…” He Jinbo’s gaze sharpened: “What do you mean?”

(End of this chapter)