DipNovel Chapter 19: Three Seconds of Eye Contact
Chapter 19: Three Seconds of Eye Contact
Hiss...
Jiang Chen tore open the foil box, and the aroma of hot cumin immediately wafted out. The enoki mushrooms inside were still sizzling with oil.
Without even tasting it, he peeled the lamb skewers off the sticks one by one and arranged them on a napkin.
Their movements were slow and deliberate, clearly indicating they were waiting for something to happen.
The delivery driver didn't leave after delivering the food.
Anyone in this line of work knows that there are a lot of orders waiting to be delivered. If you're late, you'll be penalized. Time is more precious than anything else, so you should leave as soon as you drop off the food.
But he stood there, his eyes fixed on Jiang Chen's hand, or more precisely, on his wrist.
Jiang Chen deliberately pulled down his jacket sleeves to try and cover the handcuffs, but a small section of the silver chain still showed, flashing unexpectedly under the shop's chandelier.
The deliveryman saw it clearly, and his pupils contracted sharply. It was only for a moment; if you weren't looking directly at his face, you wouldn't have noticed it at all.
Jiang Chen's eyes never left him from the moment he stepped into the barbecue restaurant.
Glug...
The deliveryman's Adam's apple bobbed violently, and he turned and walked towards the kitchen.
"Wait a minute," Jiang Chen said.
The deliveryman immediately stopped, turned his back to the crowd, and didn't turn around.
"You've come to the wrong door. The main gate is on your right," Jiang Chen said calmly.
There was a two-second silence.
The deliveryman slowly turned around, his casual look completely gone, replaced by a thoughtful expression. He wasn't panicked or afraid; he was weighing the situation... weighing how much Jiang Chen had seen through and how he should explain himself.
"There's a chimney in the kitchen, it's closer that way," he said, his voice hoarse.
The barbecue restaurant does indeed have a back door leading to an alley outside. Regular delivery drivers sometimes use this door to save time, which makes sense.
But Jiang Chen knew he was lying.
When he entered the store, he noticed that the chimney on the outer wall of the kitchen had been sealed with sheet metal for a long time, and the edges were rusted red. It looked like it had been sealed for more than half a year, and it was impossible for anyone to walk through.
How could a delivery driver who runs this area every day not know about this?
"Okay, fine." Jiang Chen nodded, not pointing it out, and continued unpacking the takeout box in his hand. "Then you can go."
The deliveryman didn't move immediately. He stood there for two seconds before turning around and walking towards the kitchen, his steps neither hurried nor slow, without the slightest lapse in concentration.
Click...
The kitchen door closed gently.
Su Wan immediately stood up and ordered in a low voice, "Xiao Zhang, guard the back door! Lin Xiaoyu, go and keep an eye on the kitchen!"
"No need," Jiang Chen interrupted.
Su Wan turned to look at him, her face full of confusion.
Jiang Chen pushed the takeout box aside and wiped his hands with a tissue: "He's already run away."
"What?"
"There was an old-fashioned sliding window in the kitchen that led to the alley outside. He climbed out of the window and left."
Su Wan quickly called Xiao Zhang: "Has anyone gone out the back door?"
"I haven't seen Captain Su. I've been keeping an eye on him, but I haven't seen a single person."
Su Wan looked at Jiang Chen, who simply shrugged and uttered two words: "Window."
……
The kitchen window is an old-style sliding window. The latch is broken and it used to be held in place by a wire, but now the wire has been untied and thrown aside.
There was a clear footprint on the windowsill, probably size 42, with the sole of the shoe having the wavy pattern common in sneakers.
Outside the window was a narrow alley with several trash cans piled up and oil stains all over the ground. The alley connected to the residential area behind it, winding and turning so that you could disappear completely once you ran out. By now, the person had long since vanished.
"How do you know he didn't use connections?" Su Wan asked, puzzled.
Jiang Chen squatted down, looking at the footprints on the windowsill, and explained, "The first thing he did when he came in was glance at the kitchen. He had already scouted out an escape route and made sure the window was safe before daring to come out to deliver food. There are people at the back door; he's shrewd enough not to choose that."
"You knew he was going to run away?"
"I didn't know beforehand, but I deliberately gave him a chance to escape."
Su Wan frowned: "What do you mean by that?"
"Call him out on it right now, he'll definitely panic, and when people panic, they're prone to desperate measures." Jiang Chen stood up, brushing the dust off his knees.
"This shop is full of Brother Ma's men, and Xiao Long is here too. There are only four of us. If things really get out of control, and he has accomplices hiding in the shop, it will only cause more trouble."
"So you're just letting him go like that?"
"It's to make him think we haven't found out." Jiang Chen glanced at the kitchen door. "He'll think he hasn't given anything away, so he'll definitely lower his guard when he gets back. As long as he's relaxed, he'll eventually reveal more clues."
At that moment, Lin Xiaoyu stood at the kitchen doorway, holding up her phone and leaning over: "Captain Su, Jiang Chen, I secretly took a picture of him!"
The photo was taken from the side, and the deliveryman had his helmet half off, so his entire profile was clearly visible.
He was very thin, with prominent cheekbones and a hard jawline. He had a small tattoo above his left ear, the design of which was not clearly visible. His left sleeve was rolled up, and he also had a tattoo on his wrist, not a dragon or tiger, but a string of numbers.
Zooming in on the photo, you can barely make out: 0430.
"0430, is it a birthday?" Su Wan leaned over to take a look.
"It's hard to say, we'll find out when we get back." Jiang Chen handed the phone back to Lin Xiaoyu.
……
Su Wan's phone rang; it was Zhou Guoping calling.
"Captain Su, how's the situation over there?"
"The suspect escaped by climbing out of the kitchen window."
"Didn't catch up?"
"It was Jiang Chen's idea not to chase him. Let him go first and lure him into revealing a flaw later."
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone before someone spoke: "I understand the reason. Where are you now?"
"Still at Ma Ge BBQ Restaurant."
"Where's Xiaolong?"
"Our people have been keeping an eye on things in the lobby."
"Have you gotten in touch with Brother Ma?"
"No, Xiaolong said he went out, but I think he's lying."
"Alright, you guys leave first, we'll talk more when you get back."
"it is good."
After hanging up the phone, Su Wan looked at Jiang Chen: "Captain Zhou wants us to go back."
Jiang Chen stood by the window, staring at the footprints on the windowsill, and suddenly asked, "Officer Su, did you notice Xiao Long's expression when the deliveryman came in?"
Su Wan thought for a moment and immediately realized: "When Xiao Long came out of the kitchen and saw him, he wasn't surprised, he was nervous and felt very uncomfortable."
"It's not that I know him, it's that I'm afraid of him," Jiang Chen said bluntly. "Xiao Long is afraid of this person from the bottom of his heart."
……
The police car started, its engine making a muffled sound in the night.
Su Wan drove, Lin Xiaoyu sat in the passenger seat, and Jiang Chen and Xiao Zhang sat in the back.
Jiang Chen leaned against the car window, watching the streetlights recede one by one, their orange glow flickering on his face.
"Officer Su, besides this delivery driver, were there any other suspicious vehicles in the CCTV footage from the crematorium that day?"
Su Wan thought for a moment and replied, "A black Passat passed by the crematorium around 2 PM without stopping. I checked the license plate, and it was a fake plate."
Black Passat.
Jiang Chen's heart skipped a beat; it was that car again.
I asked Liu Qiang's neighbor before, and they said that the people who came to collect debts drove a black Passat; Liu Qiang's colleagues also said that the people who came to block Liu Qiang's company also drove this model of car.
They're definitely the same group of people.
"Have you checked the trajectory of the car with the fake license plate?" Jiang Chen asked again.
"We're investigating, but these things are hard to track down. Changing to a fake license plate is like changing to a different car; it's impossible to pinpoint the source."
Jiang Chen didn't say anything more, closed his eyes, and connected all the clues in his mind.
Delivery driver, 0430, black fake Passat, Xiaolong, Brother Ma, Liu Qiang, Li Yutong, Chengxi Vocational College...
All the fragments are there, but they just can't be pieced together completely; the most crucial piece is always missing.
What's lacking is motivation.
Why did this group of people kill Liu Qiang and Li Yutong?
For money? Impossible. Liu Qiang used all his money to pay off loan sharks, and Li Yutong only had a few thousand yuan in her savings account. A crime of passion? Even more far-fetched. The two had broken up for half a year. It wasn't a random killing; it was clearly aimed at them.
Why? Was it because these two learned some secret, or did something they shouldn't have done?
……
The police car stopped downstairs at the city police station. Su Wan turned off the engine and glanced at the rearview mirror: "We're here."
Jiang Chen opened his eyes, pushed open the car door, and got out.