Animal Detective

Chapter 136: Stalling

In the main conference room.

Chen Chao frowned. "Two dogs?"

Ding Yuwei nodded repeatedly.

Shen Xin, however, placed Wang Lei’s husky directly on the conference table. Then, pointing at the paused video on the projector screen opposite them, he said, "Captain Chen, take a close look. Aren’t the dog in the video and this dog different?"

The video showed the husky lying on the floor, gnawing on a table leg.

Chen Chao squinted, looked closely, but still shook his head. "They look the same to me."

"They’re not," Shen Xin said, pointing to the husky’s left hind leg. "Look at the black patch on this leg, right here. Isn’t it a little wider?"

"Is it?"

Chen Chao compared them carefully. As he stared, his expression changed. He took a sharp breath and said, "Huh, now that you mention it, it does seem a little different."

Shen Xin turned the husky’s head. "And look here at the eyebrows. On this one, isn’t the white blaze between its eyes a bit narrower?"

Chen Chao compared them and furrowed his own brows.

"Are you saying that Wang Lei actually had two dogs, one of which was infected with rabies and bit him, and that Zhang Qingpeng lied?"

"And then, when the CDC came to the door, Zhang Qingpeng had already gotten rid of the other dog. By that time, Wang Lei was no longer lucid and couldn’t explain anything."

Chen Chao folded his arms, his expression turning incredibly grave.

"Captain Chen, it wasn’t two dogs. It was one dog that was swapped. If Wang Lei had two dogs, his neighbors would have known when he walked them," Shen Xin said, shaking his head.

Chen Chao froze for a second. His mind worked quickly. Taking another sharp breath, he said, "You’re saying it was a switch? A bait and switch?"

Beside him, Ding Yuwei nodded repeatedly. That was exactly what they meant.

Zhao Tianxing also chimed in, "Captain Chen, Shen Xin’s theory might sound far-fetched, but otherwise, there’s no explanation for how Wang Lei got infected."

Shen Xin said, "Captain Chen, although there are still many questions, Zhang Qingpeng has undoubtedly concealed something. His continued excuses for not returning to Nanjiang are just a way to evade our investigation."

"So I think we should go find him directly."

Since calling him was useless, they had no choice but to pay him a visit in person.

Chen Chao, still with a look of unconcealed disbelief, nodded. "Alright. It’s time to make contact."

「The next day, Shen Xin’s group of three set out.」

According to a search by the mobile carrier, Zhang Qingpeng was indeed in Yuxi Fushan City.

「On the afternoon of November 6th, the three of them arrived in Fushan.」

They had contacted them in advance, and the Fushan Criminal Investigation Detachment had arranged for a detective named Zhang Jiqiang to accompany them.

He was in his thirties, with an air of sharp competence. After a brief, polite exchange, he ushered the three into a car and briefed them on the situation. "We checked. He does have a college classmate here in Fushan, but the guy got married a long time ago."

Zhao Tianxing snorted. Lying again, just as expected.

Zhang Jiqiang continued, "We found his registration information. He’s staying at a chain hotel and hasn’t checked out yet. Do you want to go there directly, or rest first?"

The three exchanged glances, and Shen Xin said, "Officer Zhang, let’s go directly."

Soon, the car arrived at the hotel.

Room 612.

They went up and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

A man’s voice came from inside the room.

He must have seen them through the peephole, but Zhao Tianxing didn’t care and stated his identity directly.

It suddenly went quiet inside.

Zhao Tianxing shot Shen Xin a look, as if to say that Zhang Qingpeng inside was probably terrified.

"Zhang Qingpeng, open the door! This is the sixth floor, where are you going to run?" Zhao Tianxing knocked again.

A full minute passed before the door finally opened.

Zhang Qingpeng stood there biting his lip, looking at them with a nervous and anxious expression.

He was twenty-seven years old and very young, with rather delicate features, fair skin, and medium-length, choppy hair. He had monolids, and after opening the door, he was too nervous to even look at them.

Zhao Tianxing taunted, "Zhang Qingpeng, we’ve called you so many times asking you to come back and cooperate with the investigation. Why did you run off to Fushan instead?"

Zhang Qingpeng shuddered and stammered, "I told you, I came for a classmate’s wedding."

Zhao Tianxing laughed. "Oh yeah? Which classmate? Yang Zhi? His kid can already walk. Are you here for his second wedding?"

The color drained from Zhang Qingpeng’s face.

"Speak! What are you really doing in Fushan!" Zhao Tianxing suddenly barked.

Zhang Qingpeng flinched, and from his expression, it looked as if his mind had gone completely blank.

"I... I came for another classmate’s wedding," Zhang Qingpeng explained.

Zhao Tianxing said, "Is that so? Which classmate? What’s their name? When and where was the wedding?"

Zhang Qingpeng fell silent.

Zhao Tianxing didn’t waste any more words. "Alright, if you won’t talk here, we’ll go somewhere else to talk."

Zhang Qingpeng shuddered again, his legs almost giving out.

They borrowed an interrogation room at the Fushan Criminal Investigation Detachment.

As soon as he entered the interrogation room and sat on the cold chair, Zhang Qingpeng clearly became even more flustered.

Zhao Tianxing led the interrogation, while Ding Yuwei took notes.

This served as a formal summons.

Shen Xin watched the interrogation from the observation room next door.

Right from the start, Zhao Tianxing began with peripheral questions, focusing on specific points in time.

For example, what day the cat went missing.

"I don’t know. It had been missing for a few days, after the 20th, I think. I can’t remember the specifics. Anyway, it wasn’t my cat." Zhang Qingpeng changed his story again.

You could see he was very flustered; his leg trembled nervously and uncontrollably.

Zhao Tianxing pressed, "Are you sure it was after the 20th? Think carefully."

Zhang Qingpeng immediately changed his tune, saying it might have been before the 20th.

"So, was it before or after?"

Zhang Qingpeng wrung his hands and said through gritted teeth, "It was before. Wang Lei wasn’t sick yet."

"Is that right?"

Zhao Tianxing slammed the table. "We found the cat’s body! It was dead in a corner of Wang Lei’s balcony. Judging by the decomposition, it’s only been dead for a few days at most. And you’re telling me it went missing before the 20th?"

Zhang Qingpeng trembled violently, his face turning a few shades paler. He rushed to say, "Then... then I must have remembered wrong. It disappeared after the 20th. I was busy taking care of Wang Lei those days, I can’t remember clearly."

Zhao Tianxing smiled. "So, to hear you tell it, you two were on pretty good terms?"

Zhang Qingpeng nodded slightly. "We’d known each other for several years. We were always very close."

Zhao Tianxing said, "That’s not what your neighbors say. Didn’t you two have a huge fight in mid-September?"

Zhang Qingpeng’s expression changed again, and his leg started shaking more violently.

After a long moment, he said, "Well, friends can fight, can’t they?"

"Yes, friends can fight." Zhao Tianxing nodded slightly, then changed the subject, asking about the short videos Wang Lei filmed.

Zhang Qingpeng’s answer was a bit more composed this time.

"I didn’t care what kind of content he filmed, and I didn’t know."

"Is that so? Then what about the things that were deleted from his computer?"

Zhao Tianxing was asking about the deleted videos.

Zhang Qingpeng, who had started to relax slightly, immediately tensed up again. He answered quickly, "I don’t know anything about him deleting videos."

"Videos? I never said what he deleted were videos," Zhao Tianxing immediately pressed.

Zhang Qingpeng’s expression changed drastically.

In the observation room, Shen Xin silently watched Zhang Qingpeng’s reactions.

’He doesn’t handle pressure well. Logically, it should be easy to break through his psychological defenses, but the problem is the evidence. The most crucial thing is evidence that can prove what he did.’

Shen Xin suddenly thought of something.

’After the incident, Zhang Qingpeng left Nanjiang on his own. If he wanted to abscond, he had plenty of options back then. He could have even bought a plane ticket and fled the country. But he just went back to his hometown. And when we contacted him, he was reachable. Yet, he kept making excuses, stalling and not returning to Nanjiang.’

’This behavior is abnormal. If he really wanted to run, he would have just vanished and laid low. There would be no need to play these games with the police, making up all sorts of excuses that only increase suspicion. His motive is strange. It feels like he’s intentionally stalling for time, as if he thinks that after a certain point, he’ll be safe and we won’t be able to do anything to him.’