Animal Detective

Chapter 222 - 221: It Turned into a Homicide Case After All (2)

"A foreign man placed the order. It was a reservation for a chartered car. Here’s the order, but I can’t see the phone number. You police officers should be able to look it up, right?"

He pulled up the order and showed it to the two of them.

’A foreign man?’

Shen Xin shook his head slightly, took a photo of the order information to check on the platform later, and then asked for more details.

"The two of them were in the car, they must have been talking, right? You didn’t hear what they were discussing?"

The driver said, "They were talking, but it was in English. The only English I know is ’thank you’ and ’hello,’ so I have no idea what they were saying."

"Anyway, the woman seemed to be sick. She was in a wheelchair, sitting ramrod straight and unable to move. I just dropped them off at this hotel, and then the two of them got out."

He pointed at the hotel.

Shen Xin asked for a few more details, and after confirming there was no other information, he thanked the driver and sent him on his way.

Arriving at the hotel, he flashed his badge and immediately gained access to that day’s surveillance footage.

The main entrance’s security camera showed the commercial vehicle pulling up. The foreigner, who was wearing a black woolen trench coat, helped Jiang Qi out of the car, settled her into a wheelchair, and they entered the hotel.

The lobby’s surveillance footage showed that after the two entered the hotel, they didn’t go upstairs. Instead, they went to the lounge area to the side and sat for a while.

They even ordered coffee.

When they asked the hotel staff, they remembered.

It had only been six days, not even a full week.

A foreigner and a woman in a wheelchair—of course they’d be memorable.

The front desk staff recognized them too and immediately looked up the foreigner’s room registration record.

The man’s name was Eric Toledano.

He had checked into the hotel on February 3rd, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

Then he checked out on February 5th, the seventh day of the new year.

But there was no registration information for Jiang Qi.

When the lobby manager saw Shen Xin looking at him, he quickly insisted that they ran strict checks and that Jiang Qi definitely hadn’t stayed at the hotel that night.

’Shen Xin didn’t believe him for a second.’

However, after watching the surveillance footage, he saw that the two had chatted in the hotel lobby for over half an hour before the foreigner pushed Jiang Qi out.

The parking lot’s security camera caught them getting into a Mercedes and driving away from the hotel.

The lobby manager secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Xin noted the license plate number and continued reviewing the footage from the floor where the foreigner was staying.

And indeed, the man returned a little after eight o’clock that evening.

But Jiang Qi was not with him.

The next day, the man left in the morning and checked out directly.

He had registered a phone number when he checked in.

Shen Xin called it directly.

It was a local Pingyu number.

The person didn’t pick up the first time, but answered on the second call.

A heavily-accented, broken Chinese voice came from the other end, asking who it was and what they wanted.

Shen Xin stated his purpose directly.

"Jiang Qi?" The man’s tone was quite calm.

’He probably expected the police would come looking for him.’

He said, "Officer, Jiang Qi wants to live alone for a while. We are very good friends, and I respect her choice. So I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you where she went."

His tone carried a hint of mockery.

It seemed to mock the fact that it had taken the police several days to track him down.

And with that, he hung up the phone.

"He hung up on me?" Shen Xin looked at Ding Yuwei.

Just as he was about to call back, Yuwei stopped him. "Let’s just find her directly," she said. "He obviously took Jiang Qi somewhere. We can just check the surveillance footage."

’That’s true,’ Shen Xin thought.

Wasting time arguing with this guy could be spent checking the cameras. They might have already found her by now.

Surveillance in big cities was becoming more and more convenient these days.

Shen Xin had heard about a new system that could automatically recognize license plates. You just input the plate number, and it automatically retrieves the times the car appeared on camera, then generates a movement trajectory.

There was practically nowhere to hide.

Even though this was Pingyu, he had connections.

Case in point: the friend he’d just made a few days ago while rescuing Wang Qiang and the others.

Wang Cheng, from the Pingyu City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Now was the time to use that connection.

Shen Xin had his WeChat and phone number.

He called him directly to ask for help.

He didn’t refuse. He asked for the specific license plate and time, told Shen Xin to wait for news, and hung up.

He mentioned he had a buddy in the traffic police department.

Soon enough, maybe ten or so minutes later, he called back.

"The car went to Li Lake. The last place it was spotted was on Shushan Island in Xishan. It was caught on camera at 4:36 PM going onto the island, and then at 6:12 PM, the car came back out."

The surveillance information was crystal clear.

So it was obvious that Jiang Qi was on Shushan Island.

Shen Xin remembered this place was a small island in the lake, popular with tourists and road-trippers. It wasn’t large, but the scenery was quite nice.

The problem was, Jiang Qi couldn’t take care of herself right now. Did her foreigner friend just drop her off on an island and leave her there?

It could only mean someone else was helping her.

Shen Xin expressed his thanks.

It was almost five in the afternoon. If they drove over now, they’d hit rush hour. He estimated they’d arrive around six or seven.

But there was no other way. They had tracked her this far, so they might as well press on and find her in one go.

Wang Cheng even offered to come over himself, saying it would be more convenient to coordinate things if he was on-site.

Besides, he wasn’t far away.

He also mentioned that last time, Shen Xin had left in a hurry to take his child for a check-up, so he hadn’t gotten the chance to treat him to a meal.

Once the case was wrapped up today, he insisted on showing him some proper local hospitality.

He said he knew a place on Xishan Island that served freshwater delicacies and that the food was exceptionally good.

By the time they arrived, it was already 6:30 PM.

The sky was already dark.

At the entrance to Shushan Island, Shen Xin met Wang Cheng.

He wasn’t alone.

With him was another middle-aged man about Sun Zhao’s age. He wasn’t tall and was slightly stooped, giving him a stout appearance.