SFTD -Chapter 304 Bride Who Fell from the Building (Part 13)

Xu Jun was startled and quickly pressed, “Where?”

“From both the financial records and Zhang Huihui’s fetus, there is only one person who connects these two angles—Li Hongyi. Moreover, with his intelligence, staging a scene wouldn’t be difficult at all. Interrogate him directly. Have that ‘Da Mao’ assist you. If possible, search his car and his home as well.”

Xu Jun spread his hands. “This case doesn’t involve any stolen goods or murder weapons. What are we even supposed to find?”

Zhou Hai glanced at him coldly. “I’ve already notified Zhang Wenqi to come over. I’m looking for flowers—or pollen. If we find that, it’s solid evidence.”

Xu Jun widened his small eyes, completely ignoring Zhou Hai’s cold tone.

“What kind of evidence? Just tell me so I can have some idea.”

Seeing Xu Jun like this, Zhou Hai felt helpless and sighed.

“Do you remember the large-flowered lily of the valley?”

“Zhang Wenqi found a flower shop. The surveillance footage shows Li Hongyi ordering and picking up flowers. However, the contact name left behind wasn’t Li Hongyi’s. It was Du Haipeng, and the phone number wasn’t registered under a real name either—just a China Unicom number.”

Xu Jun scratched his head. “Just because Li Hongyi ordered and picked up flowers, you can confirm that?”

Zhou Hai shook his head. “Of course not. Last night, I already had the lab dismantle the lily-of-the-valley we obtained as evidence. They’re now using a special method to wash and extract traces, hoping to find Li Hongyi’s DNA on it.”

“You can find DNA on that?”

Zhou Hai nodded. “Skin flakes and sweat are constantly shed from the human body. Anything you touch can theoretically retain DNA. It just depends on whether we’re lucky enough to find it on this flower.”

Xu Jun swallowed hard. If this evidence held up, even Li Hongyi wouldn’t be able to deny it. The last thing the victim clutched was that lily of the valley—if his DNA was on it, there would be no way to argue. Xu Jun’s expression brightened.

“When will we know the results?”

Zhou Hai glanced at his watch. “Before 12:30 noon.”

An hour later, Li Hongyi was brought to the Dongcheng District Criminal Police Team.

Sitting in the interrogation room in handcuffs, he was no longer as calm as before. Last time he had only been questioned as a witness and for assistance in investigation—but this time, he was brought in restrained.

Da Mao and Xu Jun sat in the interrogation room. Xu Jun held up screenshots from the hotel surveillance footage, tapping the photos with his pen.

“We won’t bother explaining the usual ‘confess and get leniency’ rules since you’ve already been here once. Look at this surveillance image. Think carefully—you arrived at Lijing Hotel at 17:54 on the 19th. But why is it that after the incident on the morning of the 20th, we never found any footage of you leaving? Did you stay in Room 527 for the night?”

Li Hongyi said nothing, staring straight at Xu Jun. Xu Jun asked several more questions, but Li Hongyi simply closed his eyes and refused to respond at all.

Zhou Hai stood in the observation room next door, watching everything through the glass. He knew this interrogation would be slow.

Previously, he had assumed Li Hongyi hid in the hotel after the incident and slipped out during the chaos. But now, that assumption no longer seemed correct.

He took out his phone and called Xiao Liang.

“During your inspection of Room 529 yesterday, you didn’t find any signs of occupancy, right?”

Xiao Liang recalled for a moment. “Yes. The bed and bathroom were untouched, nothing moved or used. Even the balcony door handle had no fingerprints, so we didn’t collect DNA there.”

“Brother Hai, should we go check again? Zhang Wenqi and I are near Lijing Hotel right now.”

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes. “The balcony door was locked, right?”

Xiao Liang thought for a moment. “Yes, it was locked. But I did find a footprint on the balcony that seemed odd. I took a photo, but since it had no comparison value at the time, I didn’t include it in the report.”

“What footprint?”

“Earlier, a southeast typhoon passed through, and a lot of dust had accumulated on the hotel balconies. When I inspected Room 529, I found a very clear footprint near the eastern railing. The toe direction was facing toward the balcony door. I thought it was unusual, so I photographed it with a scale. Does it help?”

“Send me the photo immediately!”

Xiao Liang was confused. “Brother Hai, wait for us—we’ll be there in one or two minutes. The photo is still in the camera, I can’t send it.”

Two minutes later, Xiao Liang and Zhang Wenqi rushed in. Zhou Hai made a silence gesture and took the printed photo from Xiao Liang.

He raised it for a look.

It was a shoeprint marked with circular ring patterns, layered in radiating concentric circles. It looked somewhat familiar. Before Zhou Hai could ask, Zhang Wenqi already handed over a tablet.

“After your question, we checked brand stores. This sole design is quite distinctive—it’s a 2015 new model from Berluti, available in gray and red-thread versions. Were you asking us to find the shoes?”

Zhou Hai’s lips curled slightly. He tossed a car key to Zhang Wenqi.

“The suspect’s car has already been brought over. Go search it. You know what to look for, I don’t need to explain, right?”

Zhang Wenqi nodded vigorously. The trust made him genuinely excited—being fully entrusted meant confidence in them. From nearly being dismissed yesterday to full trust today, he was almost moved to tears.

“Got it. Shoes and lily-of-the-valley. We’re going now.”

Inside the interrogation room, Da Mao and Xu Jun were still trying to break Li Hongyi down. The man, experienced in life, simply kept his eyes closed, offering no rebuttal or anger under their questioning.

Time passed second by second.

Just as Zhou Hai was starting to feel a bit frustrated, the door opened again.

Zhang Wenqi and Xiao Liang walked in, each holding a large bag of items.

“Found it?”

Zhang Wenqi nodded hard, unable to suppress his grin. Xiao Liang punched him lightly.

“What are you grinning about? Hurry up and explain—Wenqi’s really good at finding things, even better than a drug-sniffing dog.”

Zhang Wenqi rolled his eyes and bumped him back.

“Put the stuff down first before I explain. These two flowers were found under the driver’s seat. The shoes weren’t even hidden—they were just in a storage box in the trunk. But when checking the trunk, I found the compartment under the spare tire was hollow. Inside were a USB drive and some paper documents. They all looked like forms and copied certificates. They were hidden so carefully—they must be important, so I brought them all back together.”

Seeing this pile of evidence, Zhou Hai finally smiled.

He patted both of them on the shoulder.

“Xiao Liang, call the team!”