Crazy Detective

“What’s a ghost face?” Zhao Yu asked, confused.

“Ghost face is the special kind of grain patterning on wood. It looks like the face of a ghost and the more there are, the more valuable it is!” Cui Lizhu explained. “Also, each piece of the porcelain is worth a few hundred thousand yuan! The way I see it, either Yuan Juncheng’s wife is not telling us the truth or he didn’t tell her the full truth!”

“Oh, you mean to say…” Zhao Yu said. “Yuan Juncheng’s collections are all valuable, and while the museum donations sound convincing, as an expert in cultural relics it isn’t too much to expect he’d have a few rare collectibles stashed away?”

“Boss,” Cui Lizhu said, worried. “I’m a bit confused now. Was Yuan Juncheng murdered? I’m not so sure anymore…”

“Oh? Why do you say that?” Zhao Yu asked.

“Think about it,” Cui Lizhu said. “Yuan Juncheng died in his own house. When his wife came home, he could still speak well enough to say his chest hurt. If someone was out to murder him, why didn’t he just say the murderer’s name? Unless we say that the murderer had poisoned him. But what medication would be that strong? To make a healthy person die of cardiac arrest? If there’s any that exist, I haven’t heard of it!”

“That’s right!” Zhao Yu nodded. He too had never heard about something like this. Were there really such high-grade poisons? If Yuan Juncheng had been poisoned, surely the doctors at the hospital would have found out during the tests they ran.

“On the other hand,” Cui Lizhu said. “If Yuan Juncheng had died of natural causes, then something doesn’t make sense. When he was in pain and still able to speak, why didn’t he call for help? Boss, I’m really confused!”

Sigh. Zhao Yu shook his head. “Unfortunately, there was no autopsy, so we can’t get any information from forensics!”

“The body has already been cremated. Ah, what should we do next?” Cui Lizhu asked.

“There are two options!” Zhao Yu said decisively. “Option one, Yuan Juncheng was treated before he died at the hospital, so we can visit the doctor on duty that day and ask him if he knows anything. Or option two, we can check out the CCTV in the community and see if anyone suspicious appeared by his house on the day of the incident!”

“Alright!” Cui Lizhu said, nodding in agreement. “Say, boss. If there really was a murderer, would it be someone Yuan Juncheng knew well? If not, how did he enter his house?”

“I don’t think so. He never mentioned anything about being framed, so he probably never met the murderer!” Zhao Yu replied.

“This is not as simple as it appears! The murderer was able to break in and kill Yuan without him knowing. Is there really anyone capable of doing that?” Cui Lizhu wondered.

“I know, right?” Zhao Yu sighed. “What I can’t figure out is what motives the murderer had for doing this. If Yuan Juncheng was murdered, why did the murderer choose this specific method? There are other ways of doing it, like faking a car accident. But he chose to secretly poison Yuan at his own house and disguise it as a heart attack…”

“Could it be some sort of slow poisoning?” Cui Lizhu guessed. “Maybe on the day itself, the murderer didn’t even go to the house. Maybe he had been poisoning Yuan Juncheng over some time before finally killing him!”

“I’ve considered that too,” Zhao Yu said. “But if it was over a period of time, why didn’t Yuan Juncheng have any sort of reaction? His physical condition had always been good!”

“Hmm, that’s true,” Cui Lizhu said, nodding.

“What I don’t get is why the murderer wanted him dead,” Zhao Yu said. “Even if it was about the treasure, there was no need to kill anyone.”

“Killing someone would mean silencing them permanently, could it be…” Cui Lizhu trailed off.

“Are you saying Yuan Juncheng knew the secret of the treasure and was murdered because of it?” Zhao Yu shook his head. “He was previously the museum director. If he knew the secret, the treasure would have been discovered a long time ago.”

“This is ridiculous!” Cui Lizhu said, agitated. “Treasure, murder… how is this all related?!”

“You know what?” Zhao Yu said, taking a look at his watch. The two had just arrived at the gate of the city. “Let’s split up! You can check out the CCTV while I head to the hospital. When the rest of the team comes in the afternoon it’ll be easier on us, but for now, we have to handle this personally.”

“Alright then!” Cui Lizhu replied with a thumbs up before turning and heading off to find the residential property manager. Zhao Yu hopped into a taxi and went straight to the hospital.

2:00pm, Feng Ping Central Hospital, corridor outside the Blood Test Laboratory

Zhao Yu was hiding in a secluded corner of the corridor while he called Forensics Gao. Just earlier, he had received an important lead from the doctor that had been on duty on the day of Yuan Juncheng’s incident. The doctor had told Zhao Yu that during operation, he had taken Yuan Juncheng’s blood for a routine test. As the hospital was worried about inaccuracies, there was a policy that required them to keep blood samples for two months to make sure there were no problems before disposal. This meant that although Yuan Juncheng had already passed away, his blood sample was still in the hospital.

This blood sample was very important to Zhao Yu. If the sample could be found, the truth about Yuan Juncheng’s death may be unveiled. Fortunately, it had only been a month and a half since his death, so the sample should still be safe in the laboratory! Zhao Yu couldn’t help but silently celebrate his wise decision. He had made Yuan Juncheng his first target for the investigation. If it had taken a few more days, the blood sample might not exist anymore!

“Hey, Forensics Gao, why are you still in Gao Lanqi?” Zhao Yu asked over the phone.

“I’m writing the report on the barn fire!” Gao Facai said, chuckling. “There’s some evidence that can’t be accurately tracked down, so we have to analyze everything further. Oh right, I saw Officer Miao earlier. Why are the two of you not together?”

“I’m in Zhao Yun province at the moment!” Zhao Yu said, laughing. “Did you see the test results I sent you? I have another case on my hands now, can you help me see if anything is wrong with these results?”

“Wow, you really can’t catch a break!” Gao Facai said. “Alright, let me take a look.”

“By the way, Old Gao!” Zhao Yu checked his surroundings before whispering softly. “Do you know if there’s any drug on Earth that can cause you to die of heart failure and not be detected?”

“Well, that…” Gao Facai said, taking a deep breath. “The answer is rather complicated. It depends on the condition of the victim. If it’s due to allergies, then it’s hard to determine if it’s murder. Did your victim have any visible spots or edema?”

“Uhm, the person’s been dead for a while now and his body was cremated! But I doubt he had any allergic symptoms,” Zhao Yu answered.

“What about any history of heart disease?” Gao Facai asked. “If the deceased had a serious heart problem when he was alive, then an injection of dopamine, potassium, or any drug that increased blood circulation would have been enough to cause heart failure! If the concentration of the injection is controlled, then it’s hard to retrieve any evidence.”

“Nope, the victim was healthy and didn’t have a history of heart problems!” Zhao Yu replied.

“Then that wouldn’t have worked. Injecting high concentrations can easily be detected, and furthermore, it may not be fatal. Other types of poison can be detected easily,” Gao Facai said.

“Ah…” Zhao Yu nodded. It seemed that what Cui Lizhu said was right, it was hard to determine whether Yuan Juncheng had been murdered or not.