Li Zheng drove, bringing Captain Yan and
Chen Ge didn't say a word the entire way, seeming rather quiet.
The East City police station had called from Huang Ling's phone, which meant they had interrogated her. She had very likely given him up, though whether she had also mentioned the Route 104 bus incident was anyone's guess.
Last night, Huang Ling had driven the taxi back to the eastern suburbs with the driver still in the car. Chen Ge had no idea what else had happened to them after that.
Now that the driver had filed a report, Chen Ge needed to prepare for every possibility. He couldn't let things develop in a direction unfavorable to him.
In less than twenty minutes, the three of them arrived at the East City police station.
"Old Tian, working so late and still not heading home?" The moment Captain Yan walked through the door, he spotted several officers chatting inside and addressed the one who looked the sturdiest.
"Sorry to make you come all the way here in person." Tian Lei exchanged a few words with the officer beside him, then headed toward the office. "Let's talk inside."
"Sure." Captain Yan and Li Zheng followed behind, while Chen Ge lingered in the lobby for a while.
The atmosphere at the East City police station was nothing like that of the West City station where Li Sanbao worked. The interior was neat and tidy, with two rows of chairs set up in the corner. On the left, a drunk was sprawled out sideways, and on the right sat an elderly man with a vacant expression.
One of the two officers who had been talking with Tian Lei was patiently speaking to the elderly man, asking for his address, but the old man just stammered and couldn't get the words out.
The other officer had rolled up his sleeves and was mopping up the drunk's vomit, frowning with clear dissatisfaction. "The West City station gets major cases and serious crimes every day, while here we spend our time escorting lost old men home and drunks back to their doors. We're police officers, not babysitters."
"Keep it down. If the chief hears that, he'll clock you. Nothing bad happened and you're still not happy? You have no idea how much the West City station envies us." The other officer was gently massaging the old man's stiff hands, helping him relax and get the blood flowing — it was obvious this wasn't the first time he'd done this. "Xiao Qing, once you're done, go pour the old gentleman a cup of hot water and bring him the blanket I use on my night shifts."
"Don't call me Xiao Qing!" The young officer propped the mop against the wall, grumbling. "This isn't at all what I thought police work would be like."
He walked toward the water cooler and noticed Chen Ge still standing by the entrance. "They all went in already. Why are you still standing here?"
"Just looking around." Chen Ge walked past the young officer, acting like they were old friends. "Actually, you don't need to envy the West City station. I get the feeling your East City station is going to be pretty busy before long."
"Busy is good — otherwise my body's going to rust." The young officer watched Chen Ge's retreating figure, feeling he looked somewhat familiar but unable to place him.
The office door swung open, and several pairs of eyes instantly locked onto Chen Ge. At the same time, a familiar voice rang out: "That's him! That's the guy who rode in my taxi last night! Going to the eastern suburb waterworks in the dead of night — I knew there was something wrong with him!"
"If you knew something was wrong, why didn't you speak up sooner?" Chen Ge was exasperated. He was clearly the most innocent one here.
"Officers, did you see that? The nerve on this guy!" The driver wasn't very old either. He had been terrified at the time, and he was only now recovering his nerve.
"All right, enough." Tian Lei had a headache. He hadn't expected Captain Yan to show up — it had thrown his earlier plan into disarray. "Captain Yan, you've already seen the statement, and we pulled the surveillance footage from the front gate of New Century Paradise. It was indeed Chen Ge who took a taxi to the eastern suburbs last night."
"What about footage beyond that? The main point of contention right now is the eastern suburb waterworks. The driver says Chen Ge used some kind of special method to knock him out, but he can't remember exactly what it was. If we can't establish the method, none of the accusations will hold up." Captain Yan skimmed through the statement and casually picked out several problems.
"The surveillance at the eastern suburb waterworks was also tampered with beforehand. I get the sense this was a premeditated crime." Tian Lei produced another set of documents. "We had the tech department check today — the taxi's dashcam and in-car video both malfunctioned. The method of sabotage was highly sophisticated, with no damage to the casing at all. This could very well be a high-tech crime."
Captain Yan glanced back at Chen Ge, then set the statement down. "Does he look like the type to commit a high-tech crime to you?"
"You never know. You can know a person's face but not their heart." Tian Lei still stood by his own theory.
Captain Yan felt he couldn't convince Tian Lei, so he turned to the taxi driver instead. "Your statement says you blacked out at the eastern suburb waterworks, but when you woke up you found yourself in a rundown residential compound in the eastern suburb?"
"That's right." The taxi driver was sharp at reading people. He could tell Captain Yan was someone in charge, and his voice dropped lower. "When I came to, there was a note beside me with a phone number and a few words — my name is Huang Ling, I live on the fourth floor."
"So your money and phone weren't stolen? And she was kind enough to leave a note and didn't try to dodge responsibility?"
"Don't put it like that!" The taxi driver was sweating with anxiety. "I'm just an ordinary driver. I was sitting in my car waiting for a fare, and then I passed out. When I woke up, I was in a completely strange place — who could stomach that? And that phone call — just thinking about it makes me furious. I wasn't even planning to report it at first. I was scared out of my mind, just wanted to call and find out what was going on. And you know what happened?"
Everyone in the room turned to look at the driver. "What did the person on the other end say? Threaten you? Refuse to compensate you?"
"It's not even about compensation anymore, for God's sake! I barely got through and hadn't said a word, and it was like someone was about to kill over there — a woman screaming her lungs out — Help me, please save me! Then before I could say a second word, the line went dead. Put your hands on your hearts and tell me — wouldn't you be terrified if that happened to you?" The driver grew agitated and rose from his seat.
"You're saying you called that woman and she was crying for help?" Chen Ge's gaze turned grave, and he stood up as well. "Did you go upstairs to check whether something had happened to her?"
"How could I have dared go upstairs? And that's exactly what made me the most angry — I thought it was a real murder case. When dawn came and the police showed up, they went to check that apartment and found out the wife had intermittent psychosis. Last night was just an episode."
"I can confirm that. We spoke with the woman's husband." Tian Lei gestured for the driver to sit back down and pulled an evidence bag from the drawer. Inside was a cell phone. "This is the psychotic woman's phone. All the call records had been deleted, but we found something strange."
He looked at Chen Ge. "Why would that patient set your number as her speed-dial? What exactly is your relationship with her?"