Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 267: Discovery of Clues

The two figures appearing in the bedroom of Liu Bai’s room, one of them wearing the uniform of the Haotai Hotel.

All the detectives at the scene recognized him; it was just the Housekeeping Manager Song Hui who had led them into the crime scene moments earlier.

As for the other man in black, only his left profile was visible in the video, a rather gaunt middle-aged man.

Compared to a murder case, a kidnapping case is more urgent in terms of time.

After all, in a murder case, the person is already dead, but in a kidnapping case, the hostage might not be dead yet.

Whether the other party will kill the hostage, no one knows.

Therefore, time is everything.

The arrest of Song Hui was very smooth, and no violent means were used.

Not even involving the hotel’s upper management, Ren Qiang simply mentioned wanting to talk to Song Hui about some hotel matters.

A conference room on the seventh floor of the hotel had already been requisitioned by the Criminal Investigation Team.

Out of caution, Lu Chuan had just used a UV light to sweep the conference room. Lo and behold, beneath the table, they truly found a pinhole camera.

Qin Yong’s face turned pale; they had just been having a meeting here.

If this gadget was installed by the kidnappers, wouldn’t all of the task force’s actions be under their control?

On the other hand, the Haotai Hotel is one of the top high-end hotels in Haizhou City, a five-star standard.

If such places are equipped with so many pinhole cameras, imagine elsewhere.

This...

Can we even stay out anymore?

"The model is the same as the pinhole camera installed in Room 1108; it might have been planted by the same person."

"Let’s set this aside for now and investigate later."

Qin Yong set the tone; the task force was short-handed, and it was impossible to separate personnel to trace who installed the cameras.

Moreover, whoever it is, it’s definitely not the kidnappers.

Who installs a camera and ends up recording their evidence of kidnapping?

As it stands, we have to thank this pinhole camera.

The mole at Haotai Hotel, an accomplice to the kidnappers, has just been caught.

Unaware of his exposure, Song Hui walked into the conference room, smiling and greeting everyone.

"Group Leader Ren, the front desk said you were looking for me?"

Ren Qiang nodded: "Manager Song, have a seat."

Song Hui seemed puzzled: "No, no, I will not sit. We’ve got quite a few guests today; there’s still a lot to prepare in housekeeping, I need to go check."

"If you have anything..."

Watching Song Hui still acting, Lu Chuan thought this guy was quite impressive.

Such acting skills, it’s a pity he’s not in the movies.

Ren Qiang shook his head; there’s no time for Song Hui’s theatrics now.

He glanced at Zhang Hui and several other detectives: "First, search for phones and similar items."

"Yes!"

This was essentially a formal arrest.

But to avoid alerting other potential watchers at the hotel, Ren Qiang adopted a discreet and gentle tactic.

"Eh?"

"Group Leader Ren! What are you doing?"

"Officer Zhang! I... What have I done wrong?"

Taking out Song Hui’s phone, completing the search, ensuring he had no other communication tools, Zhang Hui pressed Song Hui down into a chair.

"Enough, Manager Song, stop pretending, what happened last night, you’ve committed a crime!"

Last night?

Song Hui’s facial expression shifted, and he abruptly went quiet.

After a moment, he pulled out a smile uglier than crying and looked at Zhang Hui: "Officer Zhang, what are you talking about last night?"

Then he looked at Ren Qiang and the others: "Is there some misunderstanding?"

"I was on duty at the hotel last night, didn’t go anywhere, I..."

Ren Qiang wasted no time and pushed the laptop on the conference table in front of Song Hui.

"Song Hui, take a look at this first."

The screen displayed the scene of the man in black spraying an aerosol at Liu Bai, causing him to faint.

After that, Song Hui was seen pushing a luggage cart into the bedroom.

The two of them worked together to stuff someone into a suitcase and then pushed the luggage cart out of the room.

The process wasn’t long, and Ren Qiang didn’t let the whole video play out.

"Manager Song, care to explain?"

At this moment, not a trace of a smile was left on Song Hui’s face.

A look of horror froze on his face, eyes wide open, staring at the paused scene on the screen.

On the screen, it was precisely the moment Song Hui looked up, getting his full face captured by the camera.

"This... how is this possible?!"

"There’s nothing impossible about it. Song Hui, just tell us, where is Liu Bai now, and who did you collude with to kidnap him?"

"I... I don’t know."

Hmm?

Ren Qiang almost found it funny.

"You all kidnapped Liu Bai together, and now you’re telling me you don’t know where he is?"

"I really don’t know."

Song Hui knew he couldn’t escape, and facing solid evidence, he didn’t resist.

"My accomplice is named Wang Laohu. I was the insider, he was in charge of the ransom and the murder, after succeeding he promised to give me five million."

Wang Laohu?

Ransom?

Ren Qiang looked at Qin Yong, who nodded back at him, leading Ren Qiang to continue the interrogation.

"Explain clearly, who is Wang Laohu, how did you meet, and why did you kidnap Liu Bai. Explain thoroughly."

"I met Wang Laohu at the poker table..."

Song Hui did not hide anything, confessing clearly how he got to know Wang Laohu.

It turned out, they first met a month ago.

Song Hui loved gambling, often playing mahjong and Pai Gow in his free time at a gaming room.

"I don’t play big, usually winning or losing just three to five thousand at a time."

"A month ago, I was playing mahjong at Xiangle Gaming Room, when a friend of mine suddenly had to leave, creating a ’three missing one’ scenario, and the gaming room boss recommended Wang Laohu to join us."

"The guy had bad luck, although he played okay, he always lost."

"The first time we played mahjong, he lost about ten thousand."

"After that, we got to know each other and often played cards together."

"I mostly won, sometimes five to six thousand, sometimes even ten or twenty thousand, all his losses."

"I thought he was quite considerate, losing without losing his temper, so we got acquainted further."

"But..."

Song Hui sighed: "Thinking back now, he had actually targeted me long before."

It turned out, ten days ago, Song Hui followed Wang Laohu to a big poker match.

"That was a trap set up by Wang Laohu for me."

"That night, I had drunk a little, couldn’t control myself, and won a lot at first."

"How much?"

"Almost hundreds of thousands, nearly a million."

"Wang Laohu told me I was lucky and that I should stop once I won a million."

"I thought the same, intending to quit playing once I reached a million."

"But after that, I started losing, eventually not only losing all my winnings but also owing two hundred thousand to them."

"If it wasn’t for Wang Laohu’s guarantee, I might not have even made it out that night."

"Two hundred thousand... even grinding me to bones couldn’t get me that much money."

"However, I knew those people, if I couldn’t pay, my life would be over."

"Last Wednesday, Wang Laohu found me, saying he’d help pay off my gambling debt and even earn a few million..."