Chapter 946: After the Incident
Everyone exchanged glances. Lin Dongxue said, “Mr. Producer, please don’t touch the body. You’ll leave fingerprints.”
“Get lost!” the producer shouted, his face twisted in anger.
Lin Dongxue held her ground, locking eyes with him. “I’m warning you as a police officer. Remove your hands from the body.”
Realizing his outburst, the producer stepped back. “I’m sorry… I just can’t believe this is happening.”
Lin Dongxue instructed someone to fetch a cover for the body. While waiting, Tao Yuanyuan glanced up and noticed a window open in the conference room, with light spilling out. Her heart tightened—could her prank have set off a chain reaction?
Lin Dongxue examined the body and noticed something unusual: there was a lot of dust on its back. She looked up and asked the stage manager, “Did you see him fall from the building?”
“Yes, I saw it with my own eyes! My heart is still pounding,” the stage manager replied.
“Did you look down immediately after he fell?”
“Yes.”
There was no doubt that Xiao Ai had just died; his skull was fractured, and blood mixed with spinal fluid was seeping onto the ground.
Lin Dongxue said, “Yuanyuan, go to the hotel’s surveillance room and secure the footage from the floors before and after the fall. Do you have a USB drive?”
“No,” Tao Yuanyuan replied.
The director handed her one. “Use this, but please don’t delete anything on it.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the drive and heading to the surveillance room. On the way, she ran into the screenwriter standing in the stairwell, holding a cloth. His cheeks were flushed.
“Yuanyuan, where are you going?” he asked.
“Lin Jie asked me to get the surveillance footage,” she replied.
“Oh, I’m just taking this cloth somewhere… What a terrible thing to happen,” he said.
As she climbed the stairs, Tao Yuanyuan had a fleeting thought: the screenwriter hadn’t come down from the stairs; he was just standing there. What was he doing?
In the surveillance room, the two security guards were unaware of the incident and were playing cards with cigarettes in their mouths. When Tao Yuanyuan asked to see the footage, they retorted, “Who are you?” and “Get the cop to come herself!” and “We can’t just show anyone the footage.”
Frustrated, Tao Yuanyuan shouted, “Show me the footage! If you don’t believe me, go check outside yourself.”
Reluctantly, they conceded. “Fine, look at it. No need to be so fierce.”
She knew how to retrieve electronic evidence and found the hotel’s surveillance setup lacking, with key areas like hallways uncovered. “Why are there so few cameras?” she asked.
“We have celebrities staying here often. They don’t want to be filmed, so we only installed the minimum required by law,” one guard explained.
“I’m copying these,” she said.
“You sure you’re not fooling us?”
She showed them her police academy ID card. “Alright, little cop. Go ahead,” they chuckled.
When she returned, the body had been moved, and the lobby was empty. Lin Dongxue called her to a conference room on the first floor.
The body lay on a table, covered with a cloth. Lin Dongxue had already taken photos. Leaving it outside in the rain would compromise the autopsy results. The crew members were gathered, reacting in various ways to the news of Xiao Ai’s death.
Lin Dongxue scanned the group. “Who was the last to see Xiao Ai alive?”
Silence. No one answered. Lin Dongxue continued, “When I left my room, I saw the screenwriter, the stage manager, and the director, but not Mr. Cai. Mr. Cai, where were you?”
Cai Zhengkai shrugged. “I was having a drink… Why ask? Isn’t it clear that Xiao Ai committed suicide?”
“Xiao Ai wouldn’t kill himself!” the producer growled. “Who pushed Xiao Ai? Step forward!”
Naturally, no one responded.
Tao Yuanyuan pulled Lin Dongxue aside. “I need to tell you something. I sneaked out while you were bathing.”
“You snuck out? Why?” Lin Dongxue asked.
Tao Yuanyuan confessed everything, including her prank and what she saw. Lin Dongxue was shocked. “You little rascal, playing pranks! I can’t take my eyes off you for a second.”
“I just wanted to teach the producer a lesson… I’m scared I caused Xiao Ai’s death.”
“If he was murdered because of this, the producer is the prime suspect. But judging by his reaction… Ugh, you can’t always tell. I need to question everyone individually.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for the police?”
“The officers coming are from the local station. They aren’t skilled in handling such cases. It’s best to question everyone now before they have time to concoct stories.”
“I’ll help. It’ll be a good learning experience.”
Lin Dongxue smiled. “This is my first solo homicide case too. Too bad Old Chen isn’t here. Who should we start with?”
“I think we should start with the producer.”
“Alright.”
Lin Dongxue returned to the room. “To understand Xiao Ai’s death, I need to speak with each of you individually.”
“Are you a detective?” someone mocked.
Lin Dongxue calmly replied, “This is standard procedure for a criminal investigator. Please cooperate. I won’t take long. Mr. Producer, I’d like to start with you.”
The producer, still grief-stricken, responded angrily, “You suspect me?”
“I didn’t say that. I just want to know what you did tonight.”
“Tonight…” He glanced at Xia Xiaolou, who blushed and looked down. “Fine, let’s talk outside.”
In the hallway, the producer lit a cigar and took a deep puff. Lin Dongxue asked, “When was the last time you saw the deceased?”
“At dinner. After that, I went back to my room. Made a few calls but didn’t leave.”
“Can I check your phone? There should be call logs.”
He hesitated, then pulled out his phone. Just as Lin Dongxue reached for it, he pulled back. “Tell me, did Xiao Ai jump or was he pushed?”
“I can’t say yet.”
“Then I’ll tell you. Around nine, I heard Xiao Ai and Cai Zhengkai arguing in the hallway. Cai Zhengkai is definitely a suspect!”
“But you said you stayed in your room.”
“I…”
“Please tell me exactly who you saw and what you did tonight.”
His nostrils flared as he pondered. “Fine, I’ll be honest. Xiao Ai and I had a minor altercation, but it has nothing to do with his death!”