Chapter 588: Contract Killing

On the afternoon of October 20th, Qu Jing’an’s body lay on the coroner’s table at the police station. According to the elevator’s surveillance footage, three bodyguards were escorting Qu Jing’an to the upper floors of the hotel when the elevator suddenly lost power and then rapidly descended. This was followed by a strange fire breaking out inside the elevator.

All three bodyguards were severely burned and were now in the hospital receiving emergency treatment. Only Qu Jing’an was burned to death.

The entire incident seemed suspicious, as if someone had specifically targeted the Qu brothers.

Lin Dongxue, Chen Shi, Lin Qiupu, and others were all dressed in sterile suits, waiting for Peng Siyuan’s autopsy results. Peng Siyuan used a scalpel to cut open the severely burned outer layer of Qu Jing’an’s body, taking out each organ for weighing. His assistant monitored the electronic scale, reporting the weight in a monotonous voice. Peng Siyuan said, “There’s an anomaly in the liver. Xiao Wang, run a pathology test. Wait a moment…”

He took some burnt skin and attached fragments from the body and handed them to the assistant for testing. Shortly afterward, the assistant returned, saying, “Captain, the cause of death might be poisoning.”

“Poisoning?” Lin Dongxue was slightly surprised. “But he was clearly burned to death!”

“We all saw the situation,” Chen Shi said. “The fire on the others was no smaller than on Qu Jing’an, yet only he died.”

“Could someone have poisoned the fire extinguisher?” Lin Dongxue speculated.

“Ridiculous. How could you poison a fire extinguisher? That thing is completely sealed.”

Peng Siyuan conducted the test himself and returned to inform the group, “Traces of arsenic were found on the inside of the victim’s shirt. We suspect it was applied beforehand. Absorbed through the skin, it wasn’t enough to be lethal, but when exposed to intense heat, the damaged skin allowed the poison to vaporize and enter his body, causing death within seconds.”

Chen Shi remarked, “So the strange fire in the elevator was meant for this purpose?”

Lin Qiupu said, “Let’s interrogate the suspects we caught at the scene.”

The police had arrested three suspicious individuals at the scene: one carrying a metal box, a truck driver who had blocked the police’s route, and a third person loitering near another emergency exit.

The metal box, initially suspected to contain explosives or dangerous materials, was found to hold only a pocket watch upon careful inspection by the bomb squad. The only fingerprints on it were those of the man carrying it.

Though none of the three directly participated in killing Qu Jing’an, their presence complicated the police’s efforts, leading to suspicions they were hired by someone.

Unexpectedly, they all maintained their innocence, insisting they were coincidentally present. Investigating their professions and identities, it was found that they did not know each other.

With no immediate results from the interrogation, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue went to review the surveillance footage. Watching the monotonous footage, Lin Dongxue speculated, “Could the Qu brothers have offended Zhou Tiannan?”

“Possibly. This murder was definitely meticulously planned.”

“Chen, look here!”

Xu Xiaodong spotted a suspicious detail. On the morning of the signing ceremony, a man dressed as a cleaner entered the elevator with a spray can and carefully sprayed something inside.

Later, another person entered the elevator and tampered with the emergency button, placing something underneath.

These two suspicious individuals tampered with not just one but two elevators. Seeing this made Chen Shi break out in a cold sweat. Lin Dongxue reassured him, “Don’t worry. The scene is sealed off. No one will use these elevators.”

“Let’s check the scene!”

They took two forensic officers to the hotel, where the lobby was cordoned off. The staff were being questioned. As they passed by, Chen Shi overheard snippets of conversation.

“…The man said he got lost and ended up in the monitoring room. Luckily, the security guard found and kicked him out.”

The elevator involved in the incident was charred black inside. As they collected samples, Chen Shi sniffed around the interior, saying, “Accelerant!”

He then focused on the missing emergency button, finding slight burn marks in the hole and some charred metal fragments inside.

“Let’s check the other elevator,” Chen Shi suggested.

They entered the second elevator and sniffed the walls, detecting a faint gasoline smell mixed with air freshener. Chen Shi touched the wall, saying, “This is regular anti-oxidation paint mixed with unleaded gasoline. The paint itself can dissolve in gasoline.”

“So, a small spark would ignite the entire elevator?” Lin Dongxue asked.

“I’ve never seen this method before. It’s quite ingenious,” Chen Shi said excitedly.

They carefully pried open the emergency button compartment but found nothing inside.

The subsequent investigation was tedious and time-consuming. Three days later, some progress was made. At a meeting on October 24th, Lin Qiupu said, “This case has been classified as a premeditated murder. However, identifying the true culprit is challenging. Not because we lack suspects, but because there are too many! We have arrested thirteen individuals based on eyewitness accounts and surveillance footage, and there might be more. These individuals created chaos, disabled fire alarms, swapped the victim’s clothes, called to distract bodyguards, applied accelerants in the elevator, tampered with the control system, and then some were responsible for cleaning up traces. These individuals were like blind men feeling an elephant, unaware of the bigger picture. In other words, these hired hands didn’t break any laws themselves; they were merely pawns of the mastermind.”

This conclusion shocked everyone. Each officer had been pursuing their own leads, and many believed they had caught the real culprits. The realization that they were all pawns was staggering.

Once the room quieted down, Chen Shi asked, “Are they still in custody?”

Lin Qiupu shook his head, “We had to release them. They’re just ordinary people. We’ve exhausted their information, all pointing to instructions from a man in a black hat.”

“Some of them must have received favors from Zhou Tiannan,” Chen Shi speculated.

“I suspect so, which is why I’ve arranged for surveillance on them.”