“That was about the phone call Mi has just made to Fu from the villa,” Chen said, closing the phone. “It’s all recorded.”
“You had her cell phone bugged?”
“Yes. I didn’t have time to discuss it with you. Sorry about that, Huang. It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that I pieced it all together, and I had to act at once. I had her cell phone tapped through a connection of mine-or a connection of a connection, you might say. Also, I had to have those pictures developed in a rush.”
“You’ve moved fast, Chief.”
It was true that Chen didn’t have the time. But more importantly, Chen didn’t say, he knew how Internal Security would have reacted if they had learned about his secret maneuvering.
“Well, to briefly summarize her hysterical phone conversation, she accused Fu of deceiving her, of using her to get rid of Liu, and of landing her in trouble. She was shouting, cursing, and weeping at the same time. It was pretty much as I had guessed.”
“What did he say?”
“Not much. First he said she’s crazy, then he wanted her to calm down and not blabber anymore.”
“But we should be able to tie things up now. That phone call, along with the perjury, is undeniable evidence.” Huang added, “I have just one question-how did the two of them get together?”
“The phone call only proves their relationship; it doesn’t establish that they collaborated in murder. As for the two getting together, here’s what I’ve gathered from various sources, with some guesswork here and there to fill in the blank spots.”
Chen lit a cigarette before going on.
“They joined forces for a variety of reasons, each out of their own self-interest.
“For her, it came out of her disappointment with Liu. She’d hoped to get more out of the affair than just the position of a little secretary. Another girl in her shoes might have been content, as you said, but she dreamed of becoming Mrs. Liu and living happily ever after. At one point, Liu might have made her some promises, which she later found he had no intention of carrying out. When she learned that his son Wenliang would be joining the company as his eventual successor, it was the last straw for her.
“For Fu, it was another story. To begin with, he had always been an outsider in the company. Assigned to the job as a Youth League cadre, he failed to develop enough connections to become a rival to Liu. With the reform in the state-ownership system, Liu began to contemplate the prospect of turning the state-run company into a privately held one for himself and for his family. His son, rather than an outsider like Fu, would succeed him as general manager. It didn’t take long for Fu to find out, and the pressure was mounting.
“So Fu and Mi got together. For her, Fu was not only younger, but single too. In other words, he could make her Mrs. Fu eventually. In return, she provided information crucial to his power struggle against Liu. Such an important ally didn’t come without a price. He had to convince her that he was serious about pursuing a relationship. Consequently, it was out of the question for Mi to know anything about his fiancee in Shanghai. That accounts for his stealthy behavior at the hourly hotel last Saturday. With the restructuring plan looming over him, his counterplan had to develop fast-”
“You mean the murder plot?” Huang asked. “Was she aware of it all along?”
“She might have guessed something was up. Liu was working on the restructuring plan, but without letting Mi in on the details, which bespoke his lack of trust in her. According to some people who worked there, Liu didn’t even keep a copy of the confidential document at the company office. The only copy was in the home office, in a safe-deposit box to which he alone had the key. That night, however, Mi found out that he was going to work on the restructuring plan at his home office. She must have told Fu, thinking that it might be an opportunity for her to steal a look at the document. For Fu, a quick look wouldn’t be enough. Fu wanted to find out the details of the plan, and to do that, he had to go there himself. The two conspirators didn’t have to poke through the window paper, so to speak. They knew what they had to do. Anyway, Mi was there with Liu that evening and made sure that he had taken the document out of the safe deposit box before she drugged him with a handful of sleeping pills. Fu’s original plan might have been what he had told her, but once he was at Liu’s home office, he changed his mind. After all, it was in his best interest to get rid of Liu once and for all. With Liu gone, the restructuring plan would disappear as well. If anything, it would then become Fu’s company, and he could write his own restructuring plan.
“When Liu was found dead the next morning, Mi knew what had happened the night before. But she was already an accomplice to murder and in no position to say anything against Fu. In fact, to protect herself, she had to cooperate further with Fu. She was totally trapped. Each providing an alibi for the other was the only way out for both of them.
“Jiang happened to be a politically convenient target for Internal Security, so they naturally played along, providing the ‘information’ that Internal Security was eager to snatch up.”
“What a master stroke, Chief Inspector Chen! Because of the pending IPO, it was common for people to work late on a Sunday evening, so it didn’t seem unusual for both Fu and Mi to claim to have been there. Your analysis puts everything into a new perspective.”
“It’s more a stroke of luck,” Chen said, “considering all the false clues I’ve pursued. Besides, if she hadn’t made that phone call, we would have had nothing more than circumstantial evidence, not enough to convince Internal Security or the local police.”
“Just one more question, Chief. How did you get those pictures of Fu in Shanghai? They absolutely crushed her.”
“I asked Detective Yu to look into Mrs. Liu’s Shanghai background and in passing, I mentioned Fu as well. I didn’t really suspect something, not at the time. Perhaps subconsciously, but not consciously. I was just curious because, like Mrs. Liu, Fu made frequent trips back to Shanghai. Remember what Fu said to us? ‘I went back last Saturday, and I’m going there again this weekend.’ The last few weeks have been a hectic period for the company, so why was he taking the time to go back to Shanghai? That morning, I also had a feeling that Fu was trying to cut short our conversation with Mi. Anyway, Yu and Peiqin went out of their way to follow Fu around Shanghai for hours. And it was truly a random harvest. But for their help, and of course your help as well, the various pieces wouldn’t have been connected.
“Now, time for action, Huang,” Chen concluded, getting to his feet. “I am going back in to Mi, and you are going to see Fu. Like the old proverb says, there may be too many dreams for a long night.”
“Yes, we have to act before Internal Security can put up more hurdles, interfering with the investigation in the name of the Party’s interests. I’ll get the search warrants for both of them-”
“Yes, have Fu’s place searched thoroughly, and quickly, before he can do anything there.”
“I know what to do, Chief. His apartment isn’t large, and I’ll dig three meters deep into the ground.” He added in mounting excitement, “You’ve mentioned the restructuring plan Liu was working on that night. Indeed, Liu wouldn’t have been sitting at the desk without something in front of him. But we have never found it. Nor has Mi mentioned it as something possibly missing. Now I see why.”
“The restructuring plan, among the other things-”
Huang’s cell phone suddenly rang with a different tone. It was a text message from the head of the special team. Huang showed the message to Chen.
“Jiang will be sent to prison tomorrow, officially charged as the murderer in Liu’s case. Who’s the man interviewing at the chemical company with you? Internal Security asked. ”
“Good timing,” Huang said with a grin. He didn’t write a response to the text. “Don’t worry, Chief. We’ll beat them this time. I’ll bring my notebook along with me and follow all the points you raised at the crime scene.”