Smith thought about it and shook his head. "Let's look for it ourselves. I don't really trust the police system here. "
The other two lawyers agreed.
"We're not familiar with this place, and we're here to represent our clients against the German police and government. I think it's best not to call the police for now in case there's a misunderstanding, and we don't want to make a big deal out of this." Smith wagged his finger. "How about this? Let's go to the hotel and ask for the surveillance footage from the past ten days and see if we can find anything."
They showed their lawyer identities and asked for the surveillance footage from the Hilton Hotel.
Although the management of the Hilton Hotel wasn't very willing, for the sake of the largest law firm in the United States, they still made a copy of the surveillance footage of the hotel's entrance and back door for the past ten days.
The surveillance footage didn't involve the client's privacy, so it was fine to let them see it.
But of course, the four lawyers weren't satisfied with only the surveillance footage from the entrance.
What if Gu Nianzhi was killed by someone from the hotel?
This was not unheard of. For example, there was a very famous case that happened in New York a few years ago. A young woman suddenly disappeared and was found naked in a cistern on the roof of the hotel she stayed in. The cistern was two meters high and covered with a very heavy cement lid. It required several strong men to lift the cement lid, but the New York police ruled it a 'suicide' …
The four were all relatively famous lawyers in the United States, and because they had seen too much chaos in the police system, they didn't blindly trust the police's ability.
Also, Gu Nianzhi's sudden disappearance was too strange, and they didn't dare trust the German police.
Smith's expression was cold as he yelled at the Hilton Hotel's security director, "If something happens to our colleague in your hotel, can you bear the responsibility?! I can guarantee that if something really happens to her here, your Hilton Hotel will not be able to continue operating in the world! "
The Hilton Hotel's security director's face flushed and paled as he glared at the imposing lawyers. In the end, he reluctantly asked for permission from his superior.
In order to keep the peace, the Hilton Hotel's management agreed to make copies of the surveillance footage from all the corridors in the hotel for the four American lawyers to see.
With the surveillance footage from inside and outside the hotel, Smith was confident they wouldn't miss anything, so the four of them each distributed a portion of the footage and began working overnight.
Everyone stared at her for the entire night. Their eyes were bloodshot, but all they saw was Gu Nianzhi's figure leaving the hotel early in the morning 10 days ago.
However, they clearly saw that she had left the hotel in their commercial car!
Ever since that time, he had never seen her return.
The time she left also matched the last time she used her access card.
Smith perked up a little and immediately called the driver of their business car. He pretended to have something urgent and asked him to come to the hotel immediately. He said that he needed his help with something important and that the price would be extra.
The chauffeur was so happy that he arrived at the Hilton Hotel within five minutes.
Smith and the others invited him to the small conference room in the hotel room. They quietly turned on the video recording on their phones and asked him casually, "… Did you send lawyer Gu out ten days ago? Where did he go? "
The driver quickly said, "Oh, yes, I remember. Lawyer Gu said she wanted to go to the Königssee to see a friend and asked me to take her there. It's about a two-hour drive from Munich. [0↑ 9 △ small ↓ say △ net] "
After the driver finished speaking, without waiting for Smith to continue asking him, he said, "How did lawyer Gu come back? Did she call another car? She said she was only staying for one day and would call me when she returned at night. I waited for her there for two days, but she didn't call. Did she have too much fun and forget to go home? "
Just as he finished speaking, the driver realized that he had said the wrong thing and immediately changed his words. "Oh, no, she stayed for ten days. I forgot, it was ten days …" As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes slyly to avoid Smith and the others' gazes.
He was extremely regretful. After so many days, these lawyers had only asked him about the situation at the time. In his excitement, he had forgotten what the person had asked him to say and told them the truth!
Fortunately, he remembered to salvage the situation. He hoped that these people wouldn't mind his slip of the tongue.
"Was it ten days or one day?! How can you remember something like this wrongly?! "Smith crossed his arms and frowned at the driver.
"It's been so long. How can I remember it so clearly?" The driver was very sly and asked carefully, "Is lawyer Gu back? You can ask her yourself. "
"If she's back, will we still ask you?" Smith glared at him. "Think about it carefully. Did lawyer Gu tell you it was one day or ten days?!"
When the driver heard that Gu Nianzhi hadn't returned, his heart skipped a beat. He was a little afraid. After weighing the pros and cons, he gritted his teeth and told the truth, "… It seems to be one day. Yes, it should be one day. It's true. If you don't believe me, you can ask her. "
The four lawyers were all speechless when they heard this.
It couldn't be, right?
First of all, Gu Nianzhi had texted them that she would be out for ten days, but she had personally told the driver that it was only one day. She had also said that she would return at night and would call him to pick her up!
Was it ten days or one day? This was the first point of contradiction.
After losing contact, Gu Nianzhi's phone couldn't get through.
It kept transferring to voicemail, and in the end, "The phone is not in service."
Unusual, too unusual.
At night, the four of them met in Smith's room, their expressions grim.
Although they were very reluctant to admit it, they had to admit that Gu Nianzhi was probably missing.
It was definitely not that she had gotten lost, but that she had fallen into someone's trap!
Whose trap could she have fallen into?
Gu Nianzhi was a citizen of the Hua Xia Empire and had come to Germany specifically to fight lawsuits.
If she had offended someone, it could only be Seth and his family of lawless tyrants!
The four of them looked at each other and understood what everyone was thinking from their eyes.
Although lawyers were only representing clients in lawsuits and had no direct interest in the other party, being a lawyer was directly linked to the law. It was truly too easy to attract hatred, so it was common for the defendant to harm the plaintiff's lawyer, or the plaintiff to harm the defendant's lawyer.
"Could it be Seth's family? His stepfather, York, isn't easy to deal with, "one of the lawyers said coldly." We've already investigated his background. It's definitely not clean. "
"Don't forget, Seth also escaped. Although the report from the hospital was from nine days ago, that was when they discovered that he had escaped. If we push back the time of his official escape slightly, it might coincide with Lawyer Gu's disappearance. "Smith was the first to think of this possibility, and his heart shuddered.
It wasn't because of anything else, but because when he and Gu Nianzhi went to the hospital to see the seriously injured Seth, the way Seth looked at Gu Nianzhi was truly abnormal …
"Oh? It really has something to do with that perverted b * tch, Seth?! Then what should we do?! "
No one knew better than the lawyers who knew the details of Li Haiqing's case what kind of scum Seth was …
"Let's call Lawyer He first. Tell him clearly before calling the police. " Smith rubbed his temples. "We can't delay it any longer. There's still no news from Lawyer Gu. I'm very worried …"
What were they worried about? Everyone looked at each other and had a tacit understanding, but no one dared to say it out loud. It was as if their worries would come true if they said it.
As long as they didn't say it out loud, Gu Nianzhi would be safe.
Everyone prayed in their hearts that such a despairing and terrifying thing wouldn't happen to Gu Nianzhi …
Although they didn't know Gu Nianzhi personally, they had been on the same page for the past month. They also admired this hardworking and smart female lawyer from the Hua Xia Empire, so they couldn't bear her getting into an accident.
"They even dared to touch a lawyer! I think the German legal system isn't just your average level of evil! "
After the four of them finished their discussion, Smith called He Zhichu on the spot.
However, after dialing He Zhichu's number for a full hour, all he got was a voicemail message!
The other three were very surprised and also took out their phones to call He Zhichu's number.
He called his personal phone, work phone, work phone, and even the Hua Xia Empire's B University professor's building, but none of the calls actually went through. They all got voicemail!
Smith stared at his phone and muttered, "Didn't he say he went home? Where did he go? Antarctica? Or the North Pole? He didn't even pick up the phone … "
"Forget it, Smith." A few of his colleagues comforted him. "Aren't we the same when we're on vacation? He doesn't even answer our work calls or emails. "
This was a vacation. Why else would they go on vacation? Wouldn't it be better to just work overtime?
One of the lawyers added, "Also, Lawyer He said he'll be back in two weeks at the latest. He'll be back in four days, so we'll see when the time comes."
Smith thought it made sense, but Gu Nianzhi's matter couldn't wait any longer.
"How about this." Smith hesitated. "We still have to call the police. Also, Lawyer Gu is a citizen of the Hua Xia Empire. If something happened to her, we have to notify their embassy."
If Gu Nianzhi was a US citizen, they would've gone to the US embassy already. Unfortunately, she wasn't, so they could only go to the Hua Xia Empire's embassy in Munich.
After discussing the order, they finally decided to split into two groups and act at the same time.
One group would go to the police, while the other group would report to the Hua Xia Empire's embassy in Munich.
Smith had more contact with the police, so he and another lawyer went to the police station to report.
The other two lawyers knew a bit of Chinese, so they went to the Hua Xia Empire's embassy in Munich.
…
"What did you say? Your lawyer is missing?! " The officer in charge of missing persons cases at the Munich police station looked at Smith and his colleagues as if to say, "Are you kidding me?"
Smith had been at the Munich police station every day for the past few days because of Seth's escape from the hospital. He urged them to quickly arrest the fugitive, so everyone there was familiar with him.
Some police officers understood and sympathized with him, but others hated him and felt he was interfering with their work. Also, their accusations had tarnished the reputation of the German police, so they weren't friendly toward him.
Now that he had come to make a report, a few police officers took pleasure in his misfortune and kept making things difficult for him.
Smith was infuriated by them, but he couldn't do anything.
"Missing? Do you think it's that easy to file a missing person case? If she was a minor and lost contact for 24 hours, it could indeed be reported as missing. Unfortunately, she's already 18 years old and is an adult, so … "The Munich police officer refused to accept Smith's report.
Smith sneered and propped his hands on the officer's desk. He stared straight into his cloudy gray eyes and enunciated each word clearly, "Oh? Now you think 18 years old is an adult? Then how can the son of your colleague, who's 21 years old, be called a minor by you?! Doesn't your German law say 22 years old is considered an adult?! Tell me, I fought a fake lawsuit! Or did Germany come up with a fake law?! "
How could this police officer be a match for an elite American lawyer when it came to arguing with the law?
The officer's face flushed red from Smith's rebuke and couldn't find a way out of it. He angrily pounded the desk and said, "If I say she's an adult, then she's an adult! As for your lawsuit, ask the judge! What does it have to do with me?! "
"That's right … Maybe the disappearance was just a misunderstanding. Your colleague is already a practicing lawyer. Is there a need to rush to report a case?" The officer's colleague also chimed in. "Also, a missing person case can only be reported by immediate family members. Which one of you is her immediate family member?"
Seeing the arrogant lawyers in court being defeated, the police officers were secretly pleased.
Too many times, the suspects that the police worked so hard to catch were exonerated by glib-tongued lawyers and couldn't be convicted.
But they didn't consider that lawyers had also helped the police and prosecutors a lot by helping them convict suspects.
It could only be said that some people only remembered how others treated them badly and completely forgot about how others treated them well.
Smith was blocked by the police officers. He wasn't someone to be trifled with. He pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and said righteously, "It's precisely because you said my colleague is an adult that we don't need immediate family members to report a case about her. I think you're just spouting nonsense. What legal provisions? They're all bullsh * t to you. Whenever you need an excuse, just pick one. I don't care if your words are contradictory or not! "
"Huh? Trying to reason with us? Don't you know we're the police? We're a violent law enforcement agency, not a reasonable one! "The police officers in the office rolled their eyes." If you want to reason, go to court. The door is over there. Goodbye! "
"How can you do this?! We're law-abiding citizens and followed legal procedures to report a case. How can you treat us like this?! "Smith slammed the table." Have you thought about the consequences? "
"What consequences? We're also law-abiding citizens and followed legal procedures. The law has never said that colleagues can report cases as immediate family members! "
Smith and his colleague could only leave angrily and think of another way.
…
The other two lawyers who went to the Hua Xia Imperial Embassy in Munich were treated much better than Smith and his colleague.
As soon as they said they were the plaintiff's defense team for Li Haiqing's case in the reception room, the embassy staff immediately warmly invited them in.
When they arrived at the small reception room of the embassy, the deputy consul warmly received them.
"You're members of the American team, right? Thank you so much for your wonderful defense and bringing justice to the case of the overseas students from our country. We will remember you. " The deputy consul was a middle-aged man in his fifties. He maintained himself well and looked like he was in his early forties.
The two of them quickly said humbly, "We're here for our lawyer, Lawyer Gu. She's also a citizen of the Hua Xia Empire."
"Oh! It's Lawyer Gu! Yes, yes, yes! She's very good! I listened to her argument in court. Her English was so fluent, there was no accent at all! Perfect Oxford accent! "The deputy consul chuckled and complimented Gu Nianzhi.
The two lawyers saw that the deputy consul was very helpful, so they immediately struck while the iron was hot. "Yes, yes! She's very good. Although she's young, she's extremely smart and hardworking. She's the main trial lawyer for this trial. She's very experienced. "
"Hahaha! Our country's female lawyers are indeed very good! " The deputy consul was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth. However, he didn't forget what the two American lawyers had just said, so he asked, "You just said you're here for her. What's going on?"
"It's like this." The two American lawyers became serious. One of them spoke first, "Ten days ago, Lawyer Gu told us that she was going out to meet a friend and said she would be back in ten days. In the end, we couldn't get through to her cell phone for the past ten days. Every time we called, it was transferred to voicemail. When we called her cell phone yesterday, it wasn't in the service area. We were worried … "
The other lawyer continued, "We felt that there was a problem, so we got some people to investigate Lawyer Gu's whereabouts. In the end, we found our charter driver. He said that ten days ago, Lawyer Gu personally told him that she was going to the Königssee for a day and would call him to pick her up at night. But the driver waited until now, and she still hasn't called! "
The deputy consul understood what they meant and stopped smiling. He frowned and thought for a while. "You mean … Lawyer Gu …?"
"… Disappeared." The two American lawyers said together, "Our other two colleagues have already gone to the Munich regional police station to report the case. The two of us specially came to inform you. After all, you are the embassy of Lawyer Gu's country and have an obligation to protect your country's citizens overseas."
"That's natural. Not to mention that she's a lawyer who was entrusted by Minister Bai to come to Germany to fight a lawsuit for her compatriots, even if she's an ordinary overseas student or labor worker, our embassy will do it! " The deputy consul slapped the table. "Fill out Lawyer Gu's information. I'll contact the country right away and see what they're doing."
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