Senior investigator Liang Fala once again took back the initiative with lightning speed.
There were two orders of appointment and dismissal from the headquarters. One was to remove Jerry's father from his position as the director of the Britania branch. The other was to appoint Liang Fala as the temporary acting director of the branch and set up a special investigation team.
That night, four teams of eight investigators were temporarily transferred from Nauru, Chedalia, Kanidor, and Balnos, which were closer to Britania. They were stationed at the Britania branch.
As a result, Xia Fan, Chu Yan, Chen Chen, Dunn, and Qin Zimo, who were originally part of the Britania branch, became outsiders. They were excluded from the core by Liang Fala and were only assigned some unimportant tasks. Xia Fan and Chu Yan's task was to help the local police station go door to door to find witnesses.
Late at night, Chu Yan pouted. Her unhappiness was written all over her face as she followed Xia Fan home.
"You're back." Lawton, the butler, saw Xia Fan and Chu Yan open the door. He walked into the kitchen and brought out the dinner that he had prepared.
"You're late today. Thank you for your hard work. I made seafood mushroom soup, pan-fried steak, and a fruit salad as an appetizer. After dinner, there's roasted chestnuts and yogurt, which Chu Yan likes, for dessert," Lawton said to the two of them as he heated up the cold dinner.
Hearing that there was delicious food, Chu Yan's stomach grumbled uncontrollably. After a sumptuous dinner, Chu Yan slumped on the sofa and rubbed her slightly bulging belly. The depression that had accumulated for the whole day had also been alleviated a lot.
Xia Fan picked up a pencil and began to write and draw in his notebook as he pondered.
"What are you doing?" Chu Yan asked Xia Fan curiously.
"Nothing much. I'm sorting out the context of what happened today and making a conclusion."
"Tell me about it."
Xia Fan nodded. "First of all, we can be sure that the military is involved in the murder of Wu Jie's family of five. Otherwise, Huang Rong wouldn't have appeared at the scene so quickly. As for Liang Fala, he worked so hard to take over the investigation and even used the influence of the higher-ups to kick my father away.
"Secondly, the murderer should also be from the military. The possibility of him being a retired soldier is higher."
"All in all, there are two necessary conditions to find the murderer. The first is what the murderer left on the wall of Wu Jie's living room. The second is what was missing from the safe in Wu Jie's house."
"As long as we can understand these two things, we will be able to understand the killer's motive."
Chu Yan sighed. "You've said so much for nothing. Now that Father has returned home, and we've been excluded from the core members, we have no way of getting the evidence you need. What do you think about the maid's death?"
"Murder." Xia Fan said directly, "The maid saw the things left behind by the murderer in the living room of the Wu family, so she died."
"Also, I'm thinking about something else. Britania is just a remote planet under the jurisdiction of the Alliance. Why did Huang Rong and Liang Fala arrive at the scene as soon as the murder happened? Even faster than us? "
Chu Yan rubbed her chin. "Yes, this is indeed puzzling. The people from the local police station said that Huang Rong arrived at the scene at almost the same time as them, and within a few minutes, Liang Fala appeared. It was as if they were prepared."
Xia Fan said calmly, "The military should have monitored the police calls. As soon as the police center received the maid's call, Huang Rong knew and immediately rushed to the scene. At the same time, he also notified Liang Fala."
"When I was at the scene, I noticed that there were six people in Huang Rong's group, but there were no vehicles belonging to the Military Intelligence at the scene. I'm afraid they didn't take a hover car, but a faster atmospheric shuttle, or a military spacecraft."
"This tells us that the military may have known that there might be a murder case in Britania, and Wu Jie's death may not be the only one."
Chu Yan's eyes lit up. "A serial murder case targeting retired military personnel?"
"It's possible." Xia Fan shrugged. "It's a pity that we can infer the general context of the incident, but we can't find any strong evidence."
The two of them fell silent at the same time. At that moment, Lawton suddenly walked into the room with a puzzled look on his face, holding the home phone.
"It's Director Jerry. I don't know where he found this number, but he called us directly," Lawton said to Xia Fan.
"I'll pick it up." Xia Fan frowned and took the phone to his ear. He heard his father's voice. "I suspect that the bureau's communication terminal has been monitored by Liang Fala, so we're using an anonymous phone prepared for tourists. Can you and Chu Yan come to my house?"
Xia Fan was stunned. He raised his wrist and looked at the time. "Yes, I'm with Chu Yan now. It will take about 20 minutes."
"Okay, I'll wait for you at home. Don't drive the bureau's car. Call a taxi and get off at the music square south of my house. Leave the bureau's communication terminal at home as well," his father said in a low voice.
.....
Xia Fan and Chu Yan took off the Special Task Force's dedicated terminal and left the house. They hailed a taxi at the entrance of the neighborhood and went to the music square that his father had mentioned.
It was already late at night. There were few people on the streets and the square was empty. If someone was following them, they would be easily discovered. From the thirty-seventh floor of his father's house, all they needed was a pair of binoculars to observe the situation in the square.
After knocking on the door, it was Qin Zimo who opened the door. As usual, he did not say a word. He nodded lightly at Xia Fan and Chu Yan and let them in.
His father sat on the sofa in the living room. The son, Chen Chen, had his head lowered, fiddling with a military computer with a silver metal shell. The military computer was huge, but it was impervious to the elements. Even if it was thrown into the sea for a whole year and picked up again, it would still run perfectly.
Chen Chen, the guy with a head full of golden curls, was not only an investigator of the Special Task Force but also a computer expert in the bureau. Chu Yan had mentioned this to Xia Fan before.
"Dad, this is the guy," Chen Chen said as he turned the screen of the computer in front of his father.
Xia Fan and Chu Yan curiously looked at the screen. They saw the surveillance video of this high-rise apartment. Chen Chen had hacked into the system and pulled up the previous surveillance footage.
The camera was installed diagonally above the door of his father's house, allowing a clear view of the entire hallway. In the video, a man with a limp leg and a black round hat came to the door of his father's house. He stuffed a yellow envelope with Kraft paper into the mailbox, then turned around and left.
Chen Chen kept switching the camera and followed the limp man until he reached a place outside the neighborhood where there were no cameras. He watched as he disappeared into the night.
"What a master." Chen Chen picked up a piece of chocolate on the table, peeled it, and popped it into his mouth. "This guy's face wasn't captured by the camera from the beginning to the end. It's obvious that he knew about the security of this neighborhood before he came to deliver the letter."
"Deliver a letter?" Xia Fan was slightly surprised.
His father took out the yellow Kraft envelope from the coffee table and said, "This is it. About an hour ago, I received a call. Someone said he left something in my mailbox, so I came out to check my mailbox and found this envelope."
"Have you checked it?" Xia Fan asked.
"Yes." His father said, "There are no fingerprints or DNA residue on it. Just open it."
Thus, Xia Fan opened the envelope and took out a stack of printed documents. The huge Military Intelligence logo on it was very conspicuous. It was a secret military file.
His father frowned and said, "This is an operation briefing. It happened six years ago. The Kitty Hawk Commando under the Military Intelligence carried out a hostage rescue mission. In the end, the mission failed, resulting in the death of five thousand four hundred and eighty-two hostages. All twelve members of the commando team were sacrificed.
"Turn to the last page and you'll see the name of the commander of the rescue mission. His name is Wu Jie."
"The same name as the victim of today's murder case?" Xia Fan smiled. "That's too much of a coincidence. If I'm not mistaken, it should be the same person."
"I think so too. Otherwise, why would that cripple go through so much trouble to send a military file like this to my father's house? Maybe the cripple is the murderer who killed Wu Jie. " Chen Chen lay lazily on the sofa and looked at the ceiling. "But I don't understand. What's the point of doing this?"
Xia Fan said gravely, "He wants us to continue the investigation."
"What did you say?" Chen Chen slapped his head. "The murderer killed someone and he wants the Special Task Force to continue the investigation? What's wrong with him? "
Xia Fan sat down next to Chen Chen and continued to read the military briefing. He said, "Combining what happened today, it's not difficult to see that Huang Rong and Liang Fala joined forces for a very simple purpose. It's to stop us from continuing the investigation.
"The murderer might also know that there's a problem within the Special Task Force, so when we're at our wits' end, he sent us this file."
"What can a file represent?" Qin Zimo, who rarely spoke, could not help but ask.
"It represents the dead Wu Jie. He's guilty."
Hearing Xia Fan's words, everyone was stunned. His father thought for a moment and said, "The briefing clearly records the situation at the time. The Ariane passenger ship was detonated by terrorists, which eventually led to the failure of the operation. Although Wu Jie, as the commander, failed to save the hostages, this doesn't mean that he's guilty. After all, any military operation has risks."
Xia Fan smiled and tapped his finger on the file. "No matter how the military explains it, the operation failed. More than five thousand innocent passengers died tragically. If my family was among them, who do you think I should hate?"
"You mean, the cripple who sent the letter to my father was a family member of the passengers? He took his anger out on Wu Jie because of the failure of the operation. Six years later, today, he killed Wu Jie's family of five as revenge? "Chen Chen seemed to understand what Xia Fan meant and asked with bright eyes.
Xia Fan sighed. "If it's just revenge, the commander who failed the operation is now dead. The murderer should be very satisfied. But he sent such a document to my father. This doesn't make sense. Obviously, he has no intention of letting it go. Maybe the murderer wants to kill more than just Wu Jie."
"Makes sense. Why didn't I think of that?" Chen Chen suddenly realized and slapped his thigh.
Everyone from his father to Qin Zimo nodded. Although Xia Fan was only a trainee investigator, his ability to think and judge was undoubtedly first-rate in the bureau.
His father said in a deep voice, "Xia Fan, if you were in command, what do you think the next step should be?"
Xia Fan seemed to have thought about this question long ago and blurted out, "First, investigate the immediate family members of all the passengers. Anyone who works in the military will be included in the suspect list. After all, the cripple must have connections with the military if he could get his hands on this military information.
"Second, search for everyone's whereabouts. Wu Jie is only the commander on the scene. He can't make such a big operation alone. Other than him, there's also the liaison officer, the intelligence director, the technical director, the commander-in-chief who has the final say, and the person in charge of the investigation team after the operation failed. Find out if these people are still alive and where they are."
With that, Xia Fan closed his eyes and sniffed the scent on the envelope. He then stood up. "Brother Chen, you can search for the information. I'll summon the little guys around to see if we can find the cripple. Although the chances are not high, we still have to try."
Chu Yan immediately stood up. She was Xia Fan's partner, so naturally, she should follow him.
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