It was evident that Kuai Jingyi lived a very ordinary life. Despite a considerable income, he used a basic computer and wore simple clothes. Only after checking his accounts did one realize he was earning millions monthly.
This made things peculiar. I believed this place was merely a temporary rental. Upon consulting the landlord, I learned he had resided there for about half a year.
Back at the provincial department, before heading to the interrogation room, I had obtained records of Kuai Jingyi's agate purchases, along with previous lists, and of course, Mr. Ma's confession.
Presented with this evidence, I addressed Kuai Jingyi: "I believe you know why we brought you here. Don't tell me you bought those agates purely out of hobby. We found a pair of such agates in a victim's eyes. I expect a clear explanation!"
"I don't need to explain. The agates are indeed mine!"
"So, you admit to murder?"
"I didn't kill anyone. I said the agates were mine, but they disappeared not long after I bought them!"
"What? Then you didn't report it to the police? Such valuable items?"
"I considered it, but felt reporting it would be useless, so I let it go. What I'm curious about is, how did you find me?"
Kuai Jingyi appeared genuinely innocent, as if completely unrelated to the murder case. I presented his account records and evidence of his staged death three years prior, asking, "How do you explain these two points?"
"Ah, you mustn't be fooled by that woman. The reason I did all this was to escape her. I found an excellent job that allowed me to earn so much money, and I didn't want to live with a woman like that anymore. You should understand why I've been so low-key all these years; I didn't want her to know!"
"And because of that, you faked your death to deceive everyone?" Though my head ached, I felt Kuai Jingyi wasn't lying.
He nodded vigorously, "You have no idea how troublesome that woman is. I made some money, but she took it all. I didn't want to live like that anymore, so I needed liberation. But she wouldn't agree to a divorce... After much thought, I came up with this plan. If I were dead, wouldn't the divorce be automatic?"
"......"
It was the first time I'd heard of someone going to such lengths for a divorce. While he seemed unreliable, I couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration. I then inquired, "I'm curious, what kind of work do you do? With such a high salary? It's not some illegal activity, is it?"
"Illegal activity? Officer He, you're overthinking. It's simply trading antiques. You don't know how valuable those antiques are. Selling even one could set you up for a while. If it's something particularly valuable, you wouldn't have to worry about anything for the rest of your life!"
Kuai Jingyi then launched into a lengthy, boastful account of how he made his fortune trading antiques, embellishing his tales with incredible feats. I, however, had no interest in his bragging. From his description, I gathered he was selling fakes to wealthy individuals, convincing them they were genuine. His actions already constituted fraud.
I didn't confront him then but called for others to handle it, anticipating he would have his hands full. However, I did this to pressure him into revealing more later.
After all, if he had sold the agates to the killer...
A day later, when asked about reselling the agates, Kuai Jingyi exclaimed in fright, "I had no idea it was so serious! I never imagined my client would use them for murder. This almost pinned the blame on me! Officer He, my fraud charge won't stand, will it? It was all consensual, wasn't it? How can that be fraud!"
"Whether it's fraud or not is not for you to decide. You don't need to tell me about that. If you provide any clues during our murder investigation, you can atone for your crimes and receive a reduced sentence."
"Uh, well, I recently sold those agates. But the buyer was very mysterious, and I never saw him. I don't know how he found my contact information. He called and asked if I had bought the agates, and I said yes. Then he transferred 180,000 yuan to me and asked me to deliver the agates to a locker at a certain location. At the time, I thought, what if I don't give him the agates after he's already paid? But I'm an honest businessman, so of course, I wouldn't do that. So, I delivered the agates to the address he specified."
"What location?"
"A locker near the Minghai Park Library, locker number 103. I placed the items inside a red gift box."
I pointed at Kuai Jingyi, "I hope you're not lying to me!"
"Of course not!"
Immediately, I summoned Xiahou and Liu Yuning, and we headed to Minghai Park. When we found the locker, Xiahou pried it open with tools. It was empty. There were many fingerprints on the edges of the locker, but they were likely left by others. We collected a few. Later, we spotted a surveillance camera. If the killer had come to collect the items, they would have been recorded.
I asked Xiahou and Liu Yuning to continue their inspection while I went to the security office. After explaining my purpose, the guard quickly copied the video for me. Due to its large size, watching it there was impractical. After the on-site investigation was complete, we brought the footage back to the provincial department.
Then came the task of reviewing the surveillance footage. The fingerprints were sent to the technical team for comparison and database checks. Regarding the surveillance, He Xin meticulously screened everyone who had approached locker 103. Most individuals were identified, but the person who took the agates did so the night before the crime. I recognized the red gift box.
It was very late at night when a woman with long hair approached locker 103, opened it, quickly took the box, and then left very cautiously, without looking back.
I thought, why would she go to so much trouble to kill someone? Why not just buy ordinary agates, which would make it harder to trace her?
Although the remaining clues were bizarre and carried a sense of ritual and performance, there was indeed a significant oversight regarding the agates. If I were the criminal, I would have stuffed in some ordinary agates, making it impossible for the police to find anything.
But the killer deliberately used such agates, only seen at auctions, which quickly led us to their origin.