Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 130

Chapter 130: I’ve Worked Hard

It was normal for an office to have a photo frame.

Qin Luo also liked to put them up. In the past few years, she had liked to put up photos of her receiving awards. Later, she had changed them to a group photo with the children from the mountain village, and then later, she had changed them to a group photo of the reading group. If this photo frame had been placed so conspicuously in her office, perhaps no one would have found it strange or abrupt. Now, looking at it closely, it was indeed a little out of place with Liu Jia’s style.

Sun Yuan had not yet recovered from her shock. She looked at Qin Luo, and then at Director Qin’s girlfriend.

“Did the cleaning lady tidy it up?”

Qin Luo waved her hand. “You can go and confirm it now.”

Shen Yiyi looked down and searched in the photo frame. After looking for a long time, she said, “I need a computer.”

Qin Luo immediately opened the office door. “Use the computer in my office.”

Qin Luo’s office chair was very high, and Shen Yiyi was very uncomfortable sitting on it.

She looked up at Qin Luo. “Did you adjust the height yourself?”

Qin Luo did not want to miss any details. She had Shen Yiyi stand up and wanted to sit down and try it herself.

But she had not touched her desk in a long time. Ever since the production had landed, she had basically had meetings in the content department when she had come to Logos, and she had not sat in her office many times. But this chair height was indeed not very suitable for her. Qin Luo liked to sit with her legs crossed, but at this height, crossing her legs would put a lot of pressure on her waist. As a person who had to sit for a long time, her legs felt obviously uncomfortable.

Qin Luo gradually came back to her senses… someone had indeed sat in her chair and had adjusted the height.

“The photo album was placed here.”

Next to the computer, on the left of the file, you could reach it with your hand. Qin Luo sat in the chair and simulated the action of the other person taking the photo frame. The distance was just right. She didn’t even have to stand up or make an effort.

Her stomach was churning, and her blood pressure was also rising. Qin Luo felt a wave of nausea in her throat.

Wang Xi happened to come in at that moment, with a few videos saved on her phone. “The last time President Liu appeared was on the morning of the 15th. She went to the underground garage after entering the elevator around eleven.”

The information from Sun Yuan and Li Wenping all matched up.

“Liu Jia was on her way to the production after she had received Sister Li’s call. After the meeting in the afternoon, around three, she got into her own car and disappeared.” Qin Luo took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. Her chest was empty, and her head was starting to ache faintly. She wanted to rub the fear out from the base of her nose, but the more she rubbed, the more it ached. “What should we do?”

She had no clue now and was so anxious that her eyes were red and dry, but she could only ask, “What should we do?”

Shen Yiyi looked at the three different photo frames in her hand. They were three different group photos. Although the time and place of the photos were different, the content was very consistent—the reading group.

The group photo in Liu Jia’s office was of Liu Jia standing on Qin Luo’s left.
The group photo in Zhan Luo’s cardboard box was of Zhan Luo standing on Qin Luo’s left.
And the group photo in Qin Luo’s office was a group photo of Qin Luo alone with the members when the reading group had just been established.

The smile on Qin Luo’s face in the photo was genuine, bright and clear. At that time, she had just been nominated for a literary award and had a youthful look on her face. She was holding a microphone with a ponytail, and her eyes were filled with the most primitive love for creation and reading. She had even boldly put her arm on a member’s shoulder, with no barrier, no pretense, and her back was straight and open.

Three months ago, when Qin Luo was rummaging through the letters in her office, she had also come across this group photo. But at that time, she had been a little resistant to the smile on her face in the photo and had chosen to flip the photo album over, and had even covered it with other miscellaneous things.

Qin Luo put on her glasses again. Her eyes were blurry, and she was a little dazed.

“You can move aside. I’ll use the computer.” Shen Yiyi had no time to comfort Qin Luo’s emotions and patted her shoulder to get her to move aside. She typed as she spoke, “When were these three photos taken?”

There was a time stamp at the bottom right of the photo.

“2018, 2020, and this year.”

“Did anything major happen at Logos in 2018?” Shen Yiyi could only make a wild guess based on the time. Since someone had placed the photo album in a conspicuous place, it proved that the other also had a desire to express themselves. No matter if the other was being provocative or was taking the opportunity to narrate, there were always clues to follow.

Shen Yiyi typed Qin Luo’s name into the search engine and then waited for Qin Luo’s answer.

But it was Wang Xi who spoke before Qin Luo. “The Logos studio had just been established in Nanjing.”

That year, Qin Luo had attended a film and television conference in Germany. On the flight back to China, she had had a new inspiration. So she had told Liu Jia that she wanted to write a suspense story and had decided to give up all her book signing events to focus on the content of Logos, and at the same time, she had started to polish the framework of Her Kill. That year, Logos had hired five employees, and the fifth one was Wang Xi.

“I had just joined the company that year.”

Shen Yiyi tapped her fingers on the desk. “What about 2020?”

Five years ago.

Five years ago, Liu Jia had received the first media award for Logos, and the number of followers on all platforms had reached 3 million. The team of scholars at Logos had started to join, and Liu Jia had bet the company’s operating model on the media matrix, focusing on raising funds to become stronger and bigger. It just so happened that Huang Qihan had introduced her, and Qin Luo had met the Shang Yi who had just returned to the country and wanted to test the waters. And Shang Yi had seen the unpublished Her Kill at Huang Qihan’s place and had become interested in Qin Luo’s company.

“Logos moved to Shanghai and rented this entire floor.”

Wang Xi interjected, “You also published Her Kill that year and won many awards. I was with you all the time for the promotions.”

Qin Luo never remembered her honors. If it weren’t for Wang Xi’s reminder, she would have almost forgotten about this. “Yes.”

…

Shen Yiyi was tracing the timeline in her head.

The Shang Yi of five years ago.
The Qi Yingjun of five years ago.
The Xin Wuzheng of five years ago.
And the killer and Qin Luo of five years ago.

Shen Yiyi typed a few keywords and used the time to narrow down the scope. The screen information jumped, and then it was displayed in rows and columns:

“The pioneering suspense novel Her Kill is officially released, setting off a wave of female crime narrative.”
“Qin Luo is a guest on Picking Up an Interview, focusing on female destiny and criminal psychology.”
“A unique book signing in a women’s prison in Jiangxing Province.”

The third one was also a link to the Logos official account. Shen Yiyi clicked on it and saw that it was the content of a weekly special.

Qin Luo rubbed her head. Looking back at these contents now, she felt that she was very pretentious, which made her feel a sense of disgust.

She was puzzled. “Why are you looking at these?”

Shen Yiyi quickly browsed through the pictures. She remembered that the gossip post online had said that Li Peipei had been in prison for Shang Yi. She immediately took out her phone and called Lin Puping.

Lin Puping answered quickly. Just as he had said “hello,” he had received a task from his leader.

“Check which prison Li Peipei was in.”

Lin Puping immediately replied, “Ten minutes. I’ll go and ask.”

Hearing Li Peipei’s name, Qin Luo’s eyes immediately widened. How could Li Peipei’s imprisonment be connected to her? Huh?

Shen Yiyi did not hang up the phone and turned to look at Qin Luo. “Check if Li Peipei has participated in any of the reading group’s activities.”

“This…” Wang Xi scratched her head. “I have to ask Zhan Luo for help.”

Shen Yiyi’s face was cold. “You don’t have to look for him.”

“Then this is very difficult.” Wang Xi was not resisting, but the reading group’s activities were too complicated. The online reading, check-ins, and feedback activities were countless, and the offline ones were even more varied. “There are many activities, and the number of people is huge. I might not be able to find anything.”

Then narrow down the scope.

Shen Yiyi looked at her with a dark expression. “How do you know you can’t find anything before you’ve even checked?”

Wang Xi was so scared by Director Shen’s glare that she was serious and harsh. It gave her the illusion that if she said no again, her head would be chopped off.

She nodded. “Okay, I’ll go and check.”

Shen Yiyi said, “Before you check, give me a list of the employees in Logos who have participated in the reading group, both on and off the job.”

“Okay.”

Just as Wang Xi had left, Lin Puping had replied.

“Director, I’ve called the case-handling department to confirm. Li Peipei was serving her sentence at the Jiangxing Province No. 1 Women’s Prison. She was there for six months.”