“What happened?” Zhen Chao asks after him. Tang Feng wants to stand up too but is stopped by Zhen Chao, “You’re a suspect now. Stay here. I’ll ask someone else to interrogate you. You only need to keep silent.”
“OK.” Tang Feng sits down again.
Han Siqi calls Lu Song while getting into the car.
Asked about Fu Zhengzheng’s whereabouts, Lu Song replies at once, “Madam and her two good friends are playing mahjong in Home Inn.”
“Play mahjong?” Can she play mahjong?
“Tian Xin and Sun Qiubo are playing mahjong while madam is watching aside.”
“When did she go to the hotel?”
“At about 8:50.”
“Is she still there?”
“Yes. Madam’s and her friends’ cars are still parked at the gate.”
Han Siqi sighs with relief.
“How is it going?” Zhen Chao gets into the car too.
“My subordinate told me that Zhengzheng, Qiubo and Tian were playing mahjong in a hotel.”
“Can she play mahjong?” Zhen Chao is surprised.
“I didn’t know she could play mahjong, either. I’ll go there for a look. You…”
“If so, I won’t go there. There’re many things to be dealt with – though I want to see how my sister plays mahjong.” Zhen Chao laughs and gets out of the car.
Han Siqi gives a faint smile. Then he starts the car and heads for Home Inn.
Once he stops the car outside the hotel, Lu Song and other buddies come out of another car parked nearby.
“Mr. Han, madam is the easternmost room on the second floor.”
Han Siqi comes to the room, knocks on the door, and hears Sun Qiubo respond loudly, “Who is it?”
“Han Siqi.”
Soon Sun Qiubo opens the door. She seems to be surprised to see Han Siqi, “Why are you here?”
“I come to pick Zhengzheng up.”
“Zhengzheng went home long before.”
A thrill runs through Han Siqi, “When did she go home?”
“She went home soon after she arrived here. At about 9:00.”
“At 9:10. I watched the clock then and asked why she went home so early since Siqi wasn’t at home.” Tian Xin adds behind.
Recently Ji Muxian and He Menghuai always work overtime till midnight. Tian Xin and Sun Qiubo feel bored, so they often invite two regular female customers of their restaurant to play mahjong. Tonight, Tian Xin had the Midas touch, so she called Fu Zhengzheng to show off gladly. Fu Zhengzheng was driving back from Weihan Building. Hearing that they were playing mahjong, she asked where they were and said she wanted to watch it, because Siqi wasn’t at home and she was bored.
“It’s impossible! We stayed outside all the time and didn’t see madam go out.” Lu Song’s face changes too. He points to a guy behind him, “Go to the front desk and ask if madam is sleeping in another room.”
Tian Xin also becomes anxious. She shakes her head, “She doesn’t need to. This is a suite. If she is tired, she can rest here.”
Sun Quibo says hurriedly, “We reached a consensus with Zhengzheng that she wouldn’t go home until Siqi came to pick her up. But after Zhengzheng stayed here for just a while, she said she had something to do and had to leave. She also asked us to teach her to play mahjong next time, so she must have left. Maybe you didn’t notice her when she went out?”
Lu Song replies affirmatively, “Madam’s car is still parked outside. If she went home, she must have driven the car. She knew we were outside. If she didn’t want to drive the car, she could tell us to drive her back – the point is we didn’t see her go out!”
At this moment, the hotel manager comes in and says no lady surnamed Fu has checked in tonight.
“Show us the surveillance video of your hotel from 9:00 to 10:00.” Lu Song says.
The manager apologies to explain, “Sorry, the surveillance equipment doesn’t work recently.”
“It doesn’t work?” Lu Song gets furious immediately.
Then three other buddies of Lu Song run in, “Mr. Han, Brother Song, we’ve checked all places we could search upstairs and downstairs at the fastest speed but didn’t find madam. Now only the rooms remain to be checked.”
It’s only a small hotel consisting of only four floors. Tian Xin and Sun Qiubo come to play mahjong here, just because it’s the nearest one from their restaurant. That’s why these guys can finish checking it during such a short time.
Lu Song tells the manager, “Open all the rooms and let us check – madam must be in one of the rooms.”
The manager becomes panicky and stops Lu Song immediately, “Sorry, guests are inside the rooms. They will be frightened away.”
Han Siqi interrupts, “Are you sure that Zhengzheng didn’t leave the hotel?”
“Yes! We guarded the gate all the time. After madam entered, we hadn’t seen her go out or someone suspicious come in before you arrived here.”
Hearing Lu Song’s affirmative reply, Han Siqi doesn’t say anything more. It shows his acquiesce in Lu Song’s action.
Lu Song takes the hint. He finds a waiter with the manager instantly and knocks on the door of each room.
In fact, there are not so many people checking in as the manager said. Only about ten rooms are occupied and others are vacant. The waiter opens all rooms for them. Fifteen minutes later, Lu Song and his men return to the previous room.
“It’s so weird. We checked each room but didn’t see madam!” Lu Song is confused.
“Could Zhengzheng disappear without a trace?” Sun Qiubo is close to tears.
“Um, there is a side door on the east. Did your madam go out through it possibly?” The manager interrupts with an embarrassed grin.
Han Siqi casts his eyes to Lu Song. He replies at once, “We didn’t know the side door indeed in the beginning, but later we thought there might be a side door. After we asked and confirmed it, I sent two guys to guard there. I remember clearly they went there at 9:00 – just now Miss Tian said madam left at 9:10.”
Tian Xin nods instantly, “Right, at 9:10. I watched the clock on the wall, and I remember it clearly.”
The manager interrupts with an embarrassed grin again, “The clock is slow for over ten minutes. I wanted to set it yesterday, but I forgot.”
Lu Song takes out his cellphone quickly to compare the time. The clock is slow up to thirteen minutes. It means Fu Zhengzheng went downstairs at 8:57, but at that time they didn’t know the existence of the side door! He gets panicky instantly.
“Did madam walk home?” A guy can’t help bearing such an expectation.
Lu Song dials the landline in Han Siqi’s house, but it’s not answered.
Han Siqi is extremely anxious and his mind is in a mess. He has no time to blame them. He asks Tian Xin, “Did Zhengzheng say what she would do when she left?”
Tian Xin shakes her head, “No. She stood on the balcony for a while. Then she entered, said she had something to do and then left in a hurry.”
“Stood on the balcony for a while?”
Hearing that, Lu Song rushes to the balcony to check. Han Siqi strides there too.
“Did madam see something interesting on the balcony so she went downstairs and left through the eastern side door?” Lu Song guesses.
Han Siqi dashes downstairs and walks out of the eastern side door. It’s an alley without street lamps. It’s only wide enough for one car to run through.
Lu Song checks around carefully with the flashlight brought by the manager, but he doesn’t find anything unusual.
“Well, I recall something suddenly.” The guy guarding the side door shouts suddenly.
“What?” Han Siqi and Lu Song fix their eyes on him simultaneously.
“When we drove to watch the side door, a car with the license plate covered ran out of the alley. Did it take madam away?”
Lu Song snaps, “Why didn’t you say earlier?”
The guy murmurs as if he made a mistake, “I thought madam stayed upstairs, so I didn’t think more. Madam knew we were around here. When she found something abnormal, why didn’t she call us?”
Lu Song regrets again, “When I went out of the room, I told madam ‘Enjoy yourselves. I’m leaving.’ Did she think I would leave the hotel?”
Hearing that, Sun Qiubo curses, “Didn’t your teacher tell you to articulate your idea? You are utterly useless rather than protecting Zhengzheng.”
“They didn’t mean to.” Tian Xin is worried about Fu Zhengzheng too. She pulls Sun Qiubo aside and signals her to be quiet, “It’s not the time to find out who is to blame. We should consider how to find Zhengzheng. I’ll call Muxian.”
Sun Qiubo also calls He Menghuai immediately.
Han Siqi is talking with Zhen Chao on the phone and tells Fu Zhengzheng’s disappearance to him briefly.
Zhen Chao is taken by surprise, “I’ll check the surveillance around there right now. Wait for my information.”
Han Siqi stands at the hotel gate and looks at the road with a deep frown.
Before entering the hotel room where Zhen Chao stayed, he switched his cellphone into the vibration mode in order not to disturb Zhen Chao’s commanding. Damn it! He missed such an important call! If he could answer her call immediately, Lu Song and his men could be able to save her as soon as possible!
He is so regretful that he wants to beat himself up. He even doesn’t know who has taken her away.
Zhu Ting’s cellphone is found around Central Street, and Home Inn is just outside this street. Zhu Ting was attacked in the alley and Zhengzheng happened to see it when she breathed fresh air on the balcony? She wanted to save Zhu Ting but couldn’t get through to him. She thought Lu Song and his men had left. Afraid that Zhu Ting would be harmed, she tailed them by herself? Fu Zhengzheng can’t be reached. Is it because she has been found?
Then she must be in great danger!
Han Siqi’s body is covered with chill sweat. Tian Xin runs over, “Siqi, Muxian said he received a message prompt that Zhengzheng called him at 8:58. But he was carrying out a task and his cellphone was switched off.”
It seems his guess is probably true. Han Siqi holds the cellphone so tightly that his fingers become pale. So does his face. Lu Song and others are very panicky, but they don’t know what to do and have to stand there, lowing their heads and waiting for his instruction.
At this moment, Zhen Chao calls. Han Siqi’s hand trembles and the cellphone almost falls on the ground.