He went straight into his office, walked up to the whiteboard, picked up a black colored whiteboard marker. He uncapped the marker, raised his hands to the whiteboard, and wrote out in bold letters.
Who killed Mandy Lee?
He stood back for a few seconds, before taking a few steps back absent-mindedly until he got to the edge of his desk.
He sat at the edge of his desk, eyes fixed on the board, slowly going through the case in his head. From start to finish, starting with the evidence present.
Mandy Lee had been found dead by her assistant at her house, in the early time of the morning.
According to the Medical Examiner, Mandy Lee had been killed in the late hours of the night between 10 pm and 11 pm. Based on the small trail of blood, on the floor next to the swimming pool.
The forensic team had deduced, that the victim had been pushed down her balcony by the killer.
Based on the trajectory she had landed a few steps away from the pool. The fall from that distance wouldn't be enough to kill her, so she was alive.
The medical examiner had reported, that the victim had a few broken bones and injuries similar to that of a person that falls from a height.
The injuries however wouldn't kill her quickly, so the killer most definitely didn't want to leave any loose ends and kicked her into the pool. Which was where her assistant had found the body.
Then had found a bruise that must have come from the killer's final kick, which proved their first assumption right.
All the surveillance cameras had been turned off during the routine maintenance, so they had been unable to get any footage from that day.
They had questioned the security guards, who identified Director Sun as the only visitor that had come in during the time frame of the murder.No other visitor had been allowed in after he had left.
Director Sun had been questioned but he had an alibi for the time of the murder. His alibi had completely checked out so he had been dismissed.
Since there had been no other visitors at the estate that night, the killer could be a Resident of the estate. That is the only way he or she could easily go in and out of Mandy's house.
Based on the evidence and the scene, Shi Xiaozhi made an objective observation the murder had been a crime of passion, committed in the heat of the moment.
The killer kicked her into the pool, to cover all loose ends and prevent her from revealing the identity of her killer. The killer would have stayed back, to ensure that she was dead, before leaving the scene.
"That's it, Why didn't I think of this" excitedly he ran out of the room, and standing by his office door, he called in the rest of his team.
Minutes later Wen Zhu, Kong Ming, and Guo Jiajia were standing around his desk.
"What's going on Chief, do we have any other instructors to give?", Wen Zhu asked after a few seconds of silence since they came in.
He was the eldest member of the team and the next in the chain of commands after Assistant Chief Detective who was not on duty.
"Yes, I have a lead"
"Really"
"Wow"
"That's wonderful"
They said in unison, their face brightening up completely. They had been working around the clock for weeks. Trying to crack the case, finally, they have a lead.
This was indeed very good news, maybe if they finally solved the case. They wouldn't have to work overtime pretty much every day of the week.
Detective Wen Zhu couldn't remember, when last he had dinner with his wife and kids, since the case started.
"I'm glad that you're excited because we will have to work overtime to interview every single resident and staff in the estate"
'Ah there it is, he was wondering when the Chief would deliver the bad news. Chief Detective Xiaozhi never did things in half' Wen Zhu thought 'It seems that he was getting too old for this job'
"Guo Jiajia draft out a list of Residents and staff of the estate. Kong Ming, Please find out their details while Wen Zhu and I send out the invitation.
We'll start Inviting them over tomorrow. Okay let's get started, Wen Zhu you stay back."
"Yes sir" they replied in unison.
Guo Jiajia and Kong Ming quickly left the room to carry out their tasks, while Wen Zhu stayed back to assist Chief Detective Xiaozhi.
The next day, Captain Huang was greeted by a small crowd. Most of which were dressed in branded clothes.
They were seated around the room, a few were conversing with each other. While some were playing with their phones.
It was a scene from his recent reoccurring nightmare. He took an officer to the side and asked for an explanation.
The response left him flabbergasted then annoyed. He charged for the Chief Detective's office, to get some answers.
"What do you think you're doing Detective Xiaozhi," Captain Huang asked as soon as the door was shut.
"Captain Huang!"
"You had better have a good reason, for inviting the Residents of Springfield estate to the station, without our getting any clearance"
"Sorry about this sir. It had been a sudden decision Since there weren't any other visitors apart from Director Sun.
"I have a hypothesis that the killer might be a Resident of the estate, since whoever it is easily had access to the house and didn't leave the estate"
"That's quite true. Fine Xiaozhi, you can question the Residents, but I better not receive backlash from this"
"Thank you, sir"
Captain Huang didn't bother answering the chief detective. He waved him off and left the room.
Chief detective Xiaozhi questioned the Residents, one at a time. Taking time to investigate and verify their various alibis.
A few of the Residents were out of the country so the process was a bit speedy. The questioning continued a few days until only a handful of people were left.