20th December, 2020
Jiang Yi Nan's POV
I am Jiang Yi Nan. For me my life and everything is my brother. But from the past few days he has not been feeling well. Seeing him like this was very hard for me. He's always been the same hiding all problems inside him and not letting others worry. So, I thought of giving him a day off from business affairs and booked a room in Windsor Exotica.
"Come on let's –" I was cut by a phone call.
"President Jiang we have an urgent meeting right now. I'm very sorry sir for the sudden notice." , He Xin, my brother's secretary said.
"It's me Jiang Yi Nan my brother won't attend the meeting, but I'll be there just guide me through it."
"Okay sir."
"Sorry bro but I won't be able to accompany you to the hotel. Should I cancel the meeting?"
"Let me attend the meeting, you don't know the details of the project."
"He Xin can help me. You really need a break from this all. Come on I'll drop you there."
"Yi Nan-"
"No no no I won't listen to anything. Come on."
I left him in the hotel around 9:30 a.m. and went to the company. My brother was definitely right, I'm shit at this. God bless He Xin to help me with it. It was around 3o' clock when everything was finally over. I decided to check up on my brother. Once, twice, thrice I called him ten times but he didn't pick up. Logical part of my brain thought he was sleeping, but emotional part sensed danger. I rushed to the hotel to check up on him.
"Excuse me Miss can you please open up Room no. 1005 for me. My brother is in that room and he is not answering to my calls."
"Sir he might be sleeping."
"I don't care open the room right now."
We rushed to my brother's room. While I was busy praying for everything to be fine, the door opened. What I saw, was something I would not have even seen in my scariest nightmare. In front of me was my brother lying in a pool of blood. Not knowing how I should react to the scene in front of me, I rubbed my eyes multiple times hoping this all was just a stupid nightmare. I even pinched myself but it was real. This all was real. My life, my support system, my idol, my rock, my everything was lying in front of me, lifeless in a pool of blood. The receptionist checked his pulse to find none. She was the one to inform the police. After the police came they started to ask questions. Honestly I was too overwhelmed to understand or answer anything. God bless her for taking care of the situation.
"Excuse me sir! Sir! Is the victim married?"
I nodded.
"Please call his wife. We need permission to perform autopsy."
I didn't even know how to inform my family. But still I called my sister-in-law, Song Qin.
"Sis!"
"What happened Yi Nan? Why are you sounding so sad?"
"Sis, my bro- brother"
"What happened to Yi Xing?"
"Someone- someone kill- killed him. Sis please come here fast. I'll send you the address."
After some time my whole family arrived there. It took more than few hours for the police to gather the evidence and get the autopsy report.
"Sir the autopsy report shows no chemical or poison in the body. Death was caused due to a single knife strike. Murder weapon was the knife which is present in the hotel room. So it's hard to find the murderer. We checked for fingerprints and found some on the doorbell and door, but none on the murder weapon. We have got the hotel CCTV footage and will check if there were any visitors. But sir there is a problem, the only camera in the hotel is here in the lobby. The receptionist said it's done to maintain privacy of the customers."
For few hours they checked all the footage. There was one woman, after checking with the receptionist, we got to know that she went to my brother's room only.
"Sir we found out the girl's background. Her name is Shen Xiaoxi. She works for a tabloid company. There's no history of crime records. We contacted her company for biometrics and it was a match with the found fingerprints. It was indeed she who went to Mr. Jiang Yi Xing's room. I have applied for an arrest warrant. We'll get it by tomorrow." One of the officers said to his head.
"Alright you all have worked hard. We'll bring her tomorrow for further investigation."
The chief then turned towards me and said, "Mr. Jiang Yi Nan, would suggest you to go home we'll call you if we need anything. Thank you for help."
Going back to house was even saddening than before. All I could think was it's my entire fault. I shouldn't have forced him to go to the hotel. Or I should have gone with him or I should have let him come to the company and then go to relax together. There are so many things I could've done to save my brother. I swear to God I won't let that women live her life peacefully. I will make her life worse than hell. After killing my brother she can't enjoy her life. I will make her regret this for the rest of her life.
NEXT MORNING
The first thing I did was to call my reporter friend, Pei Encai.
"Hey Encai, can you do me a favor?"
"Sure say what's up?"
"I want you to release a piece of news."
"What kind of news Yi Nan?"
"I've sent the details on your phone. She is suspect in my brother's case."
"Yi Nan I am sorry. I cannot. She is just a suspect. It's against our ethics as a reporter. I can even be fired for this."
"Please Encai, do this as a favor. I promise I won't let this affect your career."
"Yi Nan try-"
"Please please please please-"
"Okay okay stop I'll do it. But if something happens to my career, you are taking the responsibility."
"Yes yes I promise. Thank you so much."
"Okay I'll send you a confirmation message after it's published. Talk to you later. Bye."
After talking to her, I went to the police station. At the same time that woman was bought there. Just the mere sight of her, made my blood boiled. It took many hours for the police for the investigation. After collecting her statement and looking for her alibis, the police came to me.
"Mr. Jiang Yi Nan, she has the alibi of her innocence, so right now we can't arrest her."
"What do you mean? Who's her alibi?"
"It's a friend of her."
"Isn't it possible that her friend is lying too?"
"Sir even if that is a possibility; we still can't arrest her with basic evidences. She is still a suspect, but we have to release her right now."
"What if she tries to kill any of my family members? No you should keep her here. She killed my brother. She can't be free!"
"Sir please calm down. Screaming won't find your brother's killer."
"I don't want to calm down. I want to see my brother's killer behind the bars."
"Sir for the time being we can't keep her here. We have to investigate more and then we can do anything." As he was saying this I saw her coming out. I couldn't control my anger anymore and screamed.
"Why did you kill my brother? Who are you even? Huh. Officers, how can she be released? You yes, you whatever your name is I'll make your life hell. You can't enjoy freedom after taking my brother's life."
As I charged towards her, I was stopped by the police officers and the lawyer took her outside.
"Mr. Jiang Yi Nan we understand that you are sad, angry and frustrated. We sympathize with you, but breaking laws and being violent is not the solution. Remember, this is a police station you can't cross limits. Right now she's just a suspect. We don't have proper evidence against her so we can't keep her. Do you understand this? We assure you that your brother will get justice. But please abide by the rules sir. I think you should go back, if we find any information, we'll contact you. In a day or two we will complete all the formalities and send your brother's body to you. Then you can organize the funeral. Thank you for cooperating. You may leave now."
I never felt so helpless and powerless as I was feeling while going back home. I could not do anything. My brother's killer is still out there living the time of her life. As soon as I went home my sister-in-law came towards me.
"Yi Nan what happened?"
"That girl has some alibi for her testimony. So they can't arrest her. I'm pretty sure this is all part of her plan. I don't even understand why she did this. But I assure you all, I will make her pay for what she did."
"At what time did she arrive at the hotel?"
"It was around 12 noon."
She thought for some time and said, "What if she's not lying? If she's innocent then we are just torturing her and nothing else."
"But how would she know where my brother was staying. Only I and you knew it. It's impossible for her to know it. I am pretty sure that she is hiding something. She must be an important part of this whole murder."
"But there is a possibility that she was stalking him and found him going there."
"Sis stalking him would tell the place not the room number. Something is fishy here. I don't believe that she is innocent. But why are you defending her?"
"I am not!"
"Sis why are you screaming?"
"I'm not. I just-"
At that time the guard came in and said, "Sir someone named Shen Xiaoxi is here. She wants to talk to you and is saying that until and unless she talks to you she won't leave from here. Sir I tried to-"
"Let her in."
She came inside angrily and said, "Mr. Jiang Yi Nan I get that you are angry at the person who killed your brother. I understand your feelings and honestly I sympathize with you."
"I don't need your stupid sympathy I just want you behind the bars."
"But why, I didn't even do anything? Why are you trying to put the blame on me? I have an alibi that I didn't even go inside your brother's room. I feel like the truth is you are hiding something. Maybe you are behind your brother's murder. Oh yes maybe you did this all for money. This all makes sense now. I am pretty sure that-" Before she could continue my mother slapped her.
"Get out of my house. Is it not enough that you snatched my son from me? Do you want to harm my other son too?"
"I did not kill your son. I don't even know him. Okay you all know what now I will definitely find out who it was. After doing that I'll throw the results on your face. It's fine if you don't want to help me, but at least don't throw baseless accusations. You all just wait." She said and went out.
"I don't know what that woman wants from my family." My mother and sister- in-law also went inside, leaving me with my thoughts.
All I want is to punish the killer of my brother. If she's actually speaking the truth and is going to find them, then I should be a part of it too. Of course I don't believe her. I'm only doing this so that she can't alter the proofs. After I made up my mind I found out her location. It was pretty easy. This woman does not have any security. As soon as I reached there I saw her with that lawyer.
"Mr Zhang I think we should try to find out who sent the email. Do you know how to do that?"
"I suck at tech stuff. We need a hacker for it. But who will help us?"
"I will!" I said.
They both turned back and said, "YOU?"