Chapter 172: The Long Easter (Part 7)

In the interrogation room of the Cat Getan Police Department, Schiller held a cup of hot coffee and blew on it. The white mist rising from the cup drifted away, staining the lenses of his glasses.

The police officer sitting opposite him stood up and gave the seat to Gordon. Gordon tapped the table and said helplessly: "Can you have the look of a suspect? This is the interrogation room of the police station! I don't handcuff you, and that's not a reason for you to drink coffee!"

"The police officer outside even complained that you don't drink Americano, you have to drink concentrated. He has to run to the fourth floor to use the new coffee machine…"

"Can you not act like you are familiar with the interrogation room, like a habitual offender?"

"I am an outsider, so I am sitting here drinking coffee. If it were a local…"

Schiller looked around. Gordon followed his gaze, and the two looked at the dense bullet holes on the wall. Gordon was speechless for a moment. He knew what Schiller wanted to say in the second half of the sentence. If it were a local of Cat Getan, they would have started a full-scale fight by now.

"No matter what you have investigated, I can only tell you that you have found the wrong person. I am just a university professor who hasn't even fired a gun."

Gordon sighed again. He sat opposite Schiller and said: "According to our investigation, the only person in the school who has a clear conflict with the new principal Xie Dun is you. You are our key investigation target."

"What conflict do I have with him?" Schiller asked Gordon: "I have perfectly completed all the teaching tasks he arranged. Even for other arrangements beyond the scope of work, I haven't delayed at all."

"I concurrently served as a freshman guide, librarian, and archivist, and I didn't ask for a salary increase…"

"But according to the testimony of other faculty and staff in the school, the new principal Xie Dun is quite dissatisfied with you."

"He is dissatisfied with me, then why is he the one who died?"

"That's what I have to ask you."

"You cannot assume my motive by guessing my mind. In my opinion, he is not a good principal, but he is not too bad either. Perhaps he has an opinion on me personally, but we haven't had any differences in work, nor have we had any substantive conflicts. We haven't infringed on each other's interests, and there is no deep hatred worth killing."

Gordon looked at him silently. He also knew that what Schiller said was right. According to their investigation, although Xie Dun seemed to have a bad attitude toward Schiller and always wanted to find trouble, they indeed didn't have much conflict in work. They didn't have any disobedience to work arrangements, and they rarely communicated, let alone had any direct disputes.

In fact, Gordon didn't hold much hope for the investigation of Schiller because, based on his understanding of this professor, if he did it, he wouldn't take this direct method. If he really took this method, he wouldn't let anyone catch evidence.

In comparison, Victor was more suspicious because he was the first person to discover the crime scene, and he had a good relationship with Schiller and didn't like Xie Dun much.

And before, Victor also complained to his colleagues that Xie Dun's arrangement for Easter was too tight. Although this was not enough to become a reason for murder, it could also be seen that he didn't like this new principal.

Hobbies

According to Gordon's investigation, Xie Dun had no bad habits. If he had to say one, it was that he was too much like a politician, always wandering among the powerful and participating in various Cat Getan upper-class banquets and activities, expressing his views on various social events as a principal.

Of course, perhaps out of fear of gangs, he was not a righteous rationalist, and his attitude was quite wavering. Such a person was not easy to have a life-and-death feud with others.

Schiller sat opposite Gordon and said: "Actually, I do have a clue to tell you."

"What is it?"

Schiller put down the coffee cup. He put both hands on the table and said: "This new principal is keen on getting to know the upper-class people of gangs, just like he made friends with dignitaries in other cities."

"But gangs and ordinary businessmen are different. The lifeblood and secrets of certain illegal industries cannot be known by anyone. I suspect… of course, just suspect…"

"You mean, Xie Dun might have been silenced?"

Gordon thought for a while and then said: "There is indeed such a possibility. The level of gang members he made friends with can indeed come into contact with some secrets that others don't know. If Xie Dun participated in certain things…"

"Of course, I want to emphasize that this is just a guess, and it is my personal guess. I am not pointing at anyone, nor have I heard any rumors."

Gordon stared at him. He turned his eyelids up and looked from above his eyes, asking Schiller: "Code of Silence?"

Schiller shook his head and made a cross on his chest.

Just as Gordon continued to talk to Schiller, a police officer knocked on the door, walked into the room, saluted Gordon, and said: "Chief, there is a new discovery."

Then this young police officer glanced at Schiller, seemingly asking Gordon if he wanted to go out and talk. Gordon said directly: "No need to go out, just say it here."

This was also a common means in interrogation, using the progress of the new case to increase pressure on the interrogated person. Gordon didn't want to deal with Schiller through this means; he was just used to it.

"We found that the victim's desk drawers and cabinets were all turned over. A locked drawer in the bottom layer of the desk was pried away, so we searched the entire desk carefully and found a secret compartment on the side of the middle drawer."

As he said, the young police officer took out a transparent plastic bag, which contained a cassette tape. Gordon signaled the police officer behind him to bring a tape recorder, then put on gloves, took out the cassette tape to look at it, and said: "There is no damage on the surface, it should be playable directly."

Gordon put the cassette into the tape recorder and pressed the button on it. After the tape recorder started working, the first thing that came out was a crackling current sound, followed by a burst of noisy noise.

Immediately after, a familiar voice came from the tape: "They are taking the route of Old Wilkin for the goods of the 9th plantation, which is the route through the three streets of the East District. Their cargo volume is too large, so the delivery port is set in the basement of a nightclub. If you need it, I can say hello to him…"

"Are you worried about this? No need. As far as I know, that underground chemical plant in the West District is also Falcone…"

Hearing this, Gordon's fingers shook, and he immediately turned off the tape recorder. He said to the others in the room: "For your life safety, you didn't hear anything, understand?"

The young subordinates covered their ears instantly, nodded, and then left. After they left, Gordon stared at Schiller. Schiller said to Gordon: "Officer, I want to report the crime. Someone eavesdropped on my privacy and recorded it."

"What kind of privacy is this? You…"

"Then you can completely broadcast this recording through the police station's radio."

"You just say it if you want to destroy the Cat Getan Police Department."

Gordon took a deep breath. He sat down in his seat first and then made a gesture to Schiller to sit down, saying in a soothing way: "Alright, alright, I am not saying that you killed Xie Dun, but you should at least explain to me, what is going on?"

"I say it again, I didn't kill him."

Schiller sat down, took another sip of coffee, and said: "You should know that there are cameras in Cat Getan University, right? Our principal Xie Dun observes the situation in the school through cameras in his office every day."

"Including the phone calls I answered in the public area, but I really didn't know he also recorded it." Schiller shook his head and said: "I have to say, as an outsider, he is really bold."

Gordon let out the breath he was holding and then said: "It seems he was indeed silenced…"

"This is the crime scene." Gordon took over a stack of photos and said: "According to our investigation, Xie Dun was pushed down the stairs. The balcony railing of his 8th-floor office is very low. He should have been pushed when he was standing in front of the railing, and then fell down."

"According to the investigation of the scene, when he was pushed down, he should have been facing away from that person. That is to say, he likely knew the murderer and had no defense against the murderer. When he was talking with his back to the murderer, he was pushed down."

"This is a crime committed by an acquaintance, and the method is far from the Cat Getan style. No submachine gun or shotgun was used, and it wasn't even a handgun murder."

"So, Victor and I became suspects, right? Because we two were familiar with Xie Dun, and we are outsiders, not very good at using guns, and not strong enough."

"Now you are much more suspicious than Victor. After all, he heard some inside information passed from you, you have a motive to silence him…"

Just then, a violent noise came from the center of the police station lobby, accompanied by shouting and cursing. Gordon stood up immediately. A police officer rushed in and said: "Detective Gordon, something happened again!"

"Don't panic, what happened?" Gordon stood up and turned to ask him. The police officer said loudly: "Winnie at the front desk and Bird on duty suddenly went crazy! Others are subduing them…"

"Going crazy?" Gordon immediately thought of something. He turned to open the iron door of the interrogation room, let Schiller out, and then several people hurried to the front hall.

When they arrived at the front hall, the people who went crazy had been subdued, but they were still struggling and growling. Gordon wanted to go up, but another police sergeant stopped him and said: "Don't go over. They are crazy. I was almost bitten by them just now!"

"What exactly is going on? How did it suddenly…"

"Who knows? Originally I was chatting with Winnie. We talked about the arrangements for this year's Easter, but she suddenly started twitching, then leaned back fiercely, and then started smashing the counter with her arms, and even threw the chair out. Bird on the other side also went crazy…" a police officer holding Winnie said.

Gordon wanted to walk to the counter to check, but Schiller sniffed, pulled Gordon, and said: "Don't go over, evacuate the personnel first, send the patients to the hospital, and then look for the gas masks in your armory. There is likely a problem…"

"You mean…" Gordon paused and shouted: "Everyone evacuate! Leave this room! Go to an open place, don't get close here!"

Until everyone went out, Schiller walked in alone. His pace was too fast, and Gordon didn't pull him.

When Schiller walked to the counter, he found some eggshell fragments there, and they were colorful.

Gordon stood outside the room and waved at Schiller constantly. Schiller observed the surroundings and walked out, saying to Gordon: "It should be that the Easter eggs have a problem."

"Easter eggs? I seem to have heard Winnie mention it, saying she received a very beautiful Easter egg today…" another female police officer said.

"Do you remember the collective illness of students at Cat Getan University?"

Schiller narrowed his eyes, took out his mobile phone, and called his colleague Anna: "Hello… Yes, I want to ask, have those Easter eggs you purchased outside been distributed to the students?"

"Is that so? Can you remember who you distributed them to? Can you give me a list? Okay, thank you…"

Then, he called Victor and asked: "Have you distributed the Easter eggs you made yourself to the students? … Already distributed? Then do you remember who you gave them to? Can you give me a list?"

Schiller explained to Gordon: "Before Easter, Principal Xie Dun suddenly issued a lot of raw materials for making Easter eggs, asking professors to make Easter eggs themselves and give them to students."

"My colleague Anna and I found it troublesome, so we didn't make them ourselves but bought ready-made ones from outside. Now both kinds of Easter eggs have been distributed to students. I asked them for the list of students who received the eggs. We compare them, and we can know which kind of eggs have problems…" ===== CHAPTER 173 =====