I Need to Check the Lock

'This whole thing's a headache.'

'You know, for petty theft like this, our security team can handle it directly.' Liu Kezhang pulled out a cigarette and offered it to Wu Suo. 'The goods were probably stolen last night. No alarm, no broken locks or windows — it had to be an inside job with a key.'

'Not many people have the warehouse key. Besides the bosses, only three: Old Xiao who watches the warehouse, team leader Zhou Hongxia, and Chen Hui from finance.'

'Old Xiao's not well off. He's got five sons, life's tight, and the three youngest are always stealing chickens and dogs.'

'Team leader Zhou's got sticky fingers — she's always taking leftover fabric scraps home.'

'Chen Hui from finance... I've never seen him take anything, but he spends like crazy. New clothes and shoes every season, and he just bought a camera. His spending doesn't match his salary.'

'Wu Suo, tell me — which one of these three isn't suspicious?'

Hearing this, Jiang Xia frowned slightly.

Liu Kezhang's suspicion sounded reasonable at first, but aside from Old Xiao's sons, the other two didn't have strong motives. It was like suspecting your neighbor stole your axe just because he looked shady.

With that kind of reasoning, Jiang Xia understood why he was so stressed.

Wu Suo realized it too.

But that was hindsight. If he were in Liu Kezhang's shoes, he'd also suspect an inside job and those three first.

After all, the crime scene and circumstances were that suspicious.

Taking the cigarette, Wu Suo tucked it behind his ear. 'Did they spill everything after questioning?'

'You have no idea!'

Liu Kezhang's face was full of frustration. 'We're all from the same factory, so I didn't push hard. Just asked a few questions, and they all blew up.'

'Team leader Zhou pointed at my nose and yelled, "It's just scrap fabric! Everyone takes it! Why are you pinning the theft on me?"'

'Old Xiao's old. He got so angry he passed out. He just came to, and his family's here yelling that they live in a tiny place where everyone knows if you step out at night. How could they have stolen the goods?'

'As for Chen Hui, he said he was at night school last night and slept there. Several people can vouch for him. No way he came to steal.'

Liu Kezhang let out a long sigh.

'Honestly, they have a point. But only they have keys. Nothing was lost or taken by anyone else. If not them, then who?'

That wasn't certain.

Jiang Xia felt Liu Kezhang was stuck in a rut, but without proof, arguing was pointless. So she went along: 'So you can't prove they stole it, and they can't prove they didn't collude with outsiders. You're stuck. That's a real mess.'

'Exactly!'

Liu Kezhang slapped his thigh excitedly.

He had to admit, the young officer Wu Suo brought was sharp. She hit the nail on the head.

'As the saying goes, catch the thief red-handed. No room for denial! But we found out too late. Didn't catch them in the act, so there's nothing more to find.' Liu Kezhang turned to Wu Suo. 'We're useless. It's up to you now.'

'Don't worry,' Wu Suo said formally. 'We'll do our best.'

But he wasn't confident.

This case was tougher than Dong Aihua's. He had no good ideas. He could only hope Jiang Xia found some clues.

But from what Liu Kezhang said, the crime scene was probably wrecked. She might not find anything.

He'd better think of what to say if they came up empty.

Chen Dong really screwed him over!

As they talked, they reached the warehouse.

The Beifu Factory warehouse was new — a single-story concrete building over twenty meters long. The main door was in the middle, facing the factory's outer wall.

That wall was over two meters high, painted white, looking impressive. But wind and rain had left faint vertical mud stains.

Wiping sweat from his forehead, Liu Kezhang sighed and looked at Wu Suo expectantly. 'This is the warehouse. Old Xiao and the others are waiting next door. Do you want to question them first?'

'Not yet.'

Wu Suo shook his head slightly and looked at Jiang Xia. 'Xiao Jiang, any ideas?'

'I need to see the scene first.'

Standing at the entrance, Jiang Xia let out a long sigh.

Even though she was prepared, seeing the chaotic, unidentifiable footprints behind the warehouse door still made her heart sink.

In solving cases, the three most effective methods were footprints, fingerprints, and interrogation.

Her specialty was tracking footprints.

But with so many people coming and going, the original footprints were destroyed. Tracking was useless!

This was worse than having your main hero banned in a ranked match.

Oh, and your teammate banned it by mistake.

That made it even more painful!

Forget it. Focus on solving the case.

Jiang Xia pulled herself together and walked into the warehouse.

Rows of packed goods greeted her.

There were over a dozen stacks, big and small. The goods inside all looked the same — rectangular, about a meter long and half a meter high, wrapped in brown burlap and tied with rope. They looked like oversized explosive bundles.

Jiang Xia tried lifting a pack at the edge. It was heavy, maybe over a hundred jin.

'Liu Kezhang, were the four missing packs like this?'

Liu Kezhang nodded. 'Yeah, we pack everything like this for easy loading.'

Four packs this heavy couldn't be carried by one person.

There had to be multiple thieves, maybe with a vehicle. Picturing the thief in her mind, Jiang Xia put the pack down and noticed one marked '4-13'.

She walked further and saw another pack marked '3-30'.

To the right, another pack read '4-27'.

These numbers looked like dates.

Jiang Xia thought for a moment and asked, 'Liu Kezhang, are these goods shipped to different places at different times?'

'Huh?' Liu Kezhang was surprised. 'How did you know?'

'Just guessing from the numbers.'

Jiang Xia continued, 'How many people in the factory know this?'

'Lots. Almost everyone.' A vague idea flickered in Liu Kezhang's mind, but he couldn't articulate it. 'Why do you ask?'

Jiang Xia blinked.

If everyone knew, why would an inside thief pick goods being shipped tomorrow?

Were they too panicked?

Possible, but if they were that panicked, how did they manage to lock the door on the way out?

That was suspicious.

Jiang Xia asked, 'Liu Kezhang, which stack was stolen yesterday?'

Liu Kezhang pointed. 'Over there, next to the pillar with the sample.'

'Is that bedsheet the same as the stolen goods?'

'Yeah.'

Jiang Xia walked over. The spot Liu Kezhang pointed to was far from the door, against the wall in an inconspicuous corner. But the workers had already cleared it, leaving only a large red floral bedsheet hanging on a nearby rope.

She glanced at the floor. Sure enough, the footprints were too chaotic to identify.

After checking the whole warehouse, Jiang Xia returned to Wu Suo.

Seeing her expression, Wu Suo was thoughtful.

'Find anything?'

'A bit.'

Jiang Xia shrugged. 'But same old problem — no proof.'

She suspected Liu Kezhang was wrong.

Avoiding guards and patrols, entering without breaking locks or windows, then restoring everything — in most cases, it was an inside job.

But if it were an inside job, they'd pick a stack that wouldn't be shipped soon. Stealing yesterday and having it discovered today was asking to get caught.

There were stacks near the door and middle marked for April shipment. What inside thief would go all the way to the back to steal goods being shipped tomorrow?

Only an outsider used to stealing, who didn't know the schedule, would think taking from the back was safer.

An experienced thief could also case the place, avoid night patrols, pick the lock, steal, and relock the door on the way out.

The logic held, but Jiang Xia didn't speak up.

Without evidence, Liu Kezhang, who was convinced it was an inside job, wouldn't believe her.

Jiang Xia pondered.

The key difference was the entry method.

An inside thief used a key.

An outsider used tools.

If she could prove tools were used, her theory would be right.

But how?

Jiang Xia looked at the door.

I need to check the lock!

She pulled gloves from her bag and carefully took the padlock off the door.

Seeing this, Wu Suo's eyes twitched.

Not the lock again!

He quickly said, 'Jiang Xia, just look at it!'

Don't you dare pick it in front of Liu Kezhang, or I'll never explain this!