The Vanishing Lover

She was a smart girl.

No wonder she had worked at a law firm. When speaking before the police, Miaomiao was extremely measured.

She only revealed the exact words she had heard from Qi Min's own mouth. Anything that wasn't fact, mere speculation or hearsay, she didn't utter a single word.

Xu Ruyi sat opposite, watching Miaomiao quietly. When she had first approached this girl, what Miaomiao had told her was actually much more extensive.

"Sister Xu, let me tell you, many people at our firm know about their relationship. Even though they both try to hide it, how can something like this really be hidden?"

Yes, an affair couldn't be hidden, especially when the woman couldn't resist the urge to announce it to the world.

"I heard people say Qi Min has wild ambitions; she wants to take your place! She's really delusional! I heard she's very confident, saying Lawyer Qin trusts her completely, tells her everything, even about his past lover. She said that woman was very beautiful, but not smart enough. She was discovered by his mother-in-law—that is, Sister Xu, your mother!"

Those were things Miaomiao had heard through other channels, their truth unverifiable. Smart as she was, she didn't utter a single word of these rumors before the police.

She had only spilled all this gossip to Xu Ruyi because of the watch.

"Qi Min's huge ambitions are known to everyone at the firm. People just see through it without saying it out loud. When she went to the hospital to care for your father, everyone laughed at her behind her back."

"But she was quite smug about it! Said Lawyer Qin sent her, that he only trusted her, and even said you, Sister Xu, were her good friend. Bah! What right does she have to be your friend?"

"After that time caring for your father, she let slip a little something to a colleague."

"I heard it from that colleague, okay? She said Lawyer Qin sent her to the hospital originally to teach your father a lesson, to tell him Lawyer Qin was going to marry Qi Min. Just listen to that, Sister Xu! Does that Qi woman have any brains? So naive and shameless! Scheming against Lawyer Qin is one thing, but scheming against your family too!"

"She also said Lawyer Qin told her about your family's substantial wealth, how many properties, how much savings. What does that have to do with her, right? Privately, we all felt it was unfair to you, Sister Xu. Lawyer Qin, Lawyer Qin really went too far. Having such a good wife and still cheating! And since he's cheating, is he really planning to take your family's property too?"

"But Qi Min said—this was to others, mind you—she said Lawyer Qin was very resourceful. Even if you divorced, he could take away more than half of your family's property. Hmph! Pipe dream!"

"She also said, though, that Lawyer Qin is actually quite timid. After Qi Min came back from caring for your father, Lawyer Qin kept pressing her: 'What did my father-in-law say to you? Tell me everything immediately, don't leave out a single word…'"

"After you told her all this, what was Xu Ruyi's reaction?"

The team leader glanced at Xu Ruyi, who looked dazed, and asked Miaomiao.

"Sister Xu... Sister Xu cried right then and there..."

Yes, Xu Ruyi had cried that day.

She cried "mournfully" and "miserably," even accidentally breaking a cup—so Miaomiao remembered it vividly.

"Sister Xu's eyes were swollen from crying that day," Miaomiao said, her face full of guilt and sorrow. "I knew she was upset, but not telling her felt like deceiving her, which would be worse."

"Actually... actually, everyone at our firm disapproved of Lawyer Qin and Qi Min's affair. But before, no one dared to tell Sister Xu. We... we only discussed it behind her back. Everyone said Lawyer Qin went too far. Benefiting from his in-laws' support, their help, yet betraying his marriage, having an affair... and even... coveting..."

Coveting his in-laws' property.

"These were things colleagues at the firm discussed privately. Actually... it was Qi Min herself who first said it," Miaomiao said, seeing Xu Ruyi's look of desolation and gloom, finally gathering the courage to speak out.

Before the business trip, Qi Min had uttered the words Qin Guan found most intolerable—that he was unfaithful and still scheming for his in-laws' property.

This was Qin Guan's motive for murder.

"You said almost no one at your law firm knew about your affair with Qi Min?"

At this moment, Qin Guan sat before the polygraph, calmly and seriously receiving each question posed by the police.

The polygraph test was his request. He wanted to prove that everything he said was true.

"Yes, almost no one at the firm knew."

His tone was steady. Beside him, the lines on the polygraph remained gentle and steady.

"However, thinking carefully, I can't be completely sure. Qi Min was very vain and cared a lot about face. It's possible she deliberately hinted at it privately to someone to show off her charm. Anyway, she never told me she did, but it's possible. So, maybe a few colleagues guessed our relationship wasn't purely professional."

He quickly added.

He had to make good use of this hard-won polygraph opportunity.

No mistakes could be made.

"That business trip was planned by the firm long ago; it wasn't my idea to take her on a whim. Other colleagues were present at the time. So that motive doesn't exist. It's impossible I planned to kill her before the trip. I had no opportunity to do so. Moreover, acting during our trip would be tantamount to pointing suspicion directly at myself. I'm a lawyer; I wouldn't be that stupid."

He was truly calm now.

With calmness came clarity of mind.

"At the lakeside villa, this is what happened: We were in bed, playing the stocking game—a game we'd played before. Qi Min suddenly stopped moving. No breathing, skin deathly pale, symptoms matching death by suffocation. I'm completely unprofessional in medical matters. Based only on my experience from cases I've seen at work, plus panic, I thought she was really dead."

"Having your lover die during an affair—that threw me into complete chaos."

"Even if she had really died, it would have been an accident. I should have reported it to the police then. But I was worried about my reputation, my career prospects, my family, my wife, and so on. I thought too much, was too afraid, so I concealed it. I harbored a hope, a professional kind of hope."

"I decided to dispose of the body because I knew that without a body, you couldn't file a case."

"So I stuffed her into the suitcase, thinking to throw it away without anyone knowing. Who could have predicted that by a twist of fate, the suitcase would be pushed into the lake by two young guys out playing?"

"To cover up this accident, I took Qi Min's phone, posted on her social media, dealt with her boyfriend Li Yang, and even sent a resignation report to my boss—all to buy time and avoid being implicated."

"But when I flew home and went to pick up my car at the airport, I saw a business card stuck in the car window. On it was written: 'I know what you did.'"

Brushing aside the fog, the suspicious incidents of the past now clearly unfolded before Qin Guan's eyes.

That business card was the start of his panic, the beginning of a series of coincidences he encountered after returning from his trip.

"I was very scared at the time. I thought someone had discovered my body disposal. Later, when Qi Min blackmailed me, I thought it was her doing. I should say I always believed it was Qi Min. But now, looking back, it probably wasn't Qi Min who put it there. It was Xu Ruyi who did this."

Qin Guan had regained the clarity and rationality of a professional lawyer.

"That's right. From that very moment, Xu Ruyi began acting against me."