Sister Hong is much easier to find than Curly Qiang. Her current location is actually in a clothing store on the same shopping street as Mustache's antique shop. When we found her, she was busy instructing the renovation workers to change the sign. From this point of view, this store should have been taken down by her just from someone else's hands.

Sister Hong is about thirty years old, although her appearance is not outstanding, but she has a peach blossom face, and she belongs to the stage of full femininity. And her figure is really hot, fat where she should be, thin where she should be thin, and the meat has grown to the right position. It is not surprising that such a woman can make Boss Hong bewildered.

Because the mustache had been on the phone with Sister Hong before she came, she asked as soon as they met, "Are you police?" ”

"Yes!" The mustache took out the fake card and shook it again, then quickly put it away.

"What are you coming to me for?" Sister Hong stroked her hair and showed some impatience.

"Let me ask first, what is the relationship between you and Boss Hong."

"I'm okay with him now!"

"Before?"

"It didn't matter before......" Sister Hong's expression was a little awkward when she answered this question, and she seemed insincere.

"You're still trying to hide it from us?" The mustache was not polite, and directly exposed Sister Hong's old bottom, "Before we came, we had already looked for Boss Hong's wife, and we also asked Curly Maoqiang, and we also asked other people." They told us all about the between you and Boss Hong! ”

Sister Hong's face was not red, but she glanced at her mustache and complained: "You all understand, why are you still asking me what to do?" ”

"As usual, it's always to be asked!" The mustache's voice raised a few degrees.

I saw that the two of them didn't deal with each other very well as soon as they met, so I came out to play a round and asked Sister Hong in a more gentle tone: "We won't ask about the previous matter, I heard that your store was opened by Lai Dong's investment?" ”

Sister Hong hesitated for a moment, and replied reluctantly, "Yes." ”

"How did Lai Dong and you meet? Why are you willing to invest in helping you open a store? ”

"You've got a lot of care!" Sister Hong was even more reluctant, and twisted it twice before muttering, "I met him when I was playing cards with him...... He came to me two days ago and said that he wanted to open a clothing store, but he lacked personal management, so he asked me if I would like to come and help him. I'll just come here......"

Mustache and I both laughed after listening to Sister Hong's explanation. This matter will definitely not be as simple as she said, but what kind of "effort" did she put in to make Lai Dong willingly fund her to open a store, and everyone knows this.

"One last little question for you." The mustache deliberately lowered Sister Hong's vigilance, and took out the snuffbox very casually and asked Sister Hong: "Curly Maoqiang said, after Boss Hong's snuffbox was lost, did you help him find it?" ”

"Well, I found it!"

"Tell me how he lost it, right?"

"He got drunk that night and forgot the next day if he had left it at home or on his desk in the office. Then he asked everyone to look everywhere, but they couldn't find it. ”

"How long did it take to find it?"

"Just one day."

"Where did you find it?"

"The next day, I was lying on the couch in his office and felt something hit my back, and I found it in the cracks of the couch. I gave it to him right then! ”

"Boss Hong was also there when you found something?" The mustache was a little surprised.

Sister Hong felt as if she had slipped her mouth, and squirmed awkwardly before she said, "In ......"

She is Curly-haired Qiang's wife, but she is lying on the sofa in Boss Hong's office, and Boss Hong was also there at the time, so what are the two of them doing? This situation is also self-evident!

However, the mustache and I came to find Sister Hong, not specifically to inquire about these gossips and flirtatiousness. I still hurried up and asked her, "Who else can enter Boss Hong's office besides you?" ”

"Anyone can get in!"

"What do you mean?"

"Boss Hong has dozens of horses under his command, some of them watch casinos, some of them are in charge of lending, some are pulling sand and gravel, and there are special thugs. They usually gather in Boss Hong's casino, and behind the casino is his office, and he never locks the door. ”

"Where's Boss Hong's casino?"

Sister Hong hesitated for a moment, but finally said a place name. She added: "After Boss Hong's accident, the casino was closed, and it is estimated that there is no one in it now!" "Looks like she's really treating us like cops. However, there seems to be nothing more to ask at this point.

Leaving Sister Hong's clothing store, I asked the mustache, "Do we still want to go to that casino?" ”

"It's useless to go." "According to what she said, that kind of place must be crowded with people, and it's not very difficult to go in and steal a snuffbox." ”

I nodded, agreeing with him. The funny thing is that the snuff bottle, the most obvious clue, can not be said to be broken, but has become complicated! We can't find Boss Hong's dozens of horses one by one and check them out, right? Moreover, in fact, including Curly Maoqiang and Sister Hong, the suspicion has not been completely ruled out, and they may have been accomplices without knowing it.

In desperation, Mustache and I went back to his antique shop to sort out and summarize the information we had gathered before making the next move.

When I got back, I stood in front of the wall again, revisiting the messy diagram. But looking at it, I still can't figure out a clear idea. The mustache added an ugly little bottle to the picture, representing the key physical evidence: the snuff bottle, and then drew a relationship line from the photo of Sister Hong and others to connect it to the snuff bottle. But that doesn't seem to help other than make the whole picture look more messy.

So, I tried to step out of the frame of this diagram and think about it in my head. Could we be missing anything other than this snuffbox? Is it a character? Is it a relationship? Or is it an item?

My thoughts began to spread everywhere, and things seemed to become a little blurry. The picture drawn by the mustache seemed to me like a spider's web, wrapping the photo of Boss Hong in the middle. This metaphor startled me and seemed to think of a different way of thinking. So, I put aside the diagram and paced around the office on my own. The mustache asked me what I was thinking?

I said to the mustache: "You have posted so many photos and drawn so many lines, but you have not found the most crucial photo and the most critical line!" ”

The mustache was taken aback: "Whose photo?" Which line? ”

"Middleman!"

"The middleman?"

"That's right!" I pointed to the relationship diagram on the wall, drew a big circle, and said, "Look at it yourself, all the lines eventually converge on Boss Hong's body, forming a relationship network." But if any of these people can directly contact Xiao Jiuhe, I don't think it's very likely. Xiao Jiuhe has committed many crimes in the provincial capital, including in Nanting, and there will definitely be a middleman to solicit business for Xiao Jiuhe. Otherwise, with his notoriety, he is likely to be discovered as soon as he appears, let alone take business and collect money. ”

"Yes, your analysis makes a lot of sense!" The mustache slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "I spent so much time and so much information the night before yesterday, why did I forget this joint!" ”

"You're a fan of the authorities!" I laughed, "I'm a new bystander, so I can see what's wrong." Moreover, the homework you did was actually very useful, and it was not done in vain. ”

"And where do we find this middleman?" The mustache looked at the relationship chart of Boss Hong that he had made, and suddenly said angrily, "Do you want to make a relationship chart of these people one by one?" , this amount of work is huge! ”

It's a lot of work, and it's not always good. I said, "I think we can think about it differently, or in a different direction." At first, you wanted to start with Boss Hong and find the clues of Xiao Jiuhe, but that was too complicated. I want to do it the other way around now, starting directly from Xiao Jiuhe's side to see if I can find a clue to get together with Hong Laolian. ”

When the mustache heard this, he seemed to think it made sense, so he thought along with me. He was still muttering in his mouth: "Start drawing a network from Xiao Jiuhe's side?" Hey, how can someone like him have a network! It is estimated that he has no friends, and the only people who are willing to deal with him are ghosts! ”

The mustache inadvertently said the word "ghost" twice, and "again" twice. Although the pronunciation of "了" is different, it still reminds me of a person. The mysterious figure of that person immediately came to my mind, and my eyes lit up.

I asked the mustache: "Think about it, who are the people we confirm that Xiao Jiuhe has been in contact with in the provincial capital?" ”

"Who?" The mustache said blankly, "There are so many names in my head right now that I can't think of them!" ”

"Xiao Jiuhe is too cunning! Every time he kills someone, it is out of nowhere, and even if it is revealed afterwards, it is difficult to track him down. But," I paused before saying, "He has a weakness that we might be able to exploit!" ”

"What weakness?" The mustache continued to be dazed, and then exclaimed anxiously, "Oh, you can just say it!" Don't sell it to me! ”

I smiled, "Do you remember the ghosts?" ”

"Remember!"

"Xiao Jiuhe's injury shouldn't have completely healed, so it's likely that he will go to the ghost to buy medicine!"

"Well, that's a good idea too...... That's right! With the level of information that the ghost knows, it may be possible that he is the middleman who introduced Xiao Jiuhe's business! The mustache finally picked up my train of thought and became excited.

But, in the next second, he wilted again, stretched out his hand and said, "But it's not easy to find the ghost!" If we ask him directly, do you know who hired Xiao Jiuhe to harm Boss Hong, he probably won't be willing to speak, I'm afraid he will be deceived by him for nothing. Besides, we don't have any definite evidence of a connection between Ghost Knowers and Xiao Jiuhe! ”

"Of course, you can't go directly to him about this matter." I said to the mustache, "I'm going back to work in the Xiling ghost market now, I'm familiar with the situation there, and the ghost knows that almost every ghost market will go to the stall to buy and sell news at night." I can find a way to keep an eye on him first, maybe see if I can follow him for a while, and then we can find Xiao Jiuhe along the vine! ”

The mustache was overjoyed, "If that's the case, we can give it a try!" ”

I finally pointed to the cobweb-like relationship diagram on the wall and said to the mustache, "Since it's a mess, let's give him a quick knife to cut through the mess!" Copy his back road directly! ”

In the following two ghost market nights, when I was helping the kitchen in Yuanbao Building, I had to find an excuse to go out every once in a while. In fact, I just wanted to take a look outside the temporary booth area to see if the ghost was coming, and when he left. Of course, in order not to startle the snake, I never look closely, just glance at it from a distance.

On these two nights, the ghost knew that his whereabouts were all late and early, and he seemed to be deliberately staggering the time of entry and exit with others. He was very secretive when he came, and I always couldn't grasp the pattern. But the time to leave was basically between four and half past four in the morning, and he would leave the ghost market early every time.

In this regard, I discussed with the mustache again: It is estimated that Xiao Jiuhe will not dare to blatantly enter the ghost market to find the ghost, and the person who is so cautious with the ghost will not easily reveal his residence to Xiao Jiuhe. If there is indeed a deal between the two of them, it is likely to be a meeting near Xiling Cemetery after the ghost market is over.

The mustache agreed with me and said, "Then we'll try to follow him next time." Anyway, there's no other good way to do it right now, so it's up to you! ”

The day after the mustache said this, things changed again! He called me and told me about a new contingency and said it could be an opportunity for us!

The mustache said on the phone: "Boss Hong has been struggling for a few days, and he died in the ICU ward early this morning!" According to common sense, Xiao Jiuhe's task was finally completed, and the employer should give money at this time. If the ghost knows that it is Xiao Jiuhe's middleman, then the two of them will meet soon! ”

"Not necessarily! Won't they pay directly by money transfer or something? I wondered.

"No!" The mustache refuted my idea, "Both of these guys are very cautious and cautious guys. In order not to be caught by the tail, you should only be willing to accept cash. So I still think it's more likely that they'll meet in person! ”

"Makes sense! Anyway, Xiao Jiuhe is also looking for a ghost to get medicine, and it is a matter of time before they meet. ”

"Count the days, you have a ghost market tonight, right?"

"Yes!" I replied, "In that case, let's go with our original plan." It's not going to be tonight! ”

"It will definitely be done!"