Jin Guanshan was pretty sure his head was going to explode.

He was watching the news. Every media outlet was showing the arrest of Madame Yu. Amateur videos showing her being hauled into an elevator, and her police officer son slamming the door after she was put into the cruiser.

The look on his face was a frightening combination of fury and disgust. There would be no help from that direction.

Her lawyer was calling every ten minutes. Literally.

The messages were piling up in his voice mail. All from the lawyer. All saying the same thing. "Madame Yu wants you to help get her out of jail. Please call me."

It wouldn't be long before messages from other people were piling up. And now his secretary had resigned. She knew about the affair. Goodness knows she had heard them enough times during 'business meetings'.

She was the one woman who had refused all his advances. Not even a single flirting word back. Told him to his face he was her job. Nothing more. She needed the money to help with aging parents and a niece she was raising. Nothing more.

She had seen the news. It didn't take much effort to put the few details she had together. After the first call from the lawyer, she had walked in and put her resignation on his desk. 'Effective immediately' stood out. Second time in a week he had seen those words.

Jin Guanshan had tried to sweet talk her into staying. She had looked hard at him and without a backward glance, left his office with a sigh of relief. The money was good working for the mayor and it had helped immensely but there had to be a better position available somewhere. If the police asked, she would tell them what she knew and be done with that whore of a mayor.

Jin Guanshan was now ignoring all of the calls. All of the messages. Everything was tumbling down around his ears.

He was caught and the situation was of his own making.

If he got Madame Yu out of jail, if that was even possible, then everyone would know. They would assume he was involved with her trafficking. If he didn't get her out, there was a good chance she would tell the police how involved he was with traffickers. The protection he had been giving them the last few years. His sampling of the people bought and sold.

With his head in his hands, he thought about what his options were.

He could say they were only on the Koi Tower Shelters board together. A possibility but there had been rumors for months about their affair. There was a good chance his now ex-secretary would corroborate that they were sleeping together. That wasn't going to work.

Perhaps, just say no comment and ride it out as long as he could.

'That won't last long. If it comes out, I'll be in cell next to her and I'd rather drink acid.' he gripped his hair a little tighter. She was a good fuck but she was a bitch. A convenient bitch, granted but still a bitch.

There was a chance shocked outrage would work.

'How could anyone, but especially a mother, ever sell another person? A precious life?' he practiced in his head. 'Of course, she claims I am involved. She will say anything at this point. I-I believed I loved her. I was wrong and owe apologies to my constituents but mostly to my beloved family.'

'That has possibilities...' he thought. 'Always have been good at using that to cover shit up...'

Suddenly, he yelled out of sheer frustration. Anger. Desperation. A pot plant sitting on the corner of his desk smashed against the wall.

He had no illusions of any loyalty between them. If she needed to, she would give the police his head on a platter.

"I am so fucked." he muttered.

He dry swallowed four ibuprofen and called his own lawyer.

-----

Ryan answered his phone.

"Wei?"

"Ryan? Nie Mingjue. I need your services again."

"Sure thing. When and where? I can't this Thursday but the rest of the week is clear."

"How's tomorrow? Frankly it's a boring job but I gotta have a diver do it just in case." Nie Mingjue said.

"Okay, what are the details?" Ryan answered.

"I need you to check out a spot in the river. No more than twenty feet from the bank. Not even sure the water is over fifteen feet there but the currents are pretty strong."

"Where on the river?" asked.

"A little park. I'll send you the exact coordinates. We think a suspect tossed something in the river there. We don't know if they did or not. If they did, we don't know what it is. Hell, it could be a who it is. That's why we need you." Nie Mingjue sent a text with the park's address and coordinates on the river.

"Hang on a second..." Ryan checked out the Inspector's message and then looked at his topographical map. "I haven't done any dives there but word is the current can be tricky. After about ten feet or so away from the shore it drops to about twenty-five feet so yeah, you need a diver. What time tomorrow?"

"Ten in the morning work for you?"

"Sure thing, Mingjue. If it's a body, the beers are on you. Deal?"

"Deal. See you then." Nie Mingjue laughed.

Ryan was an oddity. He was a diver who had come to do some specialty work and then just stayed. He had been in China over a decade now. Married a tiny woman who reached his sternum. At six feet three inches he stood taller than almost everyone in every room. He was a funny guy who was good at his job. And despite the fact he couldn't use chopsticks to save his life, his Chinese was pretty good for an American. Nie Mingjue liked him and had used him as a diver for the department several times. Ryan would get the job done.

"Now the question is what will he find?" the inspector asked himself aloud.

-----

Liu Tingyu was tired. It was five o'clock. She had worked her way through all of the interviews and even the few that she had called back for clarification on one point or another. She sipped a cup of black tea and hoped the caffeine would take effect soon. A sigh and she propped her feet up for a moment.

"Ten minutes. Just ten minutes and I'll get back to work." she sighed to herself.

It was still hard thinking about the pictures that were taken of 'the project'. She and the photographer had ever so carefully brought in the ladder and set it up. Standing at the top, he had taken a series of digital shots that he could focus in on various aspects.

He had only asked one question. "Is this guy okay?"

She had nodded. "As far as I know, he's doing well."

"Good because that is a whole lotta hate." he shook his head. "Sick woman. I'm glad she didn't hurt him."

"Mn." Liu Tingyu hummed in agreement and hoped it was true.

After the pictures, there had been a lot of discussion on how to best preserve it. It was a nightmare for evidence. Nothing was adhered to anything. While the pictures would properly convey the appearance of 'the project', having the actual pieces would provide a visceral effect in the courtroom. The sergeant knew it was important to show the removed eyes and ripped up pieces. The jury needed to know how truly fucked up this woman was.

Finally, they had decided to use wide tape and clear adhesive sheets for each individual piece of 'the project'. Each picture would have tape or a piece of the sheet carefully laid over it with small taps over each fragment so it would stick. Gently lifted, it was placed face down and another piece of tape or adhesive sheet was laid over it. It was smoothed together so there were no lines or bubbles then catalogued and given a number to identify its location in 'the project'.

The evidence team had been at it for three hours. If they were done in another three hours, they'd be lucky.

A yawn as she stood and stretched. She reached for her radio.

"Status in the office, please."

"Still up to our eyeballs. We're maybe half way done. Definitely a third done. Is there any possibility of a food break? We're starving in here."

A smile. "I'll see what I can arrange." she replied. Some things never changed. Evidence teams were always hungry. She called Jiang Cheng.

"Wei? Everything okay, Sergeant?"

"Yes, sir. I'd like to rotate people out for meals. Most missed lunch and hungry people make stupid mistakes."

"Agreed. Start with evidence. They're always starving." the Inspector said.

Liu Tingyu laughed. "And the most vocal, sir. I'll get it started immediately."

"How much longer do you estimate?"

"At least three hours, Inspector, and that's not counting a dinner break."

"Sorry to stick you with this, Sergeant."

"Part of the job, sir. Any word on the missing gardener?"

"He's associated with human trafficking, and drug running. We identified him through his picture. The name was an alias. I'm pretty sure he got away. Most likely he was eyes and ears for the traffickers. I'll still put out a warrant for him and hope we catch him at the airport or train stations. Not likely but it's worth a shot."

"Sorry, I lost him, sir." Liu Tingyu said.

"Nothing to be sorry about. It happens and we weren't expecting it. You got the most important parts and the corroboration from the staff that she knew this man. Even brought him to the house in her own car. This woman doesn't do that. Ever. It's enough to show a solid connection." Jiang Cheng sighed. He just kept finding out more and more shit his mother was in.

'And stupidly, I am still surprised.' he thought.

"Anything else, Sergeant?"

"Just the photos, sir. They'll be ready tomorrow morning." It was a lie. The photographer already had them done but the Inspector needed at least one night away from all the horrible. The information wasn't going anywhere and he would have it in the morning after some sleep.

She crossed her fingers it wouldn't backfire on her.

"Hmm..." She could feel the irritation rolling off him even over the phone. Jiang Cheng didn't like when his deadlines weren't met.

"I will have them on your desk first thing in the morning, sir."

"Acceptable." was the grudging comment. "Not later than 8:30 am or I'm going to come looking for them."

"Of course, sir. They'll be waiting for you."

"Good Evening, Liu Tingyu. Thank you again." He had hung up before she could reply.

Jiang Cheng sat back in his office chair. He had shown them the spots he thought they might miss and then left for the office. He had already received Feng Mengjing's report. He had hoped his mother would have more dignity. All the times she had lectured them as children about having manners, behaving as befitted a Jiang and then they had to cut her clothes off? It didn't matter. She was no longer his concern except as a criminal to be prosecuted.

He rubbed his face and picked up his phone again.

"ShiJie, does anyone need anything? I'm on my way within the hour."

-----
Trigger Warning: violence

The first boxes of evidence were arriving at the station. Every tech they had was being called in day off or not.

Wu Haoyu was opening the first of his boxes. As a forensic computer specialist, he was looking at anything that could be connected to a computer. Hard drives, cds, memory cards and thumb drives were all neatly labeled and ready for him to explore. He grabbed the first item, a memory card and went to work.

The first three items he looked at were mostly pictures of accounting information with one memory card full of pictures of a man in the act of having sex with two women at once. Most likely blackmail. The two memory cards and the hard drive were free of viruses and malware so he redirected them to the appropriate departments.

The fourth was a thumb drive.

"A47319." he muttered to himself as he scribbled the id number in the appropriate spot on the paperwork. Checked the box for thumb drive and added a quick description.

He slid it in to his computer.

In the beginning, it was just a room. There were some kink items hanging from the walls but nothing too bad or twisted. The door burst open abruptly and a young man was thrown through it. He landed roughly. Before he could even sit up, he was hauled painfully to his feet and slung at the wall. It seemed as if the wind was knocked out of him as his mouth gaped. While the young man was trying to breathe, another man was handcuffing him to the wall - hands and feet.

That's when the beating began.

Wu Haoyu had never seen anything that vicious. Brutal. Horrifying. It suddenly occurred to him, there was no way the victim would be able to survive without immediate care. If they were doing this to that poor man, what was the chances they would take him to a hospital knowing there would be questions?

He paused it. "Mary, Mother of God..." he whispered as he crossed himself.

He picked up his desk phone.

"Homicide."

"I need someone down in the tech labs asap. I-I think I'm looking at a video of a murder."
~♡~♡~♡~

Sorry I'm running late. Fighting the flu I think.

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