reckless detective

Chapter 17 The Oriole (6)
The auction house is located in the commercial CBD in the city center. Unlike other companies in the same building, the auction house is very well decorated, with Middle Eastern-style carpets, walls with bright colors, and a random painting or decoration in the room. The background is not small.

The girl at the front desk of the auction company obviously didn't think that Yan Ruyu, who was wearing a wrinkled jacket, was here to discuss business, so the reception was naturally lacking in enthusiasm.After Yan Ruyu showed his police officer ID, the girl at the front desk treated him like a hot potato and quickly sent him to the manager's office.

The manager of the auction house is a man in his 40s, with his hair combed back, eyes with golden frames, and his fingernails are neatly manicured. Yan Ruyu's first impression when he saw him was that he was a bit "mother".

The manager didn't want to talk more to Yan Ruyu, but out of professional habits, he still smiled and said, "I've already told your people on the phone that Guo Liang did come, but he just took away a painting."

"I know." Yan Ruyu looked at a statue of an ethnic minority girl on the manager's desk and said, "But there are still some details that I need to know from you. For example, who brought this painting back then? Zhou Peng is still his." Assistant Guo Liang?"

"It's Guo Liang."

"Why didn't you identify the authenticity of the painting when Guo Liang brought it, but later identified it?"

"I admit that the painting is close to the realm of confusing the real one. The experts who appraised it face-to-face for the first time did not see any problems. Mr. Qi Baishi's paintings have been auctioned for tens of millions of dollars. It is normal for us to confirm it a few times."

Yan Ruyu smiled, "I'm a criminal policeman. According to my salary level, I probably won't be able to buy the same lot as yours in my lifetime, so I shouldn't have a deep understanding of the auction industry, but unfortunately, I happened to have seen a few pieces about A money laundering case of an auction company. As far as I know, if the auction house is not sure, it is impossible to keep the lot. Bite back and say that the auction house is cheating, but it is not clear."

While speaking, Yan Ruyu kept staring at the manager of the auction house. The manager maintained a professional smile, but the corners of his mouth still twitched unnaturally.

The manager didn't answer immediately, he was hesitating, and now he might get into trouble for the auction house if he is not careful.

Yan Ruyu leaned forward, lowered her voice and said to the manager: "I'm in the serious crime team. Economic crimes like money laundering are out of my control, and I don't bother to bother myself, so you tell me what I want. Yes, I promise not to implicate you, but if you refuse to cooperate, I don't mind calling my colleagues in the economics department now."

The manager hesitated even more, and this hesitation convinced Yan Ruyu: selling paintings is definitely not that simple.

The manager got up, locked the office door, returned to his seat, and whispered: "You promise not to implicate me?"

"I promise, today's conversation knows you and I know you and I know it."

"Well, we do take on some money laundering work occasionally. You know, the auction business is not doing well recently, and we have to eat."

"Occasionally?" Yan Ruyu raised her eyebrows, "Okay, occasionally."

The manager continued without blushing and heartbeat: "Half a month ago, Zhou Peng found me through his relationship and said he wanted to sell a painting for 1000 million. After the sale, he would give me 100% of it, which is [-] million. The benefits. He didn't say it clearly, but he has been in this business for a long time, and you can tell the depth of it with a few words. I'm sure he is money laundering.

There was an introduction from a middleman who had cooperated with me for more than ten years, and the benefits were quite generous, so I kept his paintings. "

Yan Ruyu asked: "Did you know that the painting was a fake?"

"Yes, for money laundering, fakes are also used."

"Then why did you return the painting?"

"It's not that I want to return it, it's that Guo Liang called and proposed to take the painting back. Anyway, it's not for sale."

"Have you met Guo Liang before?"

"I've seen it before. Except that Zhou Peng personally came to negotiate the price for the first time, Guo Liang and I were responsible for all the subsequent procedures. He is Zhou Peng's assistant and can represent Zhou Peng."

"When did Guo Liang call you?"

"Let me take a look, wait a moment." The manager took out his mobile phone and looked through the communication records, and after a while passed the mobile phone to Yan Ruyu, pointed to one of the communication records and said, "This is it."

"2:40 noon on the day of the incident." Yan Ruyu wrote down the time.

The manager asked with some concern: "What...what happened?"

"Zhou Peng is dead." Yan Ruyu didn't intend to hide it from the manager of the auction house.

When the manager heard it, he was quite surprised, "Dead? How could he be dead?"

Yan Ruyu didn't answer him, and continued to ask: "Did Guo Liang suddenly call you that day?"

"It's not sudden. He called the day before and said that Zhou Peng didn't want to sell paintings anymore. Of course I was a little reluctant. After all, they went through the formalities. They didn't do it like they were playing me. Fortunately, these two people work It’s quite bright, even though the painting is no longer for sale, I can still get 20 labor fees, so I agreed.”

"Not selling suddenly?" Yan Ruyu frowned and said, "I have one last question. If this painting is sold, will the money go directly to Zhou Peng's account?"

"Of course, we are a formal auction house." After saying this, the manager's expression was awkward, but he quickly returned to normal, and continued: "Zhou Peng will arrange for the buyer to buy this painting with cash, and the transaction is completed After that, we will transfer the money into Zhou Peng's account."

"That is to say, if someone wants to get the money, they must stop this transaction. Otherwise, once the transaction is completed, the cash will become the number on Zhou Peng's account, and it will be difficult to get the money."

The manager asked shrewdly, "Do you mean Guo Liang when you say someone?"

Yan Ruyu had already got up, and said in a business-like manner, "I will never tell anyone what happened today when I leave this door. I hope you can do the same."

"Of course, of course." The manager stood up hurriedly, and politely sent Yan Ruyu out of the company.

Yan Ruyu returned to the car, lit a cigarette, and dialed Wu Cuo's number.

On the other end of the phone, Wu wrongly said: "As Wan Lu said, there are traces of letting things go on the balcony, and the traces are very new."

Yan Ruyu said directly, "The murderer is Guo Liang."

"But we have no proof."

"Such a large amount of cash is not easy to hide. Can you get a search warrant?"

……

At 3:00 p.m., in Zhou Peng's company, Guo Liang's office.

Yan Ruyu, Wu Cuo and Guo Liang were sitting opposite each other. Yan Ruyu and Wu Cuo were in a relaxed state, but Guo Liang was full of surprise.

"I still don't believe that he is dead. Who would kill him?" Speaking of Zhou Peng, Guo Liang looked regretful.

Yan Ruyu cut to the chase: "We suspect that in order to save the company that was on the verge of bankruptcy, Zhou Peng and his girlfriend Wan Lu intercepted the stolen money from several criminal cases. Because she was worried that things would be revealed, Wan Lu killed Zhou Peng at home."

"This is too..." Guo Liang didn't know how to describe this matter, he was stunned for a while and said to Yan Ruyu, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

(End of this chapter)