When word came back that Gu Huai was missing, the car fell silent for a few seconds.
Xu Zhihan sat in the back seat with a coat draped over his shoulders, his fingertips still resting on the sealed evidence bag. Inside was the gray thread they had just forced out from the edge of Lu Wenchuan's Fate Line. It had stopped moving and lay against the metal plate, its color darkened, like a length of dirty old cotton thread.
Lu Wenchuan sat beside him, looking down at a tablet.
The Gu Family's transport vehicle had been attacked beneath the South City Overpass, less than a fifteen-minute drive from the Gu Family Old Residence. It had been taking Gu Huai to the Special Investigation Bureau's temporary medical station when an unlicensed box truck rammed it to a halt. The driver was unconscious, the accompanying officers were trapped inside, and Gu Huai had vanished.
There were no signs of extensive fighting at the scene.
Only a length of red thread remained on the severed end of the seat belt.
Lu Wenchuan handed the tablet to Xu Zhihan.
"He timed the abduction precisely."
Xu Zhihan looked at the photograph, his voice cool. "Gu Huai had just come out of the wine cellar. The Marriage Contract Line hadn't been fully cleared from his body."
"So he didn't take Gu Huai for Gu Huai himself."
Xu Zhihan looked up. "He wanted that line."
No one in the car answered.
The Deputy Captain sat up front, pressing his earpiece as he coordinated the response. "Seal off the scene. Don't touch the seat belt yet. Bag all the broken glass and blood traces inside the vehicle separately. Send people to watch the Gu Family. Madam Gu is not to leave."
An officer's voice came through the earpiece.