Detective L Episode 14 Recap
> Detective L Recap
Qin Xiaoman pleaded with Huo Wen Si, emphasizing that the serial arson case had already claimed nine lives and more could die if he didn't cooperate. Moved by her words, Huo Wen Si reluctantly agreed to provide his patients' medical records, stipulating that Luo Fei and Qin Xiaoman could only review them at his clinic and not take them away. He handed over the files, requesting their confidentiality.
Luo Fei and Qin Xiaoman sifted through the records, first noting that twelve patients had been prescribed TSD, the same sedative found at the crime scene. They quickly eliminated elderly patients, women, and physically unfit individuals, narrowing the suspects down to three men. As Luo Fei was about to leave, Huo Wen Si stopped him, entrusting him with a personal request.
Huo Wen Si was attending a dance the following week and wished to invite Qin Xiaoman as his partner, but he feared she would be too polite to refuse him directly. He asked Luo Fei to relay the invitation on his behalf, and Luo Fei assented. Later, Luo Fei subtly asked Qin Xiaoman about her impression of Huo Wen Si, noting that a psychologist's profession carried little risk, suggesting he would be a safe companion for her.
Qin Xiaoman then outlined the three primary suspects identified from the medical records. The first was Chen Shun Chang, an associate professor of chemistry at Hua Tong University, skilled in various chemicals and suffering from persecutory delusions, constantly fearing harm. The second was Du Jin Bao, a fireman afflicted with sleepwalking, known to wander to fire-damaged locations in his dreams.
The third suspect was Jiang Cheng, a modern painter recently returned from France, whose paranoia led him to believe the world's end was imminent and that the guilty would face "hellfire." Luo Fei and Qin Xiaoman first visited Chen Shun Chang. Upon their arrival, an experiment in his lab caught fire, which Qin Xiaoman promptly helped to extinguish.
When they introduced themselves as police detectives and questioned him about his whereabouts last Sunday night, Chen Shun Chang initially claimed to have seen the movie "Blue Angel," only for Qin Xiaoman to point out it hadn't been released. He quickly corrected himself to "Tender Is The Night" but admitted to having watched it alone, lacking an alibi.
Overwhelmed, he attempted to flee, mistakenly believing they were syndicate members sent to silence him, assuring them he would not betray their secrets. Next, they went to the fire station to speak with Du Jin Bao, who was being hailed as a hero for being the first on the scene of last night's fire and rescuing five people, earning him a first-class merit.
The fire chief explained that Du Jin Bao was off-duty on Sunday and, like other firemen, had rushed from home upon hearing the alarm. When Luo Fei and Qin Xiaoman inquired about any unusual behavior or strange comments from Du Jin Bao, the chief became indignant, accusing them of suspecting a hero of arson and ordering them to leave. Finally, they interviewed Jiang Cheng. His studio was filled with fire-themed paintings.
When asked about his alibi for Sunday night, he claimed he was on the street "finding inspiration for fire painting," to which Qin Xiaoman retorted, "You mean fire-setting inspiration?" Jiang Cheng then launched into a discourse about fire being a mysterious, living entity.
During their visit, Qin Xiaoman inadvertently splashed water on one of his paintings, but instead of being angry, Jiang Cheng declared it a "God's fist punching over the sin of the world," believing it had miraculously enhanced the artwork's artistic merit. All three suspects lacked a solid alibi, and each exhibited some form of mental instability, though no clear motive for arson was evident.
Luo Fei acknowledged that while all three suspects lacked alibis and exhibited mental issues, none had a clear motive for arson. Qin Xiaoman speculated that the painter was the most suspicious, given his physical condition, but Luo Fei countered that physical attributes and injuries could be faked. He emphasized that accusing a university professor, a decorated fireman, or a famous artist without solid evidence would severely damage the police station's reputation and prevent them from obtaining a search warrant.
Luo Fei then articulated his belief that the culprit's targets were not random; by uncovering a common thread among the victims, they could predict the next target. Qin Xiaoman suggested simply monitoring the suspects, but Luo Fei insisted that was the police's duty, not a detective's. She offered to help, but he humorously rebuffed her, stating that some tasks, like reading or playing music, aren't made faster by two people.
Despite his dismissal, Qin Xiaoman's parting words—"Time waits for no one"—struck a chord with Luo Fei, sparking a crucial insight. Later, Qin Xiaoman found Luo Fei in his apartment amidst scattered papers, reminding him he was standing on a victim's file. She presented him with the daily surveillance reports on the three suspects, confirming they had shown no suspicious activity. Officers also confirmed Chen Shun Chang and Jiang Cheng were not committing arson, merely personal indiscretions or eccentricities.
Qin Xiaoman updated him on Wang Ji Fu, who had been discharged from the hospital and remained holed up at home, despite increased police patrols in his neighborhood. Luo Fei seemed uninterested in Wang Ji Fu's situation. Before she left, Luo Fei relayed Huo Wen Si's invitation for her to be his dance partner, claiming he didn't know why Huo Wen Si asked him to do it.
Meanwhile, Luo Fei had a large safe delivered to his apartment, signaling his deep dive into the case's complexities. During surveillance of Du Jin Bao, officers heard a brick fall and discovered his second-floor door ajar. Upon entering, they found him gone, but located flammable materials like kerosene and cotton yarn, and noted his firefighter uniform was missing.
A map on his wall clearly marked the locations of the three previous fires, as well as Wang Ji Fu's house and the Grand Cinema. Qin Xiaoman immediately called Luo Fei, confirming that Du Jin Bao was the arsonist and had escaped. She informed him that the Grand Cinema was identified as the next target, prompting the entire police force and fire department to mobilize there due to a night show with potentially thousands of attendees.
Luo Fei, however, grew suspicious of the sudden shift from residential fires to a major public venue. He inquired about Wang Ji Fu's house and learned it was unmonitored as all resources had been redirected to the cinema. Realizing this was a classic diversion tactic, Luo Fei urgently instructed Qin Xiaoman to go to Wang Ji Fu's house at once. They rushed to Wang Ji Fu's residence, which was already engulfed in flames.
Despite being warned to stay out, Qin Xiaoman bravely forced her way inside, finding Wang Ji Fu disoriented and trapped in the inferno. She tried to guide him out but became ensnared herself by falling debris. In a dramatic turn, Du Jin Bao suddenly appeared and, leveraging his skills as a fireman, rescued Qin Xiaoman from the burning house. After rescuing Qin Xiaoman, Du Jin Bao was arrested and taken to the police station.
There, he confessed to being the arsonist, claiming all his actions were performed while sleepwalking. He recounted his story: his father was a heroic fireman who tragically died saving lives in a massive fire. Following in his father's footsteps, Du Jin Bao became a fireman but secretly harbored a profound fear of fire, often retreating during emergencies.
This earned him the disdain of his colleagues, who called him "Not brave as my father," causing him immense psychological pressure and chronic insomnia. One morning, he awoke in his firefighter uniform with no memory of the night, prompting him to seek help from a psychologist. Dr. Huo Wen Si diagnosed him with sleepwalking disorder due to stress, and after a period of treatment, Du Jin Bao believed he was cured and ceased his visits.
However, the sleepwalking and arson symptoms returned. He described how, after one fire, he realized he was the one who had set it. Terrified, he considered turning himself in but feared tarnishing his father's heroic reputation. Instead, he was hailed as a hero for being the first responder and saving multiple lives, leading to his promotion as captain of the first team.
This newfound validation, coupled with his fear, made him conceal his secret, allowing the cycle of sleepwalking and arson to continue, ultimately resulting in four fires and ten deaths. Overcome with guilt, he begged to be shot. Luo Fei, however, remained unconvinced, particularly by the discrepancy between the map in Du Jin Bao's home, which marked the Grand Cinema, and his actual target, Wang Ji Fu's house.
Du Jin Bao could only state he did not know, claiming it was all part of his dream. That night, Qin Xiaoman found Luo Fei still awake, drinking coffee. He explained that if timed correctly, coffee could aid sleep by dilating brain vessels and reducing breathing frequency. He then confided in her that he did not believe Du Jin Bao was the true arsonist, citing too many unanswered questions in the seemingly concluded case.
Luo Fei explained that his initial approach of finding horizontal connections among the victims proved fruitless. However, Qin Xiaoman's casual remark, "Time waits for no one," had redirected his focus to the longitudinal aspect of time, prompting him to investigate their past. He discovered a remarkable pattern: in each of the four arson cases, one victim—including Wang Ji Fu—had, exactly ten years prior, resigned from their respective jobs and simultaneously relocated.
He identified these individuals as Zhao Da Tong, formerly a manager at Richard's Company and now a senior translator for the Municipality; Fang Li Bin, who transitioned from an engineer at Yong He Confidential Machinery Factory to one at New Nanyang Mechanical Factory; Zheng Yuan, a former security guard at Union Bank of Shanghai, now a security manager at the Grand World; and Wang Ji Fu, previously a business manager at Union Bank of Shanghai, now an editor for the social news column at Xin Lin Press Publisher.
Their synchronized career and residential changes strongly suggested a significant event from a decade ago. Luo Fei realized this pointed to the Union Bank of Shanghai diamond theft, his first unsolved case as a detective ten years ago. He recounted the details: Charlie Jin, a compradore at Richard's Company, invested his life savings in invaluable diamonds to speculate in Shanghai's real estate. He deposited these diamonds into Union Bank of Shanghai's vault, reputedly the safest in the Far East.
Yet, the very next day, the diamonds vanished without a trace from the highly secured vault, leaving the police with no clues. Overwhelmed by the loss, Charlie Jin suffered a mental breakdown and tragically self-immolated in his office.
Luo Fei revealed the connection: one of the arson victims was Charlie Jin's manager (Zhao Da Tong), two were Union Bank of Shanghai employees (Zheng Yuan and Wang Ji Fu), and the fourth, Fang Li Bin, a seemingly unrelated engineer, possessed expertise in safes. He concluded that these four individuals had conspired to steal the diamonds.
Thus, the "Mr. Jin" Wang Ji Fu mentioned in his nightmares was not Du Jin Bao but the vengeful spirit of Charlie Jin from ten years past. The arsonist, Luo Fei deduced, was a living person, whose true motive was the recovery of the priceless diamonds. Qin Xiaoman found this theory compelling, though Luo Fei acknowledged it was currently just a hypothesis, lacking concrete evidence, making a ten-year-old cold case exceedingly difficult to solve.
Qin Xiaoman, intrigued, pressed him for more details about the baffling case. Luo Fei then took Qin Xiaoman to the Union Bank of Shanghai, explaining that a box of priceless diamonds disappeared from this very vault ten years ago. He described his previous inference on how the four thieves, leveraging their professional expertise, managed to open the safe without anyone, including Wang Ji Fu (who remained in the vault), leaving the bank.
This intricate crime had remained an unsolved mystery for him, a puzzle he could never quite complete. When Qin Xiaoman asked who the killer was if Du Jin Bao wasn't, Luo Fei admitted he always got stuck at that critical juncture. An officer then interrupted them, stating, "Time's up."
