Chapter 39 - It's All Your Fault

As soon as Sean heard that Jackson was suspected for the murder of Marcus Chin, he immediately shook his head, "That can't be right. It doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense?" Halia asked.

"Jackson is a mysterious character that suddenly appeared on the scene 3 months ago. Normally, it's not easy for someone to climb up the underworld ladder so quickly, but the moment that Jackson arrived in Beijing, word got around that he had been a part of the French underworld and had been dealing weapons for one of France's most notorious mobfathers for years. At the end of last year, his boss was shot dead during a failed bank heist, so he decided to return to Beijing and settle here. The person that told everyone this and vouched for his skills and reliability - was Marcus Chin!"

"Marcus Chin is a good friend and important client for Jackson Wu. Marcus even gifted him a gang of men to help him get started in Beijing. It doesn't make sense for him to kill him."

Halia nodded her head in understanding. She then stood up to leave, "I guess I'll see what they say at the station first."

...

As Halia pulled up at the police station, she spotted Jackson's three men standing outside. The skinny one with crooked teeth immediately ran over to Halia angrily. "This is all your fault!" he yelled.

Halia stopped in her track.

"My fault?" she asked. What was this man talking about.

"The Boss went to see Marcus last night because of you and now he's being blamed for murdering him," the skinny man complained.

"I've never met Marcus Chin before, what does it have to do with me?" Halia was confused by the man's accusations.

"Do you remember the night he saved you from the serial killer at the warehouse? He had an important deal with Marcus that night, but he canceled it last minute to save you. Marcus was annoyed so the Boss went to apologize last night and make amends. Do you know how important trust is in the underworld? Marcus helped the Boss build his reputation here in Beijing. Without Marcus, the Boss has no one to vouch for him. It would be stupid for the Boss to kill him!"

Halia looked at the man in surprise. She didn't realize that Jackson had done that for her. Had she been wrong to suspect him?

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to clear your Boss' name if he's innocent," Halia said as she walked into the station.

...

Halia soon found herself seated inside one of the interrogation rooms. The room was a square with a window on one side and a table in the middle. The window could only be seen from the outside in, so Halia had no idea if anyone was watching her at that very moment. She simply sat and waited.

A moment later, senior detective Murray Yang walked in. As soon as he closed the door, he immediately went to turn off all the recording devices in the room.

"Don't worry, no one's watching. I know who you are," he said as he sat down opposite Halia.

"What do you think? Is he the culprit?" Detective Yang asked.

Halia thought for a moment and shook her head, "It doesn't make sense."

"We've checked the surveillance footage at the club. Jackson Wu and Marcus Chin arrived just past midnight. They sat in the VIP booth for roughly one hour. Afterwards, Marcus Chin left on his own and Jackson stayed in the club."

Halia looked at the detective in surprise. She thought Jackson had left with Marcus. Was he in the club the whole time?

"The weird thing is, we couldn't find any footage of him leaving the club. It was very dark and crowded, so we may have missed him, but he definitely didn't leave with Marcus. He claims he was waiting for you to finish work the entire time and after you finished work, he picked you up and you spent the entire night together," the detective looked at Halia questioningly. "Is that true?"

Halia nodded. Even though she still had a lot of questions, she was going to leave them for Jackson to answer. If Jackson never left the club, then he couldn't have killed Marcus. That was all that mattered at that moment.

The detective nodded his head. "OK, I trust you. Let me know if you think of anything else. You and Mr. Wu can leave now. Be careful around him, he may not have killed Marcus, but he's a very dangerous man," he warned.

Halia nodded and left the interrogation room.

A moment later, Jackson stepped out of the interrogation room next door. He was wearing a suit jacket that completely hid his wounds. He looked at Halia and immediately rushed over to her, "Are you OK?" he asked as he grabbed onto her shoulders.

Halia looked at the worried expression on the man's face and nodded her head, "I should be the one asking you that. Let's go, we have some things to discuss."