Owning up

"Spit it out," Xiajun hissed as he pushed the edges of the broken bottle into the man's neck. "Why the f*ck did you do that?"

Xiajun already knew the victim's side of the story. It was about time he heard the murderer's.

"Detective," Zhaohui said nervously, "he won't be able to answer if you keep pushing onto him like this. Let the man breathe."

Reluctantly, Xiajun eased back a bit and Shao gasped.

"I didn't do nothin'," he spat, the fear never leaving his eyes. "Get off me; I thought you said you were an investor!"

"You see..." Xiajun chuckled as he dug his elbow into the man's chest, "... I lied."

The man made a gargling sound as he struggled underneath the detective's weight.

Xiajun had jumped at the man the moment he had tried to run because he had realized he's been caught. Shao, as said earlier, was tall, but short enough for Xiajun to bury him with his weight and buff, but scrawny enough for Xiajun to overpower him.

A smirk passed over Xiajun's face as he realized the exhilaration of all of this. The murderer had nothing over him, nothing at all! And even if he did kill him, Xiajun would be at no charge at all because he was just a detective going after a murderer that well deserved to perish.

Xiajun dug the cut glass edges into the man's neck, his eyes widening at the sight of blood. A whimper escaped Shao as he tried to edge away from the excruciating pain that was cutting in him.

"I'll tell you!" he wheezed, his voice barely a croak. "I'll tell you, so spare me. I beg of you!"

Xiajun made no movement.

"Detective, let him go if he's willing to talk!" Zhaohui said desperately, looking upon the two men with wary.

Xiajun didn't make any sudden movements. Instead, he retreated his hand that held the broken bottle and let Shao gulp in several, generous gulps of air.

"Now talk," Xiajun muttered, intimidating in his tone. "And don't bother denying the claim. We know you killed Zheng Suyin 5 months ago."

"Have you any proof?" uttered the man in a last attempt to save himself.

The bottle was back at his neck again.

"You bet I do, buckaroo," Xiajun hissed.

"Fine, I did kill her," Shao cried. "Get the bottle away from my face, goddammit!"

Reluctantly, Xiajun pulled back the bottle a few inches and allowed Shao to talk.

With a final sigh, Shao began his story:

"It was a bit more than an year ago, when I found out that I was gonna be a father. It wasn't something I had planned for with my then-girlfriend, but it just...happened! Then she threatened me that she'd take me to court if I didn't take care of her and her baby. As I had a previous criminal record... erm... I didn't want to get caught for unnecessary stuff.

"Taking care of the baby and a woman in tow called for money which I had none at the moment. So I loaned a large sum off some loan sharks which I got to know from my one time in jail. Um, then I bought a flat and then rented off this bar. I thought that if I make enough money off the bar business, I'd be able to pay them back in 9 months' time, after my kid was born. But guess what, the wretched woman had a miscarriage after which I had no reason to keep her, so I left her. I drowned into a while of excessive drinking and drugging... and when the time finally came to pay off the loan, I had no money at all. So I sold my flat but it wasn't enough, because the loan sharks told me that I had to pay them back with interest as per our fu*king contract. Because I hadn't read the contract, I had no way of knowing.

"Since the bar wasn't mine in the first place, I couldn't sell it. So I went to my sister for help but she refused to help me. So in the heat of the moment...."

"...You decided to kill her," Xiajun muttered bitterly. "Right, the police are on their way."

"What...?"

"And I recorded everything you said so I won't have to deal with presenting any more evidence... because guess what," Xiajun whispered in Shao's ear, "I never had any evidence to begin with."

In a blind rage, Shao squirmed and kicked under Xiajun's weight. He was successful in landing a kick on Xiajun's shin which made him ease his grip a little. Shao flung Xiajun off of him and sprinted to the door. Zhaohui tried to block him off but as he was much lighter than Shao, he was no obstacle at all. In seconds, Zhaohui was on the floor, groaning in pain.

Shao clicked open the lock and pulled the door open to escape....but he thumped right into someone at the doorway.

"Sh*t, get out of my way!" he screeched as he tried to barge through whoever was blocking the door, but was stopped by two firm hands on his shoulders.

"Not so fast, young man," said a hoarse voice. "You are under arrest for the alleged murder of Zeng Suyin, reported to have taken place almost 5 months ago."

It was Chief Officer Guo!

"Right," Officer Guo grunted as he turned the man around and clicked on a pair of hand-cuffs on his wrists. "You alright, detective?"

From the room, Xiajun muttered as he helped Zhaohui to his feet, "Can't be any better."

"Boys," Officer Guo beckoned to his men in blue uniform, "take him away."

Before everyone's eyes, Zeng Shaolin was made to walk the walk of shame out the door in hand-cuffs. Xiajun hadn't even noticed when the music had stopped. Everyone had stopped talking and all of their eyes were on the bar owner that they once knew well.

"Good work, detective," Officer Guo chuckled as he went in the little room and helped lift Zhaohui. "Hope no one got injured."

"Just a little bruise," uttered Zhaohui as he rubbed the side of his waist. "And Detective Jun may have been kicked in the shin."

"I'm okay," Xiajun said crisply as he stood up and straightened his suit. He pulled on his coat and fixed his hair in his phone screen. "I'll send you the recording in a while, Officer. I'm sure you'll take care of the rest. I'll be seeing you soon."

As Xiajun walked out the door, he heard someone come after him. It seemed that Officer Guo still had something to say.

"H-how did you know it was the brother, anyway?" Officer Guo asked as he stared wide-eyed at Xiajun.

Xiajun raised his eyebrows, a devilish grin spreading over his face. "Is there something I don't know?"