Chapter 310 - Evidence

A taxi soon pulled up behind Emerson's car and a middle-aged man stepped out. Emerson and his driver walked up to greet the man. "You must be Albert Yang, I'm Jimmy Lai, Nina from dispatch said you took a client from The Peak to Royal Sunset Hotel around midnight last night. Is that correct?" Emerson's driver asked.

The man rubbed his eyes. He was sleeping when he received an urgent phone call, telling him that he was needed as a witness for a crime. At first, he brushed it off and said he couldn't remember a thing; he just wanted to sleep. After all, he worked the night shift and his clients were often entangled in random crimes that he had no idea about. He simply drove them; he had no idea who they were and what they were doing. Why did they always have to bother him?

But, when he heard Avaleigh's description, he suddenly sat up. Last night, when Avaleigh handed him an envelope of money and said to keep the rest as a tip, he thought she was simply rounding up her bill a little. Who knew, when he opened it up at the end of his shift, there was almost double the amount that she was supposed to pay. So...he felt like he owed it to her to at least see what the situation was about.

Albert nodded his head, "Yes, I remember her."

Emerson's eyes lit up with hope, "Do you have a camera in your car?"

Albert nodded again. Of course, he did. He worked at night; it was too dangerous not to have one.

"Can you find footage of that particular client?" Emerson asked.

Albert walked over to his car and removed the memory card from his camera. He then plugged it into his phone and started browsing through it. After a short while, he passed his phone to Emerson, "Here. That's her. She boarded my taxi at 12:01am and got out at 12:47am."

Emerson looked at the footage. It was definitely Avaleigh, he could recognize her from the cleaner's uniform on her body. But...she was wearing a mask and the footage was quite dark. Was it enough to serve as evidence?

"Can you come in and file a report? You may be the only alibi for this woman," Emerson said.

Albert looked at Emerson in confusion. He still didn't know what was going on. What crime was the woman involved in? "Can I ask what kind of crime she's involved with?" he asked.

Emerson hesitated for a moment and replied, "She's suspected of murder."

Albert's eyes opened wide in shock. He was still a bit sleepy before, but he was completely awoken at that moment. A murder? That was more serious than he ever imagined. With a nod of his head, he followed Emerson inside.

When Officer Liang saw Emerson, she was a little surprised. Emerson had only left about an hour ago, why was he back so soon?

"Mr. Wu, is something wrong? Why are you back?" she asked.

Emerson pointed to the man next to him and replied, "I found the taxi driver."

Officer Liang looked at the tired man beside Emerson and immediately gestured for him to sit down at a desk. She was quite impressed. She had only just got through to the taxi dispatch and was waiting for them to go through their calls from last night. How did they find the taxi driver so quickly?

Before Officer Liang got to ask any questions, Emerson handed the man's phone to her, "This is footage from Mr. Yang's taxi last night. It's time-stamped. You can clearly see that Ava boarded at 12:01am and got out at 12:47am. This is her alibi."

Officer Liang looked carefully at the footage and bit her lip, "This might not be enough. We can't see her face in this footage. How do we know it's not someone else?"

Emerson frowned as Officer Liang played the video again, "Mr. Yang, do you have anything else that may assist us in identifying this woman? Did she, perhaps, order the taxi with her phone and pay using an online app...or did she pay with her card...?"

Emerson sighed as the driver shook his head. He knew better than anyone that Avaleigh had left her phone and wallet at the hotel and that she had paid with cash that she borrowed from his maid.

But, right at that moment, Emerson glanced at the video in Officer Liang's hands and noticed something. "The envelope! Did she pay you with that envelope?" Emerson asked as he watched Avaleigh hand over an envelope to the taxi driver.

Officer Liang's eyes opened wide when she heard this question. She, of course, realized what Emerson was thinking. "Do you still have that envelope?" she asked Albert.

Albert nodded his head. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the envelope from the video, "Are you talking about this?"

Officer Liang immediately put on a pair of gloves and placed the envelope into a plastic evidence bag. "Are you certain that this is the envelope that the woman in this video gave you at 12:47am this morning?" she asked Albert one last time.

Albert nodded his head with certainty, "No other client gave me money in an envelope during this shift. Plus, I clearly remember her because she tipped me almost double what she was supposed to pay and she was very strange. She was dressed like a cleaner, yet her nails were decorated with gems and pastel colors, she had multiple piercings in her ear, and her hair was curly and dyed. To be honest, I thought she was a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e at one point. Especially when she received this envelope from the maid at the mansion I picked her up from. But, when she gave me the entire envelope and told me to keep the rest, it didn't make sense, so she left quite an impression."

Officer Liang recorded everything that the taxi driver said before she passed the wrapped up envelope straight onto her subordinate, "Hurry and get forensics to check the fingerprints on this."

Albert watched as the envelope was carried away and suddenly realized something. In an awkward manner, he twiddled his thumbs and said, "Errr...my money is still in that envelope. When can I get it back?"

Officer Liang looked at the man and laughed, "Don't worry, as soon as we get the fingerprints from it, we will give it back to you."

Albert sat back in his chair and sighed. How long would that take? He still needed to get some sleep before his next shift.

Next to him, someone else was equally impatient. Emerson glanced at his watch and frowned; it was already 10am.

Avaleigh had been sitting in that interrogation room for almost 9 hours...