Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer? -
Chapter 200 - 199: On-site Investigation, Discovery of Unusual Footprints?
Chapter 200: Chapter 199: On-site Investigation, Discovery of Unusual Footprints?
Friday, evening.
Blackfoot Law Firm, Hu Yaode’s office.
"What, a criminal case!!!"
"The prosecution has decided to charge Zhu Tianying with murder, the public prosecutor is from the Procuratorate Headquarters, and the court has even accepted it???"
"Motherfucker, that bastard Zhang Wei, no wonder he said to look forward to our performance at the end, he was actually getting us ready to face the Procuratorate Headquarters!"
Hu Yaode slammed down the phone and blurted out a curse.
He was angry!
Really freaking angry!
He thought they could severely damage Zhang Wei’s spirit.
Because the inheritance law was on Zhu Tianying’s side, by helping Zhu Tianying, Blackfoot was essentially siding with the weaker party.
And Zhang Wei, supporting Ren’s Film Industry, was essentially siding with the capital, in the position of the powerful.
Juries tend to sympathize with the weak and despise the strong, and with the support of the law, it was highly likely that their client Zhu Tianying would be awarded the inheritance rights to Ren’s Film Industry and Ren Xinwei’s assets.
But what a fucked-up situation had arisen.
Just at this critical moment, the Procuratorate decided to charge Zhu Tianying with murder.
Under a criminal case, civil cases have to step aside.
Zhu Tianying now had no time to fight for inheritance rights; she had to prioritize resolving the criminal charges, especially such grave charges as murdering her husband Ren Xinwei.
If she were found guilty of the charge, forget about inheritance rights—she could spend her whole life behind bars.
Moreover, if the prosecution could prove that it was Zhu Tianying who murdered Ren Xinwei, then she would definitely not be able to inherit.
"Fuck Zhang Wei, he actually used this method!"
Hu Yaode clenched his fists so tight his molars were almost breaking, his anger accumulating to a breaking point.
This Zhang Wei, always opposing him, and always managing to catch him off guard every single time.
"Someone, get Lawyer Jiang for me!"
Hu Yaode had no choice but to call Jiang Fengzhen; they had to discuss how to counter the Procuratorate Headquarters’ next moves.
The most crucial thing was, they had to ensure victory in this case!
At the same time.
Lin Mansion.
"President Ding, did you get the news too?"
"Yes, yes, yes, this move was actually one I used to add bargaining chips for negotiation. Zhu Tianying is impervious, so I had to resort to a ruthless tactic to abrasively knock her arrogance down a notch."
"You ask why the Procuratorate Headquarters would listen to me, don’t make me laugh, how could I possibly persuade the Procuratorate Headquarters? They are charging Zhu Tianying out of a sense of justice and responsibility towards Mr. Ren’s family, how could it possibly have anything to do with me?"
"All right, I’m busy now, I need to accompany the prosecutor in charge of this case for the on-site investigation tomorrow. As a good citizen, assisting the prosecutor in cracking the case is also my duty."
"Yes, I’ll accompany them through the entire process, no need for you to worry. After all, as a family representative and the legal consultant for Ren’s Film Industry, I naturally need to keep up with the progress of the case, to give an account to the victim’s family, right? This time, I am the representative of the ’original plaintiff,’ so please rest assured."
"You’re right, I am indeed working hard, but it’s only right that I should suffer a bit, go on, keep busy, busy with your things... "
After the pleasantries, Zhang Wei ended the call with President Ding of Ren’s Film Industry.
Overall, no one expected Zhang Wei to pull such a move on Zhu Tianying.
However, once this move took effect, it would be a lethal blow to Zhu Tianying.
Now that a day’s work was over, having traveled to so many places today, he felt it was generally up to expectations.
"On the one hand is a top tycoon from Dongfang Capital worth over ten billion, and on the other is a woman who knows she is about to be replaced. If I were this man, there would be a thousand ways to rid myself of this woman, why choose the dumbest, most foolish, and most risky one?"
Whenever Zhang Wei thought about the key to this case, he couldn’t help but laugh.
Outsiders might not see it, but he had "personal experience," after all.
He saw at a glance that Ren Xinwei’s death was definitely no accident.
And now, they needed to take advantage of the weekend to conduct some on-site investigation.
...
The next day.
Saturday, field investigation day
Central District, a luxurious villa neighborhood.
Zhang Wei and Li Yueqin stood waiting at the entrance to the villa complex.
This was a well-known affluent area in Dongfang Capital, where Ren Xinwei, the owner of Ren’s Film Industry, had a standalone villa.
And this was the crime scene, which had long been cordoned off by the Investigation Department and the Major Crimes Unit.
Given the strict security of the villa community and the presence of many field staff,
Zhang Wei alone could not gain access by face recognition, so he could only accompany the prosecution to assist with the investigation,
which led to the scene of him waiting at the entrance.
Because he couldn’t get in!
"What’s going on, Tan Yingying is a prosecutor from the Procuratorate Headquarters, how can she not even have the basic integrity to be punctual?"
Looking at the time, it was already 3 minutes past the arranged 9 a.m. meeting, Zhang Wei was very dissatisfied.
You’re still a prosecutor, don’t you know the importance of being on time?
While Zhang Wei was waiting, a pink sedan drove towards the villa neighborhood.
The headlights’ decorations, pink paint, and the soft cushions inside the car, all Hello Kitty themed, revealed an abundance of girlish charm.
Soon, the car stopped in a temporary parking spot at the door, and after a painstakingly slow 5-minute process of backing into the parking slot, the engine was finally turned off.
From the driver’s seat, Tan Yingying carefully got out of the car.
Just the same, a woman with a stern brow stepped out from the passenger side. It was none other than Xiao Baihe.
"Nani, Xiao Baihe is here too!"
Seeing Tan Yingying, Zhang Wei breathed a sigh of relief, but upon spotting Xiao Baihe, he gasped in shock.
"Zhang Wei!"
Similarly, Xiao Baihe, upon seeing Zhang Wei, was grinding her teeth in anger.
"It was you who threatened Yingying, forcing her to prosecute Zhu Tianying!"
"Xiao Baihe, don’t slander me. The prosecution against Zhu Tianying was initiated by Prosecutor Tan Yingying out of her own sense of justice and responsibility for the family of the deceased, Ren Xinwei. How can you say I threatened her?"
Zhang Wei immediately "defended" himself with these words, while looking at Tan Yingying with a smile, his gaze filled with "friendliness" and "goodwill".
She shuddered subconsciously, hastily saying, "Sister Baihe, I... I truly decided to pursue the truth of the matter out of my own volition; it has nothing to do with Zhang Wei, and I was in no way threatened by him!"
Xiao Baihe could see that Tan Yingying was clearly threatened by Zhang Wei.
But since the case had already been taken on, and the court had accepted it, the prosecution had no choice but to give it their all.
"Let’s go to the scene!"
Xiao Baihe took command, assuming responsibility.
Although she wasn’t the prosecuting attorney, everyone was aware of Tan Yingying’s capabilities.
Besides, Xiao Baihe wanted to prevent Zhang Wei from causing trouble on site, which was why she had come along with Tan Yingying.
Having the identity of the prosecution, the neighborhood security quickly allowed them through.
Soon, they arrived at Villa No. 66 located at the center of the neighborhood; this was the property of Ren Xinwei.
Inside the villa, three Martial Association field staff were on duty; fortunately, Zhang Wei didn’t know anyone there, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, it’s the investigating prosecutors from the Procuratorate Headquarters, please come in!"
The leading field staff, after seeing Xiao Baihe’s identification, immediately allowed them to enter.
Zhang Wei and Li Yueqin, also took the opportunity to cross the yellow line and enter the villa.
The villa was huge, covering over a thousand square meters, and with the front yard and other areas, it was at least 2,000 square meters in total.
"With such a large house, according to the prices in the Dongfang Capital Inner Ring, the unit price of a villa wouldn’t be much lower than that of a residence; this house must be worth at least 2 billion yuan!"
Zhang Wei entered the villa, making a comment.
He finally understood Zhu Tianying’s refusal to compensate;
Ren’s Film Industry offered a compensation of 3 billion yuan, which in such a villa district could only afford one "large house"; indeed, it was too little.
"What are you looking at? Hurry up and look for evidence, see if there’s anything the Criminal Investigation Department and Forensic Science Division missed!"
The four started searching for clues, which typically isn’t likely to turn up anything.
Because those who had previously searched the place were the Serious Crimes Unit of the Criminal Department and the Crime Scene Forensics Division, who were professional evidence collectors.
Even so, experts can miss things and even at a murder scene, the truth sometimes lies hidden beneath the surface.
What Zhang Wei had to do was to unearth that truth.
First, he naturally went to Ren Xinwei’s office, which was also the crime scene.
The office was spacious, with one side featuring a full set of mahogany furniture and various expensive-looking decorations.
The position of the deceased was marked on the floor with white lime, and after the forensics team had collected the evidence, they cleared away the items, so there wasn’t much left at the scene.
"The murder weapon probably isn’t here, but I have Zhu Tianying’s testimony!"
Zhang Wei walked over to the mahogany desk, observing it carefully.
"Zhu Tianying said that at the time, Ren Xinwei was sitting right here on the phone, and he seemed to be discussing a project, his tone somewhat irate,"
"After the phone call, he called her into his office, and then the conflict occurred!"
Zhang Wei leaned over the mahogany desk and looked towards the entrance of the office.
In his mind, he began to simulate the scenario where Zhu Tianying walked into the office, Ren Xinwei approached her, and somehow a knife appeared in his hand, which he then used to stab her four times.
The four stabs hit Zhu Tianying’s chest, left and right ribs, and thigh respectively.
"Four stabs, all avoiding vital areas, doesn’t that seem a bit far-fetched?"
Zhang Wei thought carefully and felt it was quite outrageous.
Either Ren Xinwei’s accuracy was terrible, or Zhu Tianying was blessed with a charmed life because all four stabs narrowly missed the lethal spots.
The first stab was 1cm away from the heart, the second and third were 1-2cm away from vital internal organs, and the fourth was no more than 0.7cm from the femoral artery.
One could say that if Ren Xinwei’s knife work had been just a tad more accurate, Zhu Tianying would not have survived.
"It could be sheer luck, and extremely good luck at that, but there’s another possibility – that the one who stabbed Zhu Tianying wasn’t Ren Xinwei, but herself!"
Zhang Wei instantly thought of the second possibility.
If one could perfectly stage the scene and had the ruthlessness to do so, it wasn’t impossible.
For a 60 billion inheritance, stabbing oneself four times would be nothing.
If it were him, Zhang Wei, even a tenfold increase of that figure could be considered.
"So I’ll assume that Zhu Tianying is the true culprit. She first kills Ren Xinwei and then stabs herself four times. Afterward, she places the knife back in Ren Xinwei’s hand. But what about the fingerprints, how were the fingerprints on the knife handled?"
The thought of fingerprints gave Zhang Wei a headache.
Because the forensic department only found Ren Xinwei’s fingerprints on the sole murder weapon.
If Zhu Tianying used the knife to stab herself, there would be bleeding and severe pain. In such a situation, it would be extremely difficult to carefully wipe off her prints.
But if she didn’t deal with the fingerprints, she would leave behind evidence.
How to handle the fingerprints was the question.
"Sister Baihe, it’s so warm here..."
Suddenly, a voice from the entrance of the office broke Zhang Wei’s train of thought.
Tan Yingying and Xiao Baihe had also searched up to this point.
"Of course, it’s warm. There’s a real fire fireplace here!"
Zhang Wei pointed to a corner of the office where there was a real fire fireplace.
"According to Zhu Tianying’s statement, the two of them had an argument, and during that time, they moved towards the fireplace..."
"That’s strange then. If Ren Xinwei wanted to attack Zhu Tianying and she tried to escape, why didn’t she head towards the office entrance?"
Zhang Wei noted a doubt.
If threatened, people would run towards safety.
The office exit was safe, but the fireplace was inside the office, which didn’t make sense.
Could there be a hidden door inside the fireplace?
Zhang Wei walked up to the fireplace and took a closer look, but there was no hidden door.
"The fireplace itself is quite nice, burning high-end fruitwood, and you can even smell a hint of fruit in the air..."
"Zhang Wei, I’ve found something!"
Just then, Li Yueqin’s voice came from outside the office.
Zhang Wei immediately went out, with Xiao Baihe and Tan Yingying following the sound.
At the staircase, Li Yueqin beckoned to the two of them, and when the three reached the second floor, they saw Li Yueqin pointing to one of the rooms.
"There are footprints in this room, and the window is open!" Li Yueqin whispered, gesturing to the room.
"That’s impossible. I remember the forensic team did not find any other footprints in the villa, and when they left, they would normally close doors and windows to prevent rain and humidity from damaging the scene!"
Xiao Baihe signaled Zhang Wei and the others to stay put, then took out two disposable white latex gloves from her pocket, put them on, and opened the door to the room.
However, her action of putting on gloves made Zhang Wei pause for a moment.
Inside the room, the window was indeed open, and the room’s temperature was several degrees lower than downstairs.
The wind blew, the curtains fluttered, and a cold breeze brushed against their faces.
"There are footprints at the window, they seem to be new!"
Zhang Wei spotted the issue; the prints were distinct and did not resemble those from the day of the crime but seemed to have been left more recently.
He estimated that the footprints had been made less than a day ago.
"Someone has recently been to the crime scene, and they used the window to leave!"
Xiao Baihe realized the seriousness of the problem and hastily shouted at Tan Yingying, "Notify the forensics department and Deputy Captain Lin, who is in charge of the investigation for this case, and tell them to bring people over!"
"This person didn’t use the door and managed to slip into the house without the Martial Association’s three field staff noticing, he must be an expert!"
Zhang Wei also noticed some traces and then called out to Tan Yingying, "Prosecutor Tan, while you’re at it, ask the Major Case Squad’s Captain Wu if they can send the Simple-minded over to help!"
"Who is Simple-minded?"
"I almost forgot, you don’t know this nickname; it’s Xia Qianyue, my girlfriend!"
"Oh!"
Tan Yingying nodded and immediately walked away to make the call.
"Zhang Wei, what do you mean? We are here investigating a murder scene. Why are you calling that Simple-minded person over?"
"Xiao Baihe, Xia Qianyue is a member of the Major Case Squad, right? Asking someone from the Major Case Squad for a crime scene investigation, is there a problem with that?"
"But isn’t she not part of the team responsible for this case?"
"I want to, and what can you do about it?"
"You..."
Xiao Baihe almost lost control and hit someone, but in the end, she managed not to act out.
An hour later, the Major Case Squad along with the forensics department had arrived.
And indeed, Lin Ruonan actually brought Xia Qianyue over.
"This footprint is recent; there were no footprints in this room at the time of the case. I was at the scene collecting evidence right after the incident, so I remember it very clearly!"
"That’s strange then, who would come to the crime scene and also sneak in without using the door?"
"Could it be the real perpetrator? Did they come back to the scene of the crime to tamper with the evidence?"
"How could that be? Zhu Tianying admitted it herself, Ren Xinwei was killed by her, and we also found so much blood at the scene that the forensics department has already looked at."
"That’s odd, then who could this person be?"
The forensics department and Major Case Squad personnel began to circle the area where the footprint was discovered, starting to gather clues.
"There’s also an issue here, judging by the dust on the table, there used to be a picture frame here, but it was recently taken!"
"So you mean to say, there are also traces on this table, it looks like there used to be a book that someone has also taken away?"
"Now that you mention it, it seems like this cabinet has also been opened..."
Sure enough, after the forensics department’s investigation, it was found that the room had been disturbed, but unfortunately no fingerprints were left at the scene.
After the forensics collected the footprint, they finally obtained the parameters and began reporting to Lin Ruonan and Xiao Baihe.
"From the traces of the footprint, it seems the person stepped in the dirt outside of the garden, so there are some soil particles at the scene. Looking at the size, it is an adult male, bulky, with a height between 170-180cm and a weight in the range of 75-85kg. There were no fingerprints left at the scene, so it’s impossible to track his identity."
Looking at the data provided by the forensics department, everyone felt helpless.
"After Ren Xinwei’s death, someone risked entering the murder scene. What were they looking for?"
"Moreover, Ren Xinwei was accidentally killed by Zhu Tianying; it shouldn’t have anything to do with outsiders, right?"
Lin Ruonan fell into deep thought.
"Do you think it could be Zhu Tianying’s lover?"
Zhang Wei suddenly spoke up from the side. "Didn’t Zhu Tianying say Ren Xinwei suspected her of infidelity and thus assaulted her? Although she denied it, what if Ren Xinwei wasn’t wrong?"
"But Zhang Wei, there’s no evidence to prove that claim, is there?" Xia Qianyue quickly spoke up from the side.
She had also gone through some of the case files and there was no evidence suggesting Zhu Tianying’s infidelity.
"No, that’s just because your Major Case Squad didn’t investigate in that direction. To you, Zhu Tianying is actually the victim, and whether she was unfaithful doesn’t greatly affect the case, so you felt the investigation was unnecessary."
Zhang Wei sneered. "If she did have an affair, there would surely be clues to be found!"
What era is it now? The era of high technology, with surveillance almost everywhere in Dongfang Capital.
If you really investigate someone, relying on round-the-clock surveillance equipment and satellite tracking, who could escape?
Zhu Tianying was not investigated simply because the investigative department thought it unnecessary.
And now with a stranger’s footprint on the scene, it’s also an opportunity to check who this outsider is!
Although clues had been found, the forensics department still needed more time to conduct the investigation.
The day’s yield could not be considered ample.
"Simple-minded, are you busy tomorrow? If not, come and investigate with us, okay?"
"Yes, of course!"
Upon hearing that she could investigate the case with Zhang Wei, Xia Qianyue immediately agreed.
Xiao Baihe wanted to stop her but was too late.
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