National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 433 - 433 399 Free Kick

433: Chapter 399: Free Kick 433: Chapter 399: Free Kick 8 a.m., early morning.

Zhou Yuanqiang led the team as they barged into the sanitation company’s driver’s rest room.

After securing the entrance and exit, Zhou Yuanqiang immediately asked, “Which one of you is Zhang Hai?”

A few drivers, who were drinking tea, looked at each other, and the one at the front stood up and said, “He hasn’t arrived yet.”

“What time do you start work?”

“For the morning shift, it’s five in the morning.

We work for six hours.

The afternoon shift takes over at eleven and works until five in the afternoon, then we drive the vehicles back.” The driver who spoke looked younger and spoke clearly.

Zhou Yuanqiang quickly followed up with, “What about Zhang Hai?

Is he on the morning or evening shift today?”

“He’s on the morning shift today, the leader just gave him a call,” the driver said as he took a couple of steps to the side and pointed at the duty schedule on the wall.

The duty schedule listed information of about twenty drivers and vehicles, with the times arranged in step fashion.

Zhou Yuanqiang pointed at Zhang Hai’s line and asked, “His square for yesterday is yellow.

What does that mean?”

“Day off.

We get one rest day a week.”

Zhou Yuanqiang felt like his head was about to explode, as he urgently asked, “Zhang Hai didn’t come in yesterday?”

“Zhang Hai was off yesterday.

Why would he come in?” The driver looked at Zhou Yuanqiang as if he were looking at his own boss.

Zhou Yuanqiang hurriedly took out his cell phone, dialing the brigade commander while asking, “What about the day before yesterday?

Did Zhang Hai work his usual hours?

Where did he go?”

“The day before yesterday…

the police closed the roads, so we just stayed in the rest room on standby.

I didn’t really notice.” The driver looked at the others and called out, “Did anyone see Zhang Hai the day before yesterday?”

“He was still around at breakfast time.”

“He left when the shifts changed.

Check the attendance machine,” the drivers helpfully suggested.

Listening to what the drivers were saying, the police officers got busy.

At this moment, the call got through to the brigade commander Zheng Tianxin, “Zheng, how’s it going?”

“Zhang Hai had a day off yesterday and hasn’t come to work today.

He’s three hours late.

Also, he didn’t work the day before yesterday due to the police road closure.

He likely went home at noon,” Zhou Yuanqiang answered swiftly.

He believed Zheng Tianxin was well aware of the seriousness of the issue.

In fact, Zheng Tianxin didn’t just understand; he felt his brain was about to burst.

“There’s nobody at Zhang Hai’s place either,” Zheng Tianxin’s voice grew heavier, “Issue an arrest warrant.

I’ll ask the technical investigation team to track his cell phone.”

Issuing an arrest warrant now was definitely too hasty, but the case was too big, and Zheng Tianxin didn’t dare delay.

Zhou Yuanqiang also said, “I’ll ask a few more employees here at the sanitation company and check the surveillance, and…

Zheng.”

“Hmm.”

“Notify Director Xu and Jiang Yuan about this,” Zhou Yuanqiang suggested.

“Hmm,” Zheng Tianxin sighed.

They had confirmed the target of the operation during the night and proceeded with the arrest, only to find that the person had run away—although, if the arrest had been later, the person would have been even further away, but acting in advance meant carrying the blame in advance, and the responsibility fell on Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang.

After hanging up the phone, both could only curse under their breath.

…

Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan and others also received the news.

Jiang Yuan had just lain down when he was roused by a phone call, his face showing clear annoyance.

As the conference call began, seeing Jiang Yuan’s sour expression, Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang felt uncomfortable all over.

It wasn’t that they were afraid of Jiang Yuan, but as normal people who had messed up something someone had diligently worked on, and had botched a job while working under someone else, a sense of guilt was bound to linger for a few minutes.

Liu Jinghui, having heard the situation, calmly said, “Actually, we’ve managed to gain a few extra hours.

Apprehending him shouldn’t be a problem.

The criminal is 54 years old and has been working as a sanitation worker without any military experience or the like.

We shall be able to catch him sooner or later.”

At these words, the expressions on Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang’s faces slightly improved.

Indeed, although manhunts are troublesome, with current social management capabilities, it’s typically not possible for the average person to get far.

Escapes by criminals without special skills getting caught within a week or two are quite common.

From an apprehension perspective, it merely delays the case by a week or two, and the overall impact isn’t as significant as one might imagine.

Jiang Yuan rubbed his face to wake up more, then asked, “Have we found the murder weapon yet?”

“Not yet.”

Jiang Yuan continued, “The murder weapon for all four bodies is the same, so the killer is unlikely to discard it easily, especially since it seems to be a rather sturdy tool.

I assume he wouldn’t take the murder weapon with him while on the run.”

“Not necessarily,” Liu Jinghui replied.

“If he went directly into the mountains, he could take the weapon with him.

He could also have hidden it in advance.”

“There’s also the snake skin bag, the location where the bodies were dismembered.

We might still find some bone fragments or something; the criminal was very thorough with the dismemberment.

There might even be remaining parts of the bodies.

We haven’t found all the body parts yet, including the head.” Jiang Yuan was particularly concerned about the number of bodies.

The missing troubled girls didn’t necessarily mean they were dead.

They could have simply left; in that community, such occurrences aren’t too rare.

On the other hand, the police may not have accounted for all the troubled girls.

Besides the known hangouts for these girls, private and occasional troubled girls aren’t entirely within the grasp of the authorities, and it’s difficult to pinpoint their whereabouts.

Essentially, troubled girls are detached from the orderly world.

Compared to the number of missing persons, four bodies seem too few.

Considering the killer’s escalating pattern of disposing bodies, Jiang Yuan had reason to believe there were more undiscovered bodies.

As the saying goes, “Punish the murderer to console the spirits of the deceased,” Jiang Yuan had never expected the killer to voluntarily give all the answers.

A compliant murderer often indicates that the police’s investigation is sufficient and meticulous.

After all, with age, Zheng Tianxin’s mind buzzed after losing track of the killer.

When Jiang Yuan asked him, he pointed the camera towards the scene, saying, “Zhang Hai’s house is very small, he lives alone, it’s one of those old public housing units, barely 40 square meters and poorly laid out; it likely isn’t equipped for dismembering.” 

For a murder at home, convenient plumbing is fundamental; washing away blood requires a lot of water, as does cleaning yourself and your clothes.

For the drainage, scraps of flesh or hair could get stuck in the pipes and such.

Testing this is simple, spend 300 yuan on a hot pot meal, come back full, take laxatives and it’s all over the floor…

or induce vomiting until it’s all over the floor, then see if it can be cleaned up and see if there’s any residual smell.

Typically, home decor needs to be more refined, like the tilting of floor tiles being just right, avoiding pits and grooves where debris can easily get trapped.

If cleaning the bathroom feels like a hassle or you feel you can’t do it well, unless the conflict with your neighbor exceeds this level, you might want to reconsider chopping them up.

Cleaning up and dealing with a body is much more difficult than this.

By the way, if the conflict is less than tens to hundreds of thousands of yuan, it might be better to find a cleaning job rather than commit murder.

With the same amount of work, you could probably earn back the money.

Jiang Yuan and his team, being experienced, took one look at the scene in the camera and were convinced it couldn’t have been the site for dismembering bodies, at least not the primary site.

Using the place to cook a head might still be feasible, but activities like slicing thighs or performing thoracotomies would be too cramped in such a house.

It might be passable for an emergency dismemberment of a single body but would certainly not be the chosen location for frequent dismembering.

“So the murderer has another house?

And the murder weapon might be kept at another residence?” Jiang Yuan asked.

“It’s also possible there was an accomplice,” Liu Jinghui suddenly chimed in.

Jiang Yuan frowned, “I thought it was a lone perpetrator?

No, the burials were done by a single individual, but at other times, there could be accomplices involved?”

The theory of solo perpetration was initially brought up by Liu Jinghui, as the murderer had cut the bodies into pieces that could be carried by an individual, and the graves seemed to have been dug by one person…

However, after learning about Zhang Hai’s situation, Liu Jinghui thought more broadly and said, “The key issue is the kidnapping.

Kidnapping involves overpowering and controlling, and Zhang Hai’s home doesn’t offer such conditions.

Renting or buying another property suitable for detention and disposing of bodies, considering Zhang Hai’s income level, seems financially unfeasible.”

Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang looked at each other in dismay, sensing the situation turning into a free kick, feeling the need to set up their formation and charge again.