National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 662 - 606: Gone

Chapter 662: Chapter 606: Gone

Meng Chengbiao saw that the restaurant owner had interspersed jokes, avoiding the question, but instead of being influenced, he was slightly pleased.

"No problem, what are you evading?"

The victim, Mijia, died in the restaurant. In the initial statement, not only was the restaurant owner informed, but he was also one of the reporters. Now you dare not mention it, and you think the biggest problem in your restaurant is kitchen waste oil? Naivety cannot explain this idea.

Meng Chengbiao smiled slightly, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and decided to use the strongest offensive to break the restaurant owner’s psychological defenses!

"Your relationship with Mijia was not simply that of a boss and a waitress."

"Your relationship with Mijia was a violation of morality!"

"We already know that your relationship with Mijia started before she turned 18!"

"You still go back to your hometown every year, right? I heard you even bought a burial plot there, planning to be buried back home, right? Did your family back home know about what you were doing with Mijia?"

"The speed at which salacious news spreads is the fastest. The protagonists of such news are also the most easily labeled!"

"What kind of reputation do you want? A beastly boss? A chick? A rapist?"

At first, the restaurant owner could barely answer Meng Chengbiao’s questions, but he soon fell silent.

All criminals share a common problem; they often think they are good people and their actions are excusable.

Sometimes the interrogating police exploit this, and sometimes it’s the other way around.

Meng Chengbiao easily showed the restaurant owner another perspective, that of an outsider seeing himself, a devil-like murderer, a rapist!

This was a self-image that a middle-aged man could hardly accept.

Middle-aged men often consider themselves society’s pillars, possessing the greatest power in human society, until they are unemployed or divorced, which shatters their confidence.

Meng Chengbiao directly threw filth upon him.

The restaurant owner was a businessman, a man of the world. Running a restaurant in Siningshan scenic area, he had certainly encountered both the lawful and the underworld.

Thus, he understood immediately what Meng Chengbiao’s attack was aimed at.

But precisely because he understood, the restaurant owner became silent.

He had committed too many crimes; normally he could cover them up, but now the police were dragging everything into the open, and he couldn’t fabricate enough stories to cover up all at once.

Meng Chengbiao quickly reached an impasse and said, "In general cases, the police tend to maintain confidentiality. The police can keep criminal cases confidential, but that doesn’t mean they have to!"

With not many chips in hand, Meng Chengbiao was extra fierce, saying, "The Mijia case is extraordinarily heinous, and if necessary, we will announce it to the whole society."

The restaurant owner’s expression visibly calmed down.

It was a somewhat depressive calm.

"What do you want?" the restaurant owner suddenly asked.

"Is the person killed by you?" Meng Chengbiao demanded harshly.

It was another crucial question, one that he also had difficulty controlling—if it were a brother who had already served time, they might have drawn a similar conclusion: when the police are calm in their demeanor and tone, it usually means trouble, in such cases, the police might even have the foundation to prosecute without any confession, and they might not ask much whether the suspect confesses or not.

If the case is simple and there is no need to dig into other cases, then the police will just proceed methodically, there won’t be any emotional fluctuations, not even skills, just a foolishly righteous demeanor.

If the police are anxious, it often means the evidence they have is insufficient. However, even so, it is still very difficult to escape punishment.

China’s judicial system is very different from what is depicted in European and American TV shows; generally speaking, being able to find a way to reduce the sentence, or to be given a lighter punishment, is considered a relatively good outcome.

Although the restaurant owner was a man of the world, he ultimately lacked the experience of being imprisoned.

Overwhelmed by emotion, he couldn’t help but feel despondent, saying, "If you want to pin it on me, then pin it on me."

"What do you mean ’pin it on you’?" Meng Chengbiao asked.

"By the time I got there, Mijia was already gone. Even if I did nothing, she was gone," the restaurant owner said, as he described the scene of his conversation with Mijia.

Meng Chengbiao listened to the restaurant owner’s evasions and felt a little happy inside.

Mijia had been first attacked by her mentally ill ex-boyfriend and then killed by another murderer, meaning there were two culprits for one victim, but this was kept secret by the police. Apart from the second murderer, no one else was supposed to know this.

The fact that the restaurant owner saw Mijia critically injured proved that he indeed was the killer, rather than a coerced confession.

His explanation, instead, confirmed his participation.

Meng Chengbiao relaxed all of a sudden, it was good that they found the murderer, and although the evidence at hand was slightly lacking, it would be easy to find more.

"What was the situation like when you saw it?" Meng Chengbiao continued to interrogate, but he was no longer anxious inside.

The restaurant owner said, "I saw there was some blood under her head, quite a lot had already flowed out. I went over to check and offered to call an ambulance for her..."

The restaurant owner fell into a trance, and after a few seconds, he added, "I heard her calling someone else’s name, I asked who hit her, and she said it was her ex-boyfriend..."

"This child, she had too many boyfriends."

"Actually, I had told her to settle down with me and stop fooling around outside, but she didn’t want to listen."

"All those men outside were just deceiving her, and she never stopped to think, she had no money and no job, completely depending on me for support, what could those men possibly see in her?"

"Even the restaurant is gone, after I leave, it will be even harder for her alone."

Listening to the restaurant owner’s outpouring of words, Meng Chengbiao only asked when he stopped, "Then what happened, how did you kill Mijia?"

"I originally wanted to help her up," the restaurant owner hesitated to say.

"And then?"

The restaurant owner paused and then said, "Mijia was too thoughtless..."

"And then?"

"I held her head and slammed it into the ground."

"How many times did you slam it?"

"Twice!"

Meng Chengbiao’s interrogation grew more relaxed as it went on, and what followed was simply a matter of process.

In the office, the members of the special case team watched the scene, and they too started to relax.

After a while, leaders like Huang Qiangmin also received the news and came over to listen to the case briefing.

Jiang Yuan roamed around with a beaming smile.

The leaders at all levels also greeted him cheerfully.

In this case, he had not been very involved, but the investigation was still organized under his charge. For the higher-ups of the police station, the specific process of the case wasn’t as important as the time and degree of completion. Especially the sense of reassurance that Jiang Yuan brought with him was extremely valuable.

Even Chai Tong was a bit obsessed with that certainty—the hardest thing to come by as a policeman is that sense of clarity. Very few officers dare to say they are confident in solving their cases. Jiang Yuan wouldn’t say that either, but to outsiders, that’s the first thing they perceive.

Chai Tong coughed a couple of times and approached Jiang Yuan, trying to salvage the situation.

That’s when Jiang Yuan said to Huang Qiangmin, "Director Huang, I’m heading back to Zoumadao."

"Are you going back there?" Huang Qiangmin asked.

"To clear up the backlog," Jiang Yuan replied.

"Why not at Qingxian Bureau’s... Oh, I forgot, sure, you go back to Zoumadao then," Huang Qiangmin said with a mix of sincerity and feigned casualness.

Many subconsciously glanced at Chai Tong.

Everyone understood that Jiang Yuan was avoiding Chai Tong.

In that instant, Chai Tong suddenly felt what seemed like the collective and unconscious bullying. It felt especially hurtful!

"I’m leaving," Chai Tong said without pretense, turning to leave.

His colleagues, as if they hadn’t heard him, all kept their heads down and did not move.

Only after Chai Tong’s car had driven away did everyone seemingly come to life, becoming active and walking around with laughter.

The squad leaders who had just returned from downstairs were also talking in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft:

"The recent cases have been pretty easy to interrogate."

"Those in tourism, I heard that a restaurant owner is going to be sentenced to death, they’re all scared witless."

"Not just those in tourism—in the tourist area, many shops are transferring ownership."