National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 673 - 616 Relations

Chapter 673: Chapter 616 Relations

Liu Jinghui wasn’t someone who could be summoned with a mere shout.

Of course, once Jiang Yuan extended the invitation, he rushed over promptly.

The Alphard picked up Liu Jinghui directly from Changyang City and brought him to Zoumadao Police Station.

Everyone met in the courtyard of the police station, and the atmosphere instantly felt rather rural.

Huang Qiangmin greeted Liu Jinghui with a beaming smile and a handshake, to which Liu Jinghui responded with a perplexed expression, directly asking, "Has Jiang Yuan been demoted?"

"No."

"It’s not that severe."

"Almost."

Everyone’s responses varied, but for Liu Jinghui, the basic situation was now clear.

Hence, Liu Jinghui shook Huang Qiangmin’s hand and said, "Congratulations, Director Huang, you still won in the end."

"Hahahaha." Huang Qiangmin didn’t even know what Liu Jinghui had guessed, but laughing seemed to be the right response.

After mingling for a few minutes, the group entered the conference room of Zoumadao Police Station. The room could seat over twenty people yet was half the size of the one in Changyang City Bureau, exuding a sense of intimacy and friendliness conducive to conversation.

Wang Chuanxing quickly briefed the case details and demonstrated the ultimate limits of his PPT skills.

Liu Jinghui was indeed intrigued and said, "So you’re saying, you know there’s been a murder and you know who the killer is, but you don’t know who the victim is, nor where the body is. As for the killer, they don’t know that you’re aware of the case, but only they know the identity of the victim and the body’s whereabouts?"

Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin among others pondered for a moment before slowly nodding in agreement.

Liu Wenkai said, "Putting it that way really does bring out the mysterious flavour of the case."

"Hmm, let me first take a look at the witness testimonies. How many are there?" Liu Jinghui asked professionally.

Meng Chengbiao smiled and said, "Four."

To the police, the sole reason or evidence confirming the existence of a murder thus far was the testimony of An Zhiqiang, the whistleblower. And An Zhiqiang, being the son of the murderer, was a status that had its advantages and disadvantages.

Therefore, Liu Jinghui had to first confirm the veracity of the matter before deeming it necessary to participate in the investigation.

Otherwise, what if An Zhiqiang was just putting on an act? Such instances were extremely rare in the process of police investigations, but were not uncommon in detective novels and films.

Making a fool of the police is a timeless trope in mystery literature, which Liu Jinghui enjoyed reading, but he definitely did not want to encounter it in his work.

For Meng Chengbiao and others, one statement was certainly not foolproof. Repeated questioning and recording, especially scrutinizing specific details, was essentially basic procedure.

It was precisely because of An Zhiqiang’s consistent statements that the current task force was established.

As Liu Jinghui compared the four testimonies, he took his time before turning back to Jiang Yuan and asking, "Do you believe this case is real?"

Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment before saying, "There’s a high probability. However, that’s not my area of expertise."

"Oh, right..." Liu Jinghui suddenly became excited upon hearing Jiang Yuan admit there was something he wasn’t adept at.

Liu Jinghui cleared his throat and flipped through the testimonies again, adding, "Well, let’s give it a try. I also feel there’s a high probability of a case. An Zhiqiang’s account is quite detailed and doesn’t seem to be imagined..."

The others nodded, sharing a consensus on this assessment.

Inviting Liu Jinghui wasn’t just about confirming the existence of a case, the key was also to solve it.

Liu Jinghui knew this as well, and after a moment’s thought, he said, "Actually, identifying the person is simple. If an interrogation is too risky... we could just make a phone call, list out the people in both of their networks. We can start by checking those who have connections with both individuals, then move on to others. It won’t take much time."

Homicide cases are different from others, first being that they require extreme caution, and second, the killers in homicide often won’t shed a tear until they see the coffin.

Because in traditional homicide cases, it’s a life for a life: facing the death penalty, what’s the significance of crying and confessing during interrogation? To aim for leniency through an early confession? The problem is that just confessing might not be enough to commute a death sentence to a life sentence.

This case also involves dismemberment and concealing the corpse; it can be said that once confirmed, Zhang Yi and Li Gan are both looking at the death penalty.

In such circumstances, getting the two to confess without evidence is extremely difficult. Even in the era of seasoned detectives, coercive methods might not have guaranteed evidence, let alone now.

Tan Jing listened to Liu Jinghui’s words and said, "We’re also looking into their relationships, and so far we haven’t found any unexpected deaths or disappearances..."

"We need to look even more closely," Liu Jinghui said, grabbing a piece of paper, "You should have already checked their relatives, family, spouses, and boyfriends or girlfriends; go over that a bit more carefully. Re-examine their classmates and company colleagues. Also, look into their financial transactions during that period, whether they bought anything, did any business, lent money to someone or borrowed from others..."

Liu Jinghui spoke again, saying, "This last layer is harder to investigate, especially the relationships with acquaintances; the murder could have been a crime of passion... Hmm... I guess it was more likely a crime of passion; otherwise, they wouldn’t have allowed their son to come back and see it, indicating the preparations were definitely inadequate."

Jiang Yuan also said, "The bathroom for dismembering the body was also quite cramped; maybe the equipment was poor."

"In that case," Liu Jinghui said, "we have to recreate their lives from six years ago and visit some people from back then..."

With that, Liu Jinghui had effectively established the investigative approach.

Not just Jiang Yuan, but Tan Jing and others were quite impressed.

Initially, the case was like pulling at a chicken’s neck to find a turtle head: impossible to solve. Now, after Liu Jinghui’s analysis, everyone seemed to have a direction.

Although the case was still complex and had not truly unraveled, at least they were not just staring blankly anymore.

The manpower now gathered at Zoumadao Police Station was plentiful. Teams of two were sent out, over twenty people in total, to learn about the lives of the two murderers six years ago.

The rest were making lists, making phone calls, and more needed to visit the family or workplaces for inquiries.

Liu Jinghui directed the assignments, organizing the tasks with high density.

There were no complaints from the team; everyone knew that with such a wide-ranging investigation, the news would definitely not stay hidden. In other words, as soon as the large-scale investigation started, the countdown to the arrest of the two murderers had begun.

In fact, at least a dozen people were already keeping a close eye on both individuals, ready to arrest them at any moment.

What everyone hoped for was to gather enough evidence at the time of their arrest.

Jiang Yuan too received a list of three people and took Mu Zhiyang for a stroll near Zhang Yi’s residential area.

The residential complex had a total of eighteen buildings, which was considered large among the old communities and was also close to the city center, making the location quite good.

For ordinary people, living in such a community made commuting to work very convenient. If one didn’t have particularly high demands, choosing such a community for a simple life was very suitable.

However, as one of the last few batches of welfare housing allocations, such old communities always conveyed a rather desolate atmosphere.

It wasn’t just the elderly residents that contributed to this feeling, but the younger people also generally seemed deeply mired in gloom. It felt as though the entire community’s residents were on a downward trajectory.

"If I killed someone in a house like this, I’d have it renovated. I’d rip out the tiles in the bathroom, scrape off a layer of cement; any evidence would be gone," Mu Zhiyang said worriedly as he frowned and speculated about the case.

Jiang Yuan said, "What if the renovation workers saw the bloodstains?"

Mu Zhiyang was stunned, "That’d really be bad luck, huh?"

"And what about the reason for the major renovation? Wouldn’t that invite even more suspicion?" Jiang Yuan pressed on.

Mu Zhiyang paused again, thought for a moment, and then said, "Seems you have a point."

"You go chat with the aunts over there; I’ll talk with the uncles," Jiang Yuan casually sent Mu Zhiyang off.

Short exchanges might be futile, but as long as a substantial conversation is established, the neighborhood committee’s aunties and uncles could always provide more informative feedback than expected.