Chapter 36

The seventh floor was indeed the rehabilitation ward area. Since he was already there, Chang Ting planned to say hello to Song Zhou.

As soon as I entered the corridor, I happened to meet Song Zhou walking out of a ward.

Song Zhou, wearing a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck, was a little surprised to see him. He looked him up and down and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean again?"

"Then what are you doing here?" Song Zhou was friendly to everyone except him.

"I want to consult you about something." Chang Ting pulled Song Zhou to the side of the corridor. "Can you get anesthetic in your hospital, the kind that's injected with a syringe?"

Song Zhou looked at him warily: "What do you want to do? I'm calling the police."

"The police are standing right in front of you! Why are you calling the police? I'm investigating a case!"

Song Zhou snorted. "Anesthetics are controlled drugs, and our hospital has strict regulations for their management. From procurement, storage, collection, usage records, and personnel permissions, there are strict procedures, so it's difficult to get them out."

"It's difficult, but it doesn't mean it's absolutely impossible?"

"Of course, it's not that absolute. There have been cases in the past where pharmacy employees have embezzled drugs, falsified records, and diverted them to the black market."

Chang Ting nodded thoughtfully and asked, "If I asked you to make one, could you do it?"

Song Zhou's glasses flashed sharply, and he took out his phone: "I want to report you."

Chang Ting put his phone back: "If, I mean if! Why are you so anxious? Are you feeling guilty?"

"You're the one feeling guilty!" Song Zhou said angrily. After a moment of reflection, he said, "If it were a doctor's job, he could have taken advantage of the opportunity to perform surgery to collect a few extra doses, but then not give them all to the patient and kept them for himself. But that's unlikely, because surgery isn't performed by one person alone, and there are nurses supervising and counting."

Chang Ting nodded in agreement: "That makes sense."

He never took things for granted. If someone had been doing the job for years and was particularly popular, causing colleagues to let their guard down, it shouldn't be difficult to manipulate them. He glanced at Song Zhou—for example, if he was as popular as this guy.

Song Zhou said, "If you really want to investigate, you should talk to our hospital leaders. But I don't think it will make much sense."

Chang Ting understood what he meant. First, a hospital this large was bound to have oversights in its drug management. Even if losses were discovered, they would likely have ended up on the black market. Further investigation would turn this into another case of illegal drug trafficking, which would be a staggering amount of work and extremely difficult.

Secondly, the hospital is afraid of being involved in a murder case, so even if something is lost, they will grit their teeth and say that nothing is missing.

"Okay, thank you very much." He patted Song Zhou's shoulder weakly and wanted to say goodbye.

At this time, two nurses passed by and casually asked, "Which doctor is on night duty tonight?"

Something in Chang Ting's mind was suddenly touched, and he remembered that Song Zhou said he was on night shift on the night of the incident.

Is he really on night duty?

Chang Ting was unusually perceptive about these details. Turning back, he asked, "Oh, by the way, you said you were on night duty that night, right?"

Song Zhou was stunned: "Which night?"

"The day Xu Candong had the accident."

Song Zhou frowned: "Officer Chang, since you can't catch the criminal, you're just making random suspicions, right?"

"Haha, it's just a casual question." Chang Ting said it casually, but his actions were decisive. He walked straight to the nurse's station and showed his ID.

"Please show me the recent duty roster."

The nurse handed over the duty roster. Chang Ting flipped through it briefly and saw a record.

October 13th, Sunday. As expected, Song Zhou's name was signed in the night doctor's office. Xu Candong's accident occurred between the evening of October 13th and the early morning of October 14th.

Song Zhou was indeed on duty.

Chang Ting did not stop there and asked one more question: "Have you ever left during your shift?"

Song Zhou's expression turned ugly: "What do you mean?"

"Please answer the question directly. Did you leave between 12:00 PM and 2:00 AM last Sunday, the night of the incident?"

Song Zhou said angrily: "No."

"Who can prove it?"

Song Zhou pointed to the doctor's duty room with his chin: "I have been sleeping in the duty room. If I want to leave, I have to pass by the nurse's desk and the nurse on duty can see me." Song Zhou pointed to the nurse standing at the counter.

Chang Ting looked at the female nurse, pointed at the duty roster and asked her, "Are you on duty tonight?"

The female nurse nodded: "I didn't see Dr. Song leave that night."

"Can you guarantee that you didn't take a nap at that time?"

The nurse hesitated visibly.

Song Zhou couldn't suppress his anger anymore, and his voice rose. "Officer Chang, our rehabilitation ward usually doesn't have much going on at night, and I slept in the duty room that night. I must have been sleeping in the room between 12 and 2 o'clock. How can you ask me to prove it?"

Chang Ting was unceremonious. "Why are you yelling when I'm asking you a normal question?" He looked at Song Zhou's feet. "What size shoes do you wear?"

Song Zhou was so angry that his fair face turned red. He kicked his foot and threw a camel-colored sheepskin shoe in front of Chang Ting.

Chang Ting picked up the shoes and looked at the size marked on them.

"43..." He didn't know whether he was relieved or a little disappointed.

"Do you understand? Give it back to me!" Song Zhou said angrily.

"Here, here, here!" Chang Ting threw the shoes back in disgust.

The nurses all looked over when they heard the sound, and heads popped out from the doors of the surrounding wards.

At the door of a distant ward, an old voice suddenly rang out: "I can prove it."

An old man hobbled out with the help of a walker.

Song Zhou hurriedly put on his shoes and ran over to support him: "Bed 29, didn't you say you needed to ring the bell? Why are you walking around here again?"

"You don't know how to appreciate a good person!" The old man glared at him and shouted at Chang Ting, "That kid, let me tell you, Doctor Song didn't go anywhere last Sunday when he was on duty. He was right here and even caught me smoking." The old man was not very agile, but he had a loud voice.

Song Zhou suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right. That night, I was sleeping when I heard some noise in the public restroom in the corridor. I went over to see this guy, who was smoking in there with his walker, not afraid of falling..."

The old man glared at him: "What do you care!"

Chang Ting stepped forward and asked, "Master, what time was it?"

"One o'clock in the morning!" The old man's loud voice shook the corridor.

One o'clock in the morning was the time when the murderer committed the crime. This way, Song Zhou had an alibi.

"Are your eyesight blurry? Can you see the watch clearly?" Facing the elderly patient, Chang Ting was polite for the first time.

The old man was furious: "Who are you calling blind?"

Chang Ting hurriedly explained: "I didn't, I meant you. No, I was addressing you respectfully..."

It's a rare opportunity for me to be polite, but I didn't expect it to go wrong.

The old man refused to listen and actually moved his walker around as if he was going to come over and hit him.

Chang Ting dared to offend anyone, but he didn't dare to offend the old man and the old woman, so he quickly retreated strategically.

A burst of laughter erupted in the corridor. Chang Ting looked back and saw that all the patients who could move had come out to watch. There were even several patients in wheelchairs or with IV drips, all with expressions of anticipation.

He quickly waved towards Song Zhou and said, "I'll talk to you later if I need anything."

Song Zhou said coldly, "You're welcome anytime."

Chang Ting walked to the elevator and pressed the button, but the elevator never arrived. The other patients, perhaps bored as hell, followed him to the elevator door, whispering among themselves.

"Are you a police officer? Why aren't you wearing a police uniform?"

"Plainclothes police, do you understand?"

"Does he suspect Dr. Song of doing something bad? Is he crazy?"

"How could such a good person like Dr. Song do such a bad thing? The police are not catching bad guys but coming here to pick a fight. They must have nothing better to do."

"She's pretty. I wonder if she's dating someone. Isn't your daughter still single?"

"I don't like this one. He seems to have a bad temper. I like Doctor Song, but unfortunately he has a girlfriend."

Chang Ting was criticized for five minutes before the elevator finally arrived.

Escape into the elevator and breathe a sigh of relief.

As the elevator descended, he thought about what had just happened. How could he have suddenly become suspicious of Song Zhou?