Chapter 32 Bird of Paradise 17
Everyone was busy at the city bureau on Thursday.
After reexamining He Jin on Monday, the police adjusted the direction of their investigation. They returned to the starting point of the investigation, re-examining the case and searching for clues.
At this point in the investigation, everyone was convinced of Luo Siwei's judgment and ability.
Guo Zhengyao worked even harder with several young police officers. Huo Cunsheng also faced up to his mistake of arbitrary and lenient sentencing and listened carefully to the orders of his superiors.
In the afternoon, Luo Siwei received the latest news from the Forensic Department, and she hurriedly called a simple communication meeting with the team members.
Several team members, either standing or sitting, came to the whiteboard in the office, on which they had already drawn the relationship diagram and clues of the case.
Luo Siwei stood in front and first reviewed the work and analyzed the case.
"...We've essentially ruled out He Jin as a suspect. According to He Jin's testimony, she saw a man smoking under the streetlight to the right of her building that night. Tang Xi retrieved all the surveillance footage from that night, and we found this man from a single camera. The footage confirms that He Jin was telling the truth; there was indeed a suspicious person at the scene."
Luo Siwei said this while pointing to a set of printed photos posted on the whiteboard.
Tang Xi cooperated by playing the accelerated image on the projection screen next to him. The camera was shooting from an angle above.
Behind the street lights late at night, it is the so-called darkest place, which is easy to be overlooked.
The fire had just started and more and more people were gathering in the yard.
The surroundings were gloomy, and the man in the frame had completely hidden himself in the shadows, outside the crowd. He wore a hat and a dark mask, and the lack of resolution made it almost impossible to make out his face.
The man, wearing dark clothing and black shoes, blended seamlessly into the darkness. He stood motionless for a long time. If he hadn't occasionally pulled down his mask to puff on his lit cigarette, the officers would have suspected the surveillance camera was malfunctioning and capturing static footage.
A while after the fire started, the man walked into the blind spot of the surveillance camera. Half a minute later, he walked back and appeared on the screen. Until the fire alarm sirens sounded, the man turned and left, flicking his fingers and throwing a cigarette butt into the flowers nearby.
"To identify the murderer, Deputy Captain Guo has led a re-search of the scene. Neighbors living nearby hadn't noticed this man. Fortunately, the man's cigarette butt was found among the flowers under the streetlight. The identification center is already busy testing the DNA traces left on the cigarette butt."
At this point, Luo Siwei pointed to a photo of a bloody shirt beside him. The back of the shirt had been burned, leaving it almost in pieces.
"This is the blood-stained shirt worn by the boy who was previously victimized. The Forensic Department originally selected eight target sites for testing, and the results showed that they were all the boy's blood. On Monday, I requested a review, and they added ten target sites for testing. This time, they detected the DNA of an unknown male in one of the bloodstains. These bloodstains indicate that the murderer was injured when confronting the boy, and dropped blood on his clothes."
Luo Siwei judged that the boy might want to scream at that time. The man stretched out his gloved hand to cover the boy's mouth. The boy bit his hand, and his fangs penetrated the glove, dripping a few drops of blood.
The bloodstains were very small and were almost destroyed in the fire. It was fortunate that they were preserved.
After summarizing the progress, Luo Siwei looked at everyone and said, "Just now, I received a report from the Forensic Department. The DNA from the cigarette butt and the bloody clothes is a perfect match. With this solid evidence, the suspect can be identified as the man who appeared in the surveillance footage."
Hearing this, the other police officers couldn't help but get excited. After working so hard for so long, they finally saw a glimmer of hope ahead.
Ni Xiang asked, "Can we now be sure that He Jin is not the murderer? Is the case almost solved?"
Huo Cunsheng was still haunted by his previous misjudgment: "I can't make the same mistake again this time. To be on the safe side, let's wait until we catch the person before issuing a police announcement."
Guo Zhengyao's words brought everyone back to reality: "The most important issue now is that we have to find out who this man is."
A young police officer sighed and said, "What if this case is a random crime committed by a pervert? There are tens of thousands of men in Donglan who fit this description. How are we going to find them?"
"This isn't a random crime," Luo Siwei said. "He Jin has an impression of this man, but she can't confirm his identity. Currently, we can rule out the possibility that this person isn't an employee of the He family's company, nor is he a relative of the He family."
Shen Qing thought of a way and looked up and asked, "Can the police release screenshots of the surveillance video and issue a wanted notice?"
Huo Cunsheng shook his head. As an experienced police officer, he was the first to deny this practice. "The surveillance footage is blurry, how can you see anything? The public won't be able to provide the police with any useful information, and it will only alert the suspects."
Guo Zhengyao frowned. "He Jin, who seemed to be the most suspicious, has been ruled out. There was no money lost at the scene, and the woman showed no signs of being violated. Generally speaking, it seems like a vendetta, but what kind of vendetta would lead to the murder of an entire family?"
Recently, police officers have screened everyone known to the He Peihan couple twice, but still haven't found any suspicious individuals. Finding this person among the crowd has become a difficult problem. Without a clear direction, the investigation is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
The police officers encountered a problem and were stuck again.
"We do have some clues about this man," Luo Siwei analyzed. "Based on the surveillance footage, we can infer that he's about 1.78 meters tall and weighs between 150 and 180 kilograms. He's stocky and likely does manual labor. He dresses casually and smokes cheap cigarettes, often 8 yuan a pack, which he smokes until the end. He might be struggling financially."
The police officers listened quietly to Luo Siwei's analysis.
"The murderer broke into the house, killed people, and even watched the fire from downstairs. I believe he had some connection with He Peihan's family. He must have been here before, he knew this family, and he noticed that window, so he had the idea of breaking into the house. He would hide himself and have his own logic and motives..."
When Luo Siwei said this, the recent police visit results and all the document information emerged in her mind. This person must be hiding in those relationships.
But what exactly did they miss?
Luo Siwei stretched out her hand and rubbed her temples. She thought of the thinker and the psychological traces she had analyzed.
What was the murderer thinking after the killing? Was it pleasure? Joy? Annoyance? Regret?
Seeing everyone quiet, Shen Qing added: "After the fire broke out, the murderer did not leave the scene. He stayed for a while and left after hearing the fire alarm..."
Fire alarm...
This word reminded her, and Luo Siwei suddenly raised her head.
If that person still had a trace of conscience and was not a born perverted murderer, he might not want the fire to spread and affect more people. Then would he call the fire department?
Also, that person disappeared from the surveillance footage for half a minute. What was he doing during that half minute?
Luo Siwei reasoned to this point, raised his head with a serious expression and said: "I seem to have some clues here."
As she spoke, she walked to her workstation and leaned over to open the relevant materials of the previous case. There was a folder inside that specifically contained the alarm calls she had retrieved from the alarm center.
Luo Siwei first played He Jin's call to the police, and then played the subsequent call.
It was a strange call. The caller remained silent, and the police officer, after asking twice, thought it was a wrong number and hung up.
The fire alarm center also often receives some harassing calls, and this situation has become commonplace for the operators.
The call was put on hold. The duration of the call was very short, only half a minute.
"Hello, this is the 119 Fire Alarm Center. Do you need any help?"
After the police officer's voice, there was a gap of about 8 seconds.
"Hello? How are you? Are you there?" the police officer asked again.
The person on the other end was breathing but didn't say a word. About ten seconds later, the police officer hung up the phone.
The time shows that this call to the police was made after He Jin's call to the police, but before the fire truck arrived.
Luo Siwei turned up the volume and played it again. Everyone listened attentively, and a burst of noise came from the phone.
There was a faint background voice: "There's someone inside!"
"Hurry up and save them!"
There was only one fire that night, and Luo Siwei became more certain: "This call also came from the scene."
Guo Zhengyao reacted: "The background sounds of the two police calls are similar, and the person who made this call was also at the crime scene."
Luo Siwei nodded and said, "He called from his cell phone. The time corresponds exactly to the half minute when the man disappeared from the surveillance."
Time and space are consistent.
Finally finding an important clue, Luo Siwei copied the phone number and said, "Tang Xi, investigate the identity of this phone owner. The person who called is very likely the real culprit in this case."
The newly discovered mobile phone number finally broke the deadlock in the police investigation.
Soon, Tang Xi looked up and reported: "The ID card registered with the mobile phone number is named Li Ranghai, 78 years old, from a neighboring county."
Huo Cunsheng said, "Li Ranghai is definitely not the person in the surveillance video. Maybe his relatives are using it... or maybe he sold his information."
After a while, Tang Xi continued, "We checked the usage frequency and related information of this number. The SIM card should be used by Li Ranghai's son Li Muyao!"
"Li Muyao, male, 37 years old, from Pang County, height 176 cm, weight 158 catties. Currently working as a food delivery driver."
Ni Xiang retrieved Li Muyao's ID information. Judging from the photo, his features were very similar to the man who appeared near the fire scene.
Luo Siwei said, "Go check his background, his connections with the victim, and organize the timeline."
Tang Xi was in charge of contacting Li Muyao's relatives. He made a few calls and then turned to Luo Siwei and said, "I asked the suspect's relatives and neighbors in his hometown in the countryside, and everyone said he was an honest man."
"An honest man?" Ni Xiang frowned. "How could an honest man kill people and set fire to things?"
Tang Xi said, "I've asked several people and they all say the same thing. I'll talk to them in detail."
Huo Cunsheng said, "This assessment might be correct. You can't judge a person by his appearance. When the police caught the Green River Killer, his neighbors also said he was an honest man."
Soon, news from other aspects came one after another.
Shen Qing asked about Li Muyao's last workplace: "On the afternoon of the incident, Li Muyao received a complaint while delivering food to a customer. He lost control of his emotions and threw all the undelivered food into the trash. He then rode away on his electric scooter. He hasn't been to work for a week now. His workplace also doesn't know his whereabouts."
"It must be him! Li Muyao worked for a delivery company two years ago, and this company had business dealings with He Peihan's company. We asked the relevant personnel, and they said Li Muyao's resignation was related to He Peihan. He was responsible for delivering goods for He Peihan's company back then, but later, for some unknown reason, Li Muyao was fired by the company."
"It seems that due to work issues, Li Muyao once went to He Peihan's company and even visited his home, but He Peihan ignored him."
Hearing this, Luo Siwei suddenly remembered something and looked up to provide a clue: "A box of shampoo was lost in He Peihan's company. He once suspected his own employees. He Jin also said that he had seen Li Muyao at home, and he was arguing with He Peihan at the time."
All the details seemed to fit.
"We asked Li Muyao's father. He said that after losing his job, Li Muyao hadn't had a proper job for a long time and had developed some bad habits. He often went out to gamble and was in debt. He only recently found a job delivering food and hasn't been home for a long time."
"Li Muyao has been complaining to his colleagues, saying that someone caused him to lose his job and ruin his future. He grits his teeth every time he brings it up."
The connection between the criminal and the victim, and the motive for the murder all emerged.
Luo Siwei said: "Investigate Li Muyao's current residence and apply for an arrest warrant!"
Before leaving get off work on Thursday, Luo Siwei went to see Chi Li with the files and application form.
"Any results?" Chi Li was not surprised by her arrival. He took the file and looked at it carefully. It contained testimonies from various relatives and friends.
Luo Siwei explained, "We learned from Li Muyao's friends that he lost all his money gambling online, and recently he took on a driving job. It requires driving a large truck and going into the mountains, which he's a good fit for, as he used to be a truck driver. Also, he just contacted his family, saying he's going on a long trip and won't be contacting them during this time."
Gambling, driver, long journey...these clues connect together.
"So he's the new driver that Boss Huang hired. This saves us a lot of trouble..." Chi Li closed the file and said, "I'll organize a joint operation later."
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