Chapter 21 Bird of Paradise 06
As soon as he arrived at the Municipal Bureau early in the morning, Luo Siwei received this new case.
Considering that one victim had been sent to the hospital, she asked Shen Qing to take an auxiliary police officer with her, while she and the entire team rushed to the fire scene.
On the way here, Ni Xiang had retrieved all the householder's information. The family living here was He Peihan and his wife, Liu Wangnan. The couple were distributors of toiletries in Donglan. They had a small company in the area with four employees and a small warehouse.
The couple responded to the call and raised three children.
The eldest daughter, He Jin, is eighteen years old and has graduated from high school; the second daughter, He Wei, is eleven years old and is in the fifth grade of elementary school; and the youngest son, He Qian, is just six years old and is in kindergarten.
When the fire broke out, He Jin, the eldest daughter, was not home. His wife, Liu Wangnan, escaped on her own but remains critically injured. Aside from these two, the rest of the family perished. This means the only people who died in the house were the male owner, He Peihan, and his two young sons.
This sudden disaster destroyed this once happy family and almost wiped out the entire family.
After understanding the situation clearly, Huo Cunsheng, who had been leaning against the car window with his eyes closed, suddenly woke up as they were almost at their destination. He looked up and said, "Oh, this is the neighborhood..."
Guo Zhengyao heard what he said and felt that Huo Cunsheng had something else in mind. He turned around and asked him, "Old Huo, do you know this place?"
"Of course." Huo Cunsheng said, "This place is called Helan Community. If a crime happened here, it would be difficult to investigate. This community doesn't even have a proper wall. The people living here are all mixed, and the property management is non-existent."
Ni Xiang asked: "Why isn't there a residential complex here?"
"It's a historical issue. These buildings were built 20 years ago. The original developer went bankrupt and ran away. Then another company took over. All the supporting facilities have been simplified, including the courtyard wall. The green benches and street lights in the courtyard are still treated as a small park by the municipal government."
Ni Xiang said "oh" and recorded all these situations one by one.
"Also, this place is called the Tomorrow Lake Scar." Huo Zhengcun, having met a good student, began to explain at length, pointing to the tall buildings nearby. "Look, not far behind it is the Tomorrow Lake commercial district. There are also good places nearby. They're all residential areas with prices around 70,000 to 80,000 yuan per square meter, but these buildings are built here. They're covered in dust and dirt, and from above, they don't blend in with the surroundings. Plus, they're arranged in a long strip, like a scar."
Luo Siwei listened quietly, remembering what Chi Li had said to her before. This veteran detective was indeed very familiar with every aspect of Donglan. Luo Siwei always paid great attention to the details in these cases. Some information seemed insignificant, but in fact it could be the key to solving the case.
Ni Xiang looked out the window at the tall buildings and commercial areas along the road and asked, "This place is so prosperous, why don't they demolish it and rebuild it?"
Huo Cunsheng laughed out loud. "Demolition? Can we afford it? This place has been targeted by several development companies for years. The government has mobilized them for demolition several times, but no one is willing to sign. We can't even agree on compensation, let alone anything else."
Ni Xiang had just graduated and knew nothing about the housing prices here: "Are houses here very expensive?"
Huo Cunsheng said, "Don't be fooled by the fact that this neighborhood is old and the houses are shabby and small, but this is a genuine key middle school district house. One square meter is equivalent to your annual salary."
When Ni Xiang heard this, her pupils trembled and her mouth opened into an O shape.
After successfully scaring the little girl, Huo Cunsheng looked at the surveillance camera mounted on the nearby telephone pole and said, "I hope Sky Eye can capture something. There are quite a few cameras installed here."
The car stopped, and Luo Siwei patted Ni Xiang, who was still stunned: "We're here, let's get off."
Everyone came downstairs to the fire scene.
The police arrived at 8:30 in the morning and the room that was on fire was Room 402.
The criminal police and forensic doctors each performed their duties. Guo Zhengyao and the auxiliary police set up the cordon, conducted on-site investigations, drew investigation diagrams, and made various markings. The work progressed in an orderly manner.
Luo Siwei was also looking around. The apartment here was a pigeon cage type. The total area of several dozen square meters was divided into three bedrooms and two living rooms. There was also a front balcony for drying clothes, so each room was not big.
The fire started in the living room, and the living room and balcony were the worst burned.
There was a cabinet for old things on the balcony, with a thin board on top. Some old books and newspapers were thrown here at random, as well as a few old beddings, all of which were burned to ashes by the fire.
There was a double bed in the master bedroom, and the husband died on the bed.
There were two single beds in the second bedroom, and the second daughter was found dead in the corner under the wall.
The youngest son's crib was placed in the study, but he died at the door of the bathroom.
Chu Shisui, the forensic doctor accompanying the Third Detachment, began to perform external examinations on several charred bodies.
"The deceased male was 45 years old and 1.75 meters tall. His skin was burnt black and cracked. His body was in the shape of a fist. There was dust in his mouth and nose. He must have been burned to death."
"The girl's body wasn't badly burned. It's more likely she died of gas poisoning. We have to wait for the test results. We'll remove her tongue when we get back to the city police station."
"This boy's body was stabbed to death. There is a knife wound on his abdomen..."
Luo Siwei listened carefully and began to observe the scene carefully. Due to the fire, there was an unpleasant smell of burning everywhere. Many pieces of furniture were severely damaged, and few traces remained.
However, Luo Siwei still found some clues. She asked Ni Xiang to record them while she was investigating.
"There's no sign of the door being pried open," Luo Siwei said as she entered the kitchen and looked at the small window. There was a small patch of black mud on the windowsill, which looked like a faint footprint. Luo Siwei poked her head out to take a look. "The murderer must have climbed out from the third-floor corridor window, stepped on the air conditioner unit nearby, climbed up, opened the window, and got in. He left some traces, but no complete footprints."
Then she looked at the knife rack beside her. A fruit knife was missing from it. "The fruit knife might be the murder weapon." Luo Siwei pointed to the empty space on the countertop. "A bottle of cooking oil is missing. It might have been used to start the fire."
After analyzing all this, Luo Siwei went back to the restaurant, which was badly burned.
"There was a wallet on the table, which contained cash, bank cards and the male host's ID card."
She saw some black paper scraps sticking out of a crack in a cabinet. Luo Siwei reached out and opened the cabinet door. In the corner of the cabinet, there was a paper bag containing about 50,000 yuan. Because of the fire, the edges of the top few cash bills had been burned, and black scraps were floating out.
Luo Siwei said, "There's some cash here. The murderer didn't search the house, so it doesn't look like a burglary."
Ni Xiang hurried over to record it and put the cash back into the evidence bag. Most transactions are now conducted online, but these merchants still tend to keep some cash at home.
Luo Siwei walked around the crime scene and reasoned, "Around three in the morning, someone climbed into the house from the kitchen, then walked into the living room and encountered the little boy at the bathroom door. The child was killed by the murderer. After the murder, the murderer went to the kitchen to get a bottle of oil, set the curtains on fire, and left... The wife woke up from her sleep, but was unable to wake her husband and daughter, so she ran out."
Deputy Captain Guo Zhengyao regarded this case as a test for Luo Siwei. He followed her around the room and stood aside with his arms folded listening to her analysis.
At present, Luo Siwei's ideas and analysis are correct, and Luo Siwei's investigation is very careful, and he has found many details that other criminal police have not discovered.
Hearing this, Guo Zhengyao nodded secretly beside him.
During this period, Huo Cunsheng was in charge of the investigation. He asked all the neighbors upstairs and downstairs, and then returned to the scene to report on the progress.
Huo Cunsheng was a little out of breath after climbing several floors. He told Luo Siwei the news he had gathered, "The neighbors said there was nothing unusual last night. Some people even saw the family going out for a walk. If there was anything unusual, it was that the hostess had another argument with her eldest daughter."
Luo Siwei frowned slightly, catching the key words: "Again?"
"Yeah." Huo Cunsheng wiped the sweat from his forehead. "The floorboards here are thin and the sound insulation is poor. Everyone upstairs and downstairs heard it. The girl screamed a few times and finally slammed the door and left. As for 'again', this girl has been arguing with her parents constantly since puberty. Three days a big fight, two days a small fight. The neighbors all know it. I can't hear the specifics of the quarrel, but the girl's screams and cries can be heard frequently."
The eldest daughter of this family, He Jin, just graduated from high school. She probably ran away from home last night because she had a disagreement with her parents, so she was not at home.
Huo Cunsheng said this with deep meaning, "The girl happened to be away from home. I don't know whether to say she was lucky, a coincidence, or there was another reason..."
Luo Siwei turned around and asked Ni Xiang, "Have you contacted your eldest daughter?"
Ni Xiang said: "I called several times, but no one answered the phone."
Just as they said this, they saw a teenage girl running in from outside. She got through the blockade with a look of surprise on her face, and she couldn't believe what she saw.
An auxiliary police officer was standing at the door and stopped her: "Hey, this is a crime scene, no entry for outsiders."
The girl pushed his hand away and rushed in. She had just taken a few steps when she called out, "Mom..."
Then she saw the charred body of the child on the ground, paused and took a step back. The girl stood at the scene, looking at the mess helplessly.
Luo Siwei walked over and asked, "Are you He Jin?" As she asked, she looked the girl up and down. The girl was of above-average appearance and thin figure. She was wearing a very short skirt that only reached her thighs and was carrying a small bag.
The girl nodded, tears welling up in her eyes: "Where are my parents...how are they?"
"Your father, He Peihan, and your brothers and sisters have passed away. Your mother, Liu Wangnan, is still receiving treatment."
The girl covered her mouth with her hands, tears streaming down her face. Her hand had just pulled the door frame, leaving some black marks on it. When she wiped it with her fingers, her face was also stained.
Luo Siwei noticed a faint smell of alcohol on her body, and a red mark on her left arm, as if it had been burned. The girl's face was made up, her hair was messy, and she had obviously not washed.
Luo Siwei asked, "Where did you sleep last night?"
He Jin stuttered a little: "I... I went to my high school classmate's house. I didn't expect... I didn't expect... how could this happen..."
Luo Siwei quickly determined that the girl in front of her was both a family member of the victim and a suspect in this case. She said, "Come with me to the Municipal Bureau first. We need to understand some of the situation."
In the morning, at the Donglan Municipal Bureau.
Luo Siwei didn't rush to interrogate He Jin, instead handing the task off to Guo Zhengyao and Huo Cunsheng. She wanted to first get a feel for the officers, to see their basic interrogation skills and their style.
Less than an hour later, Guo Zhengyao came to report the situation to Luo Siwei: "There was a lighter and cigarettes in He Jin's bag, a burn mark on his arm, and no alibi. Taking all these points into consideration, he is highly suspected."
Luo Siwei asked, "What about the confession?"
"According to the confession, she left home last night and went to a bar to drink. She later woke up and found herself sleeping on a bench near her home. There were more than a dozen missed calls on her phone, so she went home on her own."
Luo Siwei asked: "Scar, whereabouts, does she have a reasonable explanation?"
"He Jin said she drank too much and couldn't remember what happened." Guo Zhengyao paused and said, "She didn't tell the truth. She also asked to go to the hospital to see her mother."
"The hospital said her mother is still in critical condition. They're detaining her here for now. I'll go over and interrogate her later," Luo Siwei said. "Let's check the nearby surveillance cameras to see if she's ever returned home. Also, have they had a forensic doctor examine her injuries?"
Guo Zhengyao said, "We've tested it. We also had the forensic doctor take blood and urine samples for testing, and also took DNA and fingerprints."
Luo Siwei nodded. The police needed to determine the alcohol content in He Jin's blood and whether he was taking drugs.
Luo Siwei was quite satisfied with the deputy captain in front of him. It seemed that Guo Zhengyao had a certain degree of autonomy and initiative, and had some experience. He was not the kind of subordinate who could only be pushed around.
Soon, the background check on Tang Xi also produced results. He made several detailed situation forms and showed Luo Siwei the information he had collected.
He Peihan and his wife do not have many relatives and friends, most of whom are living in other places. They are in good financial condition, own a house and a car, have no enemies, and have not had any conflicts with others recently.
The only unusual thing was that the family had a police report from two years prior. The record was very simple, stating only that there was a family dispute that was resolved through mediation.
Luo Siwei asked: "What's going on?"
Tang Xi said, "I retrieved the original police report from the police call center. It was Liu Wangnan who called the police, saying that his daughter had stolen 800 yuan from him. At the time, a police officer responded and negotiated a solution. In the end, the matter was resolved through criticism and education."
Children stealing their parents' money happens from time to time, but most parents take matters into their own hands when they discover it, and reporting it to the police is rare. For cases where family members steal money, and the amount involved is relatively small, criticism and education are generally the primary response, with actual punishment rarely being imposed.
Luo Si lowered his head slightly and continued to check other information.
Huo Cunsheng heard this and said, "This girl has a lot of problems. She lies, steals, smokes, drinks, has poor academic performance, quarrels with her family, and stays out all night..."
Police officers often make inferences and hypotheses during preliminary discussions, brainstorming and deducing the course of events.
After hearing his analysis, Guo Zhengyao jokingly said, "Old Huo, do you have another idea?"
Huo Cunsheng nodded seriously, "He Jin couldn't explain where he went for those few hours last night. He might have returned home drunk, killed his brother, set the house on fire to vent his anger, ran away, and then pretended nothing happened before returning to the scene. Teenagers like these are careless and prone to doing things like this on impulse."
Luo Siwei frowned slightly at this crude reasoning: "Old Huo, don't be prejudiced. You still need to find evidence."
Guo Zhengyao said, "Captain Luo, you'll just have to get used to it. Old Huo has a nickname in our team, Huo Xiaowulang, but he can guess right once out of ten times."
After hearing this, Ni Xiang said, "I originally suspected He Jin, but after hearing what you said, and after hearing this nickname, I don't think she is the murderer."
As the team leader, Luo Siwei determined the next direction of the investigation: "Hurry and review the surveillance footage near last night's fire scene. Continue investigating the couple's social connections and call all of their partners. Visit those with whom you have a strong connection."
Having said that, Luo Siwei stood up and said, "Ni Xiang, let's go ask He Jin about what happened last night."
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