Chapter 123
Lin Jiafan, who had his back to her, turned his head as if aware of something, and saw a pretty face that had completely lost its color.
Then following Luo Jingyao's gaze, the man also noticed the cigarette.
He stood there, pondering for a moment, then sighed subtly. "It seems your father has indeed been here. Now I just hope he'll be slow to discover the truth."
Luo Jingyao pursed her lips and said nothing.
They all knew that Wang Ying wanted to use Luo Honghui to escape from Jinshi. As long as Luo Honghui didn't notice anything wrong with Wang Ying, he would be safe for the time being.
"Brother Guo is still with the traffic police. I have asked him to focus on checking the surveillance footage near Yancheng Road to see if he can find out which direction they left from." As Lin Jiafan spoke, he looked up at the wall clock to confirm the time. It was almost five in the morning.
It is known that Luo Honghui left his community at around 8 o'clock and took the subway to arrive at Yancheng Road at around 9:10. Therefore, it can be inferred that he and Wang Ying left here before 10 o'clock.
Luo Jingyao nodded slightly, without saying anything more. She took two steps forward and picked up the cigarette, staring at it with her eyes lowered, not knowing what she was thinking in her mind.
After a while, people from the inspection department arrived and began to collect evidence from the house.
Unexpectedly, Pang Guang also followed.
As the young man entered the room, he saw Luo Jingyao standing at the entrance with unfocused eyes.
Glancing at her sympathetically, Pang Guang moved closer to Lin Jiafan. "Boss, I took Sister Pan to interrogate Li Rui again, but he still refused to say anything."
"I've long expected this. To ensure Wang Ying and the child escaped unscathed by the police, he'd confessed to all his crimes. Of course, he wouldn't speak up now."
Lin Jiafan frowned slightly, paused for a moment, and then asked again: "Have you found any results on the matter I asked you to investigate?"
Shaking his head regretfully, Pang Guang apologized, "There are no vehicles registered under the names of Li Rui and Wang Ying. I've already sent the inquiry letter to all the car rental companies in the city, but verifying the information takes time. By the time we get feedback, it might be too late."
"And even if they did rent a car, there's no way to confirm they used their own identities. Hopes are slim..."
Just as the two of them fell silent, Luo Jingyao at the entrance suddenly spoke: "That's not right."
"What's wrong?" Lin Jiafan turned around with a suspicious expression.
"My dad is a very careful person. It's not that he is stingy, he is just very frugal. He shouldn't just casually throw a cigarette at someone else's house." Luo Jingyao's heart suddenly beat like a drum, and her mouth became dry because of the possibility she guessed in her mind.
"Maybe uncle was in too much of a hurry when helping Wang Ying pack up, so he forgot about it." Pang Guang analyzed uncertainly.
"Or maybe he discovered something shortly after entering the door, so he thought of leaving the cigarettes to alert the police, and this would also give him an excuse." A gleam of light flashed quickly in Lin Jiafan's eyes.
"Excuse?" The young man was puzzled.
Lin Jiafan did not respond to his question, but instead instructed: "Check the supermarkets and convenience stores near Yancheng Road."
Pang Guang immediately pulled out his laptop from his messenger bag. Soon, five red dots flashed on the map: "There are two on Yancheng Road, and three more within a kilometer radius of Yancheng Road."
"Notify the local police station and have them send someone to these five businesses to check the surveillance footage after 9:30." Lin Jiafan said hurriedly, "Assuming Luo Honghui is just pretending to please Wang Ying and hasn't broken off relations with her, then if he uses the excuse of leaving the cigarettes here and wants to buy them back, Wang Ying shouldn't refuse."
Sure enough, about ten minutes later, the local police station received news.
After Lin Jiafan instructed the people from the laboratory to stay here to collect evidence, he took Luo Jingyao and Pang Guang to the 24-hour convenience store on Guanghua Street on the west side of Yancheng Road without delay.
When the three arrived, officers from the police station quickly came over to greet them. As they walked towards the store, they reported the basic situation: "Based on the surveillance footage, this man fits the description of a missing person very well, and the cashier also had a deep impression of him."
"He said he bought a box of Xiangzhang brand cigarettes."
As soon as the words fell, several eyes fell on Luo Jingyao's arms one after another. The plastic bag contained a pack of Xiangzhang brand cigarettes.
After entering the convenience store, Lin Jiafan and Luo Jingyao went straight to the computer screen behind the cashier counter.
The clerk was a young girl. Seeing this, she tactfully replayed the surveillance video back to 9:40 p.m. the previous night.
This time was similar to what the police had previously speculated. At 41 minutes past midnight, the surveillance camera above the cash register captured a picture in which a car was clearly seen slowly stopping on the side of the road at the door.
But the angle was not good and I couldn’t capture the vehicle’s license plate number.
The next second, Luo Honghui got out of the driver's seat and slowly walked into the convenience store. During the walk, he looked back at the car seemingly inadvertently.
After entering the store, he did not choose to wander around, but went straight to the cashier.
He pointed and said something, then the shop girl turned around, took out a box of cigarettes from the cabinet and handed it to him.
After taking the cigarette, Luo Honghui searched all his pockets, and finally took out some cash from his trouser pocket and handed it over. His mouth was opening and closing the whole time.
Slowly narrowing his dark eyes, Lin Jiafan reached out and pressed the pause button on the keyboard, then asked in a deep voice, "What did he tell you?"
"Nothing." The young store clerk thought carefully and said, "I asked him if he wanted to pay by scanning or cash. He initially said he wanted to scan, but then he said awkwardly that he seemed to have lost his phone and wanted cash."
"This guy is quite strange. He clearly had thirty yuan in change in his pocket, but he insisted on giving me a hundred yuan. While I was giving him the change, he even boasted to me about going to Luanning City for fun."
Luanning City? Located east of Jin City, in Binjiang Province.
Lin Jiafan straightened his upper body and gave Pang Guang a wink.
The other party understood immediately, took out his notebook and quickly found a map of the entire Jinshi City, then marked several routes from Jinshi to Luanning City with blue arrows.
While Lin Jiafan was staring intently at the computer screen, the young man hesitated and opened his mouth: "Captain Lin, no matter which route we take, it's only a five-hour drive from here to Luanning City. I'm afraid they've already..."
"If he really has left the city, then we should contact the police in Luanning and continue the pursuit." Lin Jiafan interrupted him before he could finish his words.
Obviously, he didn't want Luo Jingyao to hear the worst possible outcome. If Wang Ying achieved his goal, Luo Honghui would be in great danger.
"Moreover, judging from Uncle Luo's various behaviors, he has noticed something and will naturally try his best to delay time." After Lin Jiafan finished speaking, he looked at Luo Jingyao, who had been staring at the map without blinking since just now, and tried to soften his voice.
"What do you think?"
Luo Jingyao shook her head uncertainly. "If Wang Ying were in charge, I'm not sure which route she would choose to leave Jinshi."
"If it were my dad... he would choose this option." As she spoke, she stretched out her finger and tapped lightly on the laptop screen.
Lin Jiafan looked at it carefully and raised his eyebrows.
Pang Guang raised his hand and scratched his head in confusion. "That route is the shortest. It only takes a little over three hours to get out of Jinshi. If Uncle Luo wanted to buy time, why would he take that route?"
"Because that route passes through a section of the outer ring road and a short section of unknown village road. The outer ring road is always used by large trucks, and the road conditions have not been very good. It is normal to have some accidents along the way. In addition, the village road is bumpy, and the car will lose control if you are not careful." Luo Jingyao exhaled a breath of foul air and continued.
"Before I achieved any success, my dad worked part-time as a taxi driver at night so I could focus on training. He was very familiar with the city's roads."
Lin Jiafan didn't think too much before agreeing with her guess. "Besides, there are no traffic surveillance cameras after entering the village road. This is a reason enough to convince Wang Ying. If Wang Ying knew that Uncle Luo used to drive a taxi, she would probably choose to believe him."
"Have Brother Guo check the traffic cameras along this route to see if there's anything..." He frowned, as if recalling the features of the car just captured on the surveillance camera: "A silver-gray Zhongcheng sedan. Judging by the car logo on the wheel hub, it's probably the Fengfeng Sport version."
"Also, notify the bureau to send special police for support!"
Although he was in a hurry, Lin Jiafan still explained everything he needed to say, and then pulled Luo Jingyao into the black jeep on the side of the road.
He took out the movable police light and placed it on the roof of the car. After turning on the alarm, he stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, controlling the car to speed madly on the relatively spacious urban road.
At this time, the sky was already faintly dotted with stars, and it would be bright in less than an hour.
The sun coming out is good news for the police's next actions. The sufficient light will allow them to better judge the situation and reduce mistakes.
But for Luo Honghui, it was tantamount to a death warrant. There was no guarantee that Wang Ying would not lose patience and do something that was disadvantageous to him.
Just as the black jeep took a shortcut and rushed onto the outer ring road, Guo Zhen sent back a message confirming that a silver-gray Zhongcheng car drove from the outer ring road into the unknown village road and then disappeared.
Fortunately, the area was very close to the district's special police brigade, and the district had already sent a group of special police officers there. The special police vehicle was parked outside the intersection of the village road.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Jiafan increased the speed of the car with an expressionless face.
After another ten minutes or so, the two finally vaguely saw the tall special police combat vehicle parked on the side of the road.
Just as Lin Jiafan got out of the jeep, a head popped out of the window of the SWAT car and waved at the two of them: "Captain Lin! We've found something!"
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