Chapter 92: Is framing Qin Jiayu life-threatening?
"Boss Shen, I'm not bragging to you. We've known each other for so many years. Apart from anything else, you should know the character of Lao Zhou and me, right? This matter is really not what people say. Yuanfeng never did this!"
"That girl is indeed his girlfriend, but she went to work in the neighboring city of Linzhou a month ago. In such a long time, the two children have barely seen each other!"
"Besides, the girl disappeared on the night of the 31st, but Yuanfeng was with the guys from the Yan and Cao families that night. Even if he was drunk that night, it was the guy from the Cao family who sent him back to the hotel. How could he have the time to commit a crime?"
"What's more, that girl is his girlfriend. Why would he kidnap his girlfriend when he has nothing better to do? Her family is ordinary, so Yuanfeng can't possibly be after anything."
"Now the police from Linzhou City are here to investigate the case, and our Pingjiang police are cooperating. They all say that Yuanfeng is the most suspicious. But he's my own child, how could I not know what he's like? Although he's a little heartless, he's never done anything bad! Even when he's dating, he's serious about it, unlike other kids who act like it's just a joke."
"I'm not trying to embarrass you, nor am I asking you to use any backdoors. I just hope Qingye can help me check and see if there are any suspicious points, and whether Yuanfeng can be cleared of all charges..."
"I don't know how this matter got out. Now everyone in the circle is saying that Yuanfeng kidnapped someone. I don't know how to explain it to them. I really have no other choice, so I thought of looking for Qingye..."
......
Shen Qingye sat in the car looking at the red light, thinking of what Mrs. Zhou said. His expression was calm, his fingers kept tapping on the steering wheel, and his mind was working rapidly.
Judging from the previous meeting and my mother's long-term dealings with the Zhou family, the Zhou couple are indeed kind and righteous, and Zhou Yuanfeng does not have a bad reputation in the circle, and does not look like someone who would do that kind of thing. But you can't judge a person's heart by his appearance, so she wouldn't easily judge the truth based on Mrs. Zhou's words alone.
The red light turned green, and the car drew a streamline and drove into the queue at a high speed.
Today is the weekend and most of my colleagues are off. Before coming, Shen Qingye asked Mrs. Zhou. When she heard that the criminal policeman in charge of Zhou Yuanfeng's case was named Yang, she knew that this case should be handled by Group 1. She knew what was going on, so she didn't waste any time and walked straight to a group of offices after getting off the car.
The Criminal Investigation Building was very deserted, except for one group of doors which was extremely busy. Before you even entered, you could hear a burst of noise.
Shen Qingye knocked on the door and entered. The door was half open. She looked around the room and unexpectedly found a familiar figure.
When Yue Lingchuan saw the girl at the door, his eyebrows raised slightly, obviously a little surprised.
"Xiao Shen is here." Captain Yang took a sip of water, looking a little tired.
Shen Qingye came forward to say hello, and Li Mingliang pushed a stool over to her and asked, "It's the weekend today, is there anything going on at the team, Xiao Shen?"
Shen Qingye said, "Nothing." She looked at Captain Yang's frowning face and asked, "Captain Yang, are you worried about Zhou Yuanfeng's case?"
Captain Yang raised his eyes and glanced at her: "You heard about it too?"
Shen Qingye said, "I heard about it." She paused and said, "It's mainly because Zhou Yuanfeng's mother knows our family, and she firmly believes that Zhou Yuanfeng didn't do it, so she asked me to come and take a look."
She shook her head, somewhat helpless.
Captain Yang paused while drinking his tea and said, "Oh, we're old acquaintances."
Shen Qingye nodded and couldn't help but ask, "So Captain Yang, what is the current situation? I heard that on the night of the incident, Zhou Yuanfeng was drinking with his friends, and in the end he got drunk and stayed in a nearby hotel. In this case, he should have an alibi, right?"
Captain Yang put the cup on the table and shook his head, "That's what he said. But the problem is, the police in Linzhou found Zhou Yuanfeng's hair on the ground in front of Qin Jiayu's house, and he claimed that he hadn't visited Qin Jiayu for nearly half a month, so where did the hair come from?"
Shen Qingye pondered for a moment and said, "They are in a relationship. If it's just a strand of hair, it doesn't really mean anything, right? Does Captain Yang have any other evidence?"
"That's right." Captain Yang sighed. "A hair is indeed nothing, but the problem is that after the Linzhou police negotiated with us, I took people to check on Zhou Yuanfeng, and found a piece of dried mud on the tire of his car."
Shen Qingye paused, and Captain Yang said, "Zhou Yuanfeng usually moves around in the city, where can he get his car covered in mud? And he has to go from Pingjiang to Linzhou, and there is a section of road that has not been paved with cement yet."
"Captain Xu led a personal inspection, and the test results proved that the mud on the car was exactly the same as the mud on that road."
There was silence in the office for a moment, and Shen Qingye frowned. It was no wonder that everyone suspected Zhou Yuanfeng.
Captain Yang hadn't finished his words yet. He added, "The most important thing is that we also found a long female hair in the trunk of his car. After DNA extraction and testing, we found that this hair was Qin Jiayu's."
Shen Qingye raised his eyes: "Women's long hair? Trunk?"
Li Mingliang nodded: "That's right."
If they were a couple, it wouldn't be surprising to see a girl's hair in the car, but it wasn't on the seat, but in the trunk.
But it just so happens that so many factors are superimposed on each other.
Shen Qingye was silent for a long time before he hissed softly, very puzzled: "But... why? Isn't Qin Jiayu his girlfriend? What does he want by kidnapping someone?"
Detective Lao Huang at the side laughed and said, "This is where the fun begins."
He knocked on the table and said slowly, "As far as we know, Zhou Yuanfeng and Qin Jiayu had a quarrel a month ago, and it was quite serious. In the past month, the two have been in a cold war, and the frequency of contact is no more than twice."
"Have they had a fight recently?" Shen Qingye asked, "Why?"
Li Mingliang said, "It seems that the girl wants to develop in Linzhou, and thinks that the company there can provide better treatment than the company in Linjiang. But Zhou Yuanfeng is not very willing to do so, because he thinks that if she goes abroad, they will be in different places, and it will be inconvenient for them to meet each other on a regular basis."
Old Huang said: "It is because of this that everyone thinks Zhou Yuanfeng has a reason to do it. Even if he is not after money, maybe he just wants to trap the girl by his side and not let her leave?"
Shen Qingye hesitated: "This..."
Her brows knitted together, and she couldn't tell what she felt, but she just felt that there was something -
"It's a bit too smooth, isn't it." A familiar voice sounded in her ears. Shen Qingye turned around and saw Yue Lingchuan leaning lazily against the table, holding a pen between his slender fingers, turning it occasionally. He spoke slowly: "From the hair at the front door of Qin Jiayu's rental house, to the mud marks on the car, the hair in the trunk, and the fact that they had a fight recently, all of this seems to make the investigation go too smoothly, right?"
Shen Qingye paused, then nodded slowly: "Indeed..."
It was so smooth...it made people feel a little bit unbelievable.
Team Yang on the side said: "Not only do you feel this way, we feel the same way."
He said, "We have investigated Zhou Yuanfeng. He is an excellent student with a good reputation in school. His grades are always among the best in his grade. He is also the monitor of his class and the president of the student union. He started his own business in his junior year, and his company is developing well. He is undoubtedly a smart man. Would he really leave so much obvious evidence after committing a crime?"
Not to mention anything else, just that piece of mud. If he really passed that road, wouldn't he wash the car after coming back? And as for the quarrel they had, if Zhou Yuanfeng really wanted to completely distance himself from this kidnapping, he could have pretended to reconcile with Qin Jiayu first and then find an opportunity to complete the kidnapping. By then, the possibility of people suspecting him will be much lower, right?
But now there is so much evidence left, it's like -
"It's like someone deliberately makes us suspect him." Shen Qingye murmured.
Li Mingliang crossed his legs carelessly and said, "I feel the same way. The investigation process of this case was too smooth."
Except for Yue Lingchuan and Shen Qingye, all those present were veteran criminal police with decades of work experience, and they were extremely sensitive to crime.
But they did not find that kind of "criminal factor" in Zhou Yuanfeng.
Shen Qingye pondered for a moment and asked again: "Zhou Yuanfeng is in the team now, right? What did he say?"
Li Mingliang shrugged: "He insisted that he knew nothing."
"He clearly hadn't been to Qin Jiayu's place for half a month, so why was there his hair at the door of her house? Why was there mud from other places on the tires of the car? And why was there hair in the trunk? He didn't know."
Captain Yang said, "Old Li, Old Huang and I have been taking turns keeping him awake for the past two days. It's obvious that the kid can't take it anymore, but his explanation has not changed."
"We have also searched all the properties under his name and the places he often visited, but we found no trace of Qin Jiayu."
Old Wei, who was sitting in the corner smoking, said in a muffled voice: "He didn't lie."
Shen Qingye looked back and his heart moved slightly. She knew this man, a famous sharp-eyed person in the team, and any lie would never escape his sight.
Since he said so, Zhou Yuanfeng might really not have lied.
Old Huang asked doubtfully, "But if that's the case... Zhou Yuanfeng knows nothing, then what about the evidence?"
"It can't be that someone deliberately framed him, kidnapped Qin Jiayu, and then framed him?"
Li Mingliang said, "What is he after? The current situation is that Zhou Yuanfeng has no way to prove that he has never been to Linzhou; we also have no further evidence to prove that he was the one who kidnapped Qin Jiayu. He also insisted that he knew nothing. In the end, we can't find him, so we can only let it go. Why did he go to so much trouble to stage such a scene?"
As soon as these words came out, Shen Qingye's face suddenly changed. She stood up suddenly and murmured, "Yes, if Zhou Yuanfeng was really framed, then we couldn't find any trace of Qin Jiayu from his mouth in the end, and there was no more in-depth evidence to prove that he was the one who committed the crime. In the end, except for his reputation, it would not have any impact on him at all... What's the point of the people behind the scenes staging such a drama..."
"unless--"
Yue Lingchuan said with a cold face: "Unless the person behind this continues to forge evidence that Zhou Yuanfeng kidnapped Qin Jiayu, and he is sure that this evidence will leave him no chance of recovery."
Shen Qingye followed him and said, "But Qin Jiayu wouldn't be so stupid as to not recognize whether the person who kidnapped her is her boyfriend or not. Once Qin Jiayu is out of danger, she can completely prove Zhou Yuanfeng's innocence."
She and Yue Lingchuan looked at each other and whispered, "Unless... Qin Jiayu can't escape danger anymore."
Captain Yang's face suddenly turned grim upon hearing this. He propped himself up on the table and stood up: "Are you saying that Qin Jiayu's life is in danger? The murderer is likely to kill to silence her?"
Shen Qingye pursed her lips tightly: "Besides this, I can't think of anything else the murderer could have done to kill Zhou Yuanfeng."
The dead cannot speak.
If he kills Qin Jiayu and throws away the body, and leaves something belonging to Zhou Yuanfeng on the body, then he will be unable to defend himself...
Captain Yang walked around the room with a sullen face, and the aura around Li Mingliang and the others also darkened.
After a while, Shen Qingye spoke softly: "This is just our guess..."
Captain Yang raised his hand: "Your point makes sense, I understand."
He paced back and forth in the room, and after a moment he said, "So, we can't give up on Zhou Yuanfeng for now, we have to continue investigating. As for who kidnapped Qin Jiayu——"
Yue Lingchuan stepped forward and said, "Master, let Xiao Shen and I check this out."
Captain Yang paused, a little surprised: "You and Xiao Shen?"
Yue Lingchuan smiled: "Aren't the criminal police from Linzhou still here? You are short-handed here too. Anyway, I don't have anything to do recently, so I'll just help you out."
There are also five criminal police officers in one group. In addition to the four currently sitting here, there is also an old man named Fan Yonghua, who broke his leg while chasing a murderer some time ago and is still recuperating at home.
Yue Lingchuan came here today because he was worried that the team was short of manpower and wanted to help out.
Captain Yang's expression eased: "Stinky boy, it's not in vain that I loved you before..."
He looked at Shen Qingye again, pondered for a moment, waved his hand and said, "Alright, I'll leave it to you to investigate Zhou Yuanfeng's classmate and friends, and focus on finding those who have grudges against him."
Yue Lingchuan said: "I know what's going on, don't worry."
Captain Yang gave them a few more instructions and handed them a copy of the case file, and then the two of them left.
Shen Qingye walked and looked at the existing evidence and the interrogation results of Captain Yang and others. Yue Lingchuan tilted his head and looked at the girl next to him: "Where do you want to start?"
Shen Qingye thought for a moment, looked up at him and said, "I'm wondering, how did the murderer kidnap Qin Jiayu?"
Yue Lingchuan said: "Tell me about it."
"Captain Yang and his team said that Qin Jiayu's neighbors saw her return home that night. And the hair they found was also found inside Qin Jiayu's house. In other words, the murderer had entered Qin Jiayu's house at the time, and he didn't break in by picking the lock."
If the lock was picked, trace detection would be able to detect traces in the door lock.
"Then there are two possibilities. One is that the murderer somehow got the key to Qin Jiayu's house. The other is—"
Yue Lingchuan continued: "It was Qin Jiayu who took the initiative to open the door."
Shen Qingye nodded: "That's right. If it's the former, we need to check the people who are close to Qin Jiayu and have obtained the keys to her house. But Qin Jiayu just moved there not long ago. According to the investigation by the Linzhou police, she basically hasn't been home for a month. The only people who can get her keys are those in Linzhou."
Yue Lingchuan added: "Let's not talk about the fact that Qin Jiayu has just arrived in Linzhou. Is there a person who can make her hand over the key just after meeting him? Even if there is such a person, how can he be related to Zhou Yuanfeng in Pingjiang when he is in Linzhou and even have hatred towards him?"
Shen Qingye said, "That's right. Of course, it's also possible that the murderer is not in Linzhou, but just went there once and used some means to get the key to Qin Jiayu's room - this situation cannot be ruled out."
Yue Lingchuan said: "Any situation is possible. But back to the question just now, if it is the latter——"
Shen Qingye said: "Qin Jiayu took the initiative to open the door, which means that the person who came is someone she knows."
She thought for a moment and then said, "It's possible that he doesn't know her, but she came here in the name of Zhou Yuanfeng?"
Yue Lingchuan said: "This also explains why the neighbors around didn't hear Qin Jiayu calling for help."
Shen Qingye said: "Because she was not on guard against that person at all. Maybe she was attacked when she turned around without paying attention."
Yue Lingchuan nodded: "If that's the case, then everything makes sense."
Shen Qingye looked at the case file, his mouth curled up unconsciously, and said, "Then the problem now is that the murderer is very likely to know both Qin Jiayu and Zhou Yuanfeng."
"And he might have a good relationship with Zhou Yuanfeng, otherwise he might not have been able to get access to his car."
Yue Lingchuan added: "He also had to be familiar with Zhou Yuanfeng's schedule and know that he might be in the hotel that night. This way he could create the illusion that there was no one around him and that he had the opportunity to commit the crime."
Shen Qingye looked at the case file and murmured, "Someone who is familiar with him, who can get into his car, and who knows his schedule...someone who drank with him that day!"
Yue Lingchuan: "And his classmates and roommates also have the opportunity to get this information."
Shen Qingye pondered for a moment, then looked at Yue Lingchuan and said, "I want to go see Zhou Yuanfeng first and learn more about who he had contact with on the day of the incident and in the period before."
Yue Lingchuan smiled: "That's exactly what I was thinking."
The two smiled at each other and headed straight for the detention center.
......
The detention center is not far from the team, and it takes less than ten minutes to drive there.
The police officer in the station learned of their purpose and asked them to wait for a moment before taking Zhou Yuanfeng to the interrogation room.
When Shen Qingye pushed the door open, he saw the dim room with only an interrogation chair in the middle of the empty room. Zhou Yuanfeng was sitting in the chair, looking extremely depressed.
But the moment the door to the interrogation room was opened, Zhou Yuanfeng suddenly raised his head and asked excitedly, "Have you found Xiaoyu's whereabouts?"
Shen Qingye paused, looked at Yue Lingchuan, and shook his head: "Not yet."
When Zhou Yuanfeng heard this, the light in his eyes instantly dimmed. He collapsed in the chair, half-raising his eyes, and then he realized that the other person was actually an acquaintance:
"Shen Qingye?"
He twitched his lips and said, "Why, they can't get anything out of me, so they're taking your turn?"
Shen Qingye sat down behind the interrogation table, glanced at him and said, "I asked to come here on my own initiative."
Zhou Yuanfeng looked at her twice more before tightly closing his eyes: "I don't know what you want to ask, but I really don't know anything!"
"I really don't know anything about the hair and mud you're talking about! I had a quarrel with Xiaoyu, but I wouldn't imprison her, would I? I was drunk as a dog that night, and I had no memory of what I did when I woke up the next morning. How could I drive so far in the middle of the night and kidnap someone?"
He scratched his head, looking very impatient: "If you have time to waste here with me, you might as well spend more time looking for Xiaoyu's whereabouts!"
"We are trying hard to find it, don't worry." Shen Qingye looked at him and said calmly: "The problem now is that you keep saying that you don't know, but all the evidence points to you. Zhou Yuanfeng, do you know what this means?"
Zhou Yuanfeng closed his eyes tightly: "How should I know what it means?"
Yue Lingchuan knocked on the table: "Zhou Yuanfeng, you'd better calm down. If you are really worried about Qin Jiayu's whereabouts, you should cooperate with our investigation."
"Whether it's hair or mud, how did these things get on your car? Zhou Yuanfeng, use your brain and think about it carefully."
Zhou Yuanfeng was stunned when he heard this. He was not a stupid man. After this reminder, he quickly realized that something was wrong.
"You're saying that someone kidnapped Xiaoyu and deliberately framed me?"
Yue Lingchuan said: "This possibility cannot be ruled out."
"No," Zhou Yuanfeng slowly sat up straight, his face full of confusion: "Why? Who would do this? What does he want?"
"I'm going to ask you this." Shen Qingye looked at him and said, "Zhou Yuanfeng, who did you offend that made the other party resort to such means to ruin your reputation?"
"Who did I offend? How do I know who I offended?" Zhou Yuanfeng shook his head: "I dare not say that I have a good relationship with everyone, but I don't have a relationship with anyone so bad that people hate me so much, right?"
He frowned and pondered for a long time, but still couldn't figure out when he had offended anyone. He always believed in giving people a way out. Even if he was dissatisfied with someone, his relationship with them was still acceptable on the surface. During the more than one year since he started his business, his senior colleagues in the business world praised him for being like a father and having a benevolent and righteous character.
Zhou Yuanfeng was not bragging. He believed that he had never done anything to let others down in all these years.
Seeing that he really didn't know, Shen Qingye moved the hand holding the pen slightly and said, "You can't know a person's heart by looking at his face. Maybe others are affectionate to you on the surface, but actually don't like you?"
Zhou Yuanfeng's expression changed slightly.
"Since you can't figure out who you offended, let's think about it another way - who got into your car?"
Zhou Yuanfeng's expression changed instantly.
Now that things have come to this, how could he not understand what it means?
He opened his mouth and said in a hoarse voice: "I just picked up that car last month..."
Shen Qingye paused.
Zhou Yuanfeng took a deep breath and said, "I really like that car. I rarely let anyone touch it before. It was at the end of last month, when the 28th class had their graduation party, that group of boys thought it was novel and insisted that I go up and play with it."
He thought carefully: "And... a few days ago, on the night of the 31st, I was drinking with my friends. After I got drunk, my friend drove me to the hotel. Then the next day, one of my roommates found a job, and we had dinner together outside. After dinner, I drove them back."
"Only these few times."
Shen Qingye frowned. Qin Jiayu disappeared on the night of the 31st, and Zhou Yuanfeng's recent parties happened to be held during these days.
"Who knew that you went drinking on the night of the 31st?"
Zhou Yuanfeng said: "Except for Lao Gu and the others, no one else should know."
He looked at Shen Qingye and said hurriedly: "But it is unlikely to be them."
Shen Qingye frowned slightly, seeming to disagree. Zhou Yuanfeng took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible: "There were only three people drinking with me that night. They all grew up with me and are familiar with each other. I'll put it bluntly, if any of them had a problem with me, they wouldn't have to wait until now to take action."
"Just like the guy from the Dai family a while ago, he got drunk and someone sent him to bed with a woman. The next day, the woman accused him of rape, and in the end he had to spend a large sum of money to get rid of the disaster."
"I was completely defenseless against Lao Gu and the others. If they really had something against me, there would be no need to use such a roundabout way to accuse me of kidnapping, like Dai Hong did. If they just casually accused me of rape, I would definitely not be able to escape."
"It's not a simple matter of saying yes or no." Shen Qingye said, "The murderer obviously knew that you were alone that night. He calculated that no one could testify for you, so he chose that time to act."
"If you didn't tell them you were drinking with someone, how would they know you were alone that night?"
Zhou Yuanfeng was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I know."
"What?"
Zhou Yuanfeng licked his lips and said, "I have a property near my company. When I'm too busy at work, I usually live there by myself. Many of my classmates know about this."
"Besides," he paused and continued, "graduation is approaching soon, and our dormitory has agreed to take advantage of the time to get together more before the official graduation. If I have nothing to do every day, I will go back to the dormitory to sleep at night. If I don’t go back..." It means he is busy.
Since he was busy, the probability of returning to his own house was very high.
Shen Qingye's expression darkened. If that was the case, then his roommate was undoubtedly the most suspicious. But other people who were concerned about Zhou Yuanfeng's whereabouts would not be unaware of this matter if they asked around.
Yue Lingchuan asked: "Who first proposed to get together more often?"
Zhou Yuanfeng said: "There is another person in our dormitory, Tang Hao."
......
When they walked out of the detention center, both of them looked solemn.
I thought that by following the clues, I could identify several suspects along the line of cars. But it just so happened that Zhou Yuanfeng's recent gatherings were all concentrated on the 31st, and the scope of suspects suddenly expanded to the entire class. They now have no idea whether the mud on his car and the hair in the car were put there by the murderer after the crime or whether the murderer had planned it before the crime.
Now, his friends, roommates, and classmates are all suspects.
The two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
Shen Qingye cheered up: "Let's go and check who drank with Zhou Yuanfeng that night."
......
There were three people drinking with Zhou Yuanfeng that night, two of whom lived with their parents, and one was married and had a family.
The person who sent Zhou Yuanfeng to the hotel that night was the married man, whom Zhou Yuanfeng called Old Gu, Gu Kaicheng.
"My wife is pregnant and can't stand the smell of alcohol, so even though I was with them that day, I didn't drink at all. Also, because Lao Chang's family is very strict and we have to go home before midnight, we dispersed at 11 o'clock and he took a car home by himself. Qiu Yiming's home is close, and he didn't drink much, so he walked home by himself. Only Lao Zhou's home is far away, so I thought about it and sent him directly to the nearest hotel."
Gu Kaicheng sighed softly: "If my wife hadn't been so intolerable to the smell of alcohol, I would have taken him home that night and nothing like this would have happened..."
After hearing this, Shen Qingye and the other person went to ask Gu Kaicheng's wife, who said that at around 2 a.m. that night, she woke up because she was hungry and asked Gu Kaicheng to get up and cook something for her. I got up to go to the bathroom at around three o'clock, and Gu Kaicheng was beside me.
It takes at least three or four hours to travel from Linzhou to Pingjiang and back. It was impossible for Gu Kaicheng to complete the crime in such a short period of time.
Shen Qingye and Yue Lingchuan asked Chang Wenhua and Qiu Yiming again and got similar answers. According to their families, both of them went home drunk that night, and Chang Wenhua even acted crazy while drunk, which made his father so angry that he beat him with a feather duster. Qiu Yiming was better, but he also fell asleep as soon as he got home, and when he woke up the next day, his clothes were stinking.
They didn't have the time to commit the crime.
After Shen Qingye and Yue Lingchuan ruled them out as suspects, they turned their attention to Zhou Yuanfeng's classmates and roommates.
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