Chapter 25 I just received news that Liang Xinhua is missing...
Guan Xia didn't wait until the elevator was repaired before going home.
Although he only ran two laps, the sudden amount of exercise made Guan Xia hungry after just sitting for a while. Fortunately, he brought his mobile phone with him. He found a store at the entrance of the community and had breakfast. He walked around in the small circle again and saw people walking into the unit one after another. He guessed that the maintenance was over, so he went home.
But I was dumbfounded as soon as I entered the corridor. Two uniformed staff members were busy, and a middle-aged woman who looked like a property manager was standing next to them. She was browsing her mobile phone and glancing at the two staff members from time to time.
Hearing footsteps, the middle-aged woman looked up and said casually, "The elevator is broken and under repair. It's out of service right now."
Guan Xia thought about it and decided to climb to the 9th floor, but couldn't help but ask, "How long will it take to fix it?"
The middle-aged woman didn't respond, so a busy maintenance worker spoke up. "That'll be this afternoon. Some idiot kicked the elevator door in your unit and bent it out of shape. The screens on the second, third, and fourth floors are also damaged. They might not be fixed until this afternoon."
Hearing that it would take so long, Guan Xia could only accept her fate and climb the stairs. She also felt that she had a bad start. It was only the first day she made up her mind. Wasn't she a little too unlucky?
After climbing to the fourth floor in one breath, Guan Xia turned a corner and saw an elderly lady resting on the handrail with a large bag of vegetables thrown on the stairs.
Hearing footsteps, she knew someone was coming up the stairs. She bent down, picked up the bag, and moved to the side. She turned to look at Guan Xia and said with a smile, "You go first. I need to rest before I go. I'm really unlucky today. I rarely come here to make dumplings for my son, but I ended up encountering elevator maintenance. I should have come yesterday if I had known."
Guan Xia didn't want to meddle in other people's business, but looking at the old man in front of him whose hair was beginning to turn gray, she thought for a moment and said, "Which floor do you live on? How about I help you carry it?"
The aunt wasn't surprised, she just smiled and refused, "No, I'm not that old actually, I can still climb to the 9th floor. It's just that I participated in a square dance competition a few days ago and danced a little too much, which made my blood pressure a little high, so I'm climbing slowly. Little girl, you really don't have to worry about me, go up by yourself, I really can do it."
If she hadn't heard the word "9th floor", Guan Xia would have gone up by herself. But when she thought of her neighbor, she pursed her lips and said, "What a coincidence, I live on the 9th floor too. Let me help you."
Guan Xia reached out to pick it up, and the aunt said with surprise, "So it's you who lives next door. What a coincidence! I knew the house next door was sold last year, but I never saw the owner. I even kept nagging my son about it before, wondering if the person next door was easy to get along with. I didn't expect it to be a girl this young."
Guan Xia was still not used to this kind of enthusiasm and didn't want to talk much. She just smiled as little as possible to avoid being embarrassed.
The aunt did not refuse Guan Xia's help again, but just lifted the other side, "Let's lift it together, it will be easier and won't be too tight. By the way, little girl, my son is a policeman, a criminal policeman, so he is very busy and often comes home in the middle of the night. If he disturbs you at night, please bear with me, I will remind him to keep his voice down."
"Criminal police," Guan Xia was a little surprised, and nodded in understanding. "The police are indeed busy, let alone criminal police. It's okay, Auntie. Our community is well soundproofed, and I go to bed early at night, so it won't disturb me."
"You went to bed early, that's good." Apparently, she felt Guan Xia was easy to talk to, and her aunt's attitude became even more friendly. "Early to bed and early to rise is good for your health. It's better than eating too much good food."
They climbed the stairs while chatting and unknowingly reached the 9th floor. Guan Xia politely said goodbye to her aunt and hurried into the house.
After changing into comfortable home clothes, Guan Xia plunged into the study and started today's learning journey.
…
Compared with the solemn atmosphere of the previous few days, the atmosphere in the Second Squadron's office today was more cheerful, which was the joy of finally catching the suspect.
A group of people sat around the conference table, and Jiang Yingyao quickly posted several photos on the whiteboard.
"The identities of the victims in Cases 1129 and 725 have been confirmed," Jiang Yingyao pointed a laser pointer at two photos. "The victim in Case 1129 was named Tian Shaohui, a 42-year-old male who disappeared on the night of November 27, 2017. He also had a long history of domestic violence against his wife, but there were no police reports or hospital admissions. The victim in Case 725 was named Tan Yongfu, a 37-year-old male who disappeared in the early morning of July 21, 2020. He also had a long history of domestic violence against his wife, but there were no police reports or hospital admissions."
After briefly introducing the identities of the deceased in the two cases, Jiang Yingyao put down the laser pointer and continued, "After confirming the deceased's identity, we investigated his interpersonal relationships, residential community, and workplace. We learned that Tian Shaohui was a driver transporting dangerous goods. In addition to long-term domestic violence against his wife, he also had a history of soliciting prostitutes. Investigations revealed that he disappeared after leaving the hotel at 11:00 PM on November 27, 2017. We've reviewed the surveillance footage, and we found that after leaving the hotel, he boarded a silver-gray sedan with license plate number QH993. He drove along Wanshou Street, Qingnian Road, Xinfeng Road, Huancheng Road, and finally onto Xinmin Avenue. There's only surveillance footage of him heading up Xinmin Avenue, not getting off."
"Xinmin Avenue?" Qi Bai glanced at Xu Nian. "This road name sounds familiar. Isn't it the one near Captain Xu's residential complex? It's newly built and very spacious. I previously made two trips with two auxiliary police officers as Brother Jiang suggested. No matter which of the four villages you start from, you can reach this small commercial district within an hour and a half. So, the place where Tian Shaohui disappeared and was killed is nearby?"
The others also looked at Xu Nian.
Xu Nian looked at Jiang Yingyao and asked, "Silver-gray sedan, another XXX? Did the driver take a picture of his face?"
Jiang Yingyao shook his head. "No, the driver wore a hat and a mask the entire time, but judging by her figure and hairstyle, she must be a woman."
"Female?" Qi Bai was a little surprised. "Goodness, this is a gang crime."
Wang Yu had a different opinion. "It doesn't have to be a woman. The silver-gray sedan is probably the one we found earlier. The technical team only found a small amount of wig hair in the driver's seat, but no fingerprints. This means the driver must have been wearing gloves when Tian Shaohui disappeared. It's difficult for a woman to pretend to be a man, but it's easy to mistake a man for a woman in such darkness. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that it was indeed a woman."
Everyone looked at the surveillance camera's photo facing the driver's seat. Because he was sitting, his height couldn't be seen, and all they could see was that the driver was overweight. Because he was wearing a seatbelt, the outline of his chest was clearly visible, and with his long hair hanging down on both sides of his shoulders, he did look like a woman. However, when they thought about the several synthetic fiber wigs that the technical team had found after turning the entire car over, they were not so sure.
"Go on." Xu Nian spoke, interrupting everyone's thoughts.
Jiang Yingyao continued, "The deceased in the July 25th case, Tan Yongfu, was unemployed. He was previously self-employed and ran a small restaurant with his wife. However, he later became addicted to gambling after being lured by his fellow villager, Tan Jianhong. He lost all his savings, including his small restaurant. On the day he disappeared, he and his fellow villager, Tan Jianhong, gambled until the early hours of the morning in a small, private casino. This small casino is located in Fengshou Village, about four kilometers from Xinmin Avenue."
"Wow, it's Xinmin Avenue again," Qi Bai said affirmatively, "It looks like the suspect is hiding in the four villages near Xinmin Avenue. Can we set up a surveillance today?"
Qi Bai looked at Xu Nian expectantly.
Xu Nian didn't say anything. After thinking for a few seconds, he reached out to Wang Yu and said, "Give me the map."
Wang Yu quickly handed over the map that was clipped in the notebook.
Xu Nian spread out the map, muttering to himself as he circled it with a red pen. "Tian Shaohui, Yushuiwan Residential Area; Tan Yongfu, Lijing Residential Area; Pang Zhiye and Pang Wenzhe, Fangcao Garden Residential Area."
Xu Nian stared at the three red circles that were very close to him and asked, "Have you got the detailed information about the people in the four villages?"
Wang Yu replied, "I got it." Then he flipped through the thick stack of forms at hand, occasionally taking out a few and putting them aside.
Qi Bai was anxious and quickly grabbed half of it and started flipping through it. He quickly found all the personnel information tables that met the requirements.
Qi Bai handed it all to Xu Nian. "Captain Xu, this is a detailed list of people from the four villages who work in the small business district where the four deceased people are located, or who have regular vegetable transport relationships with supermarkets and vegetable markets in the small business district."
"And more," Wang Yu handed over a few more sheets, "These are also included. There are also details of people who have fixed stalls in the nearby vegetable market and those who set up their own stalls."
Xu Nian flipped through the list quickly. Although the scope was greatly narrowed, a rough count still showed that there were dozens of people.
However, once it has been reduced to this extent, it can be controlled.
Xu Nian's face, which had been tense for days, finally cracked a smile. "The murderer must be young, with all his limbs intact, and he must have a separate, fairly large residence. Since the only body parts we found were limbs, some internal organs, and a pelvis, it's very likely that this residence was not only far from densely populated areas, but also had a suitable burial site, perhaps a courtyard or some wasteland or woods nearby."
Wang Yu suddenly asked, "Is it possible that the murderer buried the remaining body parts directly in the greenhouse?"
Before Xu Nian could answer, Jiang Yingyao explained, "Normally, greenhouse growers will build a small hut near the greenhouse to keep watch, to prevent anyone from damaging the film or spraying poison. Those huts are very small and simply cannot be used to dismember a body. If they dismembered a body in their own residence and could afford to dispose of it, they wouldn't risk transporting the remaining body parts and burying them in a greenhouse hundreds or even kilometers away."
Wang Yu murmured thoughtfully, "This is what they call throwing far away and burying close by."
Xu Nian waited until Jiang Yingyao had finished explaining before continuing, "The killer was able to find such a perfect opportunity to take the four victims away. He likely observed them for a long time. The fact that the victims didn't arouse suspicion during this long observation suggests that he must have had a legitimate reason to be around them. Simply cooperating with supermarkets and vegetable markets to transport vegetables clearly wasn't enough time. The only options left for him to do this are to have a fixed stall, or perhaps set up his own stall to sell vegetables."
Xu Nian paused and added, "There's a high probability that the deceased didn't live alone. He may not have children, but he must have been married."
Qi Bai asked with doubt, "Why Captain Xu? Wouldn't it be easier to dismember the body if he lived alone? Why must the deceased be married?"
This time, Xu Nian didn't need to speak. Jiang Yingyao patiently explained, "Because in rural areas, whether single women or men, they are more likely to attract the attention of the villagers than those who are married. It's unlikely that the murderer could have killed four people without being discovered just by being in a relationship. He must have been married."
Qi Bai and Wang Yu both nodded with a look of sudden enlightenment.
Xu Nian put down the several forms in his hand and said, "Now that the conditions for setting up control are clear, let's go."
Just as Xu Nian finished speaking, Jiang Yingyao suddenly said, "Wait a minute, Captain Xu, there's one thing I haven't mentioned yet that's worth noting."
The dawn of catching the suspect was just around the corner. Xu Nian was in a good mood. He sat down again and looked at Jiang Yingyao, "Brother Jiang, tell me."
Jiang Yingyao tapped Tian Shaohui's photo with his finger. "When we were investigating his relationships, we discovered something peculiar. Tian Shaohui's wife, Ye Lan, remarried in February 2023. Her second husband is Liang Xinhua, 53 years old. He and his ex-wife divorced in 2022 due to a breakdown in their relationship. But I checked and found that although Liang Xinhua had no history of domestic violence, he had fought with his ex-wife, resulting in her fractures and Liang Xinhua himself being hospitalized with injuries."
Xu Nian understood Jiang Yingyao's meaning. "You suspect that although Liang Xinhua has no history of domestic violence, he has certain violent tendencies and is likely to become the murderer's next target?"
Jiang Yingyao nodded hesitantly. "Although there's been no police reports of domestic violence since Liang Xinhua and Ye Lan remarried, I asked someone to inquire with the community director of her residential complex. Last year, things were fine, but starting this year, Liang Xinhua and Ye Lan have had several arguments and even physical contact. While it's been limited to slapping so far, if the murderer has been scouting nearby for a long time, Ye Lan, the remarriage partner of the deceased's family, would be an easy target."
Xu Nian frowned, "It's indeed very likely. Have you found someone to keep an eye on it?"
Jiang Yingyao nodded. "We're short on manpower, so I only found two: a regular police officer and an auxiliary police officer."
Just as Xu Nian was about to speak, Jiang Yingyao's phone suddenly rang. After answering the phone, his face changed drastically after hearing just one sentence.
Xu Nian's heart sank suddenly. Sure enough, after Jiang Yingyao hung up the phone, he said with a serious expression: "I just received news that Liang Xinhua is missing."
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