Chapter 54, Case 3, Part 1: This murderer owes nine lives...
It's normal for people to feel the urge to defecate when they eat grains and other foods.
Qiu Xiaoman didn't want to immediately think negatively about her senior, but the timing of Fang Zhenhong's departure was too coincidental, leaving her no choice but to overthink it.
However, with so many people in the criminal investigation team, it was impossible for her to grasp the family situation of everyone in a short period of time, so she didn't know whether Fang Zhenhong and Liu Yuandou had any relationship.
As for the personnel relationships on the Liu family's side, Shen Tenglong had not yet sorted them out.
He needed to find someone to verify the relatives of Liu Yuandou's concubines, which was normal, since concubines were generally not brought out in public. Shen Tenglong himself was not from the wealthy circle, so it was impossible for him to know every detail about the Liu family.
But she remained cautious, thinking that she could ask Team Leader Zou privately after the meeting.
After all, this man's name is Fang Zhenhong, and he shares the same surname as Liu Yuandou's sister-in-law.
Now, she must clarify the matter of the serial killer.
But how should I put it? Should I say she has a cheat code, something called a system? That it alerts her when it sees a criminal?
Currently, only Director Wen and the top leaders know about this matter; it is kept secret from everyone else. Moreover, the top leaders have instructed them not to spread it around easily.
She stared at the system's case interface, looking at the eight gray, unflipped victim name cards and the two gray, unflipped accomplice name cards in the murderer's column. She could only mumble, "I have special information channels. This murderer owes nine lives; he's a serial killer. Now I'd like to discuss the death of Liu Yuandou's sister-in-law, Fang Ting."
Everyone looked at each other in disbelief; this was completely unexpected. The case of Liu Yuandou's sister-in-law's death was already closed; it was undeniable suicide.
Is there any need to reopen this kind of case?
Besides, the crime scene wasn't even in Beidu. The criminal police in Beidu are only responsible for contacting the family to claim the body.
Tiger Brother really admired Qiu Xiaoman and was worried that she might be misled by others because she was new to the area and didn't know the situation.
Tell her quickly: "Fang Ting committed suicide. She had been raising her brother-in-law's illegitimate child for over ten years. When the truth came out, she felt guilty towards her sister, so she left a suicide note, went to another city to see her son one last time, and then burned herself to death in a fire. The fire was huge; five rooms in the hotel where she was staying were burned down, including the closest guest."
"Is this unfortunate man named Zhou Wang?" Qiu Xiaoman had a headache. No wonder the police in Beidu didn't suspect Zhou Wang; in other people's eyes, he was the victim.
Tiger nodded and said, "That's right. Zhou Wang is also from Beidu. It was summer vacation, and he took his child on a trip. He happened to stay next to Fang Ting. However, the bathroom in his room was leaking, and his wife and child were making a fuss about changing rooms. They went to find the room manager and weren't there, so they luckily escaped a disaster."
Qiu Xiaoman fell silent. And he brought his wife and children?
Was it a gang crime? Were his wife and children accomplices? She tried entering the names of the two people on the accomplice's card, but there was no response.
Perhaps they were unaware of the situation and were simply taken there as a cover.
No wonder the reward for this case was so high; it was handled so flawlessly.
But she refused to believe she couldn't find any flaws! She took a deep breath and said, "I know everyone thinks I'm just making things up, so please help me find the case file. I will find clues as soon as possible to prove that my source of information is legitimate."
Tiger was in a real bind. Seeing Captain Zou's impressive display, he assumed Xiao Qiu already had irrefutable evidence, but he was wrong...
He sighed, "Then you might have to wait ten days to half a month. First, if you can't produce convincing evidence, cases that have already been closed won't be reopened for investigation; you won't even get the paperwork to access the files. Second, even if you produce evidence and get permission to reopen the investigation, Fang Ting died in a different location, so the case isn't under our jurisdiction, and you'll have to travel to another city, which could take a month or two to complete. Finally, can you tell everyone what your source of information is? Without evidence, it's hard for people to believe you."
"I'm sorry, I can't say." Qiu Xiaoman turned to look at Captain Zou. "If Captain Zou is worried, he can ask Director Wen."
Team Leader Zou had the same idea. He left the meeting room and went to his office to make a phone call to Director Wen.
Unexpectedly, Director Wen replied, "She naturally has her reasons for her suspicions. Don't ask so many questions, just provide her with assistance."
"But this doesn't follow the proper procedures, does it?" Team Leader Zou was also helpless. He didn't want to just read from the script, but often, not following the procedures would get him criticized.
Director Wen could only offer words of comfort: "Special circumstances require special handling! Just assign two people to handle this case."
“But if we reopen the investigation, the priority is the police in the area where the crime occurred. We can only apply for intervention if they refuse to cooperate. Isn’t this a bit much?” Captain Zou was having a headache. This was really putting him in a difficult position.
He wanted to help Xiao Qiu, but the procedures didn't allow it.
Director Wen laughed and said, "Who told you this is a reopened investigation? Didn't she say the other party killed nine people? Can't you investigate the other eight people first?"
...Okay...that seems to make some sense.
As expected, experience counts. He quickly hung up the phone and asked Qiu Xiaoman who the other eight were.
Qiu Xiaoman didn't know either.
Team Leader Zou was annoyed. He called her outside and asked, "Are you just making fun of me? You should at least know who the victim is!"
Qiu Xiaoman thought for a moment, picked up her mobile phone, and called Liu Kun.
Although she returned his business card, she had already memorized it after just one glance.
At this moment, Liu Kun was dozing off in the car. He had a habit of taking a nap in the afternoon. After losing track of Qiu Xiaoman's whereabouts, he found a parking lot and took a nap in the car.
Upon hearing Qiu Xiaoman's voice, he immediately sat up straight and said, "I'm here. What is it?"
"Tell me about Zhou Wang, tell me everything you know." Qiu Xiaoman had no other choice but to try to get some clues from Liu Kun.
Zhou Wang would ask him for money, which means they at least know each other and have a special connection.
Of course, logically she should suspect that Liu Kun might also be involved, but if that were the case, the system would have sounded the moment he appeared, instead of remaining silent.
Furthermore, when she entered Liu Kun's name in the accomplice field, the system did not respond. Qiu Xiaoman naturally wanted to rule him out as a suspect.
Liu Kun was quite surprised; he hadn't expected her to be curious about Zhou Wang.
He then told him everything he knew, including Zhou Wang's uncle's family, who had almost been wiped out.
Qiu Xiaoman was quite surprised. Looking at the eight gray name cards on the system interface, she asked, "How many people died in the fire?"
"Seven." Liu Kun said with absolute certainty.
Qiu Xiaoman then asked, "Do you know the name?"
Liu Kun gave seven names, and Qiu Xiaoman quickly asked which homophone it was. She entered them one by one, and seven of the eight cards were flipped over. They matched!
Only one left! Damn system! Who else is there?
All she could ask was, "Are there any other relatives of Zhou Wang who have passed away?"
“His wife died.” Liu Kun yawned. “He was really unlucky. The car was driving perfectly fine, and suddenly it caught fire.”
Qiu Xiaoman suspected that this was the last unlucky one.
Enter your name, great, the card is flipped over!
Qiu Xiaoman hung up the phone and looked at Captain Zou in shock: "You're a veteran detective, tell me, what do you think?"
“This Zhou Wang is definitely problematic!” Team Leader Zou realized this as well. It’s no wonder he hadn’t suspected Zhou Wang before, since Zhou Wang’s uncle’s family had also run into trouble in another city.
Only his wife's car caught fire locally.
Who would make that connection? His uncle's case isn't under the jurisdiction of the Northern Capital. The Northern Capital has so many cases of its own, so naturally it wouldn't link two seemingly independent cases from different places together.
Now, however, Team Leader Zou has a different idea.
He finally understood why Director Wen hadn't hesitated at all and had directly asked him to help Xiao Qiu.
He patted Qiu Xiaoman on the shoulder: "Come on, I'll go talk to them!"
When the two returned to the conference room, Fang Zhenhong had already come back. He looked unwell and had a pained expression.
*
At the same time, Liu Kun's phone rang.
Liu Yuandou took the taxi and questioned him about whether he knew that Fang Ting's case had been brought up again.
Liu Kun ignored him and answered with silence.
Liu Yuandou sighed: "She deserved to die for what she did to you. But now some people suspect she didn't commit suicide. Don't you want to know who the murderer is?"
"What does this have to do with me?" Liu Kun asked expressionlessly, looking at a mother and child passing by outside the windshield.
The son didn't know what he had done wrong, but he was kicked hard by his mother.
He thought of himself being abused again, and filled with impatience, he hung up the phone.
When Liu Yuandou called again, he didn't answer. He removed the battery, leaned on the steering wheel, and wondered what Qiu Xiaoman's call was about.
For no apparent reason, she asked Zhou Wang what he wanted.
Wait a minute, Zhou Wang has been asking Liu Yuandou for money! And now, out of the blue, Liu Yuandou is asking him if he knows anything about Fang Ting's case...
Liu Kun quickly straightened up, put the battery back in, and called Qiu Xiaoman.
But Qiu Xiaoman was in the conference room at the moment, listening to Captain Zou assign various tasks for the case investigation, so she directly pressed the reject button.
Tiger and the others couldn't believe that Zhou Wang had actually harmed nine people.
There's no need to look at the evidence; just connect these three cases, and any experienced detective would suspect Zhou Wang is the murderer.
All the victims died in the fire!
Apart from Fang Ting's case, Zhou Wang had no direct motive to profit, but he did in all the others.
Just as everyone was questioning Qiu Xiaoman about Zhou Wang's motive for killing Fang Ting, Qiu Xiaoman went out into the corridor and called Liu Kun again.
Why is Zhou Wang asking you for money?
"He's a gambler, and when he's on a losing streak, he'll ask Liu Yuandou for money. Liu Yuandou is busy today because President Shen is targeting him, and the stock price of the company owned by the Liu family has plummeted."
What is the relationship between Zhou Wang and Liu Yuandou?
"His uncle's old house was demolished, and the developer was Liu Yuandou."
"Does he have a bad relationship with his wife?"
"I don't know, but I do know he has an ambiguous relationship with a female gambling buddy. Any normal woman would be angry, right?"
"Does Zhou Wang have any other bad habits?"
"I've seen him torture and kill stray cats and dogs on the street, does that count?"
"Okay, thank you." Qiu Xiaoman hung up the phone, returned to the conference room, and introduced the relationships between the characters.
Finally, she looked at the others and said, "Isn't this all connected? And I have a reasonable suspicion that Fang Ting's death is related to Liu Yuandou."
The crowd discussed the matter extensively, and eventually reached a consensus: Zhou Wang was indeed highly suspected of committing the crime, especially the seven wronged souls from his uncle's family.
Besides, this guy is a gambler!
Amid the murmurs, Fang Zhenhong stood up: "Team Leader Zou, I've been having diarrhea and vomiting today, I think it's acute gastroenteritis. I'd like to ask for leave to get an IV drip."
Team Leader Zou approved, "Go ahead." But then, worried that Fang Zhenhong might be too exhausted, he asked the young Chen Jianjun to accompany him.
Fang Zhenhong immediately refused, saying he didn't want to delay everyone's investigation. At this moment, Qiu Xiaoman stood up and said, "I have an injury on my hand and haven't changed the dressing today. Why don't I go with you? It's on the way."
"Weren't you supposed to be a translator for the Vietnamese?" Fang Zhenhong quickly interrupted her.
Qiu Xiaoman could only look at Captain Zou and ask, "Can I come later?"
Team Leader Zou shook his head: "Let someone else go with him. The case of the electron tube factory is also very serious. You come with me to the interrogation room right away."
Qiu Xiaoman didn't move. After Fang Zhenhong left, she leaned out the window and looked around at the trees lining the road. She spotted a lively magpie and whistled.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, a magpie flew over and landed on the back of her hand.
Qiu Xiaoman led the magpie to Captain Zou's office, and behind her, exclamations of amazement rose and fell. They never expected that she could really communicate with animals. How amazing!
Tiger, in particular, was completely stunned! He sees magpies every day, but they never pay any attention to him! But then Xiao Qiu just whistled and they came running!
That's so unfair! You stinky magpie!
Next door, Qiu Xiaoman closed the door, leaned against the window, and tried to communicate with the magpie by imitating its calls.
The magpie tilted its head: "Help you follow someone? Sure, but what will you give me in return?"
"We'll provide you with food every day while you incubate the eggs." This way, the magpie won't have to leave the nest to forage, increasing the hatching success rate!
The magpie was overjoyed and shook its feathers: "It's a deal!"
Just then, Fang Zhenhong reached downstairs, and Qiu Xiaoman stretched out her hand and said, "Go quickly, it's him."
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