Chapter 18: Disappearing Companions (V)
Han Jianye raised his wrist slightly and glanced at his watch. A full hour had passed since the bald man entered the massage parlor.
"Isn't it time to come out?" Ye Bai guessed that a massage would not usually last longer than this.
As if to confirm Ye Bai's words, the bald man slowly walked out of the massage parlor with a backpack on his back.
Han Jianye and Ye Bai followed quietly. They knew this road very well and the bald man was obviously returning along the same route.
Surprisingly, the bald man really came to the familiar wonton shop, where he ate a bowl of steaming wontons and prepared to go upstairs.
Han Jianye stood three meters away from him and called out tentatively, "Xiao Lu?"
The atmosphere froze instantly. The bald man who was named stiffened and his back stood straight.
He turned his head slowly, and suddenly his eyes turned to the dark alley, and then he ran away.
Han Jianye crossed his arms, stood where he was, and did not chase after him.
His brows furrowed slightly, confused by the bald man's escape. If he didn't have something to hide, why would he run away?
Ye Bai also realized that his escape made him more suspicious.
A moment later, the bald man's screams pierced the night sky. He was captured by Su Wan and Liao Wei who were hiding in the alley and brought back to the scene.
His face was full of fear and he looked extremely embarrassed.
"Weren't you running very fast just now? Why aren't you running now?"
Xiao Lu raised his head, his eyes fell on Han Jianye, and his voice trembled: "Who are you? Why are you arresting me?"
Han Jianye had no interest in talking to him any more, so he showed his ID directly: "We are from the public security department. We need your cooperation in the investigation. Please answer truthfully."
Hearing the word "Public Security", Xiao Lu's face turned pale instantly: "What do you want from me?"
"Zhong Menhuai, you should know him, right?" Han Jianye asked directly.
"Yes...I know him. He is my cousin." Xiao Lu answered stutteringly.
"Has he come to see you recently?" Han Jianye continued to ask.
Xiao Lu shook his head, with obvious hesitation in his voice: "No, no."
This answer made Han Jianye frown, and he ordered unhappily: "It's okay, take us to your dormitory."
Xiao Lu hesitated and tried to shirk his responsibility: "We share a dormitory, and there are two other people here. I'm afraid it's not convenient to go this way, right?"
"It doesn't matter. We can ask together." Han Jianye's tone left no room for doubt.
This sentence made Xiao Lu immediately nervous. He quickly confessed: "I just lied to you. Zhong Menhuai did come to see me, but he stayed for a few days and then left. I don't know where he went."
Han Jianye pressed on: "Then why did you lie and say that Zhong Menhuai didn't come to see you?"
Xiao Lu lowered his head, avoiding Han Jianye's gaze, and his voice became lower and lower: "I just don't want to cause trouble for myself."
Han Jianye naturally would not believe his words, and immediately led the group to the dormitory on the 8th floor.
Their sudden appearance surprised the other people sharing the dormitory.
The two men who were originally playing games in a group immediately put down their phones and accepted the questioning.
The two men who shared the house with Xiao Lu were also in the decoration business. They were a team and they answered all the questions Han Jianye and the others had, and their answers were very sincere.
They admitted that Zhong Menhuai did come in mid-May, but left after staying for a week.
It was Xiao Lu who personally sent him to the bus. As for where they went, they said they had no idea.
Han Jianye fixed his gaze on Xiao Lu, examining him with sharp eyes, "Did Zhong Menhuai say where he was going?"
"No, he said he was going to see a friend. I watched him get on the bus and leave, then I went back to work."
"What car did he take? Which intersection did he get on?"
Xiao Lu: “…”
Seeing that he didn't answer, Ye Bai picked up the black backpack, looked directly into Xiao Lu's eyes, and asked, "Is this bag yours?"
"Yes." Xiao Lu replied.
"Are you sure?" Ye Bai asked again, his tone firm.
Xiao Lu hesitated for a moment, then changed his words: "No, it's not mine. My cousin left it here and forgot to take it away."
Ye Bai took out several stacks of cash from his bag, about 30,000 or 40,000 yuan, and a mobile phone.
"Where is this money? Is it also the one that Zhong Menhuai forgot to take away?" he asked.
When the other two men in the dormitory saw the cash, their eyes immediately lit up and they began to question Xiao Lu excitedly: "Where did you get so much money? You can't even pay last month's rent, how can you have so much money?"
Xiao Lu's face turned pale. He didn't dare to look them in the eye. Han Jianye could see his guilt and uneasiness.
Ye Bai took out the photos of Huang Ziyuan and Zhong Menhuai again and asked them to identify them.
After confirmation by the two, it was confirmed that only Zhong Menhuai had been there.
Since Xiao Lu could not explain the source of the cash, he was taken back to the police station for further investigation.
The mobile phone Ye Bai found in the backpack was most likely the one Xiao Lu took to the mobile phone store tonight, but the phone was turned off.
Judging from Xiao Lu's expression, the phone was obviously not his, and he did not reveal who the owner of the phone was, so they could only take it back to the police station to have professionals unlock and analyze it.
It was already early morning when I got back to the police station and I didn't have time to drink a glass of water.
Han Jianye wanted to interrogate Xiao Lu overnight, but he remained silent about the origin of the cash in the backpack and where Zhong Menhuai had gone.
What surprised them was that after the phone was charged, a photo of a little girl popped up on the lock screen wallpaper.
Ye Bai immediately took a picture of the lock screen wallpaper and the backpack, and sent it to Qi Xiaolei.
Because based on his analysis of Zhong Menhuai's personal situation, it is impossible for him to hang such a childish little doll on his backpack.
Combined with the abandoned mobile phone, both of them may belong to the deceased.
As long as Gan Minmin confirms the little girl and the backpack in the photo, the answer will naturally be solved.
Since Xiao Lu refused to cooperate, the interrogation could not proceed.
Fortunately, the Zhunan Municipal Bureau was very efficient and sent them the information in less than 20 minutes.
Gan Minmin confirmed that the photo on the phone wallpaper was of her little daughter, and the backpack also belonged to her ex-husband, especially the pendant with the little doll. She remembered it most clearly. It was when they took their little daughter to play the claw machine together before they divorced that they got it.
At the same time, the paternity test report between her daughter and the deceased was also released, with a DNA matching rate of 99.99%, confirming their parent-child relationship.
The deceased was identified as Gan Minmin's ex-husband Zhang Zhenzhou, a man who loved fishing.
The discovery of the source of the corpse brought a major breakthrough in the investigation of the case.