Chapter 41 Rope Murder Case (3) This is a serial murder case...
After leaving the scrap recycling station, Ma Shi Tu drove back to the bureau, entered the archive room, and looked through the household registration information with Sang Luo. He confirmed Lan Jianguo's household registration information and found that he was indeed from Qiaomai Village and came to the city about ten years ago.
Lan Jianguo didn't know many people in the city and seldom interacted with them. Ma Shi Tu planned to drive to his hometown to learn more about the victim's family background. Before leaving, he glanced at the time. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. Fortunately, Qiaomai Village was not far from the city, so he should be able to get back before this evening.
After driving through one barren wheat field after another, the master and his apprentice arrived at Qiaomai Village. No one lived at the address registered by Lan Jianguo in his household registration book. Ma Shi Tu went straight to the village chief and explained his purpose. The village chief invited them to sit in his office, made them two cups of tea in enamel cups, then sighed and said:
"How could such a good man like Jianguo die? God is so blind! Officers, you must catch the murderer and give Jianguo justice!"
"I'll do my best," Ma Shi Tu took a puff of his cigarette. "We came to Qiaomai Village this time to find some useful clues. Village chief, you should know about Lan Jianguo's family situation. I want to ask, are he and his wife divorced?"
The village chief stretched out his hand to warm himself by the fire, with a hint of surprise on his wrinkled face: "Wife? Lan Jianguo is a bachelor, where did he get a wife?"
Ma Shi Tu frowned: "If that's the case, how did his daughter come here?"
The village chief smiled bitterly and said, "It's a long story. Jianguo was a miserable man. His parents died of illness before he was sixteen years old. His relatives were unwilling to raise him. The villagers couldn't bear to see him and occasionally gave him a mouthful of leftovers. He grew up eating food from many families."
"Later, when he was about 20 years old and had gained strength, he could finally eat his fill by farming. He also had a house left to him by his parents, so he lived a decent life. Of course, he was so poor that no parents would marry their daughter to him. Even matchmakers were unwilling to set foot in his house, so he remained single."
"When I was 32, an abandoned baby appeared in the village. No one knew whose baby it was. It was definitely not from our village. I guess someone from another village dumped it here. It was a baby girl. As you know, dumping baby girls was a common thing at that time. No one took it seriously and just left the baby girl lying on the side of the road. She died in a day or two."
"But Jianguo happened to be passing by there, and he felt compassion and picked up the baby girl. He took a look at the child and found that she was healthy and had no problems. Jianguo also had no wife or children, so he simply took the baby girl home and treated her as his own."
"Everyone in the village knew about this, but no one told anyone. Everyone helped him keep the secret and treated the girl as if she was his own."
"Is this baby girl Lan Yue?" Ma Shi Tu asked, "Is Lan Yue adopted?"
The village chief lit up a pipe and nodded, "Yes, but there was no adoption procedure. He was directly registered as his own child. We villagers are uneducated and don't care about that."
Ma Shi Tu sighed: "Although he is adopted, he is really good to the child. He is willing to support the child's education and even moved the child to the city. Some biological parents can't do that!"
The village chief paused, as if recalling something. He waved his hand and said, "It wasn't Jianguo who took the initiative. It was something that happened at that time. Let me think..."
After a while, he slapped his thigh and said, "I remember now! This is what happened - Lan Yue grew up and became more and more beautiful, with a pair of round eyes. She could have become a star. Everyone said that Jianguo had found a treasure. Jianguo always smiled naively, but as the child grew up, some people in the village began to have bad intentions -"
"When Lan Yue was eight years old, a family in the village came to propose marriage to their son and Lan Yue. They wanted Lan Yue to move there right away, which was equivalent to being a child bride. Do you think Jianguo would agree to this? He scolded the family on the spot and drove them out of his home."
"In the same year, another family offered to buy Lan Yue for thirty yuan and make her their daughter. Jianguo scolded them as well."
"The most dangerous time was when Lan Yue went to the mountains to catch grasshoppers and someone followed her. She was almost killed... Well, after this incident, Jianguo moved to the city without saying a word. Even if he had to go to the city to pick up garbage, he would go to the city."
"It turns out that he was considering his daughter's safety." Ma Shi Tu nodded.
The village chief exhaled a puff of cigarette and said, "That's all I know. After they moved away, they never came back. No one lives in the old house in the village. I don't know how they are doing. I didn't expect that the next time I heard about Jianguo, it was to learn of his death..."
The village chief fell silent after he finished speaking. Ma Shi Tu then asked about Lan Jianguo's interpersonal relationships. The village chief insisted that Lan Jianguo had never made enemies with anyone in the village. He was only angry ten years ago when someone wanted to buy his daughter, but that was ten years ago, and he wouldn't kill anyone for this today.
When they came out of the village chief's office, it was already dark. Ma Shi Tu drove towards the city. Sang Luo had already written down their conversation.
On the way back, Ma Shi Tu sighed: "So many people said he was good, it seems he was really a good person, it's a pity that a good person ended up like this."
"Well, so we must catch the murderer!" Sang Luo looked through what he had just written and became more determined in his inner belief.
After returning to the city, it was exactly seven o'clock in the evening. The two had not eaten dinner, so Ma Shi Tu took Sang Luo to Niu Laoer Ramen in front of the Public Security Bureau and ate two bowls of ramen. As soon as he finished eating, he received a call from Xie Ling'er.
"Master, Lan Yue has woken up!" Xie Ling'er said happily.
Ma Shi Tu did not dare to delay and immediately drove Sang Luo to the hospital. The two entered the ward where Lan Yue was. Lan Yue was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes. No one knew what she was thinking.
Ma Shi Tu sat down beside Lan Yue's bed. Lan Yue turned around and looked at Ma Shi Tu with empty eyes: "Is my father really, really dead?"
Ma Shi Tu sighed and said in a gentle tone, "I'm sorry, we confirmed your father's death this morning. An autopsy has been done and the autopsy report is out."
Lan Yue closed her eyes, two lines of tears flowed from the corners of her eyes, and she bit her lips tightly.
"I understand how you feel. Your father is your only relative, and you will take the college entrance examination in a year. You must be extremely sad to have such a thing happen at this time," Ma Shi Tu said stubbornly, "but solving the case is important. In order to solve the case as soon as possible, I need to ask you a few questions. Can you cooperate with me?"
Lan Yue took a deep breath, her skin turned pale, and she said tremblingly, "Okay."
After saying that, she struggled to sit up, and Sang Luo and Xie Ling'er hurriedly supported her from both sides.
"What do you want to ask?" Lan Yue looked at Ma Shi Tu palely.
Ma Shi Tu opened his notebook and said, "First, your father's body was found on the morning of November 8th. According to the autopsy report, he died between 11pm on the 7th and 3am on the 8th. He died late at night and didn't come home all night. As a daughter, why didn't you call the police?"
Lan Yue said quickly, "Because I didn't notice that he didn't come home. He always comes home at 11pm and goes out at 6am. Sometimes he goes out for a drink and comes back even later. I go to bed at 10:30pm every night and go out at 7am. He comes back later than me and leaves earlier in the morning. I thought he just went out as usual this morning, so I went to school. It wasn't until you found me that I knew he was in trouble."
Ma Shi Tu immediately asked, "You said he went out to drink, is that very frequent? Who did he drink with? Where did he drink?"
Sang Luo also noticed this problem. Boss Zhao from the recycling station said that Lan Jianguo was a very frugal person and never spent money, but Lan Yue said that he often went out drinking. Isn't this a contradiction?
Lan Yue shook her head: "I don't know. Sometimes when I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I'll run into him coming back drunk. I've asked him where he went to drink and who he drank with, but he never answered. He just assured me that he didn't need to spend money to drink, and that the alcohol he drank was free."
Free wine... Sang Luo rolled his eyes and wrote these words heavily on his notebook.
"Does your father pass by Suzhai Lane every day?" Ma Shi Tu asked this key question.
Lan Yue thought for a moment and said, "Yes, every morning when he goes out, he goes to the east of the city first, collects all the waste in the east of the city in the morning, walks from the east of the city to the west of the city at noon, collects all the waste in the west of the city in the afternoon, and finally goes to the recycling station to sell a cart of waste, and then rides his tricycle home. He must pass Suzhai Lane from the recycling station to his home. Although there are other roads, the distance is too far and not as convenient as Suzhai Lane."
"So that's how it is." Ma Shi Tu nodded. He roughly knew the trajectory of Lan Jianguo's movements on the night of the incident. He went out the same way that day, went to the east city in the morning, went to the west city in the afternoon, collected a truckload of waste, and wanted to go to the recycling station in the evening to sell the waste, but found that the recycling station was closed, so he had to ride his bike home, and ended up having an accident in the alley.
"Does your father have any enemies with anyone?" Ma Shi Tu asked this question as usual.
Lan Yue blinked, hesitated for a second or two, and finally said, "As far as I know, no."
No enemies. Like the answers of the previous two people, Ma Shi Tu felt a little annoyed. Who on earth would want to harm him?
Before Ma Shi Tu asked the next question, Lan Yue started crying softly: "Wu... My father is dead. From now on, I will have no father..."
The three of them went forward to comfort her, but she cried harder and harder, and finally burst into tears. They looked at each other and knew that today's questioning would have to end here. Ma Shi Tu closed the notebook and patiently comforted Lan Yue for a long time before she stopped crying.
Moonlight shone through the window. Lan Yue wiped her tears and said simply, "Discharge me from the hospital. I want to go home."
"Why?" Sang Luo asked subconsciously.
Lan Yue glanced at Sang Luo and said, "That's my home. Of course I have to go back. Even if dad is gone, it's still my home."
Xie Ling'er walked out of the ward reluctantly and had a whispered discussion with Ma Shi Tu. Although Lan Yue had fainted before, the doctor had checked her and found that there was nothing wrong with her body. She could be discharged as long as she woke up, and staying in the hospital would only take up a bed.
"But she is so emotional, I'm afraid she will do something stupid when she goes out." Ma Shi Tu said worriedly.
Xie Ling'er had a different opinion: "I think if we don't let her go home, she will do something stupid. She is already so emotional, we can't stop her by force."
After the two discussed it, Ma Shi Tu nodded and agreed. He arranged for Lan Yue to be discharged from the hospital. The three of them drove Lan Yue back to her home on Shuangjiang Street and bought her a box lunch on the way.
Lan Yue opened the door and the three followed her in. The house had three bedrooms and a living room, two of which were bedrooms and one was a storage room used to store collected waste.
Lan Yue's bedroom is clean and tidy. It is obviously a little girl's room. The bed is big and wide. There is a set of wooden table and chairs next to it. There are many books piled on the table, neatly arranged. There is also a decent wardrobe with many clothes hanging in it. Some of the clothes can be seen at a glance as being obtained from collecting waste.
In comparison, Lan Jianguo's bedroom is much smaller, the mattress is torn and hard, and the sheets and quilts are messy. I guess he never tidies them up.
It's just like a hamster cage, Sang Luo muttered silently in his heart, it seems that Lan Jianguo really loves his daughter and gave her the best room.
The utility room was filled with junk all over the floor, making it impossible to step in. Ma Shi Tu took a quick look and closed the door. The main purpose of their visit this time was to take care of Lan Yue, not to search her house.
There was no sofa in the living room, only a coffee table with a few short red plastic stools next to it. Xie Ling'er pulled Lan Yue to sit down next to the coffee table, opened the lunch box for her, and urged her to at least have a bite. Lan Yue reluctantly picked up the chopsticks, mechanically stuffed a few bites into her mouth, chewed them, and swallowed them.
While Lan Yue was eating, Sang Luo checked other corners of her house. There were traces of vomit in Lan Jianguo's bedroom. It seemed that what Lan Yue said was true. Lan Jianguo had a habit of drinking and liked to get drunk.
There was a second-hand refrigerator outside the bedroom, which made a loud noise. Sang Luo opened the refrigerator door and took a look. There were a few steamed buns and a plate of leftovers inside, which had grown green mold. It seemed that Lan Jianguo was reluctant to throw them away.
This reminded Sang Luo of the doubt again - a person who is so frugal would definitely not spend money on drinking. Lan Yue said that Lan Jianguo was drinking free wine, so where did the "free wine" come from?
If he wanted to know more, he could only ask Lan Yue, but Lan Yue was emotionally unstable right now, so Sang Luo had to wait until later to ask.
After reluctantly eating half of the lunch box, Lan Yue started crying again. Xie Ling'er patiently held her in her arms to comfort her, coaxed her to bed, and did not leave until she fell asleep.
Ma Shi Tu and Sang Luo left first. The girl needed to sleep, and having so many people around her would only make her feel awkward.
Ma Shi Tu drove back to the bureau and the two went home. Sang Luo went over the case again in his mind. The victim, Lan Jianguo, was fifty years old. He was enthusiastic and honest. His job was to collect waste. He had simple interpersonal relationships and no enemies with anyone. He came from a poor family and did not have much savings.
Lan Jianguo's savings had been hidden in the mattress in his bedroom. When Lan Yue was having dinner, they helped her take out the money and sort it out. It totaled 103.26 yuan, not a small amount of money. Lan Yue could use this money to continue her senior year of high school. However, when they said this, there was no reaction on Lan Yue's face. She probably didn't have time to think about it anymore.
"It's not revenge killing nor murder for money," Sang Luo sat at the desk, doing the process of elimination on paper, "Could it be a murder of passion?"
As soon as the words came out, Sang Luo frowned. Putting aside his age and appearance, Lan Jianguo's interpersonal relationships in the city were too simple. He didn't even have a friend, so how could he have a lover?
Sang Luo stopped her random guesses. She had too few clues at the moment and it would be futile to think further. It was almost twelve o'clock anyway, so she simply put down the pen and waited for the dictionary's prompt.
As soon as twelve o'clock arrived, the lights in the bedroom went out automatically, and the dictionary on the table began to flip. Sang Luo lowered her head and moved closer. This time she could see it particularly clearly. A word on the dictionary lit up -
【mix】
mix?
A lot of words popped up in Sang Luo's mind: chaos, bastard, hooligan, fishing in troubled waters. With so many meanings, which one is it?
It was too late and Sang Luo couldn't figure it out, so she decided to think about it tomorrow. She washed her face hastily and fell asleep without even taking off her clothes.
The next morning, Sang Luo arrived at work early. Master and Xie Ling'er also arrived. Yuan Xiaohu had not returned yet. Master looked at Sang Luo seriously and told her a new piece of news -
Another rope case happened last night!
Sang Luo was a little sleepy at first, but he woke up immediately after hearing the news. Ma Shi Tu slowly explained the situation of the second case:
At four o'clock this morning, a postman delivering newspapers passed by Fu'an Lane and saw a rope in front of him from a distance, which was just at the level of a person's neck. He immediately stopped the car and called the police. After the police arrived, they found that the case was very similar to the rope murder case on No. 8, so they handed it over to Team Three for handling.
The same alley, the same method... Sang Luo couldn't help but blurt out: "Is this a serial murder case?"
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