Chapter 309 Hidden Knife
Zhang Xianglan said that there was a notch on the handle of Li Youqiang's Tibetan knife, which was caused by Li Youqiang himself. He felt very sad at the time, and later he repaired the notch himself with glue.
So there is absolutely no way I could be wrong.
Zhou Yi nodded. If handicrafts are mass-produced, it is normal for them to have similarities.
But something as unique as the gap cannot be so coincidental.
"Officer Zhou, he must have killed my son Youqiang. You have to stand up for me." Zhang Xianglan grabbed Zhou Yi's hand and cried.
"Don't worry, I'll go ask that vendor." Zhou Yi looked around and said, "You can rest here for the time being. I'll let them release you once I figure out what's going on."
If it is confirmed that the hidden knife really belongs to Li Youqiang, then the nature of the matter will change.
Zhou Yi went out, found the old policeman and asked him where the hawker was now.
The old policeman pointed to the next door and said, "No, it's also locked. Can I open the door for you?"
"Let's bring him to trial directly. Please give me a hand. The current situation does involve a murder case that is under investigation." Zhou Yi said seriously.
When the old policeman heard the word "murder case", his face suddenly changed and he immediately nodded in agreement.
"Oh, one more thing. Did your colleagues bring back all the things that this guy used to sell at the stall?"
"Yes, a big bag."
"Please take me there and give me an evidence bag."
In the interrogation room of the police station, Zhou Yi pushed the door and walked in.
The old policeman was already sitting in the room. Opposite him sat a dark and thin man, who was yawning and complaining with a look of grievance.
"No, why are you bothering me? I just set up a stall to sell some things, and this crazy woman came up to me and scratched me, and even said that I killed her husband. She must be a psychopath. You are looking for her, I am so bored."
Zhou Yi was holding an evidence bag in his hand, which contained a short knife less than 20 centimeters long.
In fact, when Zhou Yi found this knife just now, he knew it as soon as he picked it up. The so-called Tibetan knife was just a handicraft made in a factory.
It is what is called a fake at first glance. It is just an ordinary dagger with some exotic patterns on the handle and scabbard, and a bit of old verdigris paint.
The key point is that not only has the paint fallen off, but the patterns on the knife are obviously processed by machine tools.
However, there is indeed a gap on the handle, and there are obvious signs that it has been repaired with glue.
No wonder Zhang Xianglan was so decisive in her affirmation.
"What is this?" Zhou Yi sat down and asked, holding the bag in his hand.
The vendor instinctively replied, "A knife."
But he immediately realized something and changed his words: "No, no, this is an antique, an antique. All I sell are antiques."
"Antique?" Zhou Yi sneered, "Do you know the penalty for illegally selling controlled knives?"
The vendor was horrified. "Comrade police officer, this is really a knife... Ugh... No, no, this is an antique, from the Western...Western Zhou Dynasty."
"Western Zhou? Why didn't you say it was from last week?" Zhou Yi slammed the table and scolded, "Tell me the truth, where did this thing come from?"
"I picked it up... I picked it up."
"Picked it up? Where did you pick it up?
"In that hillside park."
Zhou Yi frowned: "Park?"
Then he turned around and asked the old policeman: "Is there such a place?"
"Yes, it's on the west side of the city. The park is quite big. We have many mountains here in Anyuan."
Zhou Yi nodded and asked the vendor: "Where exactly did you find it?"
The vendor pouted and said, "How could I remember? It's been so long."
Zhou Yi glared and said, "Think! Think carefully! If you can't remember, sit here and think about it tonight. When you remember, I'll let you go back to sleep."
The vendor immediately backed off, because Zhou Yi's attitude showed that he was not joking. "Okay, let me think about it, let me think about it."
The peddler finally thought for a long time and managed to recall the place where he picked up the knife two weeks ago. It was probably on the north side of the park, on a hill about seventy or eighty meters north of a pavilion.
The old policeman explained that Xiaoqiushan Park is just a bunch of small hills that happened to be put together.
Zhou Yi pointed at the other person and said, "Take us to identify the scene tomorrow."
The vendor was stunned: "Comrade, I just picked up a knife, it shouldn't be such a big crime. Besides, it's raining..."
"What's wrong with it raining? I tell you, you'll have to go even if it rains knives."
Zhou Yi weighed the evidence bag in his hand. He had to hand it over to Pan Hongjie tomorrow. It would probably be impossible to check for fingerprints, as it was difficult to leave complete fingerprints on the surface of this kind of craft pattern. Moreover, if it had really been picked up two weeks ago, it was estimated that many people had touched it.
The main thing is to detect whether there is any blood residue on the blade.
"Also, what is your relationship with Li Youqiang?" Zhou Yi asked casually.
He just wanted to observe the other person's subconscious reaction.
"Li Youqiang? Who is Li Youqiang?"
"Think about it again, don't tell me you don't know him."
The vendor thought about it for a long time, as if he was constipated. Finally, he said innocently, "I don't know anyone with the last name Li."
"What about Fu Daqing?"
"Fu..." The vendor shook his head repeatedly, "There's no such surname in our area."
Zhou Yi looked at the information provided by the old policeman. The peddler was from a local suburban county of Anyuan, 35 years old. There was nothing suspicious about him, and he didn't see any connection between him and Fu Daqing.
Then Zhou Yi asked a few more questions and basically confirmed that this man had nothing to do with Fu Daqing and Li Youqiang, and the knife was most likely picked up.
The only disadvantage is that two weeks have passed and there have been heavy rains for several days, so there may not be any clues left at the scene.
"What do you think? Is this man a murderer?" The old policeman asked excitedly after leaving the interrogation room.
"From what I've seen so far, he probably has nothing to do with the murder, but this knife is a different story. I'll have to trouble you tonight to keep him in custody. Tomorrow I'll report the situation to Captain Pan of the Municipal Bureau and then proceed with further action."
"Okay, we at the grassroots level will just follow your instructions." The old policeman said with a smile.
"Oh, what about Zhang... Zhang Xianglan? Do you think we should let her go first?" Although Zhou Yi didn't say what kind of murder case it was, the old policeman was experienced and knew that if the hawker was really related to the murder case, then Zhang Xianglan was not involved in a fight, and she was not shouting about killing her husband, but was just a victim.
Zhou Yi thought about it and said that he would let her stay here tonight and listen to Captain Pan tomorrow.
Then before leaving, I went to see Zhang Xianglan again.
Zhang Xianglan asked emotionally if that man had killed her husband.
"It doesn't look like that at the moment. The knife was picked up. We'll conduct further investigations tomorrow. Ms. Zhang, thank you for discovering such an important clue. The rest is up to us police. I'll excuse you by asking you to stay here tonight. After we finish the paperwork tomorrow, I'll have them take you to the station."
Zhang Xianglan could not hide her disappointment on her face, but still nodded with tears in her eyes.
When Zhou Yi left the police station, there were two people handcuffed in a corner. They were a disheveled man and woman.
When Zhou Yi passed by, the man looked up, as if he recognized Zhou Yi as his "neighbor" across the street. A hint of confusion suddenly appeared in his eyes. How could he come and go freely?
The old policeman immediately scolded: "What are you looking at? Be quiet!"
The man quickly squatted down.
Fortunately, the police station and the hotel were not far away, so Zhou Yi walked back with an umbrella. Judging from the strength of the rain hitting the umbrella, it seemed that the rain had really become much lighter.
After returning to the hotel, Zhou Yi fell asleep.
I slept till dawn and woke up because I was hungry. I looked out the window and saw that the rain had stopped.
Although there was no sun and it was still gloomy outside, it made him feel much better than the pouring rain and the mud splashing all over the place.
After having breakfast and seeing that it was almost time, he called the office phone number that Xia Yu had left for him.
When Xia Yu heard that he had clues about the Li Youqiang case, he immediately gave the phone to Pan Hongjie.
Zhou Yi reported to Pan Hongjie what happened last night. When Pan Hongjie heard that he had found the hidden knife that Li Youqiang had carried with him, he immediately became excited and made an appointment with Zhou Yi to meet at the Xiping Road Police Station.
Zhou Yi tidied up and found that the shoes he had placed on the radiator had dried, so he put on his shoes and went out.
He first arrived at the police station, and the old policeman was still there.
Zhou Yi greeted him and asked, "Are you still off work?"
"Hey, there's nothing to do when you go back. We're waiting for you." The old policeman said with a smile.
Twenty minutes later, a police car drove into the police station, its white body covered with mud spots.
The rain has indeed stopped, but the ground is still not dry. When Zhou Yi came here just now, he stepped on mud several times.
The ones who came were Pan Hongjie and Xia Yu, as well as Chen Dejiang, a veteran policeman from the second team.
After Pan Hongjie arrived, he first interrogated the hawker. After confirming that he had no relationship with Li Youqiang, he prepared to take him to Xiaoqiushan Park to identify the place where he picked up the knife.
Pan Hongjie's idea was consistent with Zhou Yi's. Although Li Youqiang's death was not caused by a knife wound, he carried the knife with him and it appeared on the mountain. It was possible that the place where the vendor picked up the knife was the first crime scene where Li Youqiang was killed.
Zhou Yi said, "Captain Pan, the deceased's family is still in custody."
"Let her go, why are you locking her up?"
Zhou Yi pointed at the vendor and said, "When the family saw the knife, they lost control of their emotions and hit him."
"Oh..." Pan Hongjie thought for a moment and asked, "Did he fight back?"
Zhou Yi nodded: "I paid it back."
"Oh, a fight." Then he turned to the vendor, "Do you want to treat it as a fight and have both of you detained for five days, or do you want to reconcile, identify the place, and go home?"
Needless to say, the vendor immediately nodded continuously with a sad face and said, "I want to go home."
Pan Hongjie smiled and said, "Come on, let him go."
Just as Xia Yu said before, there are not many cases in Anyuan, and the frequency of major homicides is very low, so now that this case has occurred, the leaders above are paying special attention to it.
Moreover, the case had been filed for several days, but there had been no substantial progress in the investigation. Many things were still discovered by Hongcheng, and he was extremely anxious.
He doesn't care about such trivial matters.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
