Family murder mystery (3)

That night, all members of Team 2 gathered in front of the crime board, which was already covered with a lot of information.

Meng Siqi observed carefully and found that the deceased were a family of three. The male deceased was Zhu Gongyou, 38 years old, the financial manager of Qiankun Steel Company; the female deceased was You Meihua, a housewife, 37 years old; and the daughter Zhu Xinting was a student at Jinyang No. 2 Middle School, only 14 years old.

Looking at the lovely and beautiful photo of Zhu Xinting, Meng Siqi felt an unspeakable sigh in his heart.

Tang Xiaochuan once again introduced the basic situation of the current investigation.

Based on the wound conditions, the forensic doctor determined that the murder weapon was a single-edged sharp knife with a blade length of approximately 13 cm and a width of 3 cm, but the murder weapon was not found at the scene.

The male victim, Zhu Gongyou, suffered a fatal wound in the chest, where he died of massive bleeding due to a ruptured organ; the female victim, You Meihua, had her trachea cut open and blood aspirated into her bronchi and lungs, causing her death from aspiration asphyxiation; the victim, Zhu Xinting, had her carotid artery punctured, causing her death from hemorrhagic shock.

According to the trace examination, the murderer should have killed Zhu Gongyou in the living room, sneaked into the master bedroom to kill You Meihua, and then rushed into the bathroom to kill Zhu Xinting.

Tang Xiaochuan added that according to the traces at the scene, the TV should have been turned on that night and turned off when the murderer left, and there were blood stains on the power button of the TV.

Combined with Brother Feng’s investigation, it was found that a nearby house was renovating at around 8pm, and the noise from the TV and renovations was very loud, so no one noticed the murderer committing the crime.

"Wait a minute," Han Changlin said as he looked at the autopsy report, "a nail was inserted into the top of the male deceased's skull?"

Tang Xiaochuan replied: "Yes, the forensic examination result was a five-centimeter-long iron nail. But it was nailed in after death."

Why did the murderer do this? Everyone looked puzzled, but some murderers do have strange hobbies, such as psychological distortion caused by hatred towards the victim.

Han Changlin asked: "Is it possible that this nail could be a clue?"

Tang Xiaochuan replied: "Team Korea, it's a very common furniture nail, with some rust. It would be difficult to find clues from a hardware store."

Han Changlin asked doubtfully: "Why would the murderer do this?" Apparently he was not only referring to the iron nails driven into the skulls of the male victims, but also that the tongues of the female victims were cut off and the skin tissue of the girl was cut off and fried.

Everyone was thinking, and after a moment of silence, Tang Xiaochuan said, "The first thing that came to my mind was hatred. Is it possible that the murderer just wanted to torture the victim, even if the victim was already dead?"

"Not entirely true," Zhao Leiting shook his head and said, "I've watched some foreign movies and found that some people use special killing methods to promote something. For example, Jack the Ripper was even made into a movie in 1988." His pupils lit up as he explained the problem and he looked at everyone for approval.

In fact, Meng Siqi had no hobby of watching this kind of movies, so when Zhao Leiting looked at her, she pursed her lips in response.

What Zhao Leiting said might not be impossible, so everyone started to think in a new way.

"Actually, I tend to combine your two views," Feng Shaomin said suddenly.

As if being recognized, Zhao Leiting licked his lips and looked at Feng Shaomin intently.

Feng Shaomin said: "The murderer may have killed people out of hatred or for other reasons, such as money, interests, etc. But after killing people, he deliberately made up a mystery and used some strange behaviors to confuse the police. But we cannot rule out another possibility, that the murderer enjoyed some unusual pleasures and his psychology must be distorted."

Feng Shaomin finished speaking, and everyone nodded silently. This analysis seemed to be a more complete answer. At least for now, everyone had no new clues to prove the significance of the murderer's behavior.

Han Changlin gestured to continue explaining.

Tang Xiaochuan displayed a diagram with three groups of simplified figures, corresponding to the scenes of the three crimes.

He said that based on the simulated traces of the struggle between the murderer and the male deceased, as well as the locations of the wounds inflicted by the murderer on the three people, the murderer was confirmed to be a single male, approximately between 170 and 175 cm tall.

Han Changlin asked: "No fingerprints were found at the scene, so the murderer must have deliberately avoided it. But why are there no footprints? Have you ever thought about this problem?"

Meng Siqi recalled that she and Zhao Leiting had gone to the scene that day and had made a special observation at the entrance. Some families would put a shoe cover cabinet, and guests would put on shoe covers when entering the house so that they would not leave footprints, but this family obviously did not have this habit.

Seeing that she did not respond, Zhao Leiting took the initiative to bring up this discovery.

Feng Shaomin immediately continued, "The murderer may have treated his shoes before entering the house, or treated the ground after leaving. However, the scene was covered with bloodstains, and I believe that it would be more troublesome to deal with it afterwards, so I am more inclined to believe that the murderer made preparations in advance. If it was prepared in advance, combined with the fact that the doors and windows were intact, then the murderer may be a special profession, such as a gas or water delivery worker, who wore shoe covers before entering the house."

This seems to be a very important clue. Generally speaking, if the murderer uses this identity, it would be easy to follow the clues and find the murderer's true identity.

"Unfortunately," Feng Shaomin added, "the gas tank and drinking water in the deceased's home were not new, and no clues of gas or household water replacement were found at the scene. However, we still need to investigate the possibility that the murderer used similar occupations to conceal his identity. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that the murderer is someone familiar to the deceased."

Everyone nodded. At present, it seems that Feng Shaomin's analysis can basically cover the detailed issues on the scene, which plays an important role in the direction of the investigation.

Han Changlin also nodded and said, "Old Feng's observations are very careful. By the way, Xiaochuan, tell me about your visit today."

Now the obvious clue is towards Zhu's company "Qiankun Steel", because three months ago, there was a fire in the finance office where Zhu worked, which is very likely to be closely related to the murder.

Tang Xiaochuan picked up his notebook and said, "In the first half of this year, a batch of steel was lost from Qiankun Steel's open-air warehouse. The value of the steel was at least 70,000 or 80,000 yuan, and it has not been found until now. And a month later, the finance office caught fire. Brother Feng and I both suspected that there was some kind of connection between the two."

Han Changlin asked: "Why didn't anyone report the loss of this batch of steel?"

Feng Shaomin said: "Perhaps the source of the steel is unknown or someone is unwilling to report it."

What is the connection between the two? Everyone fell silent, their eyes wandering over the crime board again. Han Changlin used his thumb and index finger to pinch his lower lip when thinking about something. After a while, he looked up and said, "Assuming that Zhu Gongyou is related to these two things, then someone is trying to steal money and destroy evidence, and killed Zhu Gongyou's family and destroyed the bodies."

Feng Shaomin's eyes darkened. "Captain Han, I do have this guess, but it is still difficult to find the connection between Zhu Gongyou and these two events. Now that he is dead, all the evidence about Zhu Gongyou in the Finance Office seems to have been burned."

"It's not difficult," Han Changlin's eyes flashed with the experience of an old detective, "Do you know who in the company is responsible for the storage and delivery of steel?"

Tang Xiaochuan looked up while reading his notebook and answered, "Captain Han, we have checked today and there are indeed two people who are more suspicious. The release of steel from the warehouse must be signed by Ma Changgui, who is the section chief of the sales department, and the person in charge of keeping this batch of steel is Hu Gang, the warehouse manager. The two of them are relatives. Hu Gang is Ma Changgui's nephew. He came to the company to work as a warehouse manager two years ago through Ma Changgui's introduction."

It seemed that there was indeed some cat poop in this case. Everyone's thoughts were focused and it was obvious that everyone was thinking about the details of the case.

Meng Siqi did not participate in the company's investigation today, so she kept listening. Of course, she also had a hunch that these two people were closely related to the murder of worker Zhu.

Zhao Leiting said almost decisively: "If it was indeed Zhu's colleagues who visited that night, Zhu's family would definitely not have any precautions, right?"

Han Changlin picked up the chalk and circled the names of Ma Changgui and Hu Gang on the crime board. "Invite these two people here tomorrow and question them individually. I don't believe their statements can be completely consistent."

The next day, Ma Changgui and Hu Gang were invited to the police station together. Before they entered the interrogation room, Meng Siqi glanced at them casually. Ma Changgui was in his forties, with a bald head, a slightly fat body, and a height of nearly 170 cm. He had a calm expression and had a bit of a leadership demeanor.

Hu Gang is less than 30 years old, at least 175 cm tall, with a sturdy build, his brows slightly squeezed together, and he seems a little nervous.

Han Changlin suddenly changed his mind: "Old Feng, let's switch. You and Ogawa will interrogate Ma Changgui. I don't think we can get anything out of him. I will interrogate Hu Gang..."

Lao Feng said, "Don't worry, Han team. Even if the two confessions are tightly sealed, we have a way to pry them open."

Just as Han Changlin guessed, Ma Changgui was like a smooth stone. When faced with inquiries, he was very smooth and confident: "I think there is no need to talk about the missing steel. After all, our company did not report it to the police. Let's just treat it as a loss of property and disaster relief."

Feng Shaomin said in a cold voice: "Ma Changgui, I asked you to come here today not only because of the steel. Where were you on the night when Zhu Gongyou was murdered, which was around 8 o'clock the night before yesterday?"

"Worker Zhu?" Ma Changgui curled his lips. "Isn't this correct? What does Worker Zhu's death have to do with me?"

In the subsequent interrogation, Ma Changgui was completely flawless and did not say a single useful word.

Feng Shaomin couldn't get any information out of him, so Ma Changgui smiled and said, "Comrade, if there's nothing else, I'll leave first."

"Why are you in such a hurry? Let's wait for our captain to speak." Feng Shaomin had no choice but to delay and wait for the result of the inquiry next door.

"Well, do you have any cigarettes?" Ma Changgui asked.

"Xiaochuan, give one to Section Chief Ma."

Next door, Hu Gang's interrogation was proceeding tensely.

Han Changlin seemed to determine that Hu Gang was a good breakthrough point. Meng Siqi and Zhao Leiting participated in the interrogation at the same time, and Meng Siqi continued to take notes.

Hu Gang sat across the table with a heavy expression, but he secretly took a few deep breaths, as if he was constantly adjusting himself. Compared to when he entered the room, his expression had regained a bit of its natural look.

"Hu Gang, do you know why we asked you to come here?" Zhao Leiting asked seriously.

"Isn't it just about the missing steel? Police officer, I really don't know anything about this."

"You really don't know anything? Confess and you'll be lenient. It's not too late to tell the truth now." Zhao Lei Ting's tone toughened a little.

In response to Zhao Leiting's questioning, Hu Gang gave a thorough answer: "I was indeed in charge of that batch of steel, but the quality of that batch of steel was average, and the company didn't take it seriously. Besides, the things were so heavy that it would be too blatant unless someone used a car to haul them. Moreover, no buyer would dare to accept such a large amount, so there was no worry that someone would steal it. So I was in charge of it, just for show. I was playing cards outside that night, and there were witnesses. As a result, when I returned to the warehouse at around 8 o'clock the next morning, I found that the steel was missing."

Although he looked nervous, Hu Gang still answered very skillfully, as if he had prepared the dialogue in advance.

According to the process prepared in advance, Zhao Leiting asked: "Hu Gang, where were you at around 8 o'clock the night before yesterday, the night when Zhu Gongyou and his family were killed?"

As soon as he asked the question, Hu Gang became emotional and his lips turned slightly pale. "I didn't kill anyone. Zhu's death has nothing to do with me!"

Meng Siqi was a little confused as to why Hu Gang became excited when mentioning Worker Zhu. She also saw the suspicion on Han Changlin's face.

Zhao Leiting asked: "Hu Gang, think again, where were you that night?"

Hu Gang's eyes finally revealed a hint of panic, and his head shook slightly uncontrollably, "I really didn't kill anyone. I didn't kill Zhu. I didn't go to his house that night... I should have been playing cards. Someone can testify to this..."

He kept his mouth shut and insisted that he was playing cards that night, so Zhao Leiting's questioning was hindered.

At this time, the door opened a crack, and Feng Shaomin poked his head in. "Captain Han, excuse me, Ma Changgui has finished his work, and he has explained everything that needs to be explained."

Han Changlin returned a look of affirmation.

Feng Shaomin closed the door, and the air in the interrogation room seemed to lose circulation, dull and depressing. Meng Siqi found that Feng Shaomin's words made Hu Gang start to feel uneasy. He kept shaking his head slightly and twisting his hands tightly together.

"Hu Gang!" Han Changlin suddenly shouted in a loud voice. Such a loud shout like thunder made Hu Gang unable to sit still, and his body shook suddenly.

Han Changlin struck while the iron was hot, "You and your colleague Zhu once conspired to sell a batch of steel materials from the company privately. Afterwards, you divided the loot, but for fear of being discovered by the company, you destroyed all the invoices for the steel sales. So you deliberately set up a fire in the finance office, which led to the July 12 arson case."

"No, no..." Hu Gang waved his hands desperately and denied it.

"But you were more worried that your colleague Zhu would expose your conspiracy, so you killed his family of three. Now we, the police, have a lot of evidence against you..."

"No, I didn't," Hu Gang's emotions collapsed, "I did this all because of Ma Changgui's orders..."