Flower Museum Headless Dismemberment Case (9)

Meng Siqi didn't expect Lu He to suddenly ask her to judge the case. Maybe Lu He thought she had been the one judging the case all along.

She glanced at Luo Xiaoguo, who was looking ahead with a relaxed and contented look. Obviously, he didn't need to explain to Lu He in the interrogation room, and the interrogation had just entered a stalemate, so he might just need to step down.

Meng Siqi was not actually well prepared. For example, she had only just learned about the "physical evidence" of the ugly little dress. But being allowed to preside over the trial was exactly what she wanted, because she did have a few questions she wanted to discuss with the suspect.

After calming herself down, Meng Siqi calmly asked the suspect, "Li Muxiao, you said you had a high fever from the morning of the day before yesterday until last night?" She did not ask in a very stern tone because she found that the suspect was always uncooperative and his emotions were always at odds. Therefore, no matter what questions you ask, he will first refuse.

"No, I was much better yesterday, but I'm worried that my condition might be a hindrance to such an important event as the museum exhibition."

"What do you usually do in the company?"

"I am responsible for the transportation and maintenance of flowers and plants..."

"So you don't need to take care of yourself for the next two days?"

"The exhibition is open now, and the flowers and plants are almost taken care of."

"Do you like growing flowers?"

"Not really. My dad worked as a gardener for others for a while, and I learned a little from him."

“Do you like working for a travel company?”

"It's just a job. It doesn't matter whether you like it or not."

Luo Xiaoguo smacked his lips softly and exchanged a glance with Yan Chun. He felt that the question was a bit irrelevant, but since Lu He was there, neither of them said anything.

Meng Siqi continued to ask: "You said that after get off work you would wear ugly clothes and sell balloon candied haws. Where do you usually sell them? Can you tell me more?"

"Near my home, mostly in front of Carrefour Supermarket, Hong Kong Hotel, and Venice Cinema, because there are many people there. Sometimes I go to other places, but rarely..."

Meng Siqi stopped at the "Hong Kong Hotel". She seemed to have heard of this name, but couldn't remember it for a moment.

"You go there every day?"

"Usually."

“So, the kids will like you?”

"Is there any problem with this?" Li Muxiao asked back, but unlike the previous interrogation, his attitude was almost gentle.

Luo Xiaoguo flipped through the notebook twice, a bored look on his face. He noticed that Meng Siqi was more like chatting, he rarely saw this kind of interrogation method, maybe girls are like this, no momentum, soft and flirtatious.

In fact, Zhao Lei Ting did not understand Meng Siqi's interrogation ideas, but he firmly believed that Meng Siqi would gain something. He thought of the term "boiling a frog in warm water". Meng Siqi's questions were more like eliminating the suspect's defenses, because the suspect had been uncooperative from the moment he entered the door until now.

But after Meng Siqi took over the interrogation, he seemed to relax a lot and was even willing to have a face-to-face conversation with Meng Siqi.

Lu He was sitting next to him. Zhao Lei Ting tilted his head slightly and could see his calm profile. However, there was a bright light in Lu He's eyes. He seemed to be listening carefully to Meng Siqi's interrogation and was full of confidence.

Meng Siqi suddenly asked, "Yesterday evening, you must have put on your ugly clothes and makeup. Where did you go?"

At this moment, Li Muxiao's eyes suddenly froze, as if he had not expected such a problem, and his expression was suspended.

This different demeanor aroused curiosity among the people present. Zhao Lei Ting seemed to see something. He felt that Li Muxiao seemed to be thinking about Meng Siqi's problem and thinking of a solution.

It was this short circuit that made Lu He firmly believe that the murderer was most likely Li Muxiao. If Li Muxiao was not the murderer, he could have given a direct answer to this question. The reason why he hesitated was that he was not prepared for such an answer and was worried about making logical errors, so he had to think about it on the spot. This short-term thinking would inevitably reveal his true nature.

Of course, Meng Siqi set a "trap" for the other party. The trap was to assume that Li Muxiao would go out dressed as Xiao Chou every day. Therefore, even if Li Muxiao had prepared before, he would definitely stop and think about this issue to eliminate the "trap."

Luo Xiaoguo couldn't help but tilt his head to glance at Meng Siqi. Although he thought it was a bit interesting, the suspect just had an emotional short circuit, which didn't mean anything.

On the one hand, Meng Siqi was testing Li Muxiao through this question, and she also wanted to know Li Muxiao's itinerary.

To her, Li Muxiao's whereabouts in the past two days could reflect his state at the time. If he was the murderer, even if his identity as Xiao Chou was well known in Jinyang City, he might insist on performing Xiao Chou at the entrance of a supermarket or hotel. She had seen this kind of thinking in Song Xinran before. The more suspected someone was, the more he insisted on doing it, which could actually eliminate the suspicion.

If he is not the murderer, he will be afraid of being mistaken. This kind of thinking is very subtle. Therefore, it depends on how the suspect views this question. If he does not answer well, he will be exposed.

Li Muxiao seemed to think for a while before answering, "I...actually I put on the ugly little outfit, but I gave it up shortly after I left the house."

Li Muxiao gave a different answer, which undoubtedly broke Meng Siqi's temptation. She doubted who would beat around the bush on this issue, unless it was the murderer.

She asked, “Why did you give up?”

"I was worried that someone would mistake me for someone else and cause unnecessary trouble."

Li Muxiao's cover-up was somewhat obvious. Meng Siqi changed his previous calm tone and said forcefully: "Li Muxiao, although the route you are most familiar with every day is from home to the company, but after the incident, the company was on holiday, and the police were searching, so you would not choose that route again. Therefore, last night, the places you were most familiar with should be Carrefour Supermarket, Xiangjiang Hotel, and Venice Cinema. You threw the head and the ugly suit on these three routes. After completing your goal, you returned home. Am I right?"

In an instant. "..." Li Muxiao's eyes suddenly flashed with surprise and disbelief, but he regained his composure in the blink of an eye.

However, as a detective, especially an experienced detective, this subtle emotion can be captured very easily.

Lu He stood up almost at the same time as Li Muxiao's expression changed, and shouted, "Luo Xiaoguo, Yan Chun, follow me to search immediately!"

Luo Xiaoguo followed closely behind Lu He, and had an incredible feeling. They had found the head just now? How could they find it with just one sentence after how long he and Feng Shaomin had been searching?

Lu He arranged a large number of police officers to search garbage cans and garbage dumps on three routes. Generally speaking, garbage trucks make a trip every 24 hours.

If Li Muxiao chose to abandon the head and the ugly clothes in the evening after committing the crime, then now is exactly 24 hours, and if it is later, they may be gone.

Jinyang City's sanitation garbage trucks operate in the evening from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and the time they pass through each area and each road section is different.

He asked the bureau to contact the sanitation station to suspend the cleaning work on these routes. However, the garbage truck had already been out and had no contact information, so he could not be contacted at all.

For Lu He, this is an extreme search. If it is too late, he may have to go to the garbage station to search, which is a lot of work, and the smell will not be washed away for three days. Or there may be unpredictable changes.

At around seven o'clock, on the way to the Hong Kong Hotel, a garbage truck stopped next to a street trash can. Yan Chun rushed over to negotiate. He shook open the trash can and found it was empty.

The garbage truck driver said, "We just loaded the truck."

"Yan Chun, stop talking nonsense and get on the truck and look for it." Luo Xiaoguo gave the order. Now Lu He was on another route and he had to be responsible here. He had no choice but to jump on first. Yan Chun covered his nose and also climbed onto the garbage truck.

The smell was so bad that Yan Chun gasped. It was worse than a corpse.

Luo Xiaoguo flipped through the bag a few times and suddenly found a soft, bulging black plastic bag.

He opened it himself. Yan Chun used a flashlight to carefully examine it. It was a suit. The jacket had velvet and pockets, and there were colorful patterns in blue, red, and yellow, with blue as the main color. It must be Xiao Chou's clothes.

Luo Xiaoguo's hand stopped in mid-air, with a sense of inexplicable surprise. He and Yan Chun looked at each other in silence. Although the head was not found, as long as Li Muxiao's fingerprints were detected on this physical evidence, it was highly likely that Li Muxiao would be convicted.

On the way back, Luo Xiaoguo and Yan Chun were in the same car. Luo Xiaoguo said in a daze: "Just a few words, and you found the evidence?"

Yan Chun shook his head: "It doesn't seem right. Did Team Lu tell her the idea in advance? I feel like Team Lu is taking care of her on purpose."

"Look after her?"

Yan Chun said: "It's probably normal for the road team to take care of girls. A single young man, these young people, always have some ideas. It's not normal to give special care to beautiful women. To be honest--" Yan Chun, who was driving, tilted his head and said, "Although her ability may not be good, she is indeed very beautiful."

Luo Xiaoguo sneered: "What? Did you buy yourself off during an interrogation?"

"Vice President Luo, that's not what I meant."

"Let me tell you, Yanchun. Last year, Meng Siqi was just promoted to a full-time employee, and she was awarded the third-class merit. Don't you understand what this means? Old Liu has been taking care of girls for the past two years. But have you ever thought about how hard our colleagues have worked, but they didn't even give her a third-class merit? How many cases have we handled together? How many meals have we eaten on time? I have a lot of stomach problems."

Luo Xiaoguo picked up a piece of biscuit. His mouth was dry and there was still a foul smell of garbage on his fingers. He forced himself to swallow the biscuit. He had not had time to eat or drink a sip of water from the afternoon until nine o'clock in the evening. Team Two took all the benefits, while Team One did the hard work.

Luo Xiaoguo ate a dry biscuit and said, "I won't complain about the hardships and fatigue. After all, Team Lu is our role model, but we can't just swallow our anger."

Yan Chun nodded heavily. "Deputy Luo, you are right. We can solve the case, but we can't let it go when it comes to major issues."

A cool breeze blew in from the car window. Luo Xiaoguo put his hand on the window and looked at the neon lights outside. Unconsciously, his thoughts flew back to thirteen years ago.

At that time, he was 24 years old and Han Changlin was 25 years old, both were in the prime of their lives. They were both outstanding police officers selected from the police station to the municipal bureau.

When he was 24 years old, he made great contributions in the police station and was admitted to the Municipal Bureau as an exception. That had always been his dream. It was his wish to join the Second Criminal Police Team of the Municipal Bureau at that time, because the Second Criminal Police Team was much better than the First Team at that time.

The former captain of the Criminal Police Team 2 was Hu Jianxin, who later retired and took the initiative to request a position in the archives room. The deputy captain was Feng Shaomin. He remembered that when he joined the Municipal Bureau, he specifically wrote in his application letter that he wanted to go to the Team 2.

In the end, he was assigned to a team for unknown reasons. For this matter, he went to find Hu Jianxin. Hu Jianxin told him that although he admired him, the bureau only had one spot. After discussing with Shaomin, he chose Han Changlin.

Luo Xiaoguo was confident that he was better than Han Changlin in terms of investigation, solving cases, and physique, but the reason he got in the end was that Han Changlin had better comprehensive ability than him and was more suitable for the second team. He never understood what comprehensive ability was.

This is also the reason why Luo Xiaoguo was unwilling to give up. He understood more deeply that ability is everything. Without ability, he could not move forward, let alone stay in the criminal police team or the police station. Therefore, he worked hard and later became the deputy captain of a team. However, in terms of ability, he still admired Lu He the most. As for Feng Shaomin and Han Changlin, he felt that they were far behind.

But the second team is just lucky, and Han Changlin is even luckier. The year Feng Shaomin stepped down as captain, Han Changlin was promoted from deputy captain to captain. If he had gone to the second team that year, he would at least be the captain now.

Nowadays, two young people who have just started their careers, Meng Siqi and Zhao Leiting, are very much favored by Director Liu, especially Meng Siqi, who is always given special care. Even Lu He seems to have fallen into her trap. He doesn't understand why he is always cared for even though he has no abilities.

*

When Meng Siqi returned home in the evening, she saw Ye Xiuhui curled up on the sofa watching TV. The sound from the TV immediately made her sensitive.

"According to the latest news from reporters, the case of the headless female corpse in the Flower Museum has made new progress today..."

Ye Xiuhui shouted in annoyance: "Aunt Chang, please change the channel quickly. Why are you broadcasting these things all day long? It's so scary."

Aunt Chang sighed and immediately picked up the remote control to change the channel.

At this time, the phone at home rang. Aunt Chang answered it again and turned around and said, "Siqi, your call."

Meng Siqi was about to go upstairs, and hurried forward to answer the phone. She guessed that it was from the police station. When she took the call, she realized it was Zhao Leiting. Zhao Leiting said excitedly: "Siqi, the suspect's clothes have been found. The ugly little clothes that appeared in the museum were found on the way to the Xiangjiang Hotel."

Meng Siqi took a breath. You know, she was not completely sure today. The emotional confrontation between her and Li Muxiao allowed her to grasp the information luckily. Combined with her previous interrogation experience, she concluded that Li Muxiao was lying.

In fact, her remarks about the "human head and the ugly little girl" were just a test to see how Li Muxiao would react. If he was not the murderer, his reaction would be to deny it immediately. But if he was the murderer, there might be many different reactions, and Li Muxiao had different reactions. Although he quickly hid it, Lu He caught his change at a glance, and finding new evidence was enough.

As for the follow-up matters, she believed that Lu He and Luo Xiaoguo would continue to interrogate Li Muxiao based on this physical evidence, and there might be new results tomorrow.

There is still time left to solve the case in ten days, and she feels there is a glimmer of hope. Lu He should feel more relieved at this time.

Zhao Lei Ting praised her again: "Siqi, I never thought that you could find physical evidence based on just a few words. It's amazing. Now Luo Xiaoguo and Yan Chun must be furious."

"It's all guesswork," Meng Siqi said with a smile, "Zhao Leiting, go to bed early and stop thinking about making people angry to death."

"That's right. Luo Xiaoguo has been displeased with you for a long time. I'm telling you, Ah Siqi, if he dares to bully you again, I will beat him up so hard that he will beg for mercy."

"Fighting?" Meng Siqi pretended to criticize, "I don't want to be a policeman anymore."

"Hey, let's talk. I really can't beat him with that kind of muscle."

"Thank you, Zhao Leiting. I know what you mean."

"What are you thanking me for? By the way, you've worked hard today. You should go to bed early too."

After they hung up the phone, she turned around with a smile on her face and found Ye Xiuhui craning her neck to listen to her. She was holding a white cat in her arms, and when she saw her turn around, she immediately sat back down.

Ever since Meng Hui "educated" the whole family at the reunion dinner last time, Ye Xiuhui seemed to have restrained herself a lot and no longer yelled at her. However, she developed a new habit and now speaks in a weird tone.

For example, now, Ye Xiuhui is stroking the cat's ears while lowering her head as if to say to the cat: "What's the use of a young boy? There's no salary, and no time. It's better to separate early, right, Tian Xin'er?"

Meng Siqi ignored her and went straight up the stairs. Ye Xiuhui said again, "Tian Xiner, you can't be like some people who have no rules. You have to have rules." She picked up its front paws and said, "Biting and scratching people is wrong, you know."

Meng Siqi stood on the stairs and asked her, "Who gave you the name Tian Xiner?" The last time she saw the cat's health card, it said "Tian Xin" instead of "Sweetheart."

"Ah?" Ye Xiuhui found it hard to believe that she was talking to her, and replied, "Isn't he still your brother?"

Tian Xin, maybe Meng Siqi has too much experience in criminal investigation. When she returned to her room, she was thinking, could it be that the word "Si" was decomposed? Did Meng Tingzhe want to tell her that Ye Xiuhui would rather be nice to a cat than to you?

Maybe she is just being too sensitive. She is very busy now and really doesn't have time to think about these messy things.

The next day, Meng Siqi did not receive any news from Lu He until the afternoon. Perhaps Li Muxiao did not confess at all. In fact, she could guess the reason. This piece of physical evidence alone might not be enough to convict Li Muxiao, unless the interrogation methods were very sophisticated and Li Muxiao voluntarily confessed.

Zhao Lei Ting was probably getting anxious, so he walked over and asked her, "Siqi, do you want to go check on Lu He?"

Meng Siqi had the same idea and agreed immediately because after a while, Li Muxiao would have exceeded the twenty-four hours of detention and it would be impossible to convict Li Muxiao without substantial evidence.

Zhao Lei Ting had told her in the morning that no Li Muxiao's fingerprints were detected on this ugly little dress, although there were many fingerprints on it, which was probably related to the fact that many people had touched it at the museum exhibition.

Li Muxiao might be the murderer, and he might have deliberately avoided his fingerprints. So this piece of clothing obviously cannot be used as evidence to convict Li Muxiao.

When they arrived at the door of the interrogation room near the team, Lu He just walked out of the door and met Meng Siqi's eyes. In Meng Siqi's eyes, Lu He's eyes were always calm, which could not explain the current progress of the case.

When Lu He saw her, his serious expression relaxed a little, and he said with his beautifully curved thin lips: "Siqi, I just happened to be looking for you."

"Team Road wants to talk to me about something?"

"Although we have some evidence against Li Muxiao, his confession is very tight. We have interrogated him three times in rotation, but we haven't found any loopholes. This is what I think. Everyone has a different way of questioning. You and Zhao Leiting should interrogate him again, and we will compare the differences in the confession later."

Meng Siqi understood what he meant. This method of multiple rounds of interrogation to find loopholes in the suspect's confession was something she had used before when interrogating the suspect who murdered Long Shanwen. At that time, she was the only one who interrogated Ding Qian, Xia Sulan, and Sun Yuanyuan, looking for differences in their confessions.

Today, Lu He's method is similar: multiple people interrogate a single suspect's confession and compare the differences. If there is a loophole, it may be a detail that the suspect overlooked.

Meng Siqi immediately said, "I understand, Captain Lu. Do you have any suggestions for the interrogation?"

"Details surrounding the suspect's life in the 24 hours before and after the crime."

"Okay, Team Lu, I'll try my best."

"Yeah." Lu He nodded.

At this time, the door opened, and Luo Xiaoguo and Yan Chun walked out. They saw Meng Siqi with a complicated look in their eyes and asked, "Is Team Lu still reviewing?"

Lu He replied: "It's Meng Siqi and Zhao Leiting's turn now. You can take a break."

"Okay, team Lu, you guys get busy." Yan Chun replied.

The two men passed by Meng Siqi and walked forward. Yan Chun whispered, "Deputy Luo, if Meng Siqi passes the trial, it will be a great achievement."

Luo Xiaoguo glanced at him and said, "Yan Chun, this is where you are wrong. It's a good thing that the truth was revealed during the trial. Aren't we all here to solve the case?"

"Deputy Luo just has a different perspective. That's not what I meant. Who doesn't want to solve the case as soon as possible? What I meant is, when Meng Siqi solves the case, who do you think will get the credit?"

Luo Xiaoguo licked his lower lip slowly. "Don't worry, the credit still belongs to our team. We have been interrogating for a whole day. At this point, the suspect has become numb to the interrogation. Anyone can come up with a result."

"Deputy Luo is right."