freenovelworld Chapter 951 Suspicious Clues, Investigate Immediately
Chapter 951 Suspicious Clues, Investigate Immediately
While the two were busy, Li Ming began to conduct preliminary questioning of the cement plant's staff. He found Chen Li, Li Dejun's deputy, who was pale and seemed dazed.
"Chen Li, when was the last time you saw Director Li?" Li Ming asked.
Chen Li swallowed hard, his voice trembling slightly: "Yesterday afternoon, when we were leaving get off work, we chatted about work-related things at the workshop entrance, and then we went our separate ways. I really didn't expect that would be the last time we saw each other..."
"Has Director Li had any conflicts with anyone recently? Or has he exhibited any unusual behavior or emotions?" Li Ming continued to press.
Chen Li hesitated for a moment before saying, "There is one contradiction... Last month, Zhao Gang, a worker in the workshop, was severely criticized by Director Li for violating operating procedures, and half a month's wages were deducted. Zhao Gang was very angry at the time and had a big argument with Director Li, saying that he would take revenge on him. However, he was pulled away by other workers, and I thought that was the end of it."
Li Ming wrote Zhao Gang's name down in his notebook, asked him some other questions, and then told Chen Li to go back first. He found Xiao Zhou and Xiao Wang and said, "Xiao Zhou, Xiao Wang, go and investigate Zhao Gang and see where he has been since last night. At the same time, conduct a thorough investigation of Li Dejun's social relationships, including his family, friends, and business partners, and see if there is anything suspicious."
"Yes!" After receiving the order, Xiao Zhou and Xiao Wang quickly began their investigation.
In the pile of stones, Yang Lin knelt beside it, the tip of his tweezers hovering above a barely noticeable scratch. Dust hovered under the survey light, making the approximately two-centimeter-long scratch appear and disappear. "Yang Sen, bring the spectrometer. This mark shows a metallic reaction." His voice held a hint of excitement, but turned to doubt after the test results came back—the metallic components remaining in the scratch were completely inconsistent with those commonly used in cement plants.
Yang Sen simultaneously conducted a second examination of the body, suddenly stopping when the magnifying glass swept over the deceased's ear. "Team Leader Li, there's a needle mark here." He lifted the deceased's head, and indeed there was a very small puncture wound on the back of the neck, with slight redness and swelling at the edges. Zhang Lin immediately leaned closer to examine it: "If it's an injection mark, the needle diameter is no more than 0.5 millimeters, like the extremely fine needle of an insulin pen." However, it couldn't be confirmed whether it was related to the cause of death before the autopsy, so they could only take photos and samples first.
Meanwhile, Xiao Zhou and Xiao Wang stood downstairs in the old residential building where Zhao Gang rented a place. The damp, musty smell mixed with the oily smell of the food stalls next door wafted towards them.
Beside the pile of cardboard boxes at the entrance of the building, the landlord was watching TV with his legs crossed when he heard the police siren and hurriedly got up, his slippers clattering on the cement floor.
"Officer! I know everything about Zhao Gang!" the landlord shouted, his greasy vest heaving with each movement. "Last night at exactly 10 p.m., I saw him drinking beer at 'Old Zhou's Barbecue'! Look, it's the one around the corner, everyone in the night market can testify to that!" His knuckles, swollen and shiny from years of hard work, pointed forcefully to the neon-lit food stall a hundred meters away.
Xiao Wang squatted down, opened his notebook, and held the pen tip on the paper: "Sir, are you sure it's ten o'clock? Is it possible that you've misremembered?"
"No doubt about it!" The landlord slapped his thigh, making the wooden chair creak. "I go downstairs to collect the trash every day at ten o'clock sharp, and I saw him playing drinking games with Old Li from the repair shop next door, holding a bottle of liquor!" He pulled a crumpled cigarette pack from his pocket, shook out a cigarette, and lit it. "That kid got drunk and smashed a bottle. Broken glass shards flew around my feet, and my big toe still hurts a little!"
Following the direction he pointed, Xiao Zhou saw the plastic canopy of the barbecue stall rattling in the night wind, the glowing red charcoal reflecting on the oily faces of the diners. Amidst the thick smoke rising from the grill, the owner, Lao Zhou, was wielding iron tongs, flipping meat skewers; the pungent smell of cumin mixed with chili powder made people cough.
“Come on, let’s go ask.” Xiao Zhou tugged at Xiao Wang’s sleeve. The two walked through a narrow alleyway filled with electric bikes, their shoes stained with oil from some unknown stall. Old Zhou caught sight of the police uniform and almost dropped the grilled eggplant in his hand: “Oh, officer, I know everything about Zhao Gang!” He pulled on his apron to wipe his hands and pulled out a tattered ledger from a metal cabinet. “Yesterday he ordered twenty skewers of beef tendon, three plates of stir-fried snails, and even draft beer. The entire bill is here!”
On the yellowed pages, crooked handwriting recorded the transaction details, ending with "Zhao Gang, 23:47, WeChat Pay, 168 yuan." Xiao Wang took out his phone, pulled up the payment interface, and repeatedly compared the details: "The time and amount match." He chewed on his pen cap, unwilling to give up, "Is it possible that Zhao Gang left in the middle?"
Old Zhou shook his head. "Nobody even pees on the roadside." He gestured towards the telephone pole, where suspicious water stains remained on the peeling tile wall. "The owner of the hardware store next door saw it clearly. Go ask her if you don't believe me!"
The hardware store's roller shutter door was half-open, and in the dim light, the proprietress was engrossed in watching a TV series behind the counter. Hearing the question, she pushed up her reading glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of her nose: "Zhao Gang? He's definitely been there the whole time." She tapped her phone screen. "I even took a short video and posted it on WeChat Moments. The way he was raising a beer bottle and toasting with someone was hilarious." In the video, Zhao Gang's face was flushed, beer dripping down his chin onto his floral shirt, and the digital clock in the background clearly showed "00:15."
Xiao Zhou rubbed his throbbing temples, the noise from the barbecue stalls outside the window mixed with off-key karaoke singing filling his ears. Suddenly, Xiao Wang remembered something and rushed to the security camera at the alley entrance. In the footage, Zhao Gang's figure swayed in the neon lights. At 1:07 AM, when he went to the restroom, a coworker had indeed walked with him, his arm around Zhao Gang's shoulder. Five minutes later, the two returned arm in arm, this time with a newly opened pack of cigarettes in their hands.
“He even has someone accompany him to the toilet,” Xiao Wang muttered to himself, staring at the screen. “Unless everyone at the barbecue stand is lying…” Before he could finish speaking, Lao Zhou, who had somehow gotten close, shoved his phone in front of the two of them: “Officer, look! This is a real-time statement from the payment platform. Every transaction has a timestamp. It can’t all be fake, can it?”
The clues found at the crime scene regarding a conflict between Zhao Gang and the deceased Li Dejun, suggesting that the other party was a potential suspect, have essentially been lost.
However, this case is actually easier to investigate compared to other cases. Although there are no specific clues yet, Li Dejun's identity has been confirmed. Once this is confirmed, the police can conduct further investigations into his interpersonal relationships.