Free Web NovelChapter 246: Chapter 243 Bloodstains_1
It must be said, this person had a way with words.
From the look he just gave, it was clear he was searching for personnel familiar with the Tongshan Sub-bureau or the Beizhai Police Station, the local direct authorities. It wasn’t as if he knew everyone, but at the very least, he was familiar with the leaders.
Understanding the implied meaning in his words, how could Xu Dayuan fail to catch on? Xu Dayuan gave him a glance, standing with his hands behind his back.
Zhou Ning didn’t look at him. He raised his eyes to the top of the building, where a spherical shape gleamed at the summit, and there seemed to be a ring of metal along the edge, likely something like a lightning rod.
"Is your person in charge here? I’m not referring to the department manager, but the head of the group. Our city’s Criminal Police Brigade has received a report, and we’re going to initiate a secondary investigation into the case of Zhang Yinan’s fall.
Make a phone call and have him explain the situation. Of course, personnel from both the police station and the sub-bureau who have been previously investigated and interviewed, bring them all over as well. Please find us a large office."
The man was clearly stupefied by Xu Dayuan’s words, and just as he was about to speak, Xu Dayuan raised his hand.
"Additionally, from this moment on, don’t leave my line of sight. Mr. Bai, go to the monitoring room, and Manager Liu Yufei, make the calls using speakerphone. You, accompanied by an officer, will be responsible for recording. Record the name, contact information, and position of everyone he notifies, one by one. freewēbnoveℓ.com
The people from the second group, direct the person responsible for security at Guanghai Pharmaceutical Group to come with you straight to the top floor, and conduct a secondary survey of the fall site. Switch on all law enforcement recording devices, and make sure there are no omissions."
Zhou Ning remained still, Mr. Zhao waved off someone on the side who was holding a phone ready to make a call. He had long noticed that this person was signaling to the security guards, who all seemed very obedient - obviously, this person was the head of security.
"Manager, there’s no need for you to make a call. Your CEO and others will have to undergo investigation and questioning soon enough. Rest assured that they’ll all find out about this. Let’s head to the top floor."
The man glanced at the manager who had just stopped Xu Dayuan. The manager said nothing, and what could he say? The police completely controlled the situation, and he couldn’t even get a message out.
Mr. Zhao pushed the security manager with a smile still on his face.
"What’s your name, manager?"
"My name is Zhu Dongjie. I’m not any manager, I’m just the head of security."
With this clarification, the objective was clear, and Mr. Zhao nodded cheerfully.
"Let’s go, Captain Zhu."
Seeing that no one was coming to stop him, Zhu Dongjie knew he couldn’t avoid the situation. He touched his pocket and began to step forward.
Mr. Zhao pinched his sleeve between two fingers, causing Zhu Dongjie to pause.
"What’s the matter?"
"Nothing much, just a reminder to make sure you have all the keys. It would be pointless to get to the rooftop and then discover that some door is locked and you don’t have the keys. Of course, if you don’t have them, we can bring tools with us. Let’s not make this more complicated or time-consuming than necessary."
Zhu Dongjie’s face darkened, and with a wave of his hand behind him, someone handed him a key chain with a loop of keys. The people from the second group followed Mr. Zhao and Zhu Dongjie, heading straight for the building’s lobby.
Upon entering, they saw many people inside the lobby stopping to look at them, whispering among themselves as if they were discussing something.
The group walked to a corner elevator and took it straight to the 22nd floor. Getting off the elevator, they walked down the corridor to the end, entered the stairwell, and found themselves in front of a double door with a heavy lock chain wrapped around it multiple times.
Zhu Dongjie stepped forward, unlocking the chain, and Mr. Zhao pushed the doors open. Looking back, he noticed there were no surveillance cameras here, which explained why, when Chen Wenchi called the police, there was no related evidence.
It was impossible to prove how Zhang Yinan got to the rooftop, whether she went up alone, or if someone went with her.
They reached the rooftop platform which was covered in floor tiles, and even included a pavilion, sun umbrellas, tables, and chairs. There were many landscape features, looking every bit like a rooftop garden.
"Did anyone used to come up here?"
Zhu Dongjie nodded.
"This place used to be a small park for relaxation. When the weather was nice, many employees of the group liked to have lunch here, enjoying the mountain and sea views and the fresh air. It was only after the incident of someone jumping that the rooftop was sealed off."
Seeing Zhu Dongjie put his hands in his pockets, Mr. Zhao smiled at him.
"Don’t bother sending messages or making calls, and of course don’t record anything. Contacting anyone now is pointless. Your pants are too thin, and the screen lights up, it’s visible. I have my law enforcement recorder on. If you have any objections to our work, we can provide a full video of the proceedings."
Zhu Dongjie took his hand out and said no more.
Mr. Qu, carrying a camera, did a 360-degree turn in place. He was capturing the scene for later simulation. Zhou Ning glanced at him and waved to Yang Xuetong and Mr. Zhao.
"Examine the middle edge on the north side."
The two carried the box over. The wind was strong here. Although it felt like a breeze on the ground, standing here, it felt like a four or five grade wind.
The ground bore traces of scrubbing, and there was a parapet about 1.2 meters high at the edge of the building, nearly a meter in width. Above the parapet was a ring of fencing, with outward-facing metal protrusions at intervals, clearly a combination of lightning conductors and decoration.
However, Zhang Yinan was only 160 centimeters tall. For her to climb over it would be very difficult. The tables and chairs under the adjacent parasols were completely fixed, more than two meters away from the parapet, offering no leverage whatsoever.
Zhou Ning braced himself against the parapet, pushed up with his arms, and managed to stand on top of it, while Zhu Xingxing covered her mouth to silence her gasps of astonishment. On the other side, Mr. Zhao and the others also climbed onto the parapet.
But Mr. Zhao was gripping the fence tightly, his face pale. The height was truly terrifying; the cars below seemed no bigger than matchboxes.
Zhou Ning walked over to Mr. Zhao from his position. Mr. Zhao had already climbed down and was waving at Yang Xuetong.
"Buddy, you check the fence. I really have a fear of heights. Just two glances, and now my legs are like jelly," said Mr. Zhao.
Zhou Ning waved him off and reached out to Yang Xuetong.
"Give me the magnifying glass and the Luminol."
Yang Xuetong passed the magnifying glass to Zhou Ning, and then he too climbed up, tying a safety rope around Zhou Ning’s waist with the other end thrown down to Sun Gaotie and the others.
Zhou Ning glanced at the position below, closed his eyes for a moment to think about Chen Wenchi’s rendition of the fall location, then took a step back and looked at the top of the fence.
Searching for any information that might have been left behind on the fence; from February 14, 2009, nearly three years had passed. If Zhang Yinan had been thrown from the rooftop, then this area would definitely have been thoroughly cleaned, so Zhou Ning concentrated on observing all the various crevices on the outside of the fence.
After all, the fence was made of wrought iron, which wasn’t as shiny as stainless steel. And with the victim’s cervical vertebrae dislocated due to the twisting of her neck, the murderer could have easily positioned her in any posture.
But this raised an issue—if a normal person were scraped against it, they would instinctively dodge, but one in a near-death state wouldn’t react that way.
Because, upon the back of the victim Zhang Yinan’s right hand, there was a scrape. At the time, Zhou Ning had not understood the origin of this wound, but seeing this fence, the first thing he thought of was that scrape.
As Zhou Ning stepped back yet again, he noticed that the edges of the outer side of the fence seemed to be dirty. He blew on it, then sprayed it with the Luminol reagent, and shielded his eyes from the bright light, revealing a faint luminescent trace.
Seeing Zhou Ning’s actions, Mr. Zhao quickly handed over a swab dipped in distilled water.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, here’s your swab!" he said.
Zhou Ning took samples three consecutive times, then also took photographs, but he did not come down. Yang Xuetong had already climbed up and was carefully examining something nearby. Mr. Zhao called out to Yang Xuetong.
"Mr. Yang, take it easy. You’re much heavier than Zhou Xiaozhou. It’s quite a struggle for those guys back there to hold onto you!" Mr. Zhao shouted.
Yang Xuetong snorted twice, then he too discovered something at the edge of the lowest part of the fence. He used tweezers to pick up a triangular leather fragment hanging on the tip of a wrought iron spur and, his eyes lighting up, he turned to Zhou Ning.
"Team leader, I found this. I remember the deceased was wearing a red down jacket and a sweater dress, with black pantyhose and short boots underneath, though there was no leather missing from the boots," reported Yang Xuetong.
Both men jumped down from the parapet, and Zhou Ning raised the magnifying glass for a closer inspection. The inside of the leather fragment had turned black and was hard, while its surface pores were evenly distributed and glossy. His eyelids twitched.
"Blood! Bag it and label it. It seems like leather gloves—very soft material. The inside has turned hard, which could possibly be the murderer’s blood," Zhou Ning said.
Sun Gaotie quickly held up an evidence bag, and as they bagged the item, Mr. Zhao tilted his head, gesturing at their location.
"So, you mean someone stood at the edge of the parapet, grabbing the last section of the railing, trying to climb up. The wrought iron wasn’t great quality, it pierced through the glove and even tore off a piece of leather. As they climbed over the fence, they pushed someone down?" said Mr. Zhao.
Zhou Ning nodded.
"One hand on the fence climbing up, but the other hand dragging up the deceased. It’s a pity though, nothing was found on the victim’s clothes; probably because of the leather gloves. When the deceased was pulled up, her cervical spine was already dislocated, putting her in a near-death state.
There’s an expression, ’dead weight.’ Despite the deceased weighing only 110 pounds, dressed so heavily, hoisting a person over a 1.2-meter-high parapet with one hand isn’t easy, hence he wasn’t concerned about whether he was injured."
Everyone nodded vigorously, clearly pleased with the progress.
After hopping down from the parapet, the security team leader was being held by two economic investigation experts, his eyes wavering.
After the incident, they probably refurbished the entire platform, given that the edges of the parapet showed recent signs of having been painted, and even the floor tiles were likely laid afterward.
But the wrought iron fence, being integrated with the lightning conductor, wasn’t easily replaceable. They hadn’t thought of this, and the glance from the security team leader Zhu Dongjie said it all.
Many of them were in the know!
"Call Xu Da, take away this Captain Zhu Dongjie. He’s an informant!" Zhou Ning instructed.
Mr. Zhao dialed Xu Dayuan’s number, and just as he was about to speak, Xu Dayuan said hurriedly:
"Get down here, to the twentieth floor. Wang Guanli wants to see Zhou Ning!"
