Free Web NovelChapter 252: Chapter 249 I Found It_1
Zhou Ning rubbed his nose and made space for the two of them.
The pair were both friends and antagonists, actually quite a good match. Growing up together through constant bickering and fighting, and knowing each other inside and out, if it wasn’t for affection, would she have tolerated Mr. Zhao calling her Zhujing?
She’d probably be beaten to death otherwise!
Zhou Ning went straight up to the fourth floor, pushed open the door of the laboratory, and saw Mr. Qu busily working.
"Had breakfast?"
Mr. Qu nodded.
"Had it at the cafeteria. I’ll be done soon. The password is already cracked, but there’s a program set up on this storage card. I need to unlock it; otherwise, after ten minutes, I’ll have to crack the password again, and each time it will be different. I guess Qin Xuejin’s phone must have a password receiver."
Before Zhou Ning could speak, the door sounded, and Xu Dayuan and Liu Yongxin came in together. Xu Dayuan’s eyes were sunken and he had a scruffy beard. Seeing Zhou Ning, he looked apologetic, which made Zhou Ning pause. Something had happened?
Zhou Ning stared at Xu Dayuan’s face. Ren Guangzhi and Ren Jingmin had been arrested, and the rest of the related personnel had also been caught—these had all been accomplished yesterday. Even if the interrogations were not going smoothly, it shouldn’t have been to this extent.
Thinking of the previous night’s discussion with Xu Dayuan, Zhou Ning realized.
"Wen Xiue hasn’t been found?"
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"We checked Wen Xiue’s identity information and went straight to her home in Lishugou, but she wasn’t there. Only her son and pregnant daughter-in-law were home. After interrogating them, no one knew where Wen Xiue had gone. She’s been missing from home for four days.
There’s a small supermarket opposite her house with surveillance; we retrieved the footage. She left on January 28th and hasn’t returned. As for her phone, it’s unreachable. I wanted to ask Mr. Qu if it’s still possible to locate someone if the phone is switched off."
Mr. Qu shook his head.
"If the phone is off, you can’t track the location."
Zhou Ning wasn’t surprised. When they initially questioned Wen Xiue, he wasn’t present, but the bodycam footage was very clear. After carefully reviewing it, Zhou Ning had not a shred of doubt about this woman, not to mention Xu Dayuan and the others. It seemed this person was not so simple after all.
"Have you checked the vehicle information?"
Xu Dayuan slapped his forehead, obviously having forgotten to mention this. Liu Yongxin patted Xu Dayuan’s arm.
"Come on, leader, you haven’t rested properly."
Xu Dayuan nodded. It wasn’t that he hadn’t rested well; he simply hadn’t rested at all. One task after another, nothing had gone smoothly. The interrogations were making no progress, which in itself was not urgent—all a matter of time. But could Wen Xiue really just disappear out of thin air?
Could it be that she had been killed too?
"In my hurry, I forgot to say, we’ve found Wen Xiue’s Sonata. The car was towed here, right below the technical department. We checked the road surveillance; the car was found in a parking lot next to Beizhai Youran Villa.
Unfortunately, there was no surveillance in that position, but it was seen at 1:01 AM on January 29th, she drove there alone, and since then, no trace of her. If you go up from that position, you reach Boot Stone, and from there, you can directly enter the Tongshan scenic area.
I’m considering whether to deploy police to search the mountain. I would also like to hear your opinions. Do you think Wen Xiue ran away because she thought her cover was blown?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"I don’t think she ran away because she thought her cover was blown. According to our analysis, the one who took Wang Guanli to Qin Xuejin’s was Wen Xiue, and within a month, Wen Xiue went there as many as ten times. She didn’t tell us the truth initially; the cleaning at Qin Xuejin’s was done by her.
As for the discord between Fang Wenjie and Qin Xuejin, this information also came from Wen Xiue. I remember the property manager saying that Wen Xiue had worked at Fang Wenjie’s Home for over two years, so after Qin Xuejin was released from prison, was it Fang Wenjie who referred Wen Xiue there?
And as for why Wen Xiue would hide and clean at both of their homes, I think it was still to find the two storage cards Qin Xuejin had hidden away. After all, Zhang Yinan died three years ago, and Qin Xuejin gained control of some insider information.
It’s just that they didn’t expect Qin Xuejin to be ruthless, sewing one storage card into his flesh and hiding the other in a flowerpot. Wen Xiue hadn’t found them in over two years, wait a second..."
At this point, Zhou Ning paused.
Xu Dayuan leaned in closer, knowing Zhou Ning must have thought of something but didn’t rush him. Liu Yongxin poured a glass of water and handed it to Zhou Ning, who held the cup and pondered for a moment.
"Do you remember, after Fang Wenjie was killed, her car disappeared? That white CC. If Wen Xiue could be involved in Qin Xuejin’s murder, could she also have had a hand in killing Fang Wenjie?
And perhaps Wen Xiue was the one who lured Fang Wenjie there, especially since the last phone call that time was made by Guanghai Pharmaceutical Group."
Liu Yongxin inhaled sharply as Zhou Ning’s analysis sent a chill down his spine.
"What are you standing around for? Mr. Qu, check the parking lot we just mentioned. If it can’t be found through the road surveillance, then check if a white CC headed toward that parking lot after January 2nd and see if the license plate matches Fang Wenjie’s vehicle."
Xu Dayuan also got to work, digging out his police terminal, locating Fang Wenjie’s vehicle information, and passing it to Mr. Qu. Under Xu Dayuan’s guidance, they found the road surveillance camera position.
Mr. Qu, realizing he couldn’t keep his skills to himself at this moment, logged into the traffic surveillance system, found the camera at that position, and started searching for footage after January 2nd.
The search was quick since it narrowed down to a three-day timeframe and then played at 16 times the speed. Everyone gathered closely, each keeping an eye on a different part of the screen.
As Mr. Zhao focused on the January 3rd footage timed at 17:44, a flash of headlights appeared, and a white car sped by. Mr. Zhao quickly exclaimed,
"Quick, rewind that for me, start from 17:44 and play it back in slow motion. A white car zoomed past."
Mr. Qu knew how sensitive Mr. Zhao was to cars, so he hurriedly did as told. As the playback speed slowed, the car appeared on the screen and was immediately paused by Mr. Qu. frёewebnoѵēl.com
The group crowded around the screen to identify it. The license plate was indeed Fang Wenjie’s, but the driver, wearing a mask and hat, had an obscured face.
Mr. Zhao leaned in for a closer look, then clicked play and paused it again.
"The driver is Wen Xiue. She has a red mole above her right ear, about the size of a soybean. Look here."
Following the direction of Mr. Zhao’s finger, Zhou Ning saw that indeed there was a red mole at the tip of the ear. Zhou Ning hadn’t noticed this before. Xu Dayuan raised his police terminal, and the photos on it were front-facing. One could only see a bit of the ear and couldn’t clearly make out that spot.
Mr. Zhao clicked his tongue and pulled out the law enforcement recorder, adjusted the stored content, and then started playing it. Unexpectedly, it was the process of Xu Dayuan questioning Wen Xiue. Although the recording wasn’t complete, from Mr. Zhao’s angle, he had walked a full circle around Wen Xiue and indeed spotted a red mole at the tip of her right ear.
Xu Dayuan glanced at Mr. Zhao and punched him on the shoulder.
"You’re actually useful, kid. But when we were questioning her, why did you think to record Wen Xiue?"
In fact, Xu Dayuan also realized that the angle at which Mr. Zhao recorded wasn’t accidental; he had deliberately orbited around Wen Xiue before moving to other rooms.
Mr. Zhao lifted his chin and spread his palms.
"I was influenced by Zhou Xiaozhou. My sixth sense is also in a developmental stage. I can’t exactly say why, but at that moment, when I saw Wen Xiue’s narrative, I felt something was off. As for what’s weird, don’t ask me—I’m not well-educated enough to express it!"
"Brother Zhao’s observational skills are really impressive!"
Mr. Qu leaned in while Xu Dayuan pursed his lips and didn’t say anything to provoke Mr. Zhao, acknowledging the kid had indeed grown.
But it was only when he looked at Zhou Ning that he noticed Zhou Ning was deep in thought, staring at the screen.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, are you thinking about where Wen Xiue might be hiding?" freēwēbnovel.com
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Do you have any leads, boss?"
Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"I still think the hiding place will be near her home in Lishugou. After all, Tongshan is right behind it, where one can hide at any time. It’s not as if she helped a killer and was involved in a case, then acted like nothing happened, right?"
Zhou Ning glanced at Xu Dayuan and then waved at Mr. Qu.
"Keep searching, for any vehicles coming down from this parking lot after 1:01 on January 29th, see if that white CC is among them."
Mr. Qu got to work, confident given this precise time point.
Xu Dayuan looked at Zhou Ning in surprise. He was very clear about what this command implied.
"You think after Fang Wenjie was killed, Wen Xiue went to deal with the car, but she couldn’t bear to destroy it and instead hid it. After Qin Xuejin was killed, she dared not return home. Presumably, after dropping off the killer, she knew the matter would be exposed, so she simply went to switch cars before leaving."
No sooner had he finished speaking, Mr. Qu stood up, pointing to the screen.
"I’ve got it!"
The group looked over and saw that the descending vehicle was indeed a white CC, though the license plate was a little different. Mr. Zhao slapped his thigh.
"This woman is really cunning, to even think of disguising the plate. But now, tracing it won’t be easy."
Mr. Qu pushed up his glasses and revealed a smiling face.
"Let me try to see if I can track it. Just give me some time."
The rest nodded in agreement, and only then did Xu Dayuan turn to Zhou Ning.
"I just heard from Doctor Zhu that you’re going back to Fang Wenjie’s home and the initial crime scene where her body was found for another look? Are you hoping to find conclusive evidence that Wang Guanli is the murderer?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"We have found the evidence at Qin Xuejin’s house—the surveillance footage, cigarette butts, vehicle information; all can perfectly match up. We just didn’t expect Fang Wenjie’s maid to become an accomplice. Now that Mr. Qu has found it, we won’t wait for the search here. We should quickly head for a second examination of the crime scene."
Xu Dayuan nodded, his mouth moved, but he ultimately swallowed back what he was about to say.
"Be careful on the road. We left someone outside Fang Wenjie’s home to keep watch. As for the initial crime scene where the body was found, I’ve replaced the police officers there. We couldn’t get in contact with the scrap collector. If we analyze it by the time Wen Xiue hid the car, it points to Fang Wenjie’s death being on January 3rd."
Just then, Mr. Qu stood up, shouting excitedly:
"I found it, I found it!"
