Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 399: Chapter 378: Mrs. Zhu Confesses - Part 1

Rushing back, Zhou Ning returned to the technical department only to realize that his stomach was growling. Glancing at the time, he discovered it was already twelve o’clock, no wonder he felt hungry.

As he entered the office, only Liu Yongxin and Xia Momo were present, with a large pile of boxed lunches sitting on the table, evidently left for them. Zhou Ning looked apologetic.

"Sorry, I was just too busy to inform you guys. Mr. Zhao probably won’t be back for lunch. He’s at the hospital waiting for the rescue results. As for Mr. Yang and the others, I’m not sure if they’ve returned with the evidence yet?"

Liu Yongxin waved his hand dismissively.

"Mr. Xia was asking about that. Everyone except Mr. Zhao has come back, but they’re at Mr. Cui’s office and haven’t returned here yet. Gao Tie did quite well today, so don’t you worry about these things. Tell us, how did the rescue turn out?"

Zhou Ning quickly filled them in. Upon hearing the final outcome, Liu Yongxin patted his chest.

"That’s a relief. I’ve seen too many Paraquat suicides; they look fine at first, but they gradually get worse day by day until they ultimately suffocate to death right before our eyes. After all, there’s no antidote for that stuff, and it doesn’t give you a chance to regret it. So many teenagers just slip away like that."

The three of them sighed deeply. Xia Momo updated them on the progress here, as well as the discoveries made by Sun Gaotie’s team, and Zhou Ning was also pleasantly surprised.

"Gao Tie’s doing well, his judgement is commendable. Did we manage to retrieve any fingerprints?"

"On both the Nutrient Express and Paraquat bottles, we found Zhu Weihua’s fingerprints. It was tough taking her fingerprints though. Several detectives couldn’t hold her down; even handcuffed, she nearly broke her own wrist getting free. Mr. Liu went to check on her, and it had been dislocated."

Zhou Ning was taken aback; she was a tough character!

Liu Yongxin fell silent for a moment before pulling out his phone.

"Just like my apprentice said, she does have severe agitation. Today’s incident probably triggered her, leading to an episode. But I’ve fixed her wrist. Now, she’s handcuffed with her hands behind her back, that way there’s no more struggling. I’ll contact an old friend who can conduct a psychiatric assessment. With double confirmation, we won’t have to worry about any nagging doubts."

After saying this, Liu Yongxin made a call and walked to the side to talk.

"Are you retired yet? If not, I have a job for you. Help me with a psychiatric assessment of a criminal suspect. Don’t tell me you’re too busy or need to schedule; this is urgent. Plus, we’ve found multiple surveillance recordings of her during the time of the incident, which I think would serve as strong evidence for her mental state at the time, right?"

"All this rapid-fire talking—is that how you ask for a favor? Forget it, forget it. I owe you one, so where’s this suspect of yours?

I’ll send someone to take a look and assess her. I’m telling you, I am actually busy. We can do it right away, and I’ll have results by tonight. Just don’t bombard my trainees with work, okay?"

"When have I ever had such a bad temper? It’s because I’m familiar with you that I speak like this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even bother!"

"Hahaha, alright, alright. I’ll send someone over right now. By the way, this is for your prized apprentice, isn’t it? You really care about her!"

Without further ado, Liu Yongxin but everyone clearly heard the conversation because he was on speakerphone. Xia Momo covered her mouth and chuckled. Although Liu Yongxin was Zhou Ning’s mentor, he treated Zhou Ning better than a son, and Zhou Ning likewise did his best to look after Liu Yongxin.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Yongxin approached and slapped the snickering Yang Xuetong on the back.

"Tell Mr. Pang to come over. They have a template for the psychiatric assessment at their place. Go ahead and make one since you all saw what happened at the scene firsthand, and the surveillance footage shows Zhu Weihua deliberately avoiding the cameras, even knew to hide the bottles of Paraquat and Nutrient Express.

She didn’t even act directly but had her mother dispose of the child’s ’body’. This series of arrangements doesn’t suggest a mere fit of rage. Just report the results directly; you’ve become quite articulate after spending time with Mr. Zhao, make sure you explain everything clearly, and don’t leave out any details. Bring the video with you too."

Yang Xuetong nodded, taking the camera and quickly went to find Mr. Pang.

Zhou Ning washed his hands and grabbed a boxed lunch to eat. Although he was quite hungry, his movements remained graceful. Xia Momo poured him a cup of warm water and sat across from him.

She also poured water for Liu Yongxin and offered him a boxed lunch.

Contentedly, Liu Yongxin looked at the way the two interacted and refrained from joking, only smiling knowingly.

"The others went to listen to the interrogation. I’m not sure how that’s progressing. Director Xu seems to be out of the office. If he knew about this case, he’d probably want to check it out." freēwēbηovel.c૦m

Zhou Ning swallowed the food in his mouth, looking at Liu Yongxin with some confusion.

"Director Tao has been at the Tongshan Sub-bureau for some days now. Wouldn’t it be better to conduct the case over there? Why did they bring it here?"

Liu Yongxin waved his hand.

"He’s the deputy chief in charge of criminal investigations. During this time, he hasn’t encountered any major cases, and he wants to achieve results. However, if this case were to be handled by the Tongshan Sub-bureau, there are concerns that people might interfere and disrupt the pace of the investigation. Another concern is the family going over there and causing a scene. So, it’s best to wrap it up quickly and efficiently right here. It all depends on whether Zhu Weihua is willing to talk."

No sooner had the voice faded than the door opened, and Yang Xuetong and his colleagues returned. The last to enter was Tao Zhenshan. Zhou Ning was taken aback for a moment, wondering why Tao wasn’t in the interrogation room but had come up here when they were just talking about getting this done swiftly and straightforwardly.

Tao Zhenshan was not shy at all. He came in, grabbed a bottle of mineral water, and drank more than half of it in one go. Then he reached for a box of food, opened it, and started to eat noisily. After he had wolfed down his meal and let out a satisfied burp, he leaned back in his chair contentedly.

The others also picked up their lunch boxes and found places to eat. Tao Zhenshan looked at Sun Gaotie and his group and said to Zhou Ning with a smile:

"You sure have patience. How’s it going at the hospital? Did the child make it?"

Zhou Ning nodded.

"It looked quite critical, but since the child kept vomiting, there wasn’t much toxin left in his system, and the necessary corrections have been made. I left before the dialysis was finished, but it seems there shouldn’t be too much danger to his life now. However, there will be some lung damage. Fortunately, he’s young, so he should recover well afterward.

"Come on, Chief, you’ve just come in and started eating without telling us how the interrogations are going—are we supposed to just watch? But looking at you, things must have gone smoothly. Did Zhu Weihua confess?"

Tao Zhenshan wiped his mouth and shook his head decisively.

"Zhu Weihua is stubborn and refused to open her mouth no matter how we asked. I didn’t bother with her and directly questioned Mrs. Zhu, who, when slightly intimidated, spilt the truth. She couldn’t remember the exact time, only that it was early in the morning when the sky was still dim.

"She was asleep at home when she heard someone knocking on the window, which startled her. When she got up, she found it was Zhu Weihua who had returned. The old lady quickly got dressed and went out, only to see Chen Xiangyu curled up on the ground like a shrimp, apparently with stomach pain, writhing on the ground.

"The old lady asked Zhu Weihua what had happened and whether the child needed to go to the hospital. Why didn’t she call Chen Xiaodong? If something happened to the child, Zhu Weihua wouldn’t be able to bear the responsibility. But Zhu Weihua got annoyed, pushed the old lady away.

"The old lady was frightened by Zhu Weihua’s expression. Then, Zhu Weihua said that both the father and son were worthless, especially the younger one. If it hadn’t been for him, they wouldn’t have fought, and she wouldn’t have been told to stay home and look after the child instead of working. So she might as well poison him and be done with it.

"The old lady was shocked and quickly asked what had been given to the boy. Zhu Weihua told her not to be nosy, saying she had fed him Paraquat, which is fatal once ingested. However, today was the first day of school, and Chen Xiaodong would probably come back in the morning to take the child to school. Zhu Weihua instructed the old lady to throw the child into a cave on Nan Mountain.

"The old lady was afraid to do so and tried to persuade Zhu Weihua, but Zhu Weihua got angry again, grabbed the old lady’s neck, and said as if she had gone mad, ’You want me to die, you won’t help me, so hurry up and clean up what Chen Xiangyu has vomited, and dispose of him in the cave.’

"When Chen Xiaodong returns, they just have to play dumb. Considering the child’s age and playfulness, even if they get the villagers to search the mountain and neighboring towns, they wouldn’t think of Nan Mountain near Han Jia Zhuang. In this hot weather, the body won’t last many days before it decays and won’t be found. The terrain here is complex, and even the police won’t be able to locate it. frёeωebɳovel.com

"Zhu Weihua also reminded Mrs. Zhu not to throw the body into the caves too close to the village, but rather into the highest one, the cave with a four-to-five-meter drop fifty meters in, which is the most hidden.

"After saying all this, Zhu Weihua left. Mrs. Zhu saw that Chen Xiangyu was exhaling more than inhaling, his face deathly pale, vomiting blue-green and white chunks. She felt the child was not going to survive. Leaving a dead body at home would be troublesome to explain.

"So, she dressed up, found a snakeskin bag, put the child in it, laid him on an electric scooter, and took the back road up the mountain. When she reached the cave, she inverted the bag, tipping the child out. She heard a thump but no whimper from the child, and she quickly went home to clear up as if nothing had happened."

Mr. Zhao, who had returned at some point, came up to Tao Zhenshan, holding his lunch box, and asked with confusion:

"When I went to Hanjia Village, I observed that unlike Yingtaogou Valley, their houses are joined in a row. With such ruckus between neighbors, especially in the wee hours, how could it have gone unnoticed? Zhu Weihua has a loud voice."

Tao Zhenshan smiled and patted Mr. Zhao’s arm.

"You’re sharp, kid. I’ve already sent people to investigate house-to-house. Before the incident, neighbors could cover for each other, but now that it involves murder, no one dares to hide anything.

"The village committee and office staff are also involved, and I think we’ll have results soon. Also, I’m waiting for the lab report; when will the results be ready here?"

Zhou Ning had finished eating by then and looked toward Sun Gaotie, who quickly covered his lunch box and stood up to wipe his mouth.

"I’ll go take a look at the forensics department. We’ve finished the fingerprint comparison here, and the report will be out shortly."

After Sun Gaotie left, Yang Xuetong moved to the computer and printed out the results of the fingerprint comparison; it was very clear. Zhu Weihua’s fingerprints were found on two bottles, even with blue-green traces of Paraquat on them.

"Boss, the fingerprint report is printed. However, the DNA test will probably take a few more hours, around two in the afternoon, I guess. We sent it for analysis just after nine."

Tao Zhenshan waved his hand.

"No rush; I will wait for the report to come out at two in the afternoon before interrogating Zhu Weihua again. Even if she doesn’t admit it, it’s still incontrovertible evidence. But has the child woken up yet? I’d like to get a statement from him."