Free Web NovelChapter 511: Chapter 482: Intentionally Left Clues_1
Following the sound, Zhou Ning hurriedly walked over. Mr. Zhao wasn’t the type to get shocked easily, so if he said he found something, it definitely must be a critical issue.
Approaching the car, Mr. Zhao had already come down and stepped aside from the back seat, trying to suppress his excited expression as he said leisurely:
"The car has been completely modified, repainted, cleaned on the inside, and even the floor mats are new, along with the seat covers. So, the steering wheel, seats, floor mats, ceiling, and other visible areas indeed don’t have any traces, you could say not even a fingerprint was left."
Zhou Ning put away his smile, looking at Mr. Zhao seriously.
"Cut to the chase, skip the nonsense and just give me the results," he said.
Mr. Zhao rubbed his nose, knowing that Zhou Ning and his team were getting impatient, and that being a tease at this moment was asking for trouble. He sighed, pushed down his desire to elaborate, and quickly pointed to the side door glass:
"I won’t talk about the trace of the repainting, but the inspection found that they overlooked two places, one is the wheel. The wheel wasn’t replaced. We found a lot of residual gravel on it. We have been to Jiulaofeng Park pond, and we can take samples for comparison. If the components match, we can determine that this car is the black suspect car.
The other place is the window glass. The car doors were not replaced, so the glass hadn’t been changed either. I found multiple fingerprints on the inside and outside of all four windows, and even within the gap of the glass on the door behind the passenger seat, I found a blood-stained fingernail. This fracture surface looks somewhat familiar!"
Zhou Ning quickly opened his phone, found the photo he saved from when He Jiahong was autopsied, and compared the missing piece of the nail. It matched perfectly with He Jiahong’s fingernail.
Seeing this, everyone’s faces showed a trace of joy. This directly proved that He Jiahong had been in this car on the night of the crime, and this car was the same black car seen in the surveillance. No matter how much it had been modified, it didn’t matter. This was the best evidence.
"Are the fingerprints intact enough for comparison?" he asked.
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
"Although we collected quite a few fingerprints, there aren’t many intact ones. Sun Gaotie and his team went to the garbage heap, not sure if they can find any discarded seat covers or the like." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Zhou Ning didn’t hold out much hope for this. The car was dumped here the day after the incident precisely to clean any traces. Not destroying the car directly was probably due to reluctance to lose money.
What Zhou Ning found puzzling was, having gone to such lengths, why hadn’t the body of the deceased been carefully cleaned of traces? Could the professionals they found not have mentioned to them that residues could be used as evidence?
This aspect of the case left Zhou Ning perplexed; it seemed like the cleaning of traces had been thorough, yet substantial evidence had been left behind, indisputable evidence at that. What could be the reason for this?
Unable to figure it out, Zhou Ning stopped dwelling on it and turned to look at Mr. Zhao, inquiring,
"For Zhu Xiaoguang and Zhu Xiaoming, there weren’t any fingerprints left on their identity information?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
"What’s baffling is exactly that. Although they have second-generation ID cards, the cards were issued quite early, and no fingerprints were collected. They were actually applied for at Zhuquan Police Station. Maybe we should still have Liu Da and his team check all the hotels. Couldn’t these two possibly have left the area?"
This was precisely what worried Zhou Ning. They had been here for two days, and from the time they arrived at the Xinghua Municipal Bureau, Deputy Director Mr. Zhong had already phoned in to report the situation. If these two were alert and got the message, they would leave and hide at the first opportunity, becoming truly untraceable.
However, these two had many bad records. Could it really be that no information was left behind?
"The previous detention records, they didn’t keep fingerprints, wait... they should have left fingerprints on the written records, that couldn’t possibly be forged, right?"
Mr. Qu quickly performed a search, and after a moment, he shook his head.
"Their previous case files haven’t been uploaded here. I can only see that such records exist, but the content is empty when I click into it, just a brief description."
Mr. Zhao curled his lips.
"Is it the Zhuquan Police Station again?"
Mr. Qu nodded, and the result was not surprising to anyone. Fang Mu, who had just returned, overheard their last part of the conversation. Hearing this, he furrowed his brows.
"How about I make a trip to the Zhuquan Police Station?"
Zhou Ning waved his hand,
"Even if you go, it would be tough to get cooperation. After all, Zhuquan Police Station is rotten from top to bottom."
Fang Mu nodded in agreement; indeed, it was true. They didn’t understand why before, but now it seemed they were starting to untangle the ties within this situation.
"But we can’t find these two now; there are no leads at all. I just went to the front office, and they are all tight-lipped."
Mr. Qu shook his head on the side, looking at the display screen without any direction.
"I’ve just checked hotels in Xinghua and the surrounding areas, and there’s no information about these two checking in. Now that everything is networked, even small hotels require real-name registration and synchronizing check-in information. So, I think no one dares to hide that. And regarding planes and trains, there’s no information about them either."
Zhou Ning looked around, but didn’t pick up on Mr. Qu’s remark.
Fang Mu was somewhat puzzled; however, Zhou Ning’s movement made him quickly step closer, with Mr. Zhao also hurrying over. The three of them huddled together, and then Zhou Ning lowered his voice to say,
"You say, a car modified to look like this, logically, should have its door windows replaced as well, right? And the fingernails embedded in the seams, isn’t this similar to the villa on Nan Island we dealt with before, where no one paid attention? Could it be that the workers who did the modifications failed to notice this detail?
Moreover, according to Mr. Zhao, although the car’s shell looks quite ordinary and its rear seems like it was re-purposed from a junk car, the modifications this time changed almost everything but the framework, a drastic measure just to destroy all traces.
Yet leaving behind fingerprints and physical evidence on the glass goes against the original intent of the modifications. Don’t you think someone might have deliberately left all this evidence for us to find? I reckon Mr. Sun and the others will soon find other discarded items."
Zhou Ning’s words stunned Mr. Zhao, and Fang Mu looked incredulously at Zhou Ning, then his eyes flicked toward the factory entrance. Zhou Ning quickly stopped him.
"Mr. Dui, don’t look, and don’t show any reaction. I think this person might be one of the mechanics. But if Zhu Yongping finds out that one of his workers dared to collaborate with the police, losing his job would be the least of his troubles, perhaps..."
Zhou Ning stopped there, but Fang Mu quickly averted his gaze. He knew that in Xinghua, if this case weren’t thoroughly investigated and those acting as protective umbrellas weren’t dealt with, the place would continue to be corrupt.
At this moment, Sun Gaotie and Mr. Yang returned with a few criminal detectives, one of them carrying a woven bag, the contents unknown. However, both Sun Gaotie and Mr. Yang were filthy and had black ink on their faces.
Fang Mu and Mr. Zhao instinctively looked at Zhou Ning, their eyes filled with excitement and shock. Apparently, they had found something, and Zhou Ning’s prescience was enough to set anyone’s hair on end.
"Boss, guess what we found?"
Zhou Ning smiled, his face bearing an encouraging grin, and Mr. Zhao smacked his lips and leaned in closer.
"Did you find the stuff that was changed out of the black car? But how did you confirm that these were the parts taken from the black car?"
Sun Gaotie smiled happily while Mr. Yang noticed something and gave Mr. Zhao an inquisitive look. Mr. Zhao sighed, gestured with his thumb towards Zhou Ning behind him, and then Mr. Yang, comprehending, hurriedly said,
"At first, we weren’t sure, but these interior car parts were all bundled up with packing straps, and atop them was a windshield with an oil-based marker writing, ’Black modified Elantra 878007.’ I felt very familiar with these numbers.
I hurried to find the photos we took earlier and compared them, this was the last six digits of the new engine number. I think these were records made during repairs. As for these items, all of them have burn marks, but it seems that because of this windshield, the flames went out, allowing what was underneath to be preserved."
Seeing that nobody displayed much excitement, Sun Gaotie was puzzled but carried on maturely following Yang Xuetong’s words,
"Upon finding the items, we searched thoroughly, and every car mat had this line of writing underneath, only in more hidden spots, as if deliberately left for us. Boss, should we send all these items back for inspection?"
Zhou Ning nodded. It was difficult to find fingerprints on mats, but considering the gravel on floor mats and the various oil and water stains on seat covers, especially the steering wheel cover, these indeed required detailed examination.
"Have someone send them for inspection, and take photos of the writing without drawing attention."
Liu Yufei had returned by this time, and upon seeing the items on the ground, she seemed surprised.
"Any findings?"
Zhou Ning lowered his voice and quickly briefed Liu Yufei on what had happened. Liu Yufei nodded.
"Send them for inspection first. I think someone among the workers knows what they’re up to, maybe even the disciplinary committee disapproves but can’t do anything overtly, so they helped us by leaving the evidence. We shouldn’t dwell on this for now; not discovering it is the best protection for that person. freewebnoveℓ.com
As for Zhu Xiaoguang and Zhu Xiaoming, I believe they haven’t left Xinghua. Mr. Qu checked hotel records and flights, trains, and there’s no information about them leaving. As for driving off, I don’t think that’s likely either.
From their point of view, they had made thorough preparations for this affair; the primary crime scene was renovated, the deceased was disguised as a suicide, and the car was modified. Essentially, all traces have been wiped clean. Why run away?"
Liu Yufei kept her gaze on Zhou Ning and nodded slightly; Zhou Ning’s words soothed her anxious mood.
"Director Zhou is right, I was too hasty. Initially, they must have thought exactly that, certain that nothing would lead back to them, so they didn’t take it seriously. However, they also wouldn’t really let these two young men meet with us, fearing their hotheadedness might make them spill something, which would ruin everything."
Mr. Qu glanced at Liu Yufei and then at Zhou Ning, blinking in confusion, and poked Mr. Zhao.
"Mr. Zhao, what are the boss and Liu Da talking about? I don’t get it."
Mr. Zhao sighed and patted Mr. Qu’s shoulder.
"Gao Tie, let’s not worry about these things. We’ll do what we’re told."
Liu Yufei shot Mr. Zhao a glance, and he reluctantly fell silent. Zhou Ning then walked toward the factory entrance where several mechanics were standing, seemingly chatting with one another. One had a loud voice, audible even from afar.
"What exactly are the police investigating?"
