Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Two Cases, Reinvestigation

"In your field of psychology, do you learn hypnosis?"

"Not everyone studies it, but back in school, I saw Zhao Qinghe reading up on it. I don’t know if he can actually do it, though."

Jiang Li nodded. "Thank you."

"Alright, go on back to your office. Don’t just stand here getting in the way."

Qin Shu spoke, shooing him away. Now it was her turn.

Zhang Haosheng was promptly driven out by Qin Shu.

Qin Shu looked at Jiang Li. "Jiang Li, you’ve figured out something’s wrong, haven’t you?"

"Forensic Doctor Qin, I suspect Xu Wan’s disappearance is connected to Zhao Qinghe."

Jiang Li looked up at Qin Shu, her expression serious.

Qin Shu didn’t argue. She just nodded. ’It’s a reasonable suspicion.’

Ji Qinghe returned with the food she’d bought, noticing that Jiang Li was looking much better.

She had just placed the food on a nearby table when she heard Qin Shu mention Jiang Li’s suspicions about Zhao Qinghe.

"Jiang Li, tell me everything, in detail."

Ji Qinghe sat down in front of Jiang Li and switched on her digital recorder.

"Zhang Haosheng said that Zhao Qinghe also studied psychology and was interested in hypnosis. He knew Xu Wan was having an affair; there’s no way he wasn’t affected by it at all.

I suspect Zhao Qinghe hypnotized the people who saw Xu Wan that day to create the illusion of her disappearance. It’s possible that the person who was dismembered was actually Xu Wan."

After Jiang Li finished speaking, both Ji Qinghe and Qin Shu fell silent.

"We’ll investigate this thoroughly. Don’t you worry."

Jiang Li looked up at her earnestly. "In my dream, when I touched the heart, my hand paused. I was... fascinated. The suspect definitely has something to do with hearts.

And in the last dream, when I killed that woman, I only felt a brief moment of panic before I became calm again.

’Thinking about it now, I don’t think Du Mingde could possibly be that calm.’"

Ji Qinghe nodded, her expression grave. Just then, her phone rang. It was Zhou Tiancheng.

"Qinghe, Du Mingde said he only dismembered Ms. Liu enough to fit the parts in a suitcase. He didn’t chop her up into tiny pieces.

And our guys just followed the tracks of that little yellow dog from yesterday and found the suitcase by the river. It’s Ms. Liu inside.

Jiang Li was right. This dismemberment case isn’t over!

Mr. Fan and his team are on their way to the scene now."

Ji Qinghe’s head was spinning. She gripped her phone tightly. "Tiancheng, Jiang Li says the suspect in the dismemberment case might be a doctor. She’s suspicious of Zhao Qinghe now, and thinks he hypnotized the people who saw Xu Wan.

Also, the suspect has severe OCD."

"Okay, got it. You all be careful. I’ll have Zhao Shuo rendezvous with you."

After hanging up, Ji Qinghe looked at Jiang Li. "Jiang Li, you said it was in an operating room, right?"

Jiang Li nodded.

"You should eat first."

Soon, Zhao Shuo arrived with Lu Xingye and a few others.

"Zhao Shuo, you go find Zhao Qinghe first. Xingye, you’re with us. We’re going to the operating rooms."

Ji Qinghe pulled the records for the cardiac surgery operating rooms.

Zhao Shuo searched the entire hospital but found no trace of Zhao Qinghe, which only deepened their suspicion of him.

Lu Xingye listened to Jiang Li’s account, trying to pick out any other hidden clues.

"If it wasn’t in a hospital operating room, it’s possible Zhao Qinghe set up his own. Let’s start by checking where he’s been frequenting lately.

OCD..."

Lu Xingye pulled up the video they had taken at Zhao Qinghe’s home. It looked normal at first glance, but a closer inspection revealed that all the small items were arranged with extreme neatness.

Their spacing and positioning were identical.

"Zhao Qinghe left two hours ago," Zhao Shuo reported, running up.

"To his house."

"I’m going to check his office," Lu Xingye said, quickly striding off.

Jiang Li was afraid to stay in the hospital alone, so she ended up going with Ji Qinghe and the others to Zhao Qinghe’s house.

Qin Shu was sitting to the side, looking at her phone, when a report suddenly came through on the group chat.

"The DNA’s been extracted. It’s definitely from two different people. Now we just need to compare it with Xu Wan’s parents’ DNA to know if the victim is her."

Everyone in the car breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the news. They were finally making progress.

When they arrived at Zhao Qinghe’s front door, Zhao Shuo stepped forward and knocked. "Anyone home?"

Suddenly, the next-door neighbor opened her door. "Zhang Qiao Hua and her husband left yesterday. Said Zhao Qinghe was sending them on a little trip to relax.

Oh, Officer, have you found Xu Wan?"

"So no one’s home at all?"

"Not exactly. His son, Zhao Anlan, didn’t go. He should be back after school."

"Thank you." Zhao Shuo glanced at his watch. There was still half an hour until school let out.

"We wait here?"

Ji Qinghe nodded. The group returned to their car, where Ji Qinghe kept an eye on updates from Zhou Tiancheng’s team.

Looking at the photos that were sent over, she frowned in confusion. Du Mingde said he had only dismembered the body, so why were half of the remains in the suitcase now minced into pieces?

"These must be from the same person," Ji Qinghe said, looking at the bone fragments, which were all of a similar size.

Qin Shu leaned in for a look and nodded in agreement. "You’re right. It looks like our two cases have collided. The suspect in this dismemberment case is clearly more sophisticated.

He minced the body from Du Mingde’s case to create a diversion, trying to mislead us."

’After all, we couldn’t extract DNA from the pieces we found initially, but we can from these. The killer hoped we’d assume it was all the same person, close the case, and then the real killer in the dismemberment case would get away scot-free.’

"Zhao Anlan’s back!" Zhao Shuo said, looking out the window at the boy walking alone.