This seemed to contradict her meticulous modus operandi.
Just as I was pondering this, a case notification suddenly came through from the 110 dispatch center: "Attention, Punish Sin Team. We've just received a report of another murder upstairs at Pingtai Supermarket. The victim's condition is similar to the first case. All team members are requested to proceed to the crime scene immediately with the criminal investigation team!" wap.kanshu伍.net
We were all taken aback, jolted as if from a dream. We left the office, drove several police cars, and headed straight for the crime scene, with the forensic team departing simultaneously behind us.
Upon arriving at the supermarket, we found the area already cordoned off by numerous police officers. We crossed the tape and, after inquiring with several detectives, learned that the victim was in the supermarket's warehouse. kanδん
Zhang Keying, Xie Chuchu, Ling Xiaotao, and I entered the warehouse. We saw a male corpse kneeling on the ground, facing a wall. He was bound by a lot of white tape. He looked like a patient bedridden and wrapped in countless bandages, or perhaps like a mummy sealed for millennia in a pyramid. And in his hand, he even held a memorial photo framed in white wood!
We first removed the photo and discovered it was of an old man. Last time it was an old woman, and this time an old man?
Could this old man be the victim's father?
I had someone take the photo away and then gently laid the kneeling corpse flat on the ground. I wondered about kneeling to one's parents. Did the killer know what inhuman treatment these victims had inflicted on their own parents? And thus, harboring hatred for such unfilial behavior, he killed for the parents they had lost?
If it weren't for this memorial photo, I might not have thought in this direction.
Within a few minutes, Xie Chuchu finished removing the white tape and inspecting the body. She put away the shadowless lamp and said, "The eyes weren't dug out this time, and there were no agates. Time of death was about 20 minutes ago. The cause of death was likely mechanical asphyxiation. You see, there are rope marks here, and the bruising on the neck is sufficient to be fatal!"
"It's very similar to what happened to Old Chen before. We verified that the rope had fibers from Old Chen on it," Zhang Keying said.
We already knew that, but no fingerprints of the killer were found on the rope, only Old Chen's. This time, we didn't find the rope at the scene. It was very strange. Did the killer not take the rope last time? Or did something happen that prevented him from taking it in time?
I remembered that Lu Chusheng and I were the first to arrive last time. Perhaps we heard some commotion, but this time the killer had ample time to escape.
Lu Chusheng, who had just arrived at the scene, looked at the male corpse and asked, "Has the victim's identity been confirmed?"
"We found a wallet, playing cards, and a mobile phone inside the victim's clothes..."
As Zhang Keying spoke, she placed all the items into evidence bags. Then, Xia Hou collected several footprints inside the warehouse, and a handprint was found on the windowsill. We collected them all.
I didn't continue the autopsy because the situation with this male victim was similar to Old Chen's. I figured there would be very few clues to be found on the body.
My attention shifted outside. Upon learning that the male victim was the supermarket manager, an employee began to cry in fear and knelt on the ground: "How could this be? Huang Hairén, how could you leave me like this?"
A female police officer was comforting the woman, and we learned that she was the victim's wife.
Both worked at the supermarket. Huang Hairén was the manager, and this woman, named Lan Bantao, was the supervisor.
I approached Lan Bantao: "You weren't with your husband when he met with this incident?"
"No, for about 30 minutes. I told him I was hungry and wanted to go out to buy something to eat, as we were about to close for the day. Who knew that when I came back, there were so many police officers here. A salesperson said someone had died, and that person was my husband! I thought I was dreaming at first and stumbled in, only to really see his body in the warehouse! *Sob sob*, how could this happen? Who did he offend?"
I said, "Did he have a bad relationship with his father?"
"Father? That old man just died a few days ago. Today is... it seems to be, his seventh day memorial!"
"What was the cause of his death?"
"What else could it be? He died of illness!" Lan Bantao said it very matter-of-factly, but I detected a hint of something unusual, as if she were concealing something about the old man's death.
"Did you mistreat the old man?" I deliberately probed.
Lan Bantao quickly shook her head: "No! Absolutely not! Officer, what are you talking about? Could it be..."
At this moment, Lan Bantao also noticed the memorial photo being held by a police officer. Her pupils contracted slightly: "How could this be?"
"We found this in the deceased's hand. He was kneeling on the ground at the time, as if atoning. So I suspect this matter is related to the victim's father."
"Impossible! We didn't mistreat him... Besides, it's all..." Lan Bantao stammered for a long time, unable to say anything. But after a while, she exclaimed again, covering her face as if her whole body had gone weak, and then said with extreme dread a very strange sentence: "Is there really retribution in this world?"
By then, I had already guessed some of it. A few minutes later, the body was taken away. I asked Lan Bantao to come back with us, and the witnesses were also taken away.
Back at the provincial department, I seriously questioned Lan Bantao: "Your behavior at the supermarket just now makes it difficult for me not to think in that direction. You know what I mean, Ms. Lan!"
"*Sob sob*, we really mistreated the old man before!"
Lan Bantao finally admitted it.
"How exactly did you mistreat him?" I inquired.
"It's just... we didn't let him eat well or sleep well. Because of him, you can't blame us. That old man was a bit mentally ill. If we hadn't confined him like that, he would have gone out with a cleaver and started hacking at people!"
"Is that so? Then why didn't you send him to a mental hospital?"
"We didn't have any money. Actually, the old man wasn't Hairén's father, but my father. After my mother passed away, he lived with us."
"We'll be investigating Huang Hairén's social relationships recently. I hope if you know anything, you'll tell us as much as possible, understood? Otherwise, it will be even more troublesome to find the killer."
"Officer He, is he really after that incident? If so, then perhaps I will too..."
"You've admitted it now. You mistreated an elderly person before, and the killer seems to hate such people!"
It wasn't that I was deliberately trying to scare her, but I wanted to see if Lan Bantao was hiding anything else. She seemed hesitant to speak at first, but now she finally couldn't hold back anymore: "I'll tell you everything. We used to force the old man to live in the garbage dump, not give him food, curse him, and beat him!"