Chapter 346
After Deng Chao and Kong Hui’s arrest, the police conducted a 48-hour sleep deprivation interrogation.
Due to Deng Chao"s severed hand and the failure of his revenge, he had completely sunk into insanity and repeatedly tried to harm himself and his interrogators. Thus, the police obtained little information from him.
Most of the confessions were provided by Kong Hui. It turned out that the organization had targeted me after I continually harmed their interests. When they discovered I was Song Zhaolin’s grandson, they never intended to directly deal with me but bought a condemned man, orchestrating Deng Chao’s escape from Mt. Leopard Prison. They gave him three months of special training to transform him into a first-cla.s.s killer and waited for him to get rid of me.
The original plan was supposed to be an ordinary a.s.sa.s.sination but they never imagined how deeply dominated by hatred Deng Chao was or expected him to orchestrate a b.l.o.o.d.y graduation ceremony.
Deng Chao was out of control, so the organization sent Kong Hui to deal with the aftermath. Personally, Kong Hui was reluctant but it was an order to make up for a previous mistake so he couldn’t refuse.
However, Deng Chao wasn’t aware of Kong Hui’s existence. On that day, Kong Hui disguised himself and mixed in with the crowd in the auditorium. While we were occupied with Deng Chao’s tests, he kidnapped the dean and secretly switched ident.i.ties. He originally intended to take advantage of the chaos to kill me, but Deng Chao was unexpectedly arrested.
Realizing this was his last opportunity to take action, he stabbed me the moment he handed the certificate for fear his failure would incur the organization"s wrath and cruel punishment.
Kong Hui claimed that the organization had a strict hierarchy and one-way communication, like underground organizations of the past. He was only a peripheral member and received instructions and remuneration from the connecting party so he didn’t know who sat at the top.
Unable to withstand the sleep-deprivation, Kong Hui gave a code name–Dog Trainer, his contact man. The police were currently investigating him.
After reading the interrogation files, I thought it was a pity that I missed the entire process. In fact, I had my own selfish reasons. Perhaps I could have tested the Eyes of Yama on these two suspects yet I was forbidden from speaking a word of this to Xiaotao.
"Will Deng Chao receive the death penalty this time?" I asked.
Xiaotao nodded, "After taking so many lives, he won’t be able to avoid the death penalty. Kong Hui will be charged with attempted murder and kidnapping at most. He’s expected to be sentenced to several decades of imprisonment."
The criminal who gave his all to the organization turned out to be an abandoned piece. I felt my heart descend into despair. How powerful was this hidden organization?
"By the way, are there any recent cases that require my help?" I asked, switching the subject.
"Nanjiang City has been calm of late. The country is peaceful and the people are at ease,” laughed Xiaotao. “There aren’t any major cases at the moment. Yesterday, we arrested a man for murdering his wife. The evidence is conclusive and he’s being interrogated now."
Right then, a man was escorted out of the interrogation room, shouting desperately as soon as he saw Xiaotao and me standing in the corridor. "I’m innocent! Officer, I swear I’m innocent!"
"Is he the one who murdered his wife?" I pointed at the man.
"That’s right. Ignore him,” said Xiaotao. “Nine out of ten people who come in claim they"re innocent."
Out of curiosity, I used Cave Vision which I repeatedly practiced in the hospital over the past few days. As long as I wasn’t in a state of agitation, I could still use Cave Vision. And the man’s microexpressions told me he wasn’t lying.
Noticing my direct gaze on the suspect, Xiaotao urged, "Don"t worry. I’ve always been fair and above board with all my investigations. Let"s go and get something to eat!"
"I’ve just had lunch. Let me look at the case files, won’t you?"
"How can you doubt me?” Xiaotao feigned indignance. “You’ve completely hurt my feelings."
"No, don’t say that,” I comforted. “I just don’t have anything to do right now so I’m looking to pa.s.s the time. If I’m wrong, I"ll buy you coffee as an apology!"
"Who wants coffee?” she scoffed. “I want you to dress up according to my instructions and wait on me all night!"
I thought to myself, What does she mean by that? Wear nothing but an ap.r.o.n? It seemed the stakes were a bit high so I hesitated.
"What’s wrong?” goaded Xiaotao. “Is the Great Detective Song afraid?"
I looked her in the eye and said, "And what if I do find something?"
"State your terms then!" Xiaotao c.o.c.ked her head confidently.
After a moment’s contemplation, I replied, "You have to dress up according to my instructions and do whatever I ask you."
"Deal! I"ll hand you the case files right now. You can call Dali and tell him you won"t be going back tonight!" she smirked.
Xiaotao and I went to her office where she handed me a thick stack of unsorted files. They were all first-hand evidence, photos of the scene, the evidence list, oral statements and interrogation records, etc. While I sat down perusing them, Xiaotao called for takeout.
The case was actually quite simple. At about 7:00 pm last night, the couple came back home. Neighbors witnessed them quarrelling from downstairs all the way into their home. Then came a loud crash. According to the suspect himself, the reason for their argument was a pair of s.e.xy panties his wife found in his car. She demanded to know what was going on.
At about 8:00 pm, their next-door neighbor heard the sound of the door slamming. Then ten minutes later, the neighbor went to take the trash out and noticed the heavy smell of blood. He pounded on the door but received no reply. His first a.s.sumption was the wife had committed suicide so he quickly phoned the husband.
Twenty minutes later, the husband returned, closing the door as soon as he entered. It took him about five minutes before opening the door once more. This time, he was in a panic, yelling for the neighbors to call the police, claiming his wife had committed suicide.
Those five minutes were really intriguing!
In the interrogation, the husband admitted that he used the time to hide away items that were of a sensitive nature, though he claimed they had absolutely nothing to do with the murder. He also admitted to the affair. However, he was working in a public inst.i.tution and the object of the affair was a colleague in his unit. He was afraid he might lose his job if the affair was publicized so he didn"t want the police to find out.
The officers on the scene found a piece of burnt cloth in the toilet bowl, on which they found seb.u.m and sweat. The murder weapon, a fruit knife, also showed traces of being wiped. But instead of properly erasing the fingerprints, the hasty job only drew more suspicion.
The victim was slit in the throat by the fruit knife and struggled to crawl on the ground for some distance, aiming for the phone to call the police. She failed to make the call and ended up overturning everything on the coffee table to the ground instead.
On the blood-soaked carpet, two clear shoe prints were found, consistent with the slippers the husband usually wore at home.
The slippers appeared to have been washed but the lab found traces of the wife’s blood in between the seams.
When asked why he left at 8:00 pm, the husband claimed he had gone out for a drink, but even that was proven to be a lie. He was actually on call with his mistress, promising her that he would “get rid of this ugly woman” soon.
Additionally, there was an important eyewitness testimony. At about 7:50, the neighbor heard her husband screaming, "I’ll kill you!"
Upon reviewing the case files, I spent a considerable amount of time meditating on the case.