Chapter 399
Xiaotao looked surprised. But instead of explaining it to her in detail, I picked up the Autopsy Umbrella and told her to turn on the ultraviolet light.
Unfortunately, the entrance had been trodden on by the officers. The footprints overlapped, layer after layer so the bottom ones were no longer visible.
"Let"s make an a.s.sumption,” I began. “At the time, they were in the midst of the excitement when someone suddenly entered the room. The four suspects must have been frightened."
"Wouldn"t they have killed the man?" asked Xiaotao.
“They aren’t as strong as you think,” I said, shaking my head. “They might even be weak, especially since they were half-naked and in a mess during the rape. They must have been scared half to death when they realized they had a witness."
"But this person didn’t call the police,” Xiaotao pointed out. “Did they bribe this person?"
"No, he helped them!" I exclaimed.
"Helped the murderers?" Xiaotao stared at me wide-eyed.
There were several anomalies in the case. The female victim’s body was gently taken down but the male victim was thrown to the ground. How could their behavior pattern display such a contrast in a matter of minutes?
The answer was–it was another person’s doing! The intruder was the one who placed the female victim down on the ground.
I was uncertain what the intruder said to the murderers, but the four ended up believing him, leaving the intruder to deal with the scene. An experienced man, the intruder first destroyed the victims’ faces, making it impossible for us to identify them. Then he burned all the items in the room and perhaps destroyed some other evidence.
Xiaotao sighed, "How did it suddenly become so complicated? Why did the man help them?"
I was struck by an idea–the stranger who appeared unannounced near the breeding compound!
"By the way, did you find the man who was spying on us when we were on the hill opposite the breeding compound?"
"As if we’d be so lucky!” lamented Xiaotao. “When my men got there, they found nothing, not even footprints. They thought I might have been mistaken..."
While I meditated in silence, Xiaotao interrupted, "Should we go back to the hill to take a look?"
"Not for the time being,” I said with a wave of my hand. “After all, this man hasn’t killed anyone. He’s not our focus. Perhaps he’s one of the suspects’ fathers, hence the ease in which he gained their trust. We will continue tracking the murderers."
"Yes, we mustn’t allow a third murder to happen!" vowed Xiaotao.
"Are there any surveillance cameras in this building?" I asked.
"No, there’s only one security guard,” replied Xiaotao. “He was hired by the construction team, mainly to guard against thieves who might steal building materials at night or the occasional tramp who tries to sneak in."
I proposed we head downstairs to have a look.
The construction site was surrounded by a low wall and the security room was at the entrance. Xiaotao looked up and said, "Wouldn’t it be easy to climb over this wall?"
"No, they couldn"t have climbed over the wall because they were with the victims! They must’ve gone around the wall."
However, we didn’t find any gaps in the wall as we walked to the security room. The security guard was an old man. "Officer,” he greeted. “Are you done with the investigation?"
"Not yet,” I replied. “I’d like to inquire about your working hours."
The security guard explained that he only started work at six every evening, got off at around eight in the morning and went for a patrol of the premises at midnight.
Xiaotao asked, "With your age, isn’t it hard staying up all night?"
The security guard smiled bitterly, "I have no choice. I need to pay for my children’s school tuition. In fact, the job is relatively easy, not as taxing as a neighborhood security guard."
"Is there no construction going on today?" I queried.
"It’s a public holiday, so the workers have the day off. That’s why I only found the body today."
"Did you see any suspicious people enter the premises last night?" I continued.
“If I did, wouldn’t I have reported the case early in the morning?” emphasized the security guard. “I monitored the entrance throughout the night. If someone did come in, there’s no way I missed them."
"Sir, it’s not like we’ll dock your pay for telling the truth.” I sternly pressed on, “Were you sleeping last night?"
The security guard shook his head in a panic, "N-no!"
There was no need for me to use Cave Vision. The chair next to me said it all. "That"s a sleeping bag!” I pointed. “You sleep on the job every night, don’t you? Anyway, there’s no one around to check in on you. Am I right?"
Much to his embarra.s.sment, the security guard admitted to sleeping at night after closing the gates. After all, no one ever came to steal anything. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to stand the long, sleepless hours with his age.
I asked him to lock the gates so I could have a look. After closing both the left and right sides of the gates, the security guard hung a long lock. After careful observation, I found no traces of the lock being picked. In fact, the suspects didn’t have to unlock it at all.
I turned the lock horizontally and pushed it to one end, managing to open a gap in the gates. The security guard watched in shock as I reminded, "Get a shorter lock! This sort of lock is ineffective. Wouldn’t sleeping in the security room at night be just as dangerous as sleeping out on the streets?"
The security guard nodded vehemently, "I won"t sleep tonight. I promise I’ll change the lock first thing in the morning!"
I headed across the road and scanned the area. Curious, Xiaotao asked me what I was looking at.
"I wonder, how did the murderers know about this place?"
"They checked out the place beforehand?" speculated Xiaotao.
I shook my head, "Although these four men are worse than animals, their criminal skills are subpar. I don"t think they even thought of doing this. This area must be part of their usual haunts."
I turned around, only to see a ma.s.sage and spa center at the end of the street. "They might have been here before. Let’s speak to the staff!"
When we arrived at the spa center, it was still business hours. Flas.h.i.+ng her badge, Xiaotao asked to see the manager. The receptionist, a young lady, complained as soon as she met us. "What’s wrong with you police? It’s been quite some time since you’ve taken the manager away for questioning and now I can"t even contact him."
Xiaotao and I froze. "What?" puzzled Xiaotao.
The receptionist explained that an officer came looking for their manager early in the morning to ask some questions. They even called two technicians over. The four of them left after speaking and never came back.
"Have you called the Public Security Bureau?" asked Xiaotao.
"No, don’t you have to wait 48 hours to file a case?" argued the receptionist.
"Are you afraid to call the police because of the shenanigans going on here?" Xiaotao quirked her brow.
The receptionist desperately waved her hands. "G.o.d no! Absolutely not! We are a legitimate business."
"What did the officer look like?" Xiaotao continued.
It was a man with a beard who looked rather ordinary, though he was tall, probably 180 cm tall, and in his forties or fifties.
"Does his right leg appear lame when he’s walking?" I interjected.
"Yes!” the receptionist’s eyes lit up. “Do you know that man? Can you ask him to release our manager as soon as possible?"
Xiaotao and I exchanged a meaningful look. This man had the audacity to impersonate a policeman and kidnap the manager!