National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1127 - 1058: Twists and Turns

"Have the results come out yet?"

Jiang Yuan finished the investigation and returned to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, asking Meng Chengbiao this question first.

Meng Chengbiao shook his head, "It’s not going very smoothly. Li Haochen is still a minor, so there are quite a few restrictions during interrogation. It might take one more day at least."

"No rush," Jiang Yuan’s mood was quite steady.

Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team was essentially working on a case out of their usual jurisdiction. Coupled with Jiang Yuan’s reputation, countless pairs of eyes were watching, eager to scrutinize every step under a magnifying glass. Inevitably, this procedural scrutiny reduced the efficiency of the interrogation process—a fact Jiang Yuan had already anticipated.

Meng Chengbiao let out a sigh of relief and said, "I’ll go back and think of a way to break through. The prosecutor from the local inspection office has been following the whole process, so I need to write up something for him."

After offering Meng Chengbiao some words of comfort, Jiang Yuan headed to the Changyang City Criminal Science Center to read the reports produced by the lab there.

Many people read reports just for the conclusions, but this is clearly the least effective way of gathering information. The conclusions in a report can be revised; oftentimes, specific information in the report must be studied in detail. What’s more, the specific details in the report can provide additional guidance.

The director of the Criminal Science and Technology Center, Wan Baoming, accompanied Jiang Yuan for a brief walk and brought over a cartful of materials, all comprising various forensic samples collected in the past two days—including a significant number of trace evidence samples.

A few people sat in the office examining the materials for half a day, before Jiang Yuan finally set down the report in his hands and said, "Most of it is useless."

"Exactly," Wan Baoming sighed heavily.

"No rush," Jiang Yuan, now very experienced in handling cases, had reached a point where even without extraordinary skills, he was still a qualified leader of special investigation teams.

Regarding this case, although it remained severe, Jiang Yuan was nonetheless very confident.

Jiang Yuan said, "The Criminal Science team should continue gathering evidence to see if we can directly implicate Li Haochen. Since Li Haochen is a minor, his family might still hope for leniency. If we can find solid evidence against him, the Li family should be compelled to give up."

Wan Baoming nodded emphatically, "Li Haochen is already 16 years old—he can be tried and sentenced as an adult. Even if he can’t be sentenced to death, he could still spend a lifetime in prison."

Jiang Yuan nodded.

Just as they were speaking, Jiang Yuan’s phone rang.

Jiang Yuan picked up the call, immediately hearing a somber voice from Meng Chengbiao.

Meng Chengbiao: "Captain Jiang, there’s been an unexpected development."

Jiang Yuan frowned, with his forensic instincts kicking in: "Did you interrogate him to death?"

"Not at all, not at all," Meng Chengbiao inexplicably felt a hint of relief. If, in Jiang Yuan’s mind, ’interrogating to death’ counted as just an unexpected development, then what he was about to report might indeed pale in comparison.

Jiang Yuan: "What happened?"

Meng Chengbiao cleared his throat loudly and adopted a more serious tone: "Li Haochen confessed. He admitted to having a teenage romance with the victim, Sun Xiuwen. He even climbed up to the Li family window several times and occasionally called Sun Xiuwen out to play. However... on the day of the incident, Li Haochen claims to have an alibi and insists he didn’t arrange to meet Sun Xiuwen."

"What’s the alibi?"

"He shot several videos at home and also had a video call with relatives in another city. A preliminary investigation seems to confirm this as true."

"So Li Haochen is once again excluded as a suspect?" Jiang Yuan raised his voice slightly as he spoke into the phone, sounding a bit annoyed.

"Yes," Meng Chengbiao answered helplessly.

"What about Li Haochen’s older brother? He should be an adult, right? Did you interrogate him?" Jiang Yuan remained slightly displeased.

"He’s an adult. The interrogation went smoothly, but on the day of the incident, he was also at home participating in that same video call with their relatives. Moreover, we searched through his phone thoroughly—no evidence was found."

At this point, the suspicions surrounding the Li family had essentially been ruled out.

Jiang Yuan furrowed his brow slightly.

Meng Chengbiao waited for several seconds; seeing no response on the line, he cautiously asked, "Captain Jiang, in this situation, should we start considering a crime of passion committed on impulse?"

"Highly unlikely," Jiang Yuan replied decisively. "Earlier, the Criminal Police Brigade considered the possibility of a random killing based on the estimated time of death being between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. This time frame corresponds to when the victim would normally be on her way to school, making it plausible for someone passing by to target her."

Jiang Yuan continued over the phone, "Right now, however, the time of death is confirmed to be 3 a.m. At that hour, the victim. Sun Xiuwen, wouldn’t have been able to exit through the front door. Her mother and stepfather live on the first floor, and any movement by the front door would have been clearly heard. Besides, Sun Xiuwen already has a well-established method for climbing over walls, so she wouldn’t need to risk going through the front door."

At this point, Meng Chengbiao began to grasp Jiang Yuan’s reasoning and added, "The jeans Sun Xiuwen used for climbing were rolled up and stored in the wardrobe. If Sun Xiuwen climbed down alone, who went back to roll up and store those jeans?" freēnovelkiss.com

Jiang Yuan: "Exactly."

Meng Chengbiao was now completely drawn in, remarking, "This creates an unsolvable paradox: Sun Xiuwen didn’t climb down of her own accord, yet she ended up dead at her house at 3 a.m. If the perpetrator had climbed into her house to kill her, her house isn’t the primary crime scene. Furthermore, if the perpetrator fled afterward, who would have been the one to roll up her jeans and put them away?"

Jiang Yuan pondered without immediately answering.

Suddenly, Meng Chengbiao’s excitement grew, with his detective instincts fully activated, as he speculated, "Could it have been Sun Xiuwen’s mother? Perhaps she was worried about the public perception and secretly rolled up the jeans herself..."

Jiang Yuan, recollecting details about the crime scene, interrupted him, "The footprints on the wall remain fairly fresh."

"What do you mean?"

"While it’s impossible to precisely determine when the footprints were left, what we can tell is that Sun Xiuwen climbed the wall fairly frequently."

Meng Chengbiao abandoned his Sherlock Holmes-like reasoning and reverted to being Watson, asking, "What does that indicate?"

"Do today’s teenagers climb walls solely to meet their boyfriends? Seems a bit monotonous," Jiang Yuan remarked. "Follow up with Li Haochen and find out if Sun Xiuwen used to climb walls to meet other people. Who else knew about her wall-climbing activities? In short, aside from her meetings with Li Haochen, who else might she have been meeting?"

"Understood," Meng Chengbiao caught the gist and immediately took action.

Half an hour later.

Meng Chengbiao called again, opening with, "Captain Jiang, you’re incredibly perceptive."

"There are others involved?" Jiang Yuan had been waiting for this call.

Meng Chengbiao responded with a firm "Yes," saying, "Sun Xiuwen also had two close female friends. Occasionally, she’d climb out to spend time with them."

Killing another best friend isn’t easy, and doing so with a pillow adds even more difficulty.

As Jiang Yuan thought this over, he asked aloud, "What did they do together?"

"They’d watch movies, drink, dance... They have a secret hangout spot: a relative’s house belonging to one of the girlfriends’ boyfriends. The relatives don’t live there, but the place is fully equipped with water, electricity, and appliances."

Jiang Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, "So at least one male knew about Sun Xiuwen’s regular wall-climbing activities."

"Actually, two," Meng Chengbiao corrected. "Both of the friends have boyfriends."

"Bring them all in," Jiang Yuan instructed. After a pause, he added, "I’ll head back to the scene myself."