Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

The door of the interrogation room was pushed open, and Yang Sen handed over a new test report. Lu Chuan took it and glanced at it, then his eyes fell on Li Qiang again: "The skin tissue between Zhao Jianguo's fingernails matches your DNA at a 99.99% rate. Now, start from the beginning and explain the crime process in detail."

Li Qiang raised his head, his face still covered with tear stains. The moonlight from outside shone through the iron window onto his face, casting a distorted shadow.

Li Qiang stared at the solidified glass fragments in the corner of the interrogation room, his Adam's apple rolling up and down a few times, as if he had finally made up his mind. He took a deep breath and began to recount that bloody night in a hoarse voice.

Next, Li Qiang recalled the process of his murder and explained the entire crime.

"That day was August 8th. I made an appointment with Zhao Jianguo to meet at the old warehouse of the steel plant at 12 pm." Li Qiang's eyes were empty, as if he had returned to that sultry summer night. "I prepared iron rods and waterproof cloth in advance, and also sprayed a lot of insecticide in the warehouse - so that the smell of blood would not be too obvious."

Lu Chuan quickly wrote down the information in his notebook, while Zhang Hui stared at Li Qiang's expression: "Does Zhao Jianguo know that you want to kill him?"

"He doesn't know." Li Qiang sneered, "I lied to him and said I found a new buyer who could sell the accumulated waste at a high price. That idiot even brought a bottle of Erguotou and said he wanted to celebrate." At this point, his voice suddenly choked up, "I have known him for more than ten years. We stole things together and shared the spoils, but he insisted on going down this path to the end"

"Go on." Lu Chuan's voice was cold.

"He came at five past ten." Li Qiang closed his eyes, veins popping out on his forehead, "I handed him a glass of wine mixed with sleeping pills, and he drank it without any doubt. When the drug took effect, I picked up the iron rod..." His voice stopped abruptly, and his hands trembled slightly on the iron table.

"How many times did he hit you?" Zhang Hui asked.

"I can't remember clearly." Li Qiang suddenly yelled out of control, "Five or six times! Or seven or eight times? Anyway, he fell to the ground with blood all over his head!" He gasped for breath, and beads of sweat as big as beans on his forehead dripped onto the iron table. "I thought he was dead and was about to wrap the body with a waterproof sheet, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist and said he was going to call the police."

Lu Chuan pushed the photos of the scene in front of him: "So you added a few more times?"

"Yes! I smashed his head like crazy!" Li Qiang suddenly started laughing hysterically, and then burst into tears in an instant. "Blood splattered all over me. I used the warehouse's water pipe to wash the floor and hid the bloody clothes and iron rod in the mezzanine."

"How did you contact Chen Hu afterwards?"

"I called him and told him that a batch of goods needed to be shipped overnight." Li Qiang wiped the snot and tears from his face. "Chen Hu owed me a gambling debt, and I didn't dare to refuse. I asked him to drive the car to the highway service area, handed the body to him, and gave him 50,000 yuan as a hush money."

Zhang Hui pulled up a map and said, "Tell me in detail the route where the body was dumped."

"Chen Hu took the county road from the service area to avoid all surveillance." Li Qiang gestured with his handcuffed hands, "I asked him to drive the car to the cornfield in Qinggang Village. The autumn harvest was in progress there and there were few people. The body was thrown in the innermost pile of straw and was already rotten when it was found."

"Why did you choose a cornfield?" "Zhao Jianguo's hometown is in the countryside. I deliberately chose this place to make you think it was a vendetta." Li Qiang smiled sinisterly, "I also threw a few cigarette butts at the scene to deliberately create traces of a fight, just to mislead you."

Lu Chuan threw the account book in the evidence bag on the table: "How much profit have you made from theft over the years?"

"About a million." Li Qiang's voice was getting smaller and smaller. "After Zhao Jianguo was burned, I wanted to recruit him to make some money and then stop. Who knew that he would find his conscience and turn himself in." He suddenly broke down and cried, "I don't want to kill anyone! But I can't go to jail!"

The interrogation room was silent, with only the sound of the recorder turning and Li Qiang's suppressed sobs. Outside the window, the dawn was slowly breaking through the darkness, and the case was finally revealed to the world after the criminal investigation personnel's relentless pursuit.

On the morning of the 15th day after the incident, a thin mist still covered the cornfield of Qinggang Village. Three police cars slowly drove into the ridge of the field, and the sirens scared away the sparrows perched among the straw. Li Qiang, handcuffed, got out of the car under the escort of two special police officers. His hair was greasy and tangled, his prison uniform was wrinkled and stuck to his body, and he avoided looking into the depths of the cornfield.

"Let's start identifying." Lu Chuan held the law enforcement recorder and motioned Li Qiang to move forward. The soil under his feet still had last night's dew on it, and it was moist and shiny in the morning light.

Li Qiang took a deep breath, and his throat made a dry swallowing sound. He raised his handcuffed hands and pointed to the path on the west side: "That night, Chen Hu drove a van over there." He moved his feet, and his leather shoes crushed the dry corn leaves, making a rustling sound. "The car is parked here, let's drag the body out of the back seat."

Zhang Hui followed behind, carefully recording every detail: "How was the body wrapped?"

"It was tied with three nylon ropes using black waterproof cloth." Li Qiang bent down and demonstrated the action of tying. His sleeves slipped down to reveal the marks on his wrists. "Chen Hu was watching from the front of the car while I dragged the body to the ground by myself." He suddenly stopped and stared at a sunken mud pit under his feet. "It was right here that the rope got stuck. It took me several minutes to untie it."

The police officer on the ridge raised a ruler to measure the width and depth of the drag mark. Wang Shuai squatted down and picked up half a dead leaf with tweezers: "This place is only 20 meters away from the roadside, aren't you afraid of being discovered?"

"It was two o'clock in the morning." Li Qiang's voice trembled, "and it was drizzling that night. I thought that by the time the corn was harvested, the body would have been shredded by the machine." He continued to walk forward, the straw scraping against the prisoner's uniform, making a harsh sound. "I dragged it to the open space in the middle. I thought it was enough, so I threw the body here."

Lu Chuan pulled up the satellite map: "Why did you choose this location?"

"Zhao Jianguo's hometown is also in the countryside." Li Qiang suddenly laughed, with a bit of madness in his laughter, "I chose this place on purpose to make you think it was a vendetta. I also threw cigarette butts around and made a mess of footprints." His fingers ran over the broken corn stalks in front of him, "I broke these to fake signs of a fight."

Yang Sen held up the evidence bag, which contained the light blue fiber extracted from the scene: "Go back and identify the specific location where the van was placed."

On the way back, Li Qiang stopped in front of a low bush and said, "Park the car here, facing northwest." He gestured to reverse the car. "Chen Hu was very nervous. He dropped the key twice when he turned off the engine." He suddenly squatted down and fumbled in the weeds. "A lighter fell at that time. I picked it up and threw it here." His voice stopped abruptly. (End of this chapter)