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

Li Guiqin took a sip of water, her emotions calming down slightly. Her voice trembling with tears as she recalled, "Every morning I start cleaning the underground parking lot at 8 a.m., sweeping down from B1. Around 9 a.m., I reached B2 and thought I'd clean the corner parking spaces first." She pointed towards the security booth, "When I got to the parking space near the pillar, I saw what looked like someone lying on the ground. At first, I thought it was some resident who had drunk too much, so I called out twice, 'Sir, are you alright?' But no one answered. I took a couple of steps forward, and in the light, I saw... he wasn't wearing any clothes, and his face was frighteningly pale. I was stunned. My legs went weak, and I almost fell. I quickly ran upstairs and called the police!"

"During your cleaning, did you hear any unusual noises on level B2? Or did you see any suspicious people or vehicles entering or leaving?" Wang Shuai took out his notebook, his pen moving quickly across the paper. Li Guiqin tried hard to recall: "I didn't hear anything unusual. The underground parking lot was very quiet. It was around 7 a.m. when I was cleaning on level B1 that I saw a black sedan speeding into the parking lot. It was going incredibly fast and almost hit me. I even cursed at it. The car didn't stop and drove straight to level B2. About 10 minutes later, it sped out again. I didn't see the license plate clearly, but I remember one of the taillights seemed to be out of order."

She paused, then added, "There's something else strange. When I left work last night, the parking space in that corner of B2 was still empty. I was thinking, 'No one's using this space today, so I don't have to clean it,' but this morning they found a body. I don't know when the person was brought here." Wang Shuai pressed, "What time did you leave work? What's the security like in the parking lot at night? Have any outsiders entered?" Li Guiqin replied, "I left work at 7 pm last night. There are security guards patrolling the underground parking lot every hour, but I heard that B1 is under renovation recently, and sometimes construction workers leave very late. I don't know if there are any outsiders."

Yang Lin's investigation light made a new discovery on the ground next to the body. He bent down and picked up a silver cufflink with an intricately engraved "L" logo and slight wear on the edges. "There was no obvious dust on the cufflink, so it must have fallen off recently," he said, carefully putting it away in an evidence bag. "I extracted a fragmented fingerprint from the inside of the cufflink. It's a whorl pattern with only six feature points remaining. It needs to be sent to the lab for enhancement to see if it can match fingerprints in the database." In a crack in the ground beneath the body, he also found a long black hair, about 30 centimeters long. Preliminary identification suggests it's a woman's hair, possibly related to the previously found woman's high-heeled shoe print.

"Have you checked the fire exits and emergency exits in the parking lot?" Wang Shuai asked Yang Lin after finishing his questioning. Yang Lin nodded: "Yes, we have. Both fire exits on B2 level are normally closed. The locks on the emergency exit doors are intact, with no signs of forced entry. We speculate that the suspect entered the parking lot through the normal entrance and exit, and most likely drove the body here." He pointed to the parking space lines next to the body, "There are no signs of vehicles parked in the parking space, indicating that the suspect left the body and drove away immediately without lingering."

Yang Sen noticed something unusual near the parking lot's payment machine. "The payment machine's card swipe records show that at 2:15 AM on August 23, a bank card was used to pay 10 yuan for parking," he said, pulling up the payment record. "However, the corresponding license plate information showed 'no license plate recognition,' suggesting that the suspect's vehicle did not have a license plate, or that it was obscured, making the license plate unrecognizable." The payment machine's camera footage only showed a hand wearing a black glove; no other features could be identified.

At 11:00 AM, the on-site investigation temporarily came to a close. Yang Lin and Yang Sen's investigation records detailed six key types of traces: "size 44 leather shoe print," "size 38 high heel print," "silver cufflinks," "long black hair," "suspected bloodstains," and "scratches on the pillar," as well as clues provided by Li Guiqin, such as "black sedan" and "construction workers." Lu Chuan convened a temporary meeting at the parking lot entrance: "The on-site investigation and questioning are now preliminarily complete. Although the identity of the deceased has not yet been confirmed, some key clues have been obtained. Yang Lin and Yang Sen will remain at the scene to expand the investigation scope, focusing on checking the B2 floor renovation area and surrounding blind spots in the surveillance cameras to find more traces; Wang Shuai will be responsible for liaising with the building management to retrieve complete surveillance footage, especially vehicle entry and exit records around 2:00 AM, and also checking the identity information of recent B1 floor renovation workers; the technical department will immediately send the evidence collected at the scene for testing, prioritizing the testing of suspected bloodstains, fingerprints, and hair samples."

Sunlight streamed through the building's glass curtain wall, illuminating the entrance to the underground parking garage and casting long shadows on the ground. Lu Chuan stared at the body, cordoned off in a corner. He knew that behind this naked corpse lay a complex story—was it a revenge killing, a crime of passion, or a murder for money? Where were the victim's clothes and belongings found? Who owned the black sedan? These questions required finding answers from the smallest clues at the scene.

Wang Shuai, carrying the surveillance hard drive provided by the property management, prepared to return to the branch office for data analysis; Yang Lin and Yang Sen, on the other hand, shouldered their investigation bags again and headed towards the renovation area on level B2. The beams of their investigation lights flickered in the dim parking lot, like eyes searching for the truth in the darkness. As cleaner Li Guiqin was picked up by her family, she still looked back at the parking lot entrance with lingering fear, muttering, "I'll never dare to come to clean this early again..."

After observing the surroundings, Lu Chuan still arranged for Yang Lin and Yang Sen to expand the scope of the on-site investigation.

The underground parking garage of Haotian Building remained dimly lit. A number of curious residents and staff had gathered outside the cordon, and whispers could be faintly heard through the fence. As per Lu Chuan's plan, Yang Lin and Yang Sen needed to expand the investigation area, from the corner of B2 where the body was located, to the B1 and B2 levels of the entire underground parking garage, including renovation areas, elevator entrances, ventilation shafts, fire exits, and all other places where clues might be hidden.

“Let’s start with the renovation area on level B1,” Yang Lin said, carrying his investigation bag and holding a parking lot map. “The size 44 shoe print we found earlier had putty powder on it, and the renovation area is the most likely source of that putty powder. We might find more related clues there.” Yang Sen nodded and followed Yang Lin to level B1—where cement bags, putty powder buckets, and various renovation tools were scattered on the floor. Blue protective netting separated the construction area from the parking area, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of paint. (End of Chapter)