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

Next, it was Wang Shuai's turn to report. He laid out Li Wei's investigation record and the checklist for the Camry sedan on the table, his tone tinged with helplessness: "Regarding Li Wei's investigation, we have ruled out his involvement in the crime. Through interviews with the renovation team workers and reviewing the construction site surveillance footage, we confirmed that from 8 pm on August 22nd to 3 am on August 23rd, Li Wei was working overtime in the renovation area on the B1 floor of Haotian Building, and he never left the surveillance range during that time. Five workers can testify to this. He is 175cm tall and wears size 42 shoes, which does not match the suspect's characteristics of '183-188cm, size 44 shoes,' and his usual car is a white van, which is unrelated to the black Toyota Camry."

“However, we found an encrypted work ledger in Li Wei’s dormitory,” Wang Shuai changed the subject, showing a photo of the ledger. “The ledger records vague information such as ‘August 15, transported 5 boxes of material A to floor B2’ and ‘August 20, received 3 boxes of material B, contact person Zhang’. Combining this with the ‘Brother Zhang’ mentioned in Li Wei’s diary, we speculate that this ‘Zhang’ is very likely ‘Brother Zhang’. Moreover, ‘material A’ and ‘material B’ are not normal decoration materials, but may be contraband. Li Zhiguo may have discovered this illegal transportation activity, which is why ‘Brother Zhang’ silenced him.”

Regarding the investigation of the Camry sedan, Wang Shuai's tone became even more somber: "We investigated a total of 126 black Toyota Camrys in the city and surrounding areas, including vehicles with and without maintenance records, but we did not find any that completely matched the suspect's vehicle characteristics. However, during the investigation of abandoned parking lots within a 3-kilometer radius of the Haotian Building, we found a suspicious tire mark, model 215/55 R17, which matches the tire model of the suspect's vehicle. There were also traces of vehicle burning next to the mark. After testing, the burn residue contained components of Toyota Camry paint, suggesting that the suspect may have driven the vehicle here to burn and destroy evidence."

"Were any other clues found at the vehicle burning site? Such as the suspect's personal belongings, DNA traces, etc." Lu Chuan pressed. Wang Shuai shook his head: "The burning site was severely damaged. We could only confirm the vehicle model, but we didn't find any valuable clues. However, in the surveillance footage around the site, we saw a man about 185cm tall, wearing a black hoodie and a mask, leaving the abandoned parking lot around 3 a.m. on August 23 and walking towards the city center. Due to the dim lighting, we couldn't see his facial features clearly, but his build basically matched the suspect's characteristics."

Zhang Hui then reported on the interpersonal relationship investigation. A social relationship chart of Li Zhiguo appeared on the screen, with key personnel marked in red: "Through a comprehensive interview with Li Zhiguo's family, colleagues, and friends, we found that his social relationships are relatively simple, with no obvious enemies or debt disputes, but there are three suspicious points. First, Li Zhiguo's wife, Chen Yu, reported that in the past month, Li Zhiguo has frequently received phone calls from strangers late at night. He would deliberately avoid his family during the calls, and he would be in a low mood afterward. When asked what was wrong, he would only say it was 'work-related troubles'."

He pointed to a name on the relationship diagram: "Second, Li Zhiguo's colleague Zhao Gang mentioned that around August 20, he saw Li Zhiguo arguing with Zhang Jianjun, the property manager of Haotian Building, at the security booth. Zhang Jianjun said emotionally, 'If you keep meddling in other people's business, you'll get into trouble yourself.' At the time, Zhao Gang thought it was a work conflict and didn't pay attention. Now that he thinks about it, it may be related to the 'secret' that Li Zhiguo discovered."

“Third, we retrieved Li Zhiguo’s bank statements and found that on August 18, his bank card received an anonymous transfer of 5000 yuan to a ‘ghost account’ opened in another city, and the source of the funds could not be traced,” Zhang Hui added. “Combined with the clue of ‘illegal transportation’ in Li Wei’s ledger, we speculate that this money may have been hush money given to Li Zhiguo by ‘Brother Zhang’. Li Zhiguo either did not accept it or accepted it but still planned to report it to the police, which is why he was silenced.”

After the report, the conference room fell into a brief silence as everyone sorted through the clues. Lu Chuan broke the silence first: "Now all the clues point to one core point—'Brother Zhang' is the mastermind. He used Li Wei and others from the renovation team to illegally transport contraband in the underground parking lot of Haotian Building. After being discovered by security guard Li Zhiguo, he first tried to silence him with 5000 yuan. When that failed, he instructed others to kill Li Zhiguo and then used a black Toyota Camry to transport the body to the B2 level and dump it there. Afterward, he burned the vehicle to destroy the evidence."

“I agree with Captain Lu’s assessment,” Yang Lin continued. “The key right now is to find ‘Brother Zhang’s’ true identity. Considering the ‘contact person Zhang’ in Li Wei’s ledger and the dispute between property manager Zhang Jianjun and Li Zhiguo, Zhang Jianjun is a prime suspect. He is 186cm tall and wears size 44 shoes, which perfectly matches the height and shoe size characteristics of a suspect. Moreover, as the property manager, he is familiar with the surveillance layout of Haotian Building and the environment of the underground parking lot, giving him the opportunity to plan the crime.”

Wang Shuai offered additional suggestions: "We need to focus our investigation on Zhang Jianjun's whereabouts, especially the period between 10 PM and 11 PM on August 22nd when Li Zhiguo was murdered. Additionally, we need to verify whether Zhang Jianjun owns a black Toyota Camry or has the ability to access that model. Furthermore, Li Wei is currently missing, which may indicate that he has been controlled or silenced by Zhang Jianjun. Finding Li Wei would also confirm 'Brother Zhang's' identity."

"Judging from interpersonal relationships, Zhang Jianjun also had close ties with the renovation team," Zhang Hui added. "During our investigation, we learned that the renovation project on the B1 floor of Haotian Building was recommended to Chengxin Decoration Company by Zhang Jianjun. He had a very good personal relationship with Zhang Qiang, the head of the renovation team, and we cannot rule out the possibility that the two conspired to illegally transport goods. Moreover, Zhang Jianjun has recently had large sums of money transferred. From August 15th to 20th, his bank card had three anonymous transfers totaling 200,000 yuan, the source of which is unknown, and it is very likely related to the profits from illegal transportation."

After listening to everyone's analysis, Lu Chuan drew four core investigative directions on the whiteboard, circling the keywords "Zhang Jianjun" and "Li Wei's whereabouts" in red: "First group, led by Wang Shuai, responsible for verifying Zhang Jianjun's whereabouts, retrieving his call records, driving trajectory, and bank statements from the evening of August 22nd, focusing on confirming whether he had the opportunity to commit the crime and whether he was connected to the black Toyota Camry; Second group, led by Zhang Hui, to conduct an in-depth investigation into Zhang Jianjun's relationship with the renovation team, especially his interactions with Zhang Qiang and Li Wei, while also investigating Zhang Jianjun's social connections and searching for evidence of illegal transportation of contraband; Third group, led by Yang Lin, to continue examining the ventilation ducts and abandoned open space outside the Haotian Building's underground parking lot, searching for cotton or linen strangulation tools and DNA traces left by the suspect, with the technical department assisting in expediting the processing of the extracted skin tissue samples; Fourth group, to contact police in surrounding cities to assist in tracking down Li Wei's whereabouts, focusing on investigating locations where Zhang Jianjun might be hiding Li Wei." (End of Chapter)