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

Who was the deceased? Why was the body dumped in the river? Who owned the black sedan? These questions require answers to be found through the traces at the scene and subsequent investigations. But he firmly believes that with meticulous examination and patient investigation, the truth of the case will eventually be revealed, and justice will not be absent.

"Immediately retrieve surveillance footage from all roads and intersections around Beihe, focusing on vehicles that match the characteristics of 'black joint venture sedan, silver trim on the body, crooked right rearview mirror, and abnormal engine noise' from yesterday afternoon to early this morning!" As soon as Lu Chuan gave the order, Wang Shuai led his team quickly to the police car parked on the side of the road, clutching the description of the black sedan provided by Chen Jian tightly in his hand. This was the only clear clue about the means of transportation in the case at present, and whether the vehicle could be quickly identified was directly related to the direction of the subsequent investigation.

As the police car drove away from the riverbank scene, Wang Shuai contacted the city traffic police command center to request simultaneous access to surveillance footage. He then assigned tasks to his team members: "Xiao Li, you're in charge of coordinating with the command center and transmitting the vehicle characteristics so they can prioritize monitoring the three key locations along the North River: 'riverside road,' 'river mouth bridge,' and 'West Bay intersection.' Xiao Zhang, you organize the time range Chen Jian mentioned, refining the investigation period to '2 PM to 6 PM yesterday' and '0 AM to 5 AM this morning.' The former is when Chen Jian saw the vehicle, and the latter is the estimated time period for the body disposal. I'll review the real-time surveillance playback of the riverside road. Let's strive for a breakthrough within half an hour!"

In less than ten minutes, the police car stopped at the temporary surveillance retrieval point at the Xiwang Road intersection, and the command center had already transmitted the relevant surveillance footage. Wang Shuai stared at the screen, his fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard. The image froze on the surveillance footage of the riverside highway at 3:15 pm yesterday. A black sedan slowly drove into the frame, the silver trim on the side of the car particularly conspicuous in the sunlight, and the right rearview mirror was obviously tilted outwards, perfectly matching the characteristics described by Chen Jian!

"Found it!" Wang Shuai's voice instantly energized the team members. He zoomed in on the image and clearly saw the vehicle's license plate number: "Bei AXXXX2, quickly check the owner's information!" Xiao Zhang immediately logged into the vehicle management system, his fingers flying across the keyboard: "The owner's name is Liu Wei, male, 32 years old, a driver for the city's logistics company. The vehicle was registered last October, and the model is a black joint venture sedan, matching the surveillance footage!"

"Check his driving route and see where this car went from yesterday afternoon to early this morning!" Wang Shuai continued to instruct. Xiao Zhang pulled up Liu Wei's vehicle driving record, and a clear route immediately appeared on the screen: "Yesterday afternoon at 2:10, Liu Wei left the company, drove along the ring road towards the suburbs, passed the Beihe Riverside Road at 3:15, and arrived at the entrance of a supermarket in Xiwang Village at 3:40. After staying for about 20 minutes, he returned to the company along the same route, and returned to the company parking lot at 5:20 in the evening. He did not drive out again after that; early this morning, the vehicle was parked in the company parking lot without any movement record."

"Can you confirm the characteristics of the engine noise? We can't see the sound in the surveillance footage, we need to find other evidence," Xiao Li asked. Wang Shuai immediately contacted the logistics company where Liu Wei worked and found the fleet manager: "Liu Wei's truck did have a minor accident last week. The right rearview mirror was scratched and hasn't been repaired yet. The engine does have some abnormal noise due to carbon buildup, especially when driving at low speeds. We reminded him to get it repaired a long time ago, but he didn't pay attention."

The vehicle information, driving trajectory, and characteristic details matched perfectly, so Wang Shuai immediately decided to contact Liu Wei to verify the situation. When the call connected, Liu Wei's voice sounded puzzled: "Officer? I haven't done anything wrong, why are you suddenly contacting me?"

"We'd like to ask you if you saw anything unusual when you drove along the Beihe Riverside Highway around 3 p.m. yesterday? For example, did anyone stop by the river, or were there any other suspicious vehicles?" Wang Shuai tried to speak in a gentle tone to avoid making the other party nervous.

Liu Wei paused for a moment on the other end of the phone, then recalled: "Yesterday afternoon I went to Xiwangcun to deliver logistics documents to a customer. When I passed Beihe River, I saw an old man fishing by the river. Later I confirmed that it was Chen Jian. I didn't see anyone else. I was in a hurry to deliver the documents, so I drove quite slowly. I only glanced at him and didn't stay long. After delivering the documents, I went straight back to the company. I stayed at home all night and didn't go out again."

"Did you get out of the car by the river? Or did you see anything like a 'dark canvas bag'?" Wang Shuai pressed, trying to find a connection to the dumping of the body. Liu Wei vehemently denied it: "No, no, I didn't even get out of the car. That place is in the middle of nowhere. I left as soon as I finished delivering the documents, how could I dare to stop anywhere? Besides, there was nothing in my car except the documents and my personal belongings, and I didn't see any canvas bag."

To verify Liu Wei's account, Wang Shuai had his team retrieve the surveillance footage from the Xiwangcun Supermarket. At 3:40 PM yesterday, Liu Wei did indeed enter the supermarket, holding a logistics document, and lingered at the checkout counter for 15 minutes, during which time he was on the phone and showed no unusual behavior. Later, surveillance footage from the supermarket entrance showed him driving away, with the route perfectly matching the vehicle's log. Meanwhile, surveillance footage from the logistics company's parking lot also confirmed that Liu Wei's car entered at 5:20 PM yesterday and remained stationary until this morning, ruling out the possibility of "body dumping in the early morning."

"Check Liu Wei's social relationships and recent activities again, and see if he has any connections with people around Beihe or any unusual financial transactions." Wang Shuai remained vigilant. Xiao Zhang quickly checked and reported: "Liu Wei's social relationships are relatively simple, mainly with company colleagues and family members. He hasn't had frequent contact with people around Beihe recently; there haven't been any large transfers or unusual expenditures in his bank account, his personal credit is good, and he has no debt disputes or criminal records. He seems to be just an ordinary logistics driver."

At this point, less than an hour had passed since the investigation began, and all information related to Liu Wei had been verified. Wang Shuai looked at the surveillance footage and vehicle records on the screen, his brow furrowing slightly: "The vehicle's characteristics match perfectly, but the driving trajectory is clear, the timeline is complete, and there are no suspicious points related to dumping the body; Liu Wei's confession is also corroborated by surveillance footage and witness testimonies, with no contradictions found. Overall, this vehicle was simply passing through Beihe normally, and the driver, Liu Wei, is not a major suspect."

"Could it be that we missed something? Like Liu Wei lending his car to someone else, or someone using his license plate?" Xiao Li asked, unwilling to give up. Wang Shuai shook his head: "We checked Liu Wei's call records, and there was no record of him lending his car to anyone yesterday afternoon; the license plate also showed no signs of being cloned, the vehicle identification number in the surveillance footage matches the registration information, and the engine number also matches. Moreover, cloned vehicles rarely retain obvious flaws like a 'crooked right rearview mirror,' so the possibility is too low." (End of this chapter)