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

Zhang Hui immediately noted down this detail: "Where is Li Wei now? We need to find him to find out what's going on." Liu Mei provided Li Wei's address and phone number: "He lives in the Sunshine Community on Jianguo Road. His phone number is 138XXXX5678, but he's rarely home and is often out fooling around."

At 3:30 PM, Zhang Hui left Zhao Qian to comfort Liu Mei and record additional information, while he and Li Ming headed to the homes of several of Zhang Tiancheng's old friends. The first to visit was Zhou Ming, Zhang Tiancheng's childhood friend; the two had grown up together and now ran a small shop. Upon hearing of Zhang Tiancheng's murder, Zhou Ming was shocked: "Tiancheng was such an honest man, how could anyone have harmed him?"

"Does he gamble with anyone? Do you know who he usually plays with?" Zhang Hui asked. Zhou Ming hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "To be honest, Tiancheng does love to gamble. A few years ago when he was arrested, I even went to the police station to bail him out. He often goes to an underground card room next to the old vegetable market in the North City District. The owner is called 'Baldy,' and most of the people he plays with are taxi drivers and a few shady characters."

"Have you ever had any disputes with anyone because of gambling? For example, not paying back debts, or being resented for winning money?" Li Ming pressed. Zhou Ming thought for a moment: "Last winter, he had a fight with Wu Bo from Chengxin Taxi Company because of gambling. It seems that Tiancheng won eight thousand yuan from Wu Bo, and Wu Bo accused Tiancheng of cheating. The two almost got into a fight, and I had to break them up. There's also a guy named Zhou Liang, who also drives a taxi, and he has a gambling debt dispute with Tiancheng. I don't know the exact amount, but I know that Zhou Liang urged Tiancheng to pay back the money several times."

After leaving Zhou Ming's house, Zhang Hui immediately contacted the three teams: "Focus on investigating Wu Bo and Zhou Liang from Chengxin Taxi Company, and find out their basic information, operating routes, and whereabouts during the time of the incident." Subsequently, he led the team to visit two of Zhang Tiancheng's classmates. Both of them said that Zhang Tiancheng had been driving a taxi after graduation. They did not keep in touch much, but they knew that he had a gambling problem and that his mental state had not been good recently. He had complained in the classmate group that "money is hard to earn and debts are hard to pay off."

At 4:50 p.m., Zhang Hui's team arrived at Chengxin Taxi Company. Company manager Wang Haitao was already waiting at the door, holding Zhang Tiancheng's employment file and recent operating records: "Officer Zhang, Zhang Tiancheng has worked for our company for five years. Apart from being late occasionally, he has no violations. However, in the past few months, his operating mileage has decreased significantly, and he sometimes takes sick leave."

“We want to talk to Wu Bo and Zhou Liang to find out what’s going on. Are they at the company right now?” Zhang Hui asked. Wang Haitao quickly checked the work schedule: “Wu Bo has a shift at 3 p.m. today and should be out driving right now; Zhou Liang is on the day shift today and just got back from his shift and is in the break room.” Zhang Hui immediately decided: “Let’s talk to Zhou Liang first, and at the same time contact Wu Bo and ask him to come back to the company as soon as possible to cooperate with the investigation.”

In the company break room, Zhang Hui met Zhou Liang. He was about 40 years old, slightly overweight, and his eyes darted away when he saw the police, unconsciously reaching for the cigarettes in his pocket. "Zhou Liang, we're from the Municipal Criminal Investigation Division. We want to know a bit about you and Zhang Tiancheng," Zhang Hui said bluntly. "Do you have a gambling debt dispute with Zhang Tiancheng?"

Zhou Liang's expression changed. He rubbed his hands together and said awkwardly, "Officer, it's all minor squabbles, not really a dispute." "Minor squabbles?" Zhang Hui's tone became serious. "As far as we know, you urged Zhang Tiancheng to pay back the money and even had an argument with him. Is that true?" Seeing that he couldn't hide it any longer, Zhou Liang had no choice but to confess: "Yes, the winter before last, Tiancheng and I were playing Texas Hold'em at 'Baldy's' card room. He owed me 12,000 yuan and kept delaying payment. I urged him several times, and last month we had an argument in the company parking lot. I did say something like, 'If you don't pay back the money, I'll teach you a lesson,' but I just said it. I never thought about killing him!"

"Zhang Tiancheng was murdered between 11:30 PM the night before last and 1:00 AM yesterday. Where were you during that time? Can anyone testify to this?" Li Ming took out his notebook, ready to take notes. Zhou Liang quickly replied, "I was driving! My day shift yesterday was from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and my night shift was from 8:00 PM to 4:00 AM this morning. The dashcam and the operating platform both have records. I picked up more than a dozen passengers. You can check!" Zhang Hui asked Wang Haitao to retrieve Zhou Liang's operating records and dashcam data, while also asking, "When was the last time you saw Zhang Tiancheng? Was he acting strangely at the time?"

“I saw him once last Wednesday at the company entrance. He didn’t look well, and he didn’t really acknowledge me when I greeted him,” Zhou Liang recalled. “I also asked him when he would pay me back the money he owed me, and he said he would give me a few more days. I even cursed at him a couple of times. Now that I think about it, I really shouldn’t have done that.” Zhang Hui observed Zhou Liang’s expression and saw that he was speaking earnestly and there was no obvious sign of lying. So he had him sign the interrogation record and waited for further verification.

At 6:20 p.m., Wu Bo rushed back to the company. Tall and thin with a wary look in his eyes, he asked as soon as he entered, "Officer, did you need something?" "What's your relationship with Zhang Tiancheng? Have you ever had any conflicts with him because of gambling?" Zhang Hui asked. Wu Bo hesitated for a moment, then replied, "We're just ordinary colleagues. We occasionally play a couple of hands of cards together. There's no conflict."

"No conflict?" Zhang Hui produced Zhou Ming's testimony. "Someone testified that you and Zhang Tiancheng argued about gambling last winter, and that he cheated. Is that true?" Wu Bo's face darkened, and he snorted, "That kid is a liar! We were playing Texas Hold'em, and he clearly had a bad hand, but he bluffed against me and won eight thousand yuan from me. Of course I was indignant! But I only argued with him a few times; I didn't lay a hand on him, much less kill him!"

"Where were you between 11:30 PM the night before last and 1 AM yesterday?" Zhang Hui pressed. Wu Bo immediately took out his phone and opened the operation platform records: "I started driving at 7 PM last night and didn't finish until 3 AM this morning. I picked up 21 passengers. The routes were mainly in the southern part of the city and the city center. The dashcam recorded everything. You can check; I didn't go to the crime scene in the northern part of the city at all." Zhang Hui had his team copy Wu Bo's operation records and dashcam data, and then asked him a few questions about Zhang Tiancheng's gambling habits and social circle. Wu Bo answered truthfully, and nothing seemed amiss.

At 7:30 PM, the technical department reported that Zhou Liang and Wu Bo's operational records for the time period in question were accurate and valid. The vehicle's dashcam video showed that both were indeed picking up passengers at the time, and their routes did not pass through the crime scene. Neither had the opportunity to commit the crime, and their suspicion was ruled out. (End of Chapter)