Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 261 Anomaly Found
The young man came running over, panting, and shouted out his message before he even arrived.

Ming laughed and scolded, "Little Yao, how many times have I told you to be more careful? Do you think we're in a million dollars just because you ran over here a few seconds?"

Xiao Yao scratched his head and gave an awkward smile. He felt pleased that he had completed the task assigned by his mentor, and thought he had finally grasped the basics of being a criminal investigator.

Seeing that there was a strange young man standing next to his master, he quieted down and stopped talking.

As someone with experience, Chen Shu immediately recognized that Xiao Yao was definitely a fresh graduate. However, he was curious as to why the Criminal Investigation Department in Liuya would recruit new police officers.

In Dongzhou, apart from a few people with connections, newcomers to the police station have no chance of getting into the criminal investigation department without working hard for two or three years to build a solid foundation in case handling.

Ming noticed Chen Shu's confusion and smiled, "Xiao Yao graduated from the Criminal Investigation Academy."

There's a saying in the industry that perfectly encapsulates this: "The name of the Criminal Investigation Academy shines brightly." As an institution of honor forged by countless predecessors with their blood and sweat, the Academy's reputation is unquestionable, especially in fields like police dogs, criminal science, and investigation, which are among the strongest in the country.

The only downside is that the school is located in a somewhat remote area.

In contrast, the slogan of the Donghai Provincial Police Academy, "China's Police Affairs Look to Donghai," appears much more refined. Aside from the academy leaders enthusiastically promoting themselves, most of the students at the academy remain relatively low-key.

Compared to police officers from higher education institutions like the Public Security University and the Criminal Investigation Department, the only advantage of police officers from local police academies is that there are more local employees, making it easier for them to stick together.

Upon hearing that Xiao Yao was from the Criminal Investigation Department, Chen Shu looked at him with new respect and immediately took out a pack of Liqun cigarettes and handed it to him: "I was in a hurry when I came out and didn't bring any good cigarettes. Brother, feel free to smoke some."

Once everyone was present, Ming began to explain the case: "Because there were no obstructions on the building's surface, the victim landed smoothly when she fell. Her distance from the building was within the normal range for jumping, close to the data for an accidental fall."

Chen Shu rested his chin on his hand: "Ming-ge, you mean the deceased was definitely not pushed or thrown down by someone?"

"To be precise, at the moment the deceased fell from the rooftop, there was no horizontal force or exertion on his body. Thump, in reality, he just fell straight down." Ming gestured.

Chen Shu nodded to indicate that he understood.

Ming took out his notebook, flipped through a few pages, and said, "The head injury after the fall was fatal. However, as for the deceased's condition before jumping, we'll have to do a blood test when we get back to find out."

He closed his notebook and said to Xiao Yao, "Tell me about the surveillance footage inside the elevator."

"Around 1 a.m., the deceased and a companion entered the elevator together and went to the top floor. An hour later, the companion took the elevator down alone and left. About ten minutes later, a man took the elevator up, stayed there for a while, and then left alone."

Chen Shu pointed to the ex-boyfriend sitting on the roadside steps: "Isn't the young man in the video the guy with glasses? He's the deceased's ex-boyfriend. The two broke up three months ago."

Xiao Yao turned his head and glanced at it, then nodded.

Ming suddenly walked to the equipment box on the ground, opened it, took out a pink cell phone wrapped in a transparent evidence bag, and handed it to Chen Shu, saying, "Chen Shu, when your colleague was fighting with that bespectacled man earlier, he kept shouting that he was the murderer. He said this cell phone was the one the deceased always carried."

Chen Shu glanced at his phone: "We had drinks with the deceased last night, and they exchanged WeChat contacts and phone numbers, so it should be accurate."

Ming shook his head: "It's a pity it's an iPhone, otherwise we could unlock it and check the information inside to determine if it was suicide. We'll ask her family later to see if we can get the unlock code."

Generally, people who attempt suicide will research related information on their phones beforehand or reveal such information in conversations with others.

In short, mobile phones are the primary source of clues for police investigations.

Xiao Yao, who had been listening nearby, interjected: "Because both the fall site and the elevator are monitored, I compared the times of the two and can preliminarily determine that the deceased fell from the building before her ex-boyfriend took the elevator."

Therefore, the man should be innocent; your friend may have misunderstood him. That phone, like the high heels you have, was probably placed nearby by the deceased before she fell.

With the same nitpicking attitude he had back in his school days, Chen Shu interjected, "Can you be sure the recording times of the two cameras haven't been tampered with?"

Xiao Yao was stunned on the spot: "No way, how is that possible? I'll go back and check."

After saying that, he ran away.

Ming glanced at his clumsy apprentice, looked up at the low rooftop, and concluded, "Unless the blood test shows that he was already dead before the fall, my judgment is still suicide."

The actual circumstances of the case are roughly as follows: the deceased was drinking alone on the rooftop due to depression, during which she called her ex-boyfriend. Later, while looking down at the roadside, she saw her ex-boyfriend pass by, and in a moment of impulsiveness, or perhaps accidentally, she fell from the roof.

Ming's analysis is reasonable, and the actual situation at the scene did indeed unfold in that direction. According to the elevator surveillance video, the deceased was the only person on the roof at the time.

But Chen Shu always felt that things wouldn't be that simple!
He touched his nose, intending to present clues and reasons to refute the claim, but hesitated for a long time, considering that this was someone else's territory, so he only mentioned it lightly:
"Ming-ge, shall we go up to the rooftop and take a look?"

Zhu Chaoran and Xiao Yao were left behind to guard the scene. Xiao Yao was making a scene investigation map, while Ming Ge followed Chen Shu into the elevator. Chen Shu also brought up the ex-boyfriend, who was the first witness to arrive at the starting point of the incident after the victim fell from the building.

As a veteran criminal investigator who has worked on the front lines in the local area for more than ten years, Ming Ge naturally has extremely rich experience in on-site investigations and criminal investigation methods. Although he was transferred to the duty team by his superiors in the past two years, he is responsible for responding to calls at the scene on weekdays and handing over cases to the case-handling team when he encounters a real case.

The job is comfortable and not very stressful, so much so that I've been a bit perfunctory lately. For example, in today's case, after he inspected the landing site and his apprentice Xiao Yao returned from checking the surveillance footage, he didn't even bother to go back to the rooftop to take another look.

At most, he'd just have his apprentice run to the roof once, while he waited downstairs, having a smoke.

Since his colleague from out of town had reminded him, he couldn't leave them with the bad impression that Liuya Xingda was incompetent, so he nodded and followed.

In the elevator, Ming, lost in thought, felt the atmosphere was heavy and casually started a conversation: "Chen Shu, did you know that your Dongzhou solved that series of kidnapping cases, which was said to be the most intelligent in China in the last twenty years, half a year ago?"

Chen Shu smiled and said, "I know."

"Hehe, the main culprit also came to our area last year and kidnapped someone to extort money, but unfortunately we couldn't catch him and he got away. We didn't even get a trace of him."

Ming was somewhat gloating. By then, he had been transferred from the front line of investigation to the duty team, and such major cases were no longer his concern. But he was still happy to see the leader who was trying to make things difficult for him suffer.

Then, a hint of admiration flashed in his eyes: "I heard that the person leading your team in solving the case is a deputy captain of the criminal investigation unit who has only been working for a few years. Young and promising indeed."

Chen Shu chimed in, "His name is Li Meng, and he was my classmate. He also received a second-class merit award after this case was concluded."

At this moment, the elevator reached the top floor, and the elevator doors slowly opened. Chen Chuan, who had been waiting at the opposite stairwell, was smiling and looking this way.

Ming concluded, "Next time I go on a business trip to your place, you have to bring your classmate Li Meng along for a drink so I can get to know her."

Chen Shu stepped forward and blocked the elevator door, gesturing for Ming to go first. "Ming, no problem."

Chen Chuan, who enjoys lively gatherings, had been waiting upstairs for a long time when Chen Shu finally came up. He ran over excitedly and greeted him, "Chen Shu, you're finally here! Oh, and who's this?"

Chen Shu introduced, "Brother Ming, this is my classmate from the same batch of police academy. He's now in the technical investigation department of the municipal bureau. He came to Liuya with me for treatment this time. Chen Chuan, this is from Liuya Criminal Investigation University. You can just call him Brother Ming."

Chen Chuan, who had a wealth of social experience, took out a cigarette and handed it to Chen Shu as soon as he finished speaking, saying in a casual manner, "Brother Ming, you've worked hard, making you come to respond to a call in the middle of the night. Here, have a smoke first."

Actually, this case has nothing to do with Chen Shu, Chen Chuan, and others. If the two of them leave now, no police will stop them.

However, Chen Chuan's politeness and humility, despite being a fellow officer, made Ming Ge, who was initially furious about getting up in the middle of the night to respond to a call, feel much better.

Ming must be a connoisseur. When he saw Chen Chuan take out the white cigarette case, his eyes lit up immediately. He took the cigarette and held it up to his nose, clearly a heavy smoker.

However, given the nature of the police profession, which involves working overtime and staying up all night, they are basically all people in the smoking circle.

Ming exclaimed, "These specially supplied cigarettes are amazing! Brother, where did you get them? Can you give me a tip?"

Chen Chuan waved his hand: "I don't know either. My dad usually keeps these cigarettes in the cabinet by the front door, and I just take them with me when I go out."

People in criminal investigation pay special attention to details. As soon as Chen Chuan said those words, Ming Ge glanced at the other man's clothing and immediately knew that he must be a rich young master who had been sent to the mortal world for training.

Although Brother Ming doesn't care whether others are rich or poor, he can still enjoy a few puffs of these good cigarettes and brag about them to his colleagues later. So, it's a win-win situation.

The atmosphere immediately became harmonious.

The four of them put on gloves, opened the door, and went up to the rooftop.

Without paying much attention to the surrounding environment, Ming walked directly towards the approximate starting point of the deceased's jump.

Chen Shu led her ex-boyfriend to the place where she found the phone.

Her ex-boyfriend led Chen Shu to the rooftop, leaned out, and pointed to the bottom of the parapet wall, saying, "When I came over, my phone was there."

Chen Shu knelt on the rooftop, cautiously leaning out to look in the direction her ex-boyfriend was pointing. She saw a rectangular strip protruding from the surface of the outer wall below.

Why is this phone there?
Yingying would have left her phone there before jumping off the building.
Maybe her phone accidentally fell there when she fell?

Chen Shu looked past the railing down to the ground floor, where Yingying's body, spread out in a starfish shape, was located directly below, and the black coat that Zhu Chaoran had covered her with was also clearly visible.

I never expected that the fat guy would have such a tender side.

It was windy on the rooftop, so Chen Shu shrank back and looked at her ex-boyfriend: "Why did you end up on the roof? Did Yingying call you and ask you to come up?"

Without a second thought, her ex-boyfriend replied, "It was Rou Rou who called me. She said Yingying was alone on the roof and asked me to come up and keep her company."

Chen Shu's expression was serious: "Didn't you two break up? Why did Chen Rou still send you up here to find Yingying?"

Ex-boyfriend: "Rou Rou is a nice person. She took good care of me when Ying Ying and I were dating. Oh, right. Today, Rou Rou told me that her dorm is going to H Bar tonight and asked me to come and get back together with Ying Ying."

Chen Shu continued, "So you went to the bar that night too."

The ex-boyfriend nodded: "Yes. I wanted to get back together with Yingying, but she wouldn't answer my calls, so Rou Rou told me they were at H Bar tonight, and I followed her."

Chen Shu's pupils suddenly contracted; his intuition told him that there was definitely something wrong with this Chen Rou.

She was the one who told her ex-boyfriend to go to the bar!

She was the one who told her ex-boyfriend to go to the rooftop!

And the last person Yingying saw was her!
Chen Rou appeared at every crucial turning point in the case!

"Then how did you know Yingying's phone was here?" Chen Shu changed the subject and asked.

As is his custom, he set a trap, skipping the 'why' and going straight to the 'how'.

Her ex-boyfriend glanced to one side and waited a moment before answering, "I couldn't find Yingying when I got to the rooftop, so I called her directly. Then I heard the phone ringing from outside the wall."

At this moment, Ming interrupted their conversation with two "hehe" sounds: "Can't you two talk somewhere else? This is where the dead person fell. If you do this, all traces will be lost."

Chen blushed, realizing she had ruined the scene. She pulled her ex-boyfriend up, and the two carefully jumped off the platform.

Ming turned on his flashlight and scanned the platform, muttering to himself, "Judging from the marks, it's almost certain that this woman went down by herself. By the way, where did that woman's high heels go? Chen Shu, put them back first. I know you took pictures, but that's not how it's supposed to go. You'll get people killed if you do it this way."

Chen Shu's face turned pale at this moment. Temporarily leaving her ex-boyfriend aside, she took out her high heels and phone, compared them with the photos he had taken of the scene earlier, and put the shoes back in their original place on the platform.

Unsurprisingly, the high heels and the phone were both roughly in a horizontal line.

After putting everything away, Chen Shu noticed that his body was covered in dust and pebbles from the platform from climbing up and down, so he stood a little further away to pat and clean the dust off his body.

Ming kept talking as he worked: "Chen Shu, let me tell you, this case doesn't actually need to be this complicated. Just go back and test the victim's blood sample; that will tell us her vital signs before she fell."

A sudden flash of insight struck Chen Shu, reminding him of a detail he had overlooked.

Without even saying goodbye, he ran downstairs to the elevator like the wind!
Ming was inspecting the scene with his head down, muttering to himself for a long time, when Chen Chuan, who was standing next to him, reminded him: "Ming, Chen Shu is gone."

Ming stopped what he was doing and turned around, only to find Chen Shu gone. He sensed that Chen Shu must have discovered something.

"Could this case really be a murder?"

(End of this chapter)